The End of the Year...

Yesterday we finished our last workshop of the year and our last show of the year the week before that! So we get a couple weeks of down time to work out some more details on new workshops. We're working on dates for a couple workshops in the Phoenix area this winter and spring... will post them when we get them.

We're expecting a nice big snowstorm over the next couple days here in Flagstaff, perfect timing as we're done traveling for the year.

Happy Holidays and New Year to all! Hope to see you at a show or workshop in the near future!

Ciao for now!

Another Digital Basics Workshop

Coming up December 5th, we'll run another Digital Photo Basics class, which is a lot of fun for both beginning photographers and those who are new to digital. We spend the morning in the classroom learning, take a break for a while outside to shoot some photos (hopefully the weather will cooperate!), then come back and learn how to get them out of the camera and onto your computer and/or share them.

I make cookies and provide snacks and drinks, then pick up wraps to order from a local shop (usually about $5-7) for lunch.

Please check our website for information/schedule and call or email us to sign up.

Ciao!

Villages of Provence...

Ahhh Provence, one of my favorite places in the world. I truly think I was Provençal in a former life... there's something about the place that puts me at ease. Of course it could also be the amazing food, culture and scenery!

We've just finalized our itinerary and pricing for our Villages of Provence Photography Workshop, September 11-18, 2010. Structured in similar fashion to our Tuscany workshop, it will be a first class tour. See our website for more details.

A Bientôt!

Tuscany 2010!

We're now accepting registration for our Villages of Tuscany workshop in May 2010. Click here to get all the info! We're still working out all the details for our Provence workshop in September 2010, but will have pricing soon... Please check the website for our current schedule as we have a lot coming up.

Ciao for now!

A Busy Autumn!

With Flagstaff Open Studios over- we had great turn out, thanks to our great artists and all those who made it out to the studio- we're now moving on to more workshop planning...

Joel's decided to offer a last minute addition to the schedule for this October- "Efficient Digital Workflow, Utilizing Lightroom." Check out the description on the website- it will be fairly advanced and very useful to those who need a little organization in their photographic life!

We've also been finalizing details for next year's "Villages of Tuscany" tour in May 2010. A new description will soon follow...

Ciao for now!

Digital Photo Basics, Planning, and a New Release!

We finished the Digital Photo Basics Workshop last weekend and I think people really enjoyed it- we did too! We'll do another one at some point because we've had a lot of interest in it.

We're also working on our Tuscany (May 2010) and Provence (September 2010) workshops, can't wait to go back to Europe! We're also looking at adding a new workshop- Vermont Fall Color for October 2010. Given that Vermont is where I grew up we'll get to a lot of places that most people don't see.

Open Studios is coming up this weekend- we're glad to have a great ceramicist, Greg Wenz, back, and we're excited to host two new artists this year- Milly Haeuptle, a local Jeweler, and Jane Boggs, a gourd artist. For complete descriptions, see the Flagstaff Open Studios Brochure, which is available online, at the Visitor's Center, or at the Coconino Center for the Arts.

The photo is Joel's NEW RELEASE for the show this weekend, called "Tramonto sulla Villa," Sunset on the Villa, from our trip to Italy in May.

Ciao!

Getting ready for Flagstaff Open Studios

Now that Joel's finished teaching his printing workshop we're converting the classroom back to a studio- getting ready for Open Studios. We're going to host 3 other artists: Greg Wenz, an awesome ceramicist from Tempe; Milly Haeuptle with hand crafted jewelry, and Jane Boggs makes masks, spirit people and vessels from gourds. AND we'll have live music with classical guitarist Craig Yarbrough and symphony cellist Melissa Cripps. Here's a link for open studios. And you can download the brochure here.

Joel should have at least one new release. I forgot to post his new release from our Studio show so here it is.

The Print Workshop

Yesterday and today, we've been running the print workshop- Joel teaches and I provide food. Saturday was intense information day and today he'll actually make a large print for all 6 participants!

