Photo tours 2009
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Normandy Monet's Garden, thatched cottages and the D-Day Beaches June 14 - 24, 2009
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photo tour to Paris 2009 the ultimate June 24 -28, 2009 |
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photo tour to provence lavender fields, vineyards, hilltop villages & for full details of our photo tour to Provence click here
photo tour to Beaujolais photo tour to France |
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The Beaujolais October 12 - 22, 2009 |
Photo tours - 2008
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Summer in Provence Completed for Barbara's images from our photo tour to Provence click here |
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Welcome!
2008 is our 18th year of leading photo tours. Since 1990 when we organized our first photography tour to France (Burgundy to be precise), Europa Photogenica Photo Tours (formerly known as France Photogenique) has been dedicated to providing carefully planned, high quality, small group photo tours to Europe's photogenic destinations. The tours are designed for photographers of all levels who wish to improve their photographic skills using Europe as their classroom. We do not offer a long list of photography tours because we are, after all, professional photographers with work commitments to fill. However, as we really enjoy the group experience of shared photography, travel adventures and laughs we choose to organize a few original, highly researched and planned photo tours each year to be sure to offer the best photo tour experience possible. We aim to provide the highest standards of photo instruction when needed, out of the way locations with lots of varied photo opportunities, comfortable accommodation, great food, small groups (between 3 and 12), destinations that change every year and above all LOTS OF FUN, all at affordable prices.
Update November 2009...
In the "every cloud has a silver lining" department...at the beginning of September the dollar rose against the euro to its highest level in 7 months at 1.395. After having dropped in value again during the middle of the month on October 22 the million dollar rate for buying one euro (which you and I NEVER get but it is a benchmark rate) fell below $1.28 overnight for the first time since November 2006. The USD has gained over 25% versus the single currency since mid July when it was 1.599 - amazing! The British pound also tumbled to a five-year low on speculation that European central banks will cut interest rates as the global economy heads for recession. If this keeps up I will have to get out of mothballs the tours I once planned for Suffolk and Yorkshire but did not go through with because the pound was so high. Expectations are that the
Di is having a sabbatical year in 2009 but she will be back with new tours in 2010.
For 2008, a difficult year for tours what with the devalued dollar, the election, the economy and general universal doom and gloom, we decided to cheer ourselves up and visit one of the sunniest, most cheerful and delightful places in the world ...PROVENCE! We recently came back from our photo tour to Provence where we had ten days of hot sunshine and great photo opportunities. We were surprised at how un-crowded the Luberon Valley was considering it was the tourist season. There must be something in the air in Provence because we all succumbed to its charms - there is nothing better than sitting on the terrace of a Provencal cafe drinking a glass of cold, dry rose wine (that's us, pictured below left). For more photos of us enjoying ourselves on the Summer in Provence tour click here. We had such a good time that I have decided to repeat this tour (with a few alterations) in 2009. Cheer yourself up with some tour therapy, read on...
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2009 - "Another Summer in Provence", July 6-16, 2009 photo tour to Provence
Once again, this year (2008) during my research trip my friend and photo buddy, Provence-based photographer Julien Lautier (photo right) kindly shared with me his new secret corners of Provence. Julien's photography can be seen as postcards in just about every gift shop and grocery in Provence, and he has had several books of photography published. He spends his days driving around Provence taking photos...an ideal life I think.
For 2009 we are planning the photo tour to Provence to coincide with the blooming of the lavender fields. I also want to include the celebrations of July 14...Bastille Day. In every town and village there is an outdoor "Bal Populaire" on the evening of July 14. Locals and tourists alike are invited to share the evening celebrations that go on in to the small hours of the morning with live music and dancing in the streets. For details of the photo tour to Provence 2009, called "Another Summer in Provence" click here. For some of Julien's photos of Provence click here. Client photos from the 2008 tour to Provence will also be posted soon. Click here for photos of the group during the Summer in Provence 2008 photo tour. Click here for some of Barbara's images from the 2008 photo tour to Provence.
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June 2009: 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings
on the beaches of Normandy photo tour to monet's garden
I can never get over the incredible bravery of the first soldiers who landed on the beaches at Normandy, starting the process that made the world free from the horrors of the Nazis. June 6, 2009 will be the 65th anniversary of this momentous day and although many of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who survived the landings are gone, France and particularly the people of Normandy have not and will never forget their sacrifice, that of their fallen comrades and the debt France owes America and the Allies. Normandy now is as peaceful a region as you can find anywhere. The scars and destruction of the invasion are long gone, replaced by orchards, pastures, hills and streams, rose-covered thatched cottages, spotted cows and sleepy villages. Several of France's most famous gardens are located in Normandy, the most famous being Monet's Garden at Giverny. We will visit all these places in our photo tour to Normandy - June 14-24, 2009, including a visit to Monet's Garden on a Monday when the garden is closed to visitors. It has been 10 years since our last tour to Normandy and I think it is an appropriate time to return. For details of our photo tour to Normandy and Monet's Garden click here. Photo tour to Normandy
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June 2009: Paris Extension - the ultimate Paris photo tour
Following directly after the 2009 photo tour to Normandy we are planning a four-night photo tour of Paris. We've been to Paris many times before and for this visit we have selected the best places for photo ops including the famous and some not-so-famous sites. For details of our 2009 photography tour to Paris click here.
