Individually tailored workshops

The Cairo Photo School workshop is designed to be tailored to your specific needs. We do not sheep dip you in a standardized course. We listen to what you are struggling with or what you want to explore and then use our experience and knowledge to structure the day to make sure you leave motivated, inspired and happy. A typical workshop format would look like this:

• Half-day: We meet in El Fishawi cafe for an early morning cup of mint tea and a discussion on what you want from the day. We’ll review camera settings, how to hold the camera especially in low light, options for composition, metering, depth of field , shutter speeds. We’ll also have a quick look at how you have set up your camera (depending on the model type). Then it is out into the souk and the bustle of Old Islamic Cairo, to construct a photo story, pausing to review lessons learned over a mid-morning cup of tea. The morning concludes with lunch in a local cafe, where we review the photographs made during the workshop with a discussion about future projects.

• Full-day (weekday): The morning session follows the format for the half-day tour (above) but after a mid-afternoon break to escape the hottest and brightest part of the day we meet again at about 3pm, in time to photograph the enchanting Khan el Khalili, El-Moez street and the old Mosques in the best light of the day. Our afternoon session builds on what we learned in the morning, but we now use the idea of a photo essay to focus our picture taking. This provides a direction and structure to the day and helps you to build your portfolio as well as starting to capture compelling images. As night falls the street cafe get busy, the lights come on and we h get some great opportunities to take some night shots. We finish with a quick bite to eat, a review of the day’s activities and discuss ideas for future projects that you can take away and work on.

• Full-day (Friday): Fridays give us the opportunity to go to the famous Birquash Al Gamal Camel market – about 40 minutes outside Cairo. We start very early – about 5am. The morning session follows the format for the half-day tour (above) but since the the market is most lively in the mornings we try and make this as practical as possible. After a late morning break we take a taxi into town, and have lunch in the famous El Fishawi cafe before starting again about 3pm to photograph the enchanting Khan el Khalili, El-Moez street and the old Mosques in the best light of the day. Our afternoon session builds on what we learned in the morning, but we now use the idea of a photo essay to focus our picture taking. This provides a direction and structure to the day and helps you to build your portfolio as well as starting to capture compelling images. We finish with a drink and a review of the days images and discuss ideas for future projects that you can take away and work on.

• Full-day (weekend): Weekend workshops offer an opportunity to move a little out of Cairo and to travel a little further afield. The workshop focuses on the same technical aspects as the weekday course, but the locations now are less well trodden, less touristy and offer an insight into the real Egypt. We’ll collect you by car and we head out to Abu Simbel, where we have some opportunities to see a different pyramid and spend time with an Egyptian family, who gie us lunch in their wonderful orchard. After lunch we head down to Sakarra and do some more street portraiture as well as spend some time in the fields with the date farmers as they scale the date palms. We head back into Cairo before dusk so that we can capture the Pyramids as light falls. We have camels organized so that we can go out away from the madding crowds and get an unusual aspect of these magnificent constructions and the only remaining 7 wonder of the world. We then go to a local restaurant for a lit bite a review of the images and discuss ideas for future projects that you can take away and work on

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How much does it cost?

Half-Day Tour

• 1-2 people: $350 total
• 3-6 people: $100 per person

Full-Day Tour

• 1-3 people: $600 total
• 4-6 people: $175 per person

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What’s included?

• All travel costs
• Lunch
• You need only bring enough local currency for refreshments and dinner at the end (full day only).

What else do I need?

You will need the following

• Camera! (although we can also rent you a camera in certain circumstances)
• Lenses: wide-angle lenses, medium zooms and fixed focal length lenses are ideal.
• Charged batteries
• Formatted memory cards
• Flash/Strobe – if you especially want to but we discuss various ways to make the most of the available light
• Tripod – useful on the full-day workshops
• Sun-screen. Cairo is always sunny
• Hat/Scarf – to protect you from the sun, we spend a lot of time outside
• Spare shirt/blouse.

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Booking

Booking could not be simpler. You just need to complete the booking form below. We’ll get back to you within 24 hours with whether that date works, and if not we will try and provide you with a range of dates. You just need to tell us whether you want a half or full day, how many of you there will be (max is 6), what sort of standard you are.

We’ll also send you a full itinerary including a list of what to bring on the day together with a PayPal invoice for 50% of the total cost. The remaining amount is payable at the conclusion of the tour, either in Egyptian Pounds or US Dollars. Please make sure you have read the Terms and Conditions, and that you sign and either send or bring with you the liability waiver form.