PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP IN TUSCANY

October 8-15, 2011

EXPLORE TUSCANY WITH INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHERS PAT AND EMI KANAN

Pat and Emi have created a workshop geared to the amateur and advanced amateur photographers on the style and technique involved in outdoor photography, providing a blend of information and a lot of inspiration. They feel that the cameras today, both film and digital, are so sophisticated that you can hardly outsmart them. For this reason there will be only limited technical training. The workshop will concentrate on composition, light, depth of field, creativity, film and what makes a good photograph or a bad photograph. Their goal is to help photographers create beautiful, dynamic photographs, using some rule-of-thumb techniques and a lot of creative experimentation.

A UNIQUE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE AWAITS YOU....

Photographic themes on the estate include vineyards, olive groves, flower gardens, the rustic winery and olive mill, 15th century building ruins, farmhouses, chestnut groves, a shepherd with his flock and majestic cypress trees.

Excursions away from the Farmhouse have been carefully selected...

Baroque gardens and villas in the Lucca area, including Villa Reale, owned by the Duchess Elise, sister of Napoleon, provide photographic vignettes with their grottoes and follies, limonaia and nymph fountains, exotic plants and statuary.

Chianti, with its movie-set wineries, artisan terra cotta manufacturers, geometrically planted vineyards and incredible vistas all await your interpretation.

You're invited to the Tenuta di Forci baronial estate where visual opportunities abound with the Renaissance villa, rustic winery and antique frantoio (olive press). As a guest on the estate, you'll have the opportunity to taste its wine, olive oil, grappa, honeys and vinegars.

The jewel city of Lucca is open to you, its romantic byways, Romanesque churches, Medieval portals with iron scrollwork intertwined with geraniums and, of course, its famous walls, once a fortification and now a gracious tree-lined boulevard for strolling, visiting and biking.

Enchanting hill towns will charm you with their colorful markets, balcony gardens, tiny restaurants and frescoed piazzas festooned with coats of arms.

Your photographic journey in Tuscany offers you wonderful food for the soul as well as the body. Meals are prepared in the Tuscan style, and you'll enjoy making your own pizza on our traditional pizza night using the farmhouse's original wood-fired oven. Your wine selections are chosen to enhance the meals you enjoy at Selva. In addition, you will be treated to a wine tasting tutorial and a visit to Chianti wineries.

Pre-dinner aperitivi and antipasti under the leafy pergola provide time for friendly and helpful discussion of the day's photography. Some evenings present the opportunity to attend a special event, such as a musical concert in Lucca's Duomo or a retrospective of a local artist's work.

In the Abbondanza Toscana kitchen, you'll complement your photography talent as you learn to prepare favorite foods tasted in Tuscany and new, exciting dishes. Whether you are an experienced cook, taste-tester, cheerleader or wine pourer, there is a role for everyone in the kitchen.

You'll be a Guest in a 15th Century Tuscan Farmhouse...

The rustic country home of Selva has been lovingly restored yet retains all the charm of its origins on the 1000 year-old Tenuta di Forci wine and olive oil estate, a uniquely preserved property in the Lucca hills. Selva's old barn, with its traditional latticed terra cotta windows, houses our cooking school kitchen, a spacious, rustic room with modern equipment.

Selva's grand fireplace and wood-fired oven add to the ambiance while guests appreciate 21st century comfort with modern bathrooms, central heating and Internet access.

Lucca...its Renaissance walls enclose a perfectly preserved medieval treasure house, and Selva is only 20 minutes away. You can join the Lucchese in their evening passeggiata (stroll) through the streets, sip a cappuccino in Puccini's favorite bar and enjoy a gelato in a shaded piazza.

Lucca is also a shopper's paradise for linens, laces, leather, ceramics and its famous regional olive oil.

Seven glorious days in Tuscany. . . .

Enjoy the excitement of working side-by-side and learning from Pat and Emi Kanan plus having your subjects the sights and activities of Tuscany: the wine harvest in Chianti, charming hill towns, Baroque gardens, Renaissance estates and villas, farmhouses and olive mills. . .all for 2300 Euros.

The price includes everything from the time you are picked up at the airport or train station in Tuscany until you are returned there. Instruction and inspiration from Pat and Emi Kanan, meals, wine, guided off-site excursions, two evening cooking courses and gracious accommodations are all part of the fee. Airfare is not included in the course price.

For additional information and to see the beautiful Tuscan home, please visit www.abbondanzatoscana.com