And I'm making homemade blueberry muffins :)

It's a lot of fun!

Ciao for now...

Our Studio Show

We're busy preparing for our Studio Show tomorrow... cleaning up the studio, printing something new and hanging everything on the walls! Not that the studio is normally messy, but well, it is a working studio!

Click here to link to some of our NEW IMAGES!

We'll have snacks, drinks, live music and will be open from 10am-4pm. Please call for directions: 928-526-3726.

It would be nice to see some of you :)

Ciao,

Barb

A Show in Santa Fe

We're headed to a show in Santa Fe tomorrow. For anyone in the area, it will be on the plaza Saturday and Sunday. We're looking forward to some freshly roasted green chiles! Yum :)

The following weekend, we'll have our home show, then the printing workshop- busy month! And over Labor Day we're considering making a road trip up to Wyoming... more on that later!

Ciao!

Barb

More Efficient Than I Thought...

Well, Joel was more efficient than I thought and had already put a description of the new Beginning Digital Photography workshop (Sept 12) on the web site. I updated the schedule below to include a link. But to save you some scrolling here it is again: Beginning Digital Photography

New Workshop New Release and a Show

It’s been a busy week trying to get ready for this weekend’s show, especially choosing the new release.

We’ve also been working on putting together a new workshop for those of you who are new to digital photography. This will be for anyone who wants to learn the basics even if you’re an old hand at film photography but not yet familiar with your digital camera and not sure what a megapixel is...

The new release, above, is titled “Acquedotto” (aqueduct) and here's our updated schedule including the new beginning digital photography workshop:

July 4th weekend: Art in the Park- Wheeler Park Flagstaff

August 1-2: Girls Inc. Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

August 8: A Special Opening at our Studio!

August 15-16: Digital Printing Workshop (more details are on the website)

September 12: Beginning Digital Photography Workshop (details on the website)

October 14-18: Sedona Photography Workshop (more details on the website)

Coming Soon...

Ok, so I've been slacking a little with posting stuff... I'll get better, I promise! Just wanted to put up a quick note that Joel will have a couple new releases coming soon. I'll post links when we get them!

Here's our upcoming schedule in brief:

July 4th weekend: Art in the Park- Wheeler Park Flagstaff

August 1-2: Girls Inc. Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

August 8: A Special Opening at our Studio!

August 15-16: Digital Printing Workshop (more details are on the website)

October 14-18: Sedona Photography Workshop (more details on the website)

The photo (Joel took it) is from a recent hike we took near where we did our fall workshop last year- it's just as beautiful at this time of year!

Ciao for now :)

A Review

Here's a nice article about our workshop that will also refer you back to the blog! We did get a lot of positive feedback on our Tuscan Workshop... We're already planning for next year and will add Provence, France to the schedule as well.

Click here to link to the article...

Ciao!

Joel's New Release...

Ok, here's a link to Joel's new release: "Toscana I."

It's part of a new series of very limited editions he's doing... so he won't be printing very many of them!

Come see us (and his new image on canvas) at Wheeler Park in Flagstaff this Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25th.

Show hours are: 9am-5pm Saturday and Sunday, 9am-4pm Monday.

Ciao!

Keep it Going!

I've had several people suggest that I keep the blog going... so I'm going to give it a try! I'll try to make an update every week or so with information regarding our upcoming shows, workshops, and Joel's new releases.

Here's a photo we took in Le Marche. Joel also shot some really cool video of the same poppy field in the wind.

I will probably put up Joel's new release when he chooses it as well!

Ciao...

More photos...

Keep checking... these are still mine, but we'll probably put up some of Joel's soon!

Home Again

Today is our recovery day from travel/jetlag, but I thought I'd post a few "extras." Ciao!

A Long Journey Home...

We're sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for our flight back to Flagstaff (almost home!) and I thought I'd post some more photos from the trip... one I like, and one is just for fun. If you look in the foreground of the first one- there's a crepe maker, usually about 12"+ across- so those Nutella jars are about gallon size!!

