Colors of Provence and Camargue Horses

July 8, 2025: Arrive at Nice Côte d’Azur airport today and transfer to our downtown hotel. We’ll meet here this afternoon for introductions and an overview of the week ahead before heading out to dinner at a local restaurant. A walk through the old town of Nice takes us to a viewpoint to shoot the sunset over the Baie des Anges, Nice’s seafront.

July 9, 2025: Up early this morning to travel the short distance to the picturesque border town of Menton to photograph the pastel-colored houses and basilica overlooking the old port as the sun rises. We’ll return to our hotel for breakfast, and after check-out, we’ll head north to the medieval citadel town of Entrevaux in the Var valley and onwards to Castellane. This afternoon, we’ll drive through the dramatic Gorge du Verdon, the deepest river canyon in France, stopping at a number of viewpoints along the way, arriving at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, one of the most beautiful villages in France, in the late afternoon. Built into the side of a mountain, the village is illuminated at dusk, making for spectacular sunset photography. We stay here for the next two nights.

July 10, 2025: We’ll photograph sunrise at one of the best-kept lavender fields of the Valensole Plateau, a short drive away. We have private access to this lavender farm, which is normally off-limits to the public. After breakfast, we’ll explore the old streets of Moustiers, heading uphill to the 12th-century chapel of Notre Dame de Beauvoir for views over the village and surrounding countryside. During the heat of the day, we’ll spend some time editing our images and venture out again later for an afternoon shoot, dinner, and sunset shoot over more lavender and wheat fields on the Plateau.

July 11, 2025: After another sunrise shoot in the lavender, we check out this morning and drive through the scenic Luberon Valley towards the Camargue, a regional park that lies on the Mediterranean Sea and straddles the Rhone River delta. It is home to a remarkable variety of birdlife and the wild white horses we have come here to photograph. On the way, we will stop at Rousillon and Cucuron, typical medieval Provençal villages with their terracotta tiled rooftops, stone fountains, colorful window shutters, old doors, and summer flowers among narrow winding streets. We’ll arrive in the Camargue in the late afternoon and check into our lodgings, where we will prepare you for the next three days of some of the most fantastic photography sessions you will ever experience—the Camargue horses.

July 12–13, 2025: Over these two days, we will photograph the Camargue horses running and playing in marshes, on the beach, and galloping through the water of a shallow lagoon. Between the photography sessions, we will review your images to help you create better images each time we visit the ranches. We’ll also visit a nearby ornithological park to photograph the large flock (technically a “flamboyance”) of pink flamingos that is resident here. For our last evening, we’ll be dining at our hotel and entertained by a trio of local Camargue gypsy musicians and their unique brand of lively flamenco guitar.

July 14, 2025: A final session with the horses on a lagoon beach before breakfast and check-out. We’ll drive back to Nice this morning, from where onward travels can be made anytime after 2:00 PM.