Dear PARTICIPANTS,

So happy to have you on board.
Congratulations, once again for being a #TPMR2019,
Our fifth edition of The Photography Master Retreat.

We look forward to meeting you in July.

Please read the Work Section carefully and meet the faces of your fellow TPMR 2019!

Best,

Martine Fougeron

Founder and Mentor of The Photography Master Retreat

Please make sure you are member of our social media platforms to stay abreast of our community with events and announcements:
The Photography Master Retreat Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photographymasterretreat/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomasterretreat/

DEAR PARTICIPANTS,

So happy to have you on board.
Congratulations, once again for being a #TPMR2018,
Our fourth edition of The Photography Master Retreat.

In order to facilitate your trip and organization, we will kindly ask you to do 3 things. as we mentioned in our email.

Please do so before Sunday June 17th you have done so.

1/Send the invoice for the remaining payement to the 2018 TPMR, which is due March 20, 2018 for the early birds and April 7, 2019 for the other participants.

2/ Please find enclosed the PHOTO and RELEASE Forms which we would like you to fill out and send back to us as via e mail as soon as you can.

Here is the document to download.

3/ Once you have made your travel plans, please send us this TRAVEL FORM which will allow us to program the car-taxi pools for you. Please fill out and send back to us via e mail.

Here is the document to download.

You can always log onto this private page wherever you are so try to keep it handy during your travel.
We will update it with your photos and names, as well as information on your travel arrangement and car pools
as these become known.
http://www.thephotographymasterretreat.com/for-participants
Password: participants

If you wish to benefit from the car pool, these are our recommendations:

ARRIVALS on SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2019
Should between 12:30 and 1:00 PM at the Montpellier train or airport.
(For those who will be in Arles only, car pool will be at 1:00 pm.)
Arrivals should be at 3:00 PM at the Retreat if you are arriving by car.

DEPARTURES on SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2019
should be between 12:30 AND 1:00 PM from the Montpellier train or airport,
Departures at 10:30 from the Retreat if you are by car.

We look forward to meeting you in July.

Best,

Martine Fougeron

Founder and Mentor of The Photography Master Retreat

Please make sure you are member of our social media platforms to stay abreast of our community with events and announcements:
The Photography Master Retreat Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photographymasterretreat/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomasterretreat/

II. YOUR TRAVEL PLANS

ARRIVALS on SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2019 at 12:30- 1:00 pm

1/MONTPELLIER Train and airport

Map of Montpellier to La Bastide d'Esparon in the hamlet of Esparon.

1.1/ MONTPELLIER Saint-Roch TRAIN STATION
Meeting at montpellier-Saint Roch train station at 12:30-1:00 PM.
Meet outside t the Exit 'sortie Pont de sete' and wait outside (terrasse of a QUICK RESTAURANT OUTSIDE IF YOU WISH)

A mini bus will be there waiting for you with a The PhotograPhy master retreat banner.

****8 Students arriving at Montpellier Saint-Roch train station and meeting at 2 pm. Some of you will have to wait a bit.

Penny Wolin

Virginia Sperry

Chris Raecker

Patricia Howard

Rich Flansburg

Pej Behdarvand

Herb Brail

Amanda Bensel

COST OF TAXI POOL PER STUDENT: 50 EUROS.PLEASE HAVE CASH WHICH YOU WILL GIVE DIRECTLY TO THE DRIVER UPON ARRIVAL.

Outside of the Montpellier Train station. Sortie Pont de Sete. You will be in front of the main parking and on a sort of bridge. Mini bus will wait for you here at 2:00 pm.

1.2/ MONTPELLIER AIRPORT:
YOU will be picked up in front of the airport and the mini bus will come between 2:30 and 2:45

****One Student arriving at Montpellier airport at 1:40 pm. You might have to wait a bit.

Lisa Fernandez

COST OF TAXI POOL PER STUDENT: 36 EUROS.PLEASE HAVE CASH WHICH YOU WILL GIVE DIRECTLY TO THE DRIVER UPON ARRIVAL.

2/ ARLES: ONLY FOR THE STUDENTS GOING TO THE RENCONTRES D'ARLES BEFORE.

