Photography & Wellbeing
with Graham Parish & Adrian Wyatt
6 - 13 November 2024
Cost £825 per person
The Venue Well known for magical meaningful holidays, excellent food and exceptional staff, our award-winning set up relocated in 2020 to a newly-created 1 acre site beside the town walls. Featuring a chlorine-free pool and permaculture gardens, the stunning sustainably-run Ecolodge enjoys sun all year round, having the best winter climate in Morocco due to its southerly setting in the fertile Souss Valley.
The new eco lodge is fantastic, with a lush garden and a swimming pool. The rooms are authentic Moroccan style with everything that you need for a comfy stay. The staff are like a welcoming family and will guide you whether you want to find certain things in the souk or go for a short walk in the High Atlas or visit Berber villages in a safe and non-invasive manner. The food served is exceptionally good.
Places to Visit Taroudant is little visited by tourists, has shopper-friendly souks with an exotic traditional atmosphere. It lies between contrasting mountain landscapes: the majestic High Atlas and the extraordinary Anti-Atlas (beyond which lies the Sahara). And it is only an hour’s drive from the sandy, rocky and marshy habitats of the Atlantic coast.
Feel safe Thanks to the care of lovley English-speaking staff, good medical facilities, excellent WiFi, safe water as well as the town being small, relaxed and friendly with few tourists.
Heartful Holistic Holidays with a wide choice of other authentic activities including supporting charitable projects. Explore the fascinating culture with the help of delightful guides; option to explore, use our library or small spa, swim or laze in the sun or shade.
The People Enjoy the support of 11 charming, experienced, mainly English-speaking, Moroccan staff and the resident tutor for your chosen week. The Holidays with Heart UK team provide substantial pre-visit information and support based on 30 years’ experience of Morocco. Read more about our team here
Optional activities include crafts, cookery, language, visits to charitable projects, walking, wildlife, massage and several other choices run by the amazingly knowledgeable guides. Read more about our activities here
You will learn the principles of mindfulness and apply them to your photography enabling you to develop your own personal photographic style. Small group with 2 excellent tutors – you will get all the attention you want!
Every day we are bombarded with thousands of thoughts and sights. So many in fact that we stop noticing them individually. We take loads of photos with our phones or digital cameras.
At the wonderful La Maison Anglaise Ecolodge in Morocco we will have the opportunity to stop, breathe, look and take photographs with a little more thought, using the skills of mindfulness – staying in the moment, becoming more aware. Mindful photography is not about creating award winning images or seeking validation of the photographs through social media channels. It is a judgement-free personal response to the moment and the world around you at any given time.
Being aware and present in our own lives is something we need to question and explore. There are so many demands on our time we rarely make time for ourselves to notice what is around us or even how we actually feel about something or somewhere. We may feel tired, stressed or depressed but we won’t make judgements on those facts. We simply accept them for what they are. Acceptance means, among other things, that we stop trying to change things we can’t control. This saves us a lot of time and energy and in the long run, saves our sanity.
What will be covered?
• The principles and practice of mindfulness and how to apply them in everyday situations
• How to apply mindfulness to ways of seeing and your creative photographic practice
• How to produce a mindful photographic project which helps develop your photographic style
• Photographic skills for your particular level of ability.
What will you achieve?
By the end of this workshop you should be able to…
• use the simple mindfulness techniques you’ve learnt
• carry out simple meditation techniques to reduce stress
• apply mindfulness to develop ways of seeing to enhance your creative photographic practice and style.
With every photo you take we’d like you to write something down in your notebook. It doesn’t matter what – it might be just one word – whatever comes to mind.
Summary
Cost: £825 per person
Includes:
- Airport transfers from/to Agadir at one designated time
- Accommodation in en suite twin or double bedroom; single occupancy on request
- Substantial breakfasts and vegetarian evening meals (meat or fish at extra cost)
- Lunches every day except one, when lunch is an optional extra
- Tutored workshops
Excludes:
- Flights (often under £70 return if booked early)
- Single occupancy supplement £20 per night
- Travel insurance (required)
- Tips
- Meat or fish supplement
- Tourist Taxes 41 MAD (approx £3.20) per person per night)
Options payable in Morocco:
See details of prices and choices
- Cultural experiences
- Excursions
- Supplement for meat or fish dishes
- Feast for the Senses
- Taxi transfers at a fair cost for those travelling at different times or places
Trip Advisor
Number 1 in the Taroudant Region 2022. Travellers’ Choice 2020 & 2021
Voted Top 10 in the World: Lonely Planet Eco Stays 2014 & VegeNews Vegetarian Holidays 2005
Responsible Tourism Trophy for Community Project Work 2009
Photo: Left photo; Adrian Wyatt, right; Graham Parish
Read more about Graham here and about Adrian here.
To Book or Express an Interest: Limited places available. Request a place at www.cecu.co.uk/book We will then send you the payment schedule (split into instalments with £100 initial deposit).
Book early to get good flight prices, but please do NOT book flights until we give the go-ahead!
More Information For FAQs go to www.cecu.co.uk/faqs
Contact us: www.cecu.co.uk/contact or visit www.holidays-with-heart.co.uk
We will also send detailed pre-visit information after you book.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
There will be daily tutored sessions and possibly spontaneously at inspiring places.
Each day you may choose one of the optional activities on offer below. Anything listed as “optional” means it is payable locally and not included in the price. Please see our price list for costs.
Day 1 Arrival Day – Our drivers meet you at Agadir airport late morning. Lunch, settle in, introductory talk and tour of the site. Optional massages. Optional tour around town walls by horse-drawn taxi.
Day 2 Optional excursion: walking at one of 2 oases and possibly in the Anti Atlas Mountains with Said.
Day 3 Optional cultural experience: cookery lesson; massages; experience our on-site solar powered hammam.
Day 4 Optional excursion: High Atlas Berber Villages – an insight into daily lives of villagers in the mountains with Rachid.
Day 5 Exploring Taroudant. Optional cultural experiences: shopping in the souk; massages; experience our on-site solar powered hammam.
Day 6 Optional excursion: walking and wildlife in the High Atlas Mountains with Said.
Day 7 Optional cultural experiences: henna tattoos. Finish shopping. Optional lunch out at a restaurant of your choice (at your expense).
Day 8 Farewell. Depart after breakfast.