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Placed FIRMLY in our "so you think you've been everywhere" category check out our "Autumn in the Vineyards" photo tour to:
October 2009: the Beaujolais and the Jura Mountains
This is a tour for all you wine lovers out there:
MANY people will say that the best time to visit France is in September and October, when the tourists have gone home but the weather is still lovely and warm. Find out if this is true during our fall photo tour to the Beaujolais and Jura Mountains. The fall colors of this region of Eastern France easily rival those of Vermont but this region has vineyards, famous vintage wines, mountain scenery and medieval villages too!
The Beaujolais region, located to the north and east of Lyon, is a series of elegant rolling hills absolutely covered in vines. Despite the relatively gentle nature of their slopes, the scale of the peaks and the depths of the valleys create a landscape of great panoramas and rich contrasts. The character of the hills changes with altitude as the vines give way to forests and pastures. During our spring 2007 tour to this region it struck me that it would be even more spectacular when dressed in fall colors. While in the Beaujolais we will be staying in a wine producing chateau in the vineyard region called Brouilly with our own tasting rooms next door complete with an ancient wine cellar full of old oak casks that we were allowed to photograph last time.
Further to the south lay the mountains of the Mont Lyonnais, which despite being geologically identical to the Beaujolais are distinct by their farming practices; the vines are replaced by meadows and fruit trees. Far from the tourist trails, these hills form some of the most stunning countryside in the area. To the north east rise the Jura mountain range, famous for its deciduous forests and dramatic rock formations. Last Year the Jura region of France was chosen by Budget Travel magazine as one of its "Best Places You've Never heard Of". Shoot the spectacular mountain scenery of this pre-Alps region dressed in all its fall splendor. October 12 - 22, 2009. For full details of our photo tour to Beaujolais and Jura click here. hoto tour to the beaujolais
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At Europa Photogenica we, like everyone else, have had to deal with Mad Cow disease, 9/11, and the London bombings of July 2006 all of which took place just before we were due to depart for a tour. But when the going gets tough the tough go traveling. None of the participants of any of those tours backed out, with the exception of one gentleman whose flight connections were too numerous and too short to allow for the extra security measures put in place after 9/11.
Now with these extra security precautions, extensive examinations of our luggage and shoes, and luggage limitations etc, air travel has become an uncomfortable experience. However, we grit our teeth and put up with it because the rewards of getting somewhere exotic and different are many, and the experiences we enjoy while being in a different country create lasting memories. We seem to be able to adjust to whatever the airlines throw in our path. It's admirable. My thoughts are that flying has always been dangerous. During the sixties, seventies and eighties (and beyond) it was the technology that couldn't guarantee the plane would stay up (as well as several terrorist high-jackings). Now it is mainly terrorism that threatens us. It remains true, however that statistically you stand more chance of being killed in a car accident on the way to the airport than being involved in a terrorist incident. I don't enjoy flying but I take my chances. It is the inconvenience of not being able to fly with hand-luggage containing camera equipment, laptops or film (not to mention the lamentable situation of the dollar) that may one day seriously threaten the whole concept of photo tours abroad...
Travel while you can I say...you never know what will happen in the future to prevent world travel all together.
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client image galleries
For client and tour leaders' image galleries from our previous tours click on the links or pictures below:
photos of France - photos of England - photos of Greece - photos of Italy - photos of Spain
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barbara's polaroid manipulation gallery
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Those of us who enjoyed Polaroid manipulations are still in mourning for Polaroid's aptly named Time Zero film. Polaroid ceased production of this instant film a while ago and have no plans to start making it again. I have created a gallery of some of my Polaroid manipulations. I print these manipulations onto fine water color paper and then enhance the print with color pencils, pastels or whatever takes my fancy. If you would like to buy a print just contact me for a price list.
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our tour archives - group photos from past tours
When I started organizing photo tours eighteen years ago, personal computers were not around. We typed everything on a typewriter and made photocopies. We thought we were lucky when Kinko's came along. The Internet had not been invented yet, everyone used film and I spent hours intoxicating myself in a dark room trying to create perfect prints. When I started taking photographs in college I had a Praktika Nova 1B manual SLR camera and each frame had to be wound on manually. It is hard to believe that we have come so far with the technology in such a short time. Now we are geeking it up as if we had learned it in kindergarten. The Internet is our oyster and film is "SO last Millennium"...(at least for some people. I still shoot film for my more "arty" work). Well, history may be well and truly in the past, but for alumni of France Photogenique and Europa Photogenica photography tours who want to wax nostalgic, or for those of you who are interested in seeing what we have been doing for the past eleven years (I think that is far enough in the past for our archives...), I have created an Archives page, where I have put up some group pictures from past tours. The photo collections are by no means complete. I have lots of photos from more recent tours but for some tours I have no group pictures, and I still have to look through several more shoe boxes full of photos to find others. I will add more pictures as I find them, and if any of you alumni out there have any pictures of any tours that you want to share please send them in. You can e-mail them if you like, just format them to 300 pixels across the top edge and send them as a high res JPEG. (The photo on the right is of Barbara several years ago. Organizing photo tours hasn't aged her at all..... !) To visit our Archives page click here. |
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personally...during our research trip to Paris in November 2006, my husband and I stayed in an apartment in the Latin Quarter. We rented it from "A Haven in Paris" and we had such an outstanding experience that I want to recommend them. To see their web site click here: www.haveninparis.com The apartments are run by a charming Franco-American couple, Erica Berman and Alain Ollier and they also have rental villas in Provence. To see the apartment in Paris that we rented click here: www.haveninparis.com/rental/ecoles.php
Buy my posters here: AllPosters.com
http://www.allposters.com/-st/Barbara-Van-Zanten-Posters_c81483_.htm
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