We'll be doing a show in Flagstaff Memorial Day Weekend and hopefully Joel will have time to print something new... We'll also be updating the website with some new info on upcoming workshops... lots to come!

Ciao...

More!

Here are a couple more photos of Le Marche... including one of Joel shooting at sunset.

Scenics of Le Marche

Today we drove about an hour north to a really great walled artist city- the birthplace of Raffaelo. On the way, we saw a lot of vineyards, and finally the intense field of red poppies that we've been looking for! It was absolutely amazing...

Italia has inspired me and I've been cooking- pine nut and rosemary encrusted chicken... we enjoyed it with a bottle of local white, very good.
Ciao!

A New Location...

Well, we have now fallen in love with Le Marche... it is more mountainous than Tuscany and less touristed so we have had several villages completely to ourselves! They tell us the high season has not yet begun and that it does get busy in the summer, but we like it now! The weather has been wonderful and the people very warm and friendly.

Today we bought fresh pasta and vegetables at the market that I'll make for dinner, mmmm..... I'll put a scenic of Le Marche in the next post :)

Ciao!

A Wonderful End...

We were sad to see everyone leave, but the workshop was wonderful! I think we enjoyed it as much as our participants did. Our last day, we visited a beautiful walled medieval village with ancient wine cellars and a local organic farm where they make amazing sheep cheese, among other wonderful things. We had what was very nearly my favorite meal of the trip at the farm, which is saying a lot. And of course the adorable great pyrenee puppy- nearly 5 weeks old- won all our hearts! I think everyone was impressed by their own photographs at our "Greatest Hits" slide show.

Joel and I are now in Le Marche and hope to find some treasures to photograph in the area. We are going to a town celebration dinner tonight, which should be a lot of fun... and tasty of course.

Ciao!

Ah... the rolling hills of Toscana!

Here's part of our group shooting "the zig-zag road," which has become a symbol of Tuscany. It is a beautiful spot, I must admit! This was a fun day and we ended up having another wonderful dinner. Tomorrow morning, we'll shoot in the morning, then tour a sheep farm where they are famous for their cheese... we'll get some samples too!

Ciao!

A Beautiful Garden

This is what happens when you hang out with a bunch of photographers! You end up with some silly photos... but we're definitely having fun! And the garden and its grounds were fabulous!

Sunrise

This morning we got up for sunrise and were rewarded with the most spectacular view of the Val d’Orcia yet! There was beautiful fog in the valley which created distinct layers across the rolling green hills- amazing!

This afternoon, we head to a well known estate and garden to shoot during sweet light, to be followed by, no big surprise, another spectacular meal! Our day off yesterday was much needed, actually got some work done...

Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

Photos

Ok, so here are some more photos that I wanted to post earlier, but didn't have time. Enjoy!

Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

Days 2 & 3

Here’s our group having a 3-course “tasting” lunch at a local winery. It’s in a beautiful location with stunning views in every direction, so our workshop particpants also managed to shoot some pictures! We also stopped off at a well known abbey for some late afternoon light. Joel says in Tuscany, the “sweet light” lasts much longer than in the US. This way, we have more time to shoot pictures while the light is good.

Tuesday is our “day off,” so after class in the morning, we get to relax or go for a walk through the countryside... once I get this posted, I may do just that!

Ciao

Day 1

This morning we went out with the group to shoot sunrise over the Val d’Orcia. The weather was clear except for some fog in the valley which made for wonderful photos! I think we were all glad we got up early... We also took a guided walk through the town of Pienza (these are photos from our walk).

Tonight, we will visit a small walled village near Pienza and take a scenic drive on some country roads. Tomorrow will also be a busy day! Oh, and for the record, I did not take these two!

Ciao...

www.joelwolfson.com

The Workshop Begins...

Apparently there has been a little confusion regarding the photos I'm posting to the site- they are all mine. I certainly have my own private tutor... and a good one at that :) but unless I state otherwise, the photos are taken by me.