Meeting Point: Saturday, July 6 th at 1:00 pm, Brasserie Le France, 6, rue de La Martine, Arles, 30120

****3 Students meeting in Arles at 1 pm:

Barry Munger

Annie Hogan

Carolina Sandretto

COST OF TAXI POOL PER STUDENT: 95 EUROS. PLEASE HAVE CASH WHICH YOU WILL GIVE DIRECTLY TO THE DRIVER UPON ARRIVAL.

Map of Arles to La Bastide d'Esparon in the hamlet of Esparon.

This meeting point is within walking distance of the center of Arles on Saturday, July 9th at 1:00 pm at Brasserie Le France, 6, rue de La Martine, Arles, 30120. It is in the direction of the train station, near the Rhone river. Bring your luggage.
For the drivers or participants rriving by taxi to the meeting point, there is parking in Le Parking Lamartine as it is a big circular piazza or probably just outside the Brasserie if you do not stay too long.
We thought it was a nice coincidence to meet at Brasserie Le France. The Brasserie is called Le France and the street name is La Martine!! Easy to remember.

2/ DIRECTLY AT THE RETREAT: You may want to arrive by car directly to The Retreat. Plan to arrive by 4:00 pm in the afternoon.

For those of you arriving directly, the address is: Hameau d'Esparon, Bez-et-Esparon, 30120, France.

If you are coming from Nimes or Montepellier, to get to Esparon, it is 8 kilometers from LE VIGAN. So you must find directions to LE VIGAN and follow them.

You will see directions to Millau at the entrance of Le Vigan, so you avoid going into town, follow that road for some 2 kilometers (an old railroad track). At one point you will see an Intermarche supermarket to your right and an old bridge, pass that also. Pass Cavailhac. 800 meters later, you will see a roundabout in the road. You will want to make a sharp right turn towards Molieres. After 800 meters, you will want to make another very sharp turn left turn in direction of Molieres/Route de Molieres.

Then you will be going uphill for 5 kilometers. Do not go into the village of Molieres, just continue up to Esparon with the road in front of you going slightly to to the right, leaving the village of Molieres to your left. Go all the way uphill on a narrow road for 3 kilometers.. be cautious, it is a two way road which is narrow. Honk when you do not have any visibility. Drive slowly.

Once on the piazza of Esparon, you will see a fountain. You park here AND LEAVE YOUR LUGGAGE IN THE CAR. Then you walk. You will see on your right an alley, you are there. We will welcome you and indicate to you your rooms.You have arrived. Go up the stairs and you enter by a big blue gate which is to the right. This is the entrance to the house.

****Students arriving at Esparon directly:

Peter Stitt

DEPARTURES on SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2019

MOST OF YOU WILL ALL LEAVE FROM ESPARON TO GO TO MONTPELLIER TRAIN STATION AT 10:00 AM WITH A MINI BUS. YOU WILL BE ARRIVING IN MONTPELLIER SAINT-ROCH TRAIN STATION AT 11:30 AM.

1/ Most of you are leaving from the retreat at Esparon at 10 am:

Barry Munger

Annie Hogan

Carolina Sandretto

Lisa Fernandez

Penny Wolin

Virginia Sperry

Chris Raecker

Patricia Howard

Rich Flansburg

Pej Behdarvand

Herb Brail

COST OF TAXI POOL PER STUDENT: 33 EUROS.PLEASE HAVE CASH WHICH YOU WILL GIVE DIRECTLY TO THE DRIVER UPON ARRIVAL.

2/ Leaving on their own from the Retreat:

Peter Stitt

3/ Leaving Earlier on Friday July 13:

Amanda Bensel

We will inform Amanda of her options when she arrives at the retreat.

I. YOUR WORK

YOUR WORK: WHAT YOU SHOULD PREPARE AND BRING

You will want to bring at least one complete portfolio of your work in a digital format so that the mentors can look at the totality of the body of work you wish to work on. But bring at least one portfolio that you are actively working on at this point in your life. We recommend at least 40 to 100 images from a project/series. The mentors will review the totality of the project, comment on the edits and sequencing, might want to reframe the scope of the project with you and open the discussion on possible opportunities. So do bring a large edit.

You might also want to bring a second or third portfolio of work, if you are hesitating on which projects you want to work on. So do bring, if you are unsure, another portfolio which you might want us to consider. We encourage you to bring older portfolios if you think they are relevant to your process and trajectory.

