*Cancelled due to Covid-19* London 2020: Royal Parks & Gardens + PhotoLondon | with Peter Essick instructing

Join Peter Essick for 5 days in London this May!

We’ll be shooting in the city’s historical, beautifully designed Royal Parks and Gardens at the height of the Spring season. We will spend time in 9 different Royal Parks and Gardens over the 6 day/6 nights workshop; including a sunrise shoot in Kensington Park and a night shoot in St. James Park. Temperatures average highs of 65 and lows of 52 in mid-May – perfect walking/shooting weather!

Afternoons on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we’ll head indoors for lectures, gallery exhibitions, and museum shows as we attend the world-class photography fair PhotoLondon. Gallerists, curators, and photographers from all over the world congregate at Somerset House, London’s working art center in the heart of the city, to show their client’s work, talk about the photography world today, and inspire you before the next shoot!

There’s something in this workshop for everyone – from beginning to established photographers – with opportunities for environmental, architectural, street, and landscape photography along the way. It is an excellent opportunity to take your photography to the next level with an esteemed professional to guide you.

Discounted rates have been secured at Central Park Hotel, a boutique hotel situated close-by the parks and gardens we’ll be visiting, as well as many famous tourist sites you may want to also take in. Central Park Hotel is a 20-minute tube ride to Somerset House for PhotoLondon events.

The hotel has a 3-star restaurant with full bar, and full English Breakfast is included in the rate. (see Accommodations, below)

FULL RATE: $2350

COMPANION RATE: $400

(See below for What’s Included and Not)

Peter’s Agenda for the Workshop:

Note: You are welcome to go off on your own, return to a previous day’s agenda, or just take some time for yourself. Just please let us know so we don’t worry about you

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

*Note: Agendas for each Park and Garden will be set closer to the date of the workshop.

2pm – Meet in the lobby of the Central Park Hotel (see Accommodations, below) for a walk to Kensington Gardens for late afternoon photography. If you’re just arriving in the UK and are still a bit wobbly this will be a lovely opportunity to stretch and get acclimated.

Laid out in 1689 by William III, who commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build Kensington Palace, the gardens are a formal counterpart to neighboring Hyde Park. Just to the north of the palace itself is the Dutch-style Sunken Garden. The Elfin Oak is a 900-year-old tree trunk that was carved with scores of tiny elves, fairies, and other fanciful creations in the 1920s. The Italian Gardens (1860) comprise several ornamental ponds and fountains, while the Round Pond attracts model-boat enthusiasts.

(click on images to enlarge)

Kensington Gardens, Henry Moore sculpture in early Spring

Kensington Gardens, entrance to Italian Gardens

Welcome Dinner near Central Park Hotel in the evening.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Breakfast at hotel

Tube to Richmond Park for an all-morning shoot.

Richmond Park was once a favorite hunting ground of Henry VIII. The park covers close to 2,500 acres of grasslands and forest, making it the biggest of London’s Royal parks. Any given weekend sees a rush of cyclists pushing themselves around the undulating 6.7-mile road that circles the park’s perimeter, while others enjoy walking, running, and all manner of group activities across the meadows.

Richmond Park, entrance to Pembroke Lodge

After lunch take the tube to Kew Gardens .

Kew Gardens is open til 6:30pm.

Kew Gardens is home to some of the world’s rarest threatened species and most elusive plants. Tthe Royal Botanic Gardens are more than just an attraction, they are a sanctuary, with a historic Victorian glasshouse at their heart. The range of photo subjects include themed gardens, tropical greenhouses, and treetop walkways.

6:30pm Take tube back to hotel

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Breakfast at hotel

Take tube to Regents Park for morning photography

On top of the gorgeous gardens, the picturesque lake and its boats, and an impressive collection of fountains and statues is Queen Mary’s Garden with 12,000 roses. Regent’s Park is also home to London Zoo.

Regents Park, Lion Tazza and Avenue Gardens

Afternoon head to Victoria Embankment Gardens.

The Victoria Embankment Gardens are a series of gardens on the north side of the River Thames and Westminster Bridge. Nearby is the Somerset House where Photo London begins this evening.

(A schedule of lectures and events will follow after registration)

Friday, May 15, 2020

Friday morning sunrise shoot Kensington Garden – Meet in the hotel lobby at 4:45am for any interested

After sunrise, back to the hotel for breakfast.

Before taking the tube a few stops to Holland Park for morning photography.

Holland Park is a grand expanse of manicured lawns, nature trails, paths, and woodland surround the proud remains of a Jacobean mansion at the heart of Holland Park. The building suffered bomb damage during World War II, but even that dark cloud left a silver lining, with the remaining front terrace providing a spectacular backdrop today to the summertime open-air plays staged in the park. Ponder your Ikigai (the Japanese concept of “a reason for being”) in the stunning Kyoto Garden, where Japanese maple trees, dahlias, and a tiered waterfall with a koi carp pond are some of the highlights of this horticultural gem.

Afternoon at Somerset House for PhotoLondon exhibitions and lectures 12pm- 8pm.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Breakfast at the hotel

Take a tube 40-minute ride to Horniman Museum and Gardens.

Located in far-off southeast London with fewer tourist draws nearby, the Horniman Museum Gardens require a leap of faith to make the journey from central London. Those who do will find perfectly tended gardens with seasonal displays, an impressive variety of trees, a miniature farm with alpacas, sheep, goats, and rabbits, and a view of the London skyline that rivals that of Hampstead Heath. The weekly Saturday farmers’ market and the Horniman Museum itself—a quirky natural history collection with a small aquarium—help to encourage visitors to break south to the gardens’ location in Forest Hill.

Horniman Park’s South Downs and secluded gardens

Saturday afternoon – return to the Somerset House and Photo London for more exhibitions, events, and lectures til 6 pm

When we’ll meet for the Farewell dinner at the restaurant Bryn Williams Somerset House . Before setting off by foot or tube to …

Night photography – 8pm-midnight in St. James’ Park

Bordered by Buckingham Palace, St. James’ Park is London’s most whimsical royal green space. Roam the gardens, tour the lakes and spy their own lively pod of pelicans (residents here for over 400 years), or rest up in a sought-after deck chair and admire the views of London landmarks like Buckingham Palace and the London Eye that tend to pop up above