Workshops
THE GOAL
The main goal of my workshops in landscape photography is to tailor them to the needs and abilities of each photographer taking part in them. The landscapes of eastern Poland, from the north to the south, with its diversity of form, light, changing seasons will be the playground for my workshops. Technical and esthetical problems will rise up depending on the situation and abilities of the photographers. I rather prefer to tackle with situations that come unexpectedly in the course of the workshops, then to adjust and adapt situations to a theoretical plan conceived before. Each kind of landscape has its own secrets and hidden beauty which needs different esthetical and technical approach.
I want to give you the most of my 30 years of experience in landscape photography.
I want to show photographers the other Poland, the country and landscapes off the beaten tourist track: the borderlands of eastern Poland, a real pearl for the landscape photographer.
THE PLACES
Suwalskie. A land of lakes, big and small, hidden among hills and fields. A land of Poles and Lithuanian. The Wigry National Park and the Suwalski Landscape Park are considered one the most beautiful in the polish lowlands.
Podlasie . The diversity of this region and especially its eastern part is astonishing. I want to take you to a part of it (from Sokółka to in the north to Jałówka in the south) once inhabited by large numbers of farmers, but now due to industrialization and mass migration to cities, almost desolated. Lonely villages with no farmers, fields changing to grasslands, big skies above the vast wilderness. The land of Catholics, Orthodox followers and polish Muslims.
Białowieża Forest and Knyszyńska Forest. Vast forests with changing landscapes and varied flora and fauna. Beautiful in every season. The last wilderness in Europe and the homeland of the polish bison (żubr). Supraśl a town hidden in the woods, the site of a wonderful, fortified medieval orthodox monastery and church.
Mielnik and the river Bug. This is the place, where I live. An old historical village situated on the high riverside bank of the wild river Bug. The landscape here, due to the work of the glacier, is differential: woods, fields, meadows, lonely country roads and the wild river Bug snacking around from Terespol to Drohiczyn (The River Bug Landscape Park)
Roztocze. A wonderful blend of forests with rapid rivers and streams and rolling strips of farmland. Among them, villages and old towns and the pearl of polish renaissance - Zamość.
Bieszczady and Beskid Niski. Mountains, once densely populated, now wild, with beautiful mountain pastures, where one can really feel the wind of freedom. Sites of villages, which no more exist, small orthodox wooden churches, war cementeries from WWI. Here, among mountains and hills one of the biggest battles of WW I, The Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive, took place. This is the site of the Bieszczady National Park.
CALENDAR OF MY LANDSCAPE WORKSHOPS
WINTER IN THE BIESZCZADY MOUNTAINS 23-29/01/2012 and 29/01/2012-05/02/2012
The location: Muczne a small settlement in the San River Wilderness just at the foot of the high Bieszczady Mountains (one hour climbing to the top). We will live in Arnika Pension www.bieszczady.net.pl/arnika/
Workshops: We will work in high mountains, forests, frozen streams and rivers and in winter conditions. We will discover the world of small wooden orthodox churches.
Fee: 750 Euro including bed and food
Take a look at the Bieszczady Mountains in winter in the gallery
For more information phone +48 608 128746 or write cieslapiotr5@gmail.com
PODLASIE. FROM JAŁÓWKA TO SOKÓŁKA 8-14 July
Once again as last year I want to take you to places of extreme beauty. Before the war and till the end of the sixties, this was a place with villiages and farmland, but migration to big cities changed everything. Farmland is begining to change into grasslands, once even overpopulated villiages are now empty with a couple of old people waiting for their destiny. It is a kind of land forgotten by God and people, but now it is even more beautiful for photography, especially landscape photography. We will mainly do our photographic trips on bicycle. We will live in a little villiage Łapicze far away from civilisation. I asure you that photographically and from the tourist point of view it will be an unforgetable experience. More information about my way of teaching and about the place under GOAL and PODLASIE
The fee: 800 Euro including bed and food
For more information phone +48608128746 or write cieslapiotr5@gmail.com
SUWALSKIE 9-15 August
I think that Suwalskie is the most beautiful lowland region in the polish plain. But really its not so flat. Its a postglacier region, so among rolling hills, big and small, there are cristal clear water lakes, meadows, groves and farms. Some times it looks as if this was a fairytale landscape. And the Wigry National Park and Suwalski Landscape Park are the most beautiful. This is a borderland (in fact most of my workshops take place in borderlands). Here Poles and Lithuanians live side by side, influencing each others culture. The best way to photograph Suwalskie is on bicycle. But one can`t go too long a distance, because everywhere there are motifs for making pictures. On the last day we will take part in a lively, traditional festival at the capitol of the Lithuanians living in Poland, in Punsk. There is a fair, catholic mass (exactly two masses: in the polish and lithuanian language) and all day and night a singing and dancing festival. The dishes served during the festival are traditional lithuanian. More information about my way of carrying on thw workshops, about Suwalskie region, above under GOAL nad PODLASIE. Pictures in the gallery
The fee: 800 Euro including bed and food
For more information phone +48608128746 or write cieslapiotr5@gmail.com
BIESZCZADY 4 - 10 october
For me Bieszczady Mountains and the adjoining Beskid Niski Mountains are the most beautiful in Poland. Before the war those mountains were overpopulated, but as a result of the war and after it (the fighting between ukrainian partisans and polish army) Bieszczady became really ghost mountains. Only after building in the sixties the road ring did live slowly came back. But it never reasembled the prewar life. Thanks to this Bieszczady mountains are really unpopulated, full of big forests and really wild. We will discover and photograph the high mountain pastures (called Poloniny in polish), big and wild forests, mountain streams and rivers, small wooden orthodox churches left after the war (most of them were burned down), places now empty, where before the war big villiges with hundreds of people existed. We will live in a small settlement Muczne (during the communist times only high rank party official could come here to hunt). An hour climb from here and we will be on the Poloniny - high mountain pastures. More information and pictures from Bieszczady above under GOAL and PODLASIE and in the Gallery.
The fee: 800 Euro including bed and food
For more information phone +48608128746 or write cieslapiotr5@gmail.com
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I decided that the maximum number of photographers for each workshop cannot exceed 7 persons. That guaranties a high level and the ability to work individually with each one.
A photographer willing to take part in my workshops should have a basic technical knowledge of the camera, an interest in landscape photography.
My workshops are quite exhausting. We work from dawn till sunset.
The cost of a 7 day workshop is 800 Euro including bed and food. Each participant pays for the journey to the destination of the workshop. You should reserve an additional 2 days for the arrival and departure. I can take up participants from Warsaw airport.
When in other places then Mielnik, we live and sleep in pensions and agricultural hostels of a good level and a good cuisine, often with regional dishes.
If the above terms don`t suit you or you want a longer stay, please phone or write. I can always arrange a personal stay in any of the above mentioned places, in a time and for a time, that suits you.
For more information don`t hesitate and phone +48 608 128746 or write to cieslapiotr5@gmail.com
On my website you can find pictures showing the places where the workshops take place.
I do hope you will come and I am sure that it will be a photographic adventure one of its kind.
Best wishes. Piotr.