We recommend bringing digital files, having them organized and the photos flattened so that they can be viewed easily. Do bring your computer with perhaps an external hard drive or flash drive.

If you want to show prints, please bring them, but in a small format which might be relevant to our understanding of your work and trajectory ( 4x6 or 5x7 inches are fine, even if the quality is not perfect). We know prints are heavy so we do not want you to be overburdened. Digital files are a must, even if you bring small prints.

If you have books or Book mock ups or catalogues or exhibition shows, please bring those. We can also look at them via the internet if you so wish or as a pdf format but the real book is always better. But we do not want you to overburden yourself with too much weight.

There will be a short shooting exercise, so please bring a camera. It does not have to be of the best quality. It can be a smart phone. You might want to take photos yourself, as the setting is spectacular, so bring the camera you wish.

Your 20 Minute Presentation on Sunday July the 7th:

On Sunday July 7th in the morning, you will each be giving a 20 minute presentation on a large screen which you should prepare. please put the presentation on a flash drive.
To ensure that the TPMR 2018 Retreat is a success, we will ask you to send to us your Presentation by June 30th. You will receive an email from us on June 22nd on how to send it. Malte Ohlers, our assistant will coordinate this.

1/Presentation of yourself and your trajectory: 4 minutes
2/Presentation of your project/projects: 15 minutes
3/Presentation of the goals you have for this retreat: 1 minute
4/Q & A: 10 minutes

Please have your presentation ready on an external flash drive with the photographs in a pdf or in a portfolio of images to look at in Bridge/Lightroom, sequenced as you would wish in a resolution which is not too small as it will be projected on a large screen. We recommend uploading some 30 to 50 images. Dimensions should be 1600px on the longest side at 144 dpi (or 72 dpi if higher res is unavailable).

SO IN A NUTSHELL BRING:

1/ A laptop computer (with Bridge or Lightroom preferably).

2/ An external hard drive and/or flash drive for extra space and back ups for your work in progress.
Bring at least a flash drive with your presentation on it so that we can download it easily onto one main computer.

3/At least one complete portfolio/project on which you will be focusing. Please bring a very large edit of the main portfolio/portfolios you will want to work on, as the Mentors will want to see the total scope of the project. Bring it in a digital format. You can also bring small prints (like 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 inches) that is usually also great as a complement to the digital files but not necessary.

4/ Bring a camera. For our purposes, it does to need to be your best camera. A simple point and shoot might suffice (even an i phone).

5/ An international outlet converter for France as well as a multiple plug adapter if you have several devices to charge.

THE SCHEDULE

The 2018 Photography Master Retreat one-week summer session will begin on Saturday, July 6, 2019 at 4pm at The Master Retreat and concludes on the morning of Saturday, July 13, 2019 with a 10:00 am departure from The Master Retreat.

Saturday afternoon July 6th (the first day): Students come via a car pool. Usually there is one car pool leaving from Arles at 1 pm. And there is another car pool leaving from Montpellier- Saint Roch TGV station at 2:00 pm. Upon their arrival at around 3:30-4:00 pm, the students settle in, and we meet them at 6 pm with welcome cocktails and dinner.

Sunday July 7th (the first day of work): students present their projects in the morning.

Friday July 12 (the last day of work): students present the evolution of their projects in the morning.

In the afternoon, there are one-on-one sessions with the mentors, followed by a celebration dinner.

One half-day excursion is planned during the week, usually to see the spectacular canyon of Le Cirque de Navacelles.

Saturday July 14: Departure at 10:00 am from The Retreat with a car pool mini van to the train and airport of Montpellier. You should book a train at 12:00 am and a plane as of 1:30-2:00 pm.

DAILY SCHEDULE:

7-8:30am BREAKFAST

9am-12:45pm WORK SESSION: Full sessions, half-sessions, one-on-one sessions – all mentor-led

1-2pm LUNCH

2:15-4pm WORK SESSION: Full sessions, half-sessions, one-on-one sessions – all mentor-led

4:15-6:30pm FREE TIME: (optional) walks, visit the nearby town of Le Vigan, swimming in the river

7-7:30pm COCKTAILS

7:30-8:30pm DINNER

8:30-9:45pm LECTURES and DISCUSSIONS led by the mentors, followed by Q&A