All our workshop participants have arrived safely! We'll have our welcome dinner tonight at one of the best restaurants in town- more fabulous Italian food- with a sunrise shoot in Pienza tomorrow. I think we're doing enough walking because all of my clothes still fit!

Siena

We went to Siena Thursday and although it was overcast for part of the time, the sun came out while a storm was brewing and made for a very dramatic photo. Joel always says- go out during inclement weather to get the best photos. We drove a back way on our return to Pienza through some very scenic hills during the "sweet light" near sunset, another great time to shoot photos! Our workshop participants arrive tomorrow, so I may not be able to post everyday... Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

Giardino

Italian gardens are typically very geometric in design like this one. I think this makes them interesting to photograph. As far as flowers, we're seeing climbing wisteria and peonies, and the roses are just starting to open- they all smell nice!

Sunshine!

Finally a sunny day! And we’re back early enough to get out another post. We visited a nearby walled village with a tiny church from the 11th century- so cute! I think Joel got some really nice shots today too. Hopefully we’ll have decent weather tomorrow- we’re off to Siena. Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

Tuscan Rooftops

Here’s a view over some rooftops into the valley. This shot was Joel’s idea- to include the lichen covered rooftops for some contrast with the vibrant greens of the Tuscan countryside. Looks like we’re getting a break in the weather today! It’s a sunny morning, hopefully it will last. Our dinner last night was one of our best yet, homemade gnocchi that melts in your mouth! Mmmmm... Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

Wine Country

We visited a beautiful walled city complete with a fortress (fortezza) at the top. Admittedly, the sky was a boring shade of gray all day with intermittent rain, so Joel didn’t shoot much. He was able to get some interesting people shots, window boxes and architectural details. The views around the winery we visited were amazing- endless Tuscan hills in the background and vines everywhere! Of course the wine was quite good too... Ciao!

www.joelwolfson.com

A Rainy Day

Although the weather has gotten quite rainy, we’re making the best of it. I have to give Joel credit for continuing to get great photos under less than perfect conditions... I guess that’s part of what he’ll be teaching in the workshop! Of course, one of our favorite things about Italy is the food and wine- and we’re certainly making the best of that! Today, we visit a walled city and a local winery... we haven’t decided who’s driving today!

www.joelwolfson.com

Toscana

We visited a medieval village nearby yesterday and drove around the countryside... beautiful. We're supposed to get more rain today, but we've got umbrellas and it is no less beautiful in the rain- just wet! While driving on some back roads yesterday we saw some local cuisine as well- wild boars- which we later sampled in some pasta sauce for dinner! Quite tasty...

www.joelwolfson.com

Morning in Pienza

We're staying in Pienza, which is in the Val d'Orcia, a UNESCO World Heritage site- this is what it looks like... very storybook. Through UNESCO, development here is very restricted, so it looks much the same as it has for centuries. We consider ourselves very lucky to be here. Now that we've recovered from jetlag, I think we'll do some more exploring. Ciao for now.

We're here!

After many hours of travel... we had a beautiful drive from Rome to Pienza, Tuscany. When we arrived, we asked a couple of locals for restaurant recommendations and in classic Italian style one of them wrote down the name of a restaurant- the other guy said something in Italian obviously not-so-good about the restaurant in question, they argued a little, and the first guy agreed and actually scratched the restaurant off our list! They definitely take their food seriously... as do we :) I took this photo on our walk into town for dinner... a little bit of rain is sometimes a good thing!

Dogs

It was a beautiful sunny day today so we just HAD to get a picture of the dogs for the blog before we leave! Aren't they cute? We'll miss them...

Preparation...

Buon Giorno, here's the first post! We're currently prepping all our gear, creating packing lists, etc. I'll be posting as often as possible once in Italy, given internet access. All photos posted will be my personal snapshots, unless otherwise indicated... We leave April 23rd- so my next post will likely be from Italy :) Ciao!