Italy Fine Art Photography Retreat
Tuscany, Italy
Simply Art is an educational collaboration between world-renowned photography educators and artists, Erin Elizabeth Photography and Anja McDonald Photography. After decades of teaching professional photography workshops worldwide with our solo businesses, we decided to combine forces and bring our wealth of knowledge and experience into collaborative events designed to help photographers strive towards longevity, profits and success. Our masterclasses and retreats have become wildly popular worldwide, and we are proud to say that we have helped thousands of photographers around the globe take their businesses to the next level.
Simply Art is headed to Tuscany!!
After the wild success of our FOUR Bali retreats in 2023 and 2024, as well as our Caribbean and Bali retreats in 2025, we have decided to head to Europe for an absolutely AMAZING fine art photography workshop in a luxury villa in Tuscany! We can’t wait!
As with all of our retreats, your accommodation and all food and drinks in the villa, as well as transportation to all photo shoots and activities is completely covered. The only thing you need to do is book your flights and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime!
For this retreat, we have rented an absolutely EPIC villa in the hills of Tuscany (near Lucca). With a view to die for in the stunning September weather, we will be spending a lot of our time on this STELLAR balcony overlooking the amazing colours of Tuscany.
This retreat will be filled with not only magical photo shoots, and a mountain of editing, branding, and business information, but also tons of EPIC activities at your fingertips! We will be organising day trips, doing plenty of shopping, and of course stuffing ourselves with as much gorgeous Italian food as humanly possible. Plus the best part - the opportunity to truly bond with like-minded individuals in a relaxing, majestic location. Do something for YOU and your business and join us on this once in a lifetime adventure!
What will we be focusing on at this Simply Art Retreat?
Portfolio Review – Before the workshop starts you will need to submit 3 images for review. Constructive criticism is the key to progress and learning from your own images by discussing strength and weaknesses is a great way of improving both your shooting and editing. There will be continuous constructive critique on assignments during the retreat.
Location Scouting - How to find your location and what to do when the weather isn't ideal. What camera settings to use and why we use them to create tack sharp images. Different styles of lighting and what works best for the style you are shooting.
Styling – Anja and Erin will show you how to prepare clients for the shoot and help style them to match the location, together with the final sale in mind. This section will also cover whether or not you should offer a client wardrobe and where to buy.
Posing – Here you will learn how to prepare your clients, choose the right location and light, capture and edit beautiful fine art portraits. Erin and Anja will share their entire posing workflow enabling you to manage the session and deliver a full gallery at every shoot.
Editing - In-depth editing workflow and post-production process. We start raw editing in ACR to finalising our images in Photoshop. You will learn how to create your own workflow, whilst still giving each image detailed attention, saving you time and creating galleries filled with perfect images for your clients. You will learn how to create the most dreamy, timeless images using skin smoothing, tone corrections, light manipulation and many other components. We will also cover how to 'add light' to images shot on overcast dull days.
Marketing and Sales Strategies – We will cover branding, marketing strategies, projected income, selling and product selections.
Shoots – Erin and Anja will arrange maternity and family shoots on amazing locations. We will be conducting both sunrise, sunset and also full sun shoots. There will also be a full day of branding shooting where you will all get both in front and behind the camera.
And in all of our retreats, the following is included:
Technical knowledge about settings and WHY we use them
Advanced posing in maternity and family outdoor sessions
Client preparation and client relations
Pricing in EXTENSIVE detail - we want you to be profitable!
Marketing - finding the RIGHT clients in your area
Branding yourself and your business
Choosing locations and session times
1:1 mentoring session time with both Erin and Anja
Editing - both fine art and normal client workflow
AI - how it can contribute to your workflow
Steps to increase your productivity - time is money!
FULL access to the Simply Art Academy Facebook group
FULL access to our extensive catalogue of videos and resources
Unconditional on-going support via our exclusive group
ALL of Erin’s extensive teaching videos
A newborn posing guide to keep
ALL of Anja’s actions and editing resources
Individual portfolio review
A beautiful workbook covering every aspect of the masterclass or retreat
And much MUCH more!!
Simply Art retreats are designed to be MORE than just a one stop educational experience. We give you the crucial foundations to truly KNOW your camera, lighting, posing, editing, and business strategies, all of which are vital for longevity in this industry. However we also take that next step to stay in contact and provide continued education and resources to help you drive your business towards financial success. We know it’s not just about being able to create pretty pictures - there is so much more to running a successful photography studio, and we will make sure you learn everything there is to know about how to make that happen.
If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to ask! You can reach us at - simplyartmasterclass@gmail.com