Workshops

Workshops (Not Photo Tours!)

Each year I do very few, very select, targeted and focused workshops teaching photographers the use of light in the field and its use for actual storytelling. I also run very few private workshops for people who want to go beyond what a group setting has to offer. However, after a lot of demand, I thought expanding the workshops might be a good idea. Below are some of the current workshops - please contact me if a specific story or location you're interested in is not listed.

Please keep in mind that these are actual teaching workshops, not photo tours - and we cannot stress this enough! During the workshops we will focus on learning, on planning and testing and we'll put everything we learn into practice. The goals are to demystify the art of lighting on location and harness it in crafting great images. What we are not going to do is bring you to a location, set up shots for your portfolio, pat you in the back and move on to the next. If that's what you're looking for, we can recommend a number of great photo tours with talented photographers.But if you want to learn in a collaborative, exciting and demanding environment, I fully encourage you to read the information below and contact us if you have further questions.

Into the Heart of Voodoo

If you ever dreamt of experiencing and truly documenting the mystical and to feel the raw energy of a real voodoo ceremony, then this is the workshop for you. With unparalleled access to secretive sects and ceremonies in Benin, the birthplace of voodoo, you'll get to work with priests and abbots, learn how different ceremonies are structured and how to use studio strobes to create highly impactful images which tell the story of this incredible and unusual religion and its people - both priests and supplicants.Along with lighting, you'll learn previsualisation and planning, working with challenging locations and crafting complex, timeless and emotive visual tableaux which transcend the ordinary.

Tribes of Northern Kenya

It's really not difficult to travel to Kenya, nor is it impossible to head to the north and visit the Turkana, the Pokkot, the Gabbra, and the El Mollo . In fact there are dozens of photo tours promising to take you there. But we'll teach you to push past ordinary travel photography and, together with these amazing people, take your photography to the next level by bringing lights into your storytelling arsenal.From pre-dawn to dusk we'll balance ambient with strobe, explore complex individual and group setups , explore different lighting scenarios (including harnessing the sun in all its glory!) and craft incredible images showing the beauty, majesty and incredible authenticity of these amazing people, their lives, cultures and history..

Tribes of Ecuadorian Amazonia

It's in most people's bucket list and for the photographer, capturing an original, remote, Amazonia tribe is a must. But we'll take it further - much further. Building on the close relationship we've built with the Huaorani, the Shuar and the Cofan, we'll work extremely closely with these incredible people to create different, emotional but above all, impactful images which tell the story of these people today.In challenging conditions but in truly breathtaking surrounding, we'll be using our lights and different techniques to go beyond the archetypal tribal photography and craft emotive images which bridge history and bring the past and the present together, capturing the spirit of the Amazonian people and their thirst for life.

Customer Testimonials

We are both humbled and honoured to have led over a dozen very successful workshops in the last few years alone (we're tactfully leaving the 2 Covid years out here) and some of our customers have been kind and generous enough to leave us some testimonials (and no, no bribing was involved):

01

"Marios delivered a truly inspiring, knowledge and inspiration-filled experience, introducing the wonderful world of strobe lighting on location to me. The workshop massively expanded my visual and story-telling arsenal and will allow me to break new boundaries. I will be using strobes with confidence in my work from now on."

Jamie S.

02

"I was always apprehensive of studio lights, even more when travelling. In a few short days and under challenging conditions, Marios was able to not only demystify the art of lighting but to show me new and exciting ways to bring strobes into every aspect of my photography. I can't wait to see how I can apply what I learned..."

Anna L.

03

"I had always admired the images being produced by photographers shot with amazing lighting, something I was never able to replicate. By day 3 of the workshop I was shocked to see images far better than I had seen online simply appear on the back of my camera! Now, I bought my own strobes and the sky is the limit!"

Damian R.

04

"I have gone on 5 different photo tours, including a NG-organised one, and yet, I don't think I've ever had more fun, learned more and created better images than the ones I created during Marios' workshop. Well structured, thought provoking and technically challenging, but worth every cent. I've already booked the second one!"

George Y.

Other tours (subject to dates finalisation)

While the above are the confirmed workshops, there are a number of destinations we traditionally travel to, so please return to this page frequently to check for updates or simply contact us and we'll keep you updated.

Ethiopia

March (TBD)

On the footsteps of religion's birth. This is a trip through the monasteries, churches, graveyards and places of worship scattered throughout Ethiopia. After many years of building close, trusted, relationships with a lot of local priests, abbots and monks, we learn how to be sensitive about using our lights - how to bring photography into a church and still maintain the mysticism of the place, how to create portraits that go beyond a priest posing with a cross. This is not an easy or simple workshop - we'll need to move quickly at every stage, prepare exhaustively and be ready to think on your feet more than pretty much any other workshop out there!

MongoliaFebruary (TBD)

In the past, Mongolia workshops for us have always been about the Kazakh eagle hunters of the western borders in the Altai mountains. Incredibly rich culturally and visually and, let's face it, really easy to photograph. Mongolia does present some challenges however, which is why most workshops take place in early autumn. For our upcoming workshops we're going to push things where few people have pushed them before. Our plan is to run the workshop in the heart of winter and combine two of Mongolia's most incredible sights: the shamans of the ice lakes of the north and the eagle hunters. We fully anticipate this to be a VERY challenging and demanding workshop, certainly not for the faint-hearted, so please reach out if you think this might be of interest.

IndiaNov (TBD)

India is vast, complex and quite possibly, more filled with humanity than any other place on earth. There's a reason why it has been the source of incredible images since photography was invented. Our workshop is designed to take you even beyond lighting - it is designed to drive your creativity into new levels and to show you how to harness complex lighting and effects to do just that. Venturing deep into the world of the aghori and the more esoteric sadhus and experiencing their ceremonies and practices, we will craft complex images and tableaux much bigger in scope than street portraits. This is a challenging workshop but am incredibly rewarding one.

Using Zenfolio