My first Irish workshop is the result of many suggestions from some of my students, particularly Willard Pate and Brendan Williams, Irish himself. But it also has to do with my quest for spiritual places that could inspire my students and I to capture enduring images.
The 12-day workshop will focus mainly on daily life and landscape as we drive along the Irish West coast, visit the Aran Islands, and religious-related events such as the Croagh Patrick pilgrimage and the Shrine of the Virgin Mary in the town of Knock.
We will start the workshop by meeting at the Shannon international airport the morning of July 19th, 2017. From there we will drive to the Dingle peninsula, which offers beautiful landscapes, traditional Irish small towns and the opportunity to climb Mount Brandon with its beautiful views of the surrounding areas. We will spend two days here.
On the morning of the third day we will drive up to Cliffs of Moher. Along the way we will stop at The Burren in County Clare to photograph the very desolate, lunar-like landscape.
We will be staying in Galway and for two days we will be photographing in and around this beautiful area.
On our fifth day we will take a ferry to the Aran islands. The islands off Ireland’s west coast form a rich cultural landscape, the result of a unique combination of the forces of nature and humankind. We will be staying on the biggest island of Inishmore for three nights. During this time we will explore the island on foot and we will also have the opportunity to visit the second largest island of Inishmaan.
Upon returning on the mainland, on our 8th day of the workshop, we will drive up to Connemara National Park where we will be spending two days photographing the extraordinary beauty of nature.
On the 10th day, we will head up to the town Knock where we will spend the day in and around the church compound devoted to the Virgin Mary trying to capture some of the faith of the many pilgrims that come from all over Ireland.
On the 11th day, we will drive to the town of Westport, which will be our base to photograph the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick. We will arrive a day before the pilgrimage will take place in order to explore the area and prepare for the all-day hike on July 30th. Traditionally, people walk and pray around holy spots or stations on the mountain, such as the chapel and the spot purported to be St Patrick’s bed during his stay there. In 441 AD, Patrick is said to have spent 40 days and nights in prayer and fasting on its summit.
Thousands of pilgrims will ascend the “magic” mountain, some of them on their bare feet as an act of penitence.
On the last day, after breakfast we will do the final edit of each participant’s images. We will have a final lunch and after that we will be driving back to Shannon international airport (five hours drive) to fly back home. EB
To receive further info and the cost of the workshop please write to: ernesto_bazan@hotmail.com or bazanphoto@yahoo.com
Refund Policy
I rely on your attendance to organize many of the workshops’ logistics, so if for any reason you decide to no longer attend the workshop, please notify me at least 60 days before the start of the workshop. At that time I will refund your fee minus $200 cancelation fee. If you cancel between 30 and 60 days before the start of the workshop I will retain $250 as a cancellation fee. If notification is made less than 30 days before the start of the workshop no monies will be refunded to you.
Please note that in case of exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances such as hurricanes, earthquakes, major floods, tsunami, a war or governments’ change of policies in the countries I teach courses, BazanPhotos will only offer as a refund a new workshop in any of the other venues during that same calendar year. No other forms of refunds will be available.
