People & Culture of Belize Photo Workshop

http://bcphotoadventures.com/BelizePhotoWorkshop.php

People & Culture of Belize Photo Workshop

February 6-13, 2010

Saturday afternoon at 5:00 through Saturday evening at 7:00

$1,795 (discounts available)

Limit 10 with 2 instructors (maximum 5:1 student-to-instructor ratio)

Imagine staying in a screened cabana with thatched roof and private bath at an eco-friendly lodge nestled in 100 acres of private rain forest in southern Belize. Situated right on the placid Moho River and surrounded by lush, tropical gardens, it has easy access to stunning waterfalls, Mayan villages where you'll see tortillas being made by hand, ancient ruins, an organic cacao farm, river scenes, and the flora and fauna of the jungle, including Scarlett Macaws, all of which you'll enjoy photographing.

In the process, we'll encourage you to seek your own vision, teach you how elements of composition and the magic of light work in concert to make wonderful photographs.

Because we are headquartered in a small, intimate lodge, we only have room for 10 participants (plus spouses and guests), so it is really important to book your cabana early and make your deposit if you want to join us during this special week. In fact, February was fully booked last year, thus the urgency in making your deposit early!

In the Mayan villages, we'll be invited into people's homes, and with English being the language of Belize, you will have no trouble communicating with these lovely people. You'll see them in their traditional dug-out canoes on the river or their children scampering alongside you as you enter a village.

The Mayan people near the lodge still live as subsistence farmers in small villages of 15â€"30 families. While it may seem like nothing has changed for hundreds of years, as you observe, you’ll see various outside influences at work, such as the men's clothing, childrens' school uniforms, and the occasional gas stove. The villagers mostly live in board houses with thatched, palm-leaf roofs.

Some families are still cooking tortillas and roasting cacao over traditional mud fireplaces with comals, round, cast-iron griddles. Most families are still making corn tortillas in the traditional manner by hand. You’ll see this, including stacks of dried corn, husking, boiling, grinding, shaping the tortillas, and cooking them in some of the homes that you’ll visit.

photo adventure workshops digital photography Belize people culture Barefoot Contessa Photo workshops © 2006 Joanie Alexander for Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures. All Rights Reserved. For usage and fees, contact us at 310 Lafayette Drive, Hillsborough, NC 27278. 919-643-3036 before 9 pm east coast USA.

Click here for flash photo gallery.

This will be a great place to really learn how to use your small strobes or on-camera flash to really capture the people and culture of this region of Belize.

We start out with some technical information before heading out for our first day of photography. Our workshops include the following:

* Maximum 5-to-1 ratio students to instructors

* Opening reception with wine and local fare;

* Primer booklet to help you get started;

* Morning and/or afternoon shoots;

* Daily downloading of your images and pro-cessing with the latest version of Lightroom 2;

* Lots of individual instruction in both the field and classroom;

* Critiques, both individual and group;

* Discussions on various aspects of photography, including digital workflow;

* Final group critique and show on our last evening; and

* Lots of fun and frivolity throughout!

If you have not already done so, be sure to check our FAQs for questions you may have as well as equipment and installed downloads you need to bring to the workshop including, if necessary, the free, 30-day, trial versions of Adobe products.

Cost: $1,795

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