Celebrating Italy with Eddie Soloway & Friends

This is Italy Part II of a month-long trip to Italy in April and May of 2019.

The second portion of our trip to Italy was a group adventure with photographer Eddie Soloway. As alumni of his “The Natural Eye” workshop, we are invited to participate in various alumni group events throughout the year. Not workshops in the formal sense, these events are called “Adventures” because the group travels together, sharing meals and social times. We take pictures everyday, but do not formally critique them, though the opportunity to discuss them with Eddie and the others is always available.

“Celebrating Italy” coincided with a trip we already had planned for Puglia (Part I). “We’re already in Europe,” we said “Let’s go!”

The trip was structured around four bases: Masseria Il Frantoio, in Ostuni, Puglia; L’Hotel in Pietra in Matera, Basilicata; Sexantia Albergo Diffuso inSanto Stefano di Sessanio, Abruzzo; and Agriturismo Il Rigo in San Quirico d’Orcia, in Tuscany. For 13+ days, we were encouraged to go out and shoot (photograph) to our hearts desire. We had our own cars for getting around, and the longest drive (Matera to Santo Stefano di Sessania – near L’Aquila) gave us the opportunity to relax and just enjoy the Spring scenery of central Italy.

In the blog, I am going to create a page for each base. They are such disparate locations, that I can conceive of you wanting to visit one as part of a large trip of your own design, and not follow our itinerary. Hopefully treating them as unique units will make it easier to use the material.

Also, because this was a photography trip, there may be a difference in the photos I show you (and the quantity!).

I am going to publish this section of the trip before I publish the first 10 days. (It is fresher in my mind, and less material to sort through.)

I hope you enjoy reading about these four unique and special places!

Puglia