Multi location Landscape Photography Tours in Andalusia and Northern Spain
Each year we will alternate between two locations in Spain; the northern forests in autumn time including the splendid Ordesa y Monte Perdido, and the mix of forest, coastal and rivers in Western Andalusia in Spain’s south. Both offer colour and spectacle with Andalusia tipping towards variety and the north towards trees and colour. These landscape photography tours focus on a variety of subject matter and approaches, from close-ups of rock patterns to expansive woodland scenes.
SKILLS ACQUIRED AT THE END OF THE WEEK
* The skillset to find creative outcomes for distinctly varied natural landscapes.
* Processing images to maximise what was in your mind’s eye.
* An ability to distil from chaos.
* Create a series that explores a variety of approaches and types of imagery.
* Critically evaluate your own images.
* Competency with ND filters especially to set the exact shutter speeds for desired motion blur.
These landscape photography tours offer six full days of image-making around the photographic highlights of Western Andalusia. The diverse triangle of subjects includes Rio Tinto, the coastal geological structures of the southern tip and the cork tree forests that run down the region’s spine. | And on alternate years | The tour switches to Spain’s deep northern forests, where the mix of autumnal hues and cooler nights bring bags of atmosphere with warm and cool colour combinations.
The emphasis for both tours is colour and texture, finding balance within the dense complexities of forests and using ND filters to soften water and allow rock surfaces to stand out. River Tinto invites close up studies, with the colour tones of individual rocks high on your list. It’s not a windy area so reflections are also part of the visual puzzle. The forests of the north mean balancing green with golds, oranges and reds. The tendency would be to fill your frame with huge swaths of colour, if only it was that easy. Instead, I’ll point you towards a more rewarding and elegant outcome, centred around balance and form.
To get the best out of these workshops, you should be open to developing a sophisticated way of seeing that’s less based on the representational and more on the small elements within your frame that sustain viewing and intrigue.
In some cases, this will be a minimalist approach and in others, it’s about arranging structure and a wealth of information within the frame. Part of the pre-workshops pack will include detailed references looking at the best landscapes relating to form in forests, water movement and coastal geology. The aim is to heighten your artistic perception and for you to ultimately emerge with a mature collection of images.
Location one is situated west of Seville in a hilly, wild forest area that holds its photographic secret; a red and orange river. Rio Tinto as a result of historical mining weaves its way through deep cut green forests leaving a trail of affected rock surfaces.
For centuries small waterfalls and the edges of the river bed have succumbed to its acidic spell and provide the photographic materials to create a variety of unusual images.
I first visited in 2017 and subsequent trips with photographers have never failed to impress. Close by we’ll spend three nights with two full days of photography, divided up into four workshop sessions each exploring different points of the river.
Travelling on day four will include passing views of open farmed fields providing the opportunity for telephoto compression.
The second location is a singular jewel of which I have never seen the likes of before. At the westerly point of Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, a huge rock face shields the sun from a forest that barely sees sunlight. The mossy green sanctuary is an intimate area but it provides enough of a compositional challenge for two workshops, a short drive from our hotel.
Locations three and four are found in Estrecho Natural Park on the southern coast between Algericious and Tarifa. Here we explore both the beach rock formations ‘dragons teeth’, as well as honeycomb sandstone and mossy slab plateaus. 15 minutes inland and up into the hills is a cork tree forest that sits in the valley of mist most mornings.
THE ITINERARY FOR THE ANDALUSIA EXPERIENCE:
Day One Arrival day in Malaga. Depart for location one near Seville.
LOCATION ONE – reflections, abstract, shapes, texture
Day Two
8.00am – 11:00pm
A short drive from our base accommodation to locate one in the river valley.
12.00pm – 4.00pm
Lunch is followed by an initial review and feedback on images.
4.00pm – 6:30pm
Photographing at location two.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
Day Three
8.00am – 6:30pm
In format and timing, this will be a reprise of the previous day but visiting locations three & four. The afternoon review session will contain more processing suggestions.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
LOCATION TWO – shaded mossy boulders, interweaving branches
Day Four
9.30am – 2:30pm
This is a half-day in the vehicle with stops to photograph intersecting Andalusian fields.
4.30am – 6:30pm
Our first workshop foray into the mossy forest floor.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
Day Five
8:00am – 9.30pm
Our second workshop is in the special Grazalema forest.
10:30am – 5.30pm
We’ll spend the rest of the day travelling down to our third location base. At our lunch stop, we’ll take a workshop photographing the cork trees within the Alcornocalos National Park.
LOCATION THREE – timeless, permanent, dense, mysterious
Day Six
8:00am – 11:00am
This is the first of two workshops at the rocky shoreline, working with the geological shapes.
12.00pm – 4.00pm
Lunch is followed by a review of images and feedback on processing.
4.00pm – 6:30pm
We’ll explore a different area along the coastline, north of Tarifa where we can focus on small areas of shard rocks and water movement.
8:00pm – 10:00pm
Group dinner and discussion on the day.
Day Seven
7:30am – 6:30pm
In format and timing, this will be a reprise of the previous day but in the morning we’ll journey by vehicle to the cork tree forest in the hills. The early evening session is open for the group to decide which of the three locations they’d like to return to.
8:00pm – 10:00pm
Group dinner and a selection of photos for presentation.
Day Eight
7.30am – 10:00am
An early start for the return journey to Malaga airport in time for early afternoon flights.
Equipment required:
A laptop loaded with photo processing software that you can use to a basic level.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera with wide angle and telephoto lenses.
A set of ND filters.
FEE: USD2800 / £1995
A link to Darren’s profile.
Each year we will alternate between two locations in Spain; the northern forests at autumn time including the splendid Ordesa y Monte Perdido, and the mix of forest, coastal and rivers in Western Andalusia in Spain’s south. Both offer colour and spectacle with Andalusia tipping towards variety and the north towards trees and colour. These landscape photography tours focus on the variety of subject matter and approaches, from close-ups of rock patterns to expansive woodland scenes.
SKILLS ACQUIRED AT THE END OF THE WEEK
* The skillset to find creative outcomes for distinctly varied natural landscapes.
* Processing images to maximise what was in your mind’s eye.
* An ability to distil from chaos.
* Create a series that explores a variety of approaches and types of imagery.
* Critically evaluate your own images.
* Competency with ND filters especially to set the exact shutter speeds for desired motion blur.
These landscape photography tours offer six full days of image-making around the photographic highlights of Western Andalusia. The diverse triangle of subjects includes Rio Tinto, the coastal geological structures of the southern tip and the cork tree forests that run down the region’s spine. | And on alternate years | The tour switches to Spain’s deep northern forests, where the mix of autumnal hues and cooler nights bring bags of atmosphere with warm and cool colour combinations.
The emphasis for both tours is colour and texture, finding balance within the dense complexities of forests and using ND filters to soften water and allow rock surfaces to stand out. River Tinto invites close up studies, with the colour tones of individual rocks high on your list. It’s not a windy area so reflections are also part of the visual puzzle. The forests of the north mean balancing green with golds, oranges and reds. The tendency would be to fill your frame with huge swaths of colour, if only it was that easy. Instead, I’ll point you towards a more rewarding and elegant outcome, centred around balance and form.
To get the best out of these workshops, you should be open to developing a sophisticated way of seeing that’s less based on the representational and more on the small elements within your frame that sustain viewing and intrigue.
In some cases, this will be a minimalist approach and in others, it’s about arranging structure and a wealth of information within the frame. Part of the pre-workshops pack will include detailed references looking at the best landscapes relating to form in forests, water movement and coastal geology. The aim is to heighten your artistic perception and for you to ultimately emerge with a mature collection of images.
Location one is situated west of Seville in a hilly, wild forest area that holds its photographic secret; a red and orange river. Rio Tinto as a result of historical mining weaves its way through deep cut green forests leaving a trail of affected rock surfaces.
For centuries small waterfalls and the edges of the river bed have succumbed to its acidic spell and provide the photographic materials to create a variety of unusual images.
I first visited in 2017 and subsequent trips with photographers have never failed to impress. Close by we’ll spend three nights with two full days of photography, divided up into four workshop sessions each exploring different points of the river.
Travelling on day four will include passing views of open farmed fields providing the opportunity for telephoto compression.
The second location is a singular jewel of which I have never seen the likes of before. At the westerly point of Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, a huge rock face shields the sun from a forest that barely sees sunlight. The mossy green sanctuary is an intimate area but it provides enough of a compositional challenge for two workshops, a short drive from our hotel.
Locations three and four are found in Estrecho Natural Park on the southern coast between Algericious and Tarifa. Here we explore both the beach rock formations ‘dragons teeth’, as well as honeycomb sandstone and mossy slab plateaus. 15 minutes inland and up into the hills is a cork tree forest that sits in the valley of mist most mornings.
THE ITINERARY FOR THE ANDALUSIA EXPERIENCE:
Day One Arrival day in Malaga. Depart for location one near Seville.
LOCATION ONE – reflections, abstract, shapes, texture
Day Two
8.00am – 11:00pm
A short drive from our base accommodation to locate one in the river valley.
12.00pm – 4.00pm
Lunch is followed by an initial review and feedback on images.
4.00pm – 6:30pm
Photographing at location two.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
Day Three
8.00am – 6:30pm
In format and timing, this will be a reprise of the previous day but visiting locations three & four. The afternoon review session will contain more processing suggestions.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
LOCATION TWO – shaded mossy boulders, interweaving branches
Day Four
9.30am – 2:30pm
This is a half-day in the vehicle with stops to photograph intersecting Andalusian fields.
4.30am – 6:30pm
Our first workshop foray into the mossy forest floor.
7:30pm – 8:30pm
A group dinner followed by individual processing work.
Day Five
8:00am – 9.30pm
Our second workshop is in the special Grazalema forest.
10:30am – 5.30pm
We’ll spend the rest of the day travelling down to our third location base. At our lunch stop, we’ll take a workshop photographing the cork trees within the Alcornocalos National Park.
LOCATION THREE – timeless, permanent, dense, mysterious
Day Six
8:00am – 11:00am
This is the first of two workshops at the rocky shoreline, working with the geological shapes.
12.00pm – 4.00pm
Lunch is followed by a review of images and feedback on processing.
4.00pm – 6:30pm
We’ll explore a different area along the coastline, north of Tarifa where we can focus on small areas of shard rocks and water movement.
8:00pm – 10:00pm
Group dinner and discussion on the day.
Day Seven
7:30am – 6:30pm
In format and timing, this will be a reprise of the previous day but in the morning we’ll journey by vehicle to the cork tree forest in the hills. The early evening session is open for the group to decide which of the three locations they’d like to return to.
8:00pm – 10:00pm
Group dinner and a selection of photos for presentation.
Day Eight
7.30am – 10:00am
An early start for the return journey to Malaga airport in time for early afternoon flights.
Equipment required:
A laptop loaded with photo processing software that you can use to a basic level.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera with wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
A set of ND filters.
FEE: £2195
A link to Darren’s profile.
In 2025 the Andalusian tour runs from March 15th-22nd and the northern forest from October 15th-22nd.
A published itinerary is available for the Northern Forests Workshops.
In 2025 the Andalusian tour runs from March 15th – 22nd and the northern forest from October 15th – 22nd.
A published itinerary is now available for the Northern Forests Workshops.