Photographing the Streets of Nice and Antibes

I was recently invited by my friend Pia Parolin, an Italian photographer who has made the French Riviera her home for the last decade, to teach a street and urban photography workshop near her home.

I gladly accepted her invite because, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend on the lovely Côte d’Azur doing what they love: taking photos and teaching photography?

We had two days filled with energy, fun, and learning. This was largely due to Pia’s capabilities as an organizer. She even made her beautiful villa on the hills overlooking Antibes available as a meeting venue and, together with her partner in life, she prepared a lovely barbeque on the terrace.

The sunny and warm climate of the Riviera, despite the event having been held in the second half of October, also played a part.

Most of all, however, what made the workshop successful was a group of enthusiastic and very capable students. I wanted them to think hard about their sources of inspiration and possibly find new ones. To get as close as possible to their subjects and set aside their fears. To mind about light and composition even when life is unraveling unpredictably on the street.

Some of their photos are included below, together with mine. I have to admit I was scared about showing my own, since their work was so good that I thought mine would pale, in comparison.

I think I can say–paraphrasing Bogart–that this is the beginning of not just one, but of many beautiful friendships.

Me and Pia are already thinking of scheduling a similar event next spring. If you’d like to know more, check out the workshop page and leave me your email address. I’ll get back to you as soon as we have more details.

And if you don’t want to wait for that and are ready to tackle more ambitious goals with your street and urban photography, bookings for me and Steve Simon’s workshop in Milan are already open!