Current Workshops
Monumental and Spiritual: Machu Picchu & Pentecost in Perú
- Date: May 26th to Monday, June 4, 2012 (10 days, 9 nights).
- Fee: $2950
- Instructors: Harvey Stein & Adam L. Weintraub
This will be a busy, exciting, fun workshop, filled with many wonderful shooting opportunities with time also for critiques, discussions of technique and photographic philosophies, and free time for personal exploration. We travel by private bus to the beautiful village of Ollantaytambo. We are there photographing the Pentecost celebrations that include dances, music, processions, bull fights, costumes...and then on to the marvelous Machu Picchu and the Incan Capital of Cusco.
The workshop begins mid-day, May 26th in Cusco, where we travel by private bus to the beautiful village of Ollantaytambo and have an initial meeting, a walk around the town and enjoy a welcome dinner. We are there until Wednesday morning, photographing the Pentecost celebrations that include dances, music, processions, bull fights, costumes, parades, fireworks, etc. One day we venture to remote areas in the Andes to photograph several weaving villages, Andean peaks, alpaca herds, and local people. We travel by local train to incredible Machu Picchu on Wednesday for a full day of photographing and exploring.
We return to Machu Picchu in the early morning light the next day, than travel back to Cusco that early evening. We explore the gorgeous city of Cusco Friday and use it as our base to photograph various towns outside of Cusco (the traditional town of Andahuaylillas, the pre-Inca ruins of Pikillacta and the famous abandoned wool factory of Lucre (one of my personal highlights!). We have final presentations and critiques on Sunday as well as a celebratory farewell dinner before flying to Lima the next morning.
The visit to Lima includes a private guided tour of Peru’s archaeological and cultural layers at one of Lima’s best, Museo Larco - with lunch on site; then the catacombs of San Francisco and the famous central plaza and Bolivar plaza prior to your International Flight. Bon Voyage for an evening flight home.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF PLACES AND EVENTS VISITED
Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo is the last Spanish-speaking town in the Sacred Valley of Peru and is the central village that leads both to the Machu Picchu ruins and the rural indigenous Quechua-speaking villages in the mountains. Its quaint atmosphere, home to 2000 inhabitants, centers around the Plaza de Armas where Incan aqueducts still carry the town’s water through its one cobblestone street. Looming over the town is a dominating Incan fortress, embedded into the side of the rock-face. We will have a guided tour of this fascinating Inca ruin.
Cusco
Cusco, known as “the birthplace of the Incas,” houses a beautiful juxtaposition between the silent Incan history and a colorful vibrancy of the modern hustle-and-bustle of Peru’s second largest city. Catholicism is ever-present in the city, with a larger-than-life statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the city from above. Near the famous central Plaza where we will stay rests the steep hillside district of San Blas, the ruins of Sacsayhuaman (we will visit here) that offer a birds-eye view of the city, the cultural museums, and tourist shops and cafés.
Fiesta Choquekillca
This four-day fiesta worships Saint Choquekillca, the patron saint of Ollantaytambo. The locals of Ollantaytambo prepare year-round for this festival. For these four days, all work and sleep is put on hold. With elaborate hand-made costumes, each family performs one of 17 folkloric dances that represent their Andean history; Spanish conquistadors, African slaves, warriors, campesino women, and many others. The final day of the festival takes place across the Urubamba River, and finishes with a slow procession of over 1000 people who follow Santo Choquekillca over the bridge and up the windy, bumpy road into town. We will photograph the most important days of the festival.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, known as “the lost city of the Incas,” is arguably the most famous attraction of the Incan empire and one of the most valuable historic sites in all of South America. Nestled deep in the Andean jungle, its sheer expanse is an awe-inspiring man-made marvel that has given it the claim as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
One cannot travel to Peru without seeing the beauty of Machu Picchu. We plan to be there Wednesday early afternoon until closing and then among the first arrivals Thursday morning to fully explore and photograph this miracle of the ancient world.
