I have been on two trips now with Darren Lewey, who runs Immages in the Sun. The first one was a photorgaphic course for a week in Essaouira. This was a mixture of tuition, trips to various locations and feedback. The was all tied in with an excellent holiday in Essaouira which is a lovely Medina including a harbour full of blue fishing boats. Professional tuition and support from Darren and a brilliant holiday as well!

I followed this up the next year with Darren's ten day tour of the High Atlas. This time we were also accompanied by Darren's lovely wife Naima (who by the way also offers courses on Moroccan cookery). We were conveyed in Darren's 4x4 and stopped at hotels in seven different locations varying from the Atlas Mountains to the deserts including one night in Berber tent in the desert (optional!) We went to stunning locations, met some lovely locals and, although this is not a course as such, still received first rate support from Darren on the photographic side.

I can not speak too highly of these two trips, or of Darren and Naima. I will be back!

I joined Darren for a day, on two separate occasions, while I was staying in Essaouira in November. The first day was for portraits and reportage - Darren started the day by running through the basics that we might need and making sure everyone found the relevant settings on their cameras. With a mixed abilities group, it is always hard to find the right balance between making sure the beginners have all they need to get started but not spending too long so that more advanced users get bored. For me, I thought Darren got it just right - he managed to make it informative and relevant to what we would be trying to achieve and also showed examples on his laptop, which helped make sense of it all. I felt I learnt more in the first hour with Darren than I had on any other photo days I've experienced. Once we got out around Essaouira, Darren kept checking on each of us, monitoring our progress and offering help and advice where needed, but was not overbearing. He was also constantly looking out for photo opportunities and pointing them out to us if we had missed them, which really helped to get you to tune in to your "artistic eye". He encouraged us to be confident when going for a shot and also advised when one might be inappropriate, as not everyone was open to being photographed. After a couple of hours of working around the port and with 3 ladies who posed for us, we had a break for lunch and then met again in the late afternoon, when the light was more interesting, for further work around the port and old town. Once it was dark, we returned to the hotel, where Darren went through all our photos, picking out about a dozen from each person which he then went through in more detail, offering advice and encouragement, pointing out strengths and weaknesses in each shot. This was quite a feat as I think each of us had about 200 photos to be looked at initially! If he had criticism, he always tried to make it constructive and helpful, so that we could learn and improve.
The second day spent with Darren was with one other person, of a similar experience to myself. We went out to a Berber market and after lunch, on to a river valley with a small waterfall and sand dunes for some landscape work. I found that I was much more confident in the market as a result of the work I had done the previous week with Darren. We had the opportunity for more self expression on this trip, but Darren was always available if we needed help or advice and he was still always keeping an eye open for photo opportunities we might have missed. At the end, he created two folders of our best photos on his website and gave advice on how we might continue to improve. I feel I definitely gained from spending two days with Darren - he was both informative and encouraging and I think the photos I took while in Essaouira showed a definite improvement over time, with the last ones being some of the best I have taken. I would definitely recommend his courses for anyone wanting to improve the quality of their photos, as well as enjoying a great place, which is incredibly photogenic. (Note: The photos seem to be displayed in a random order and not the order they were taken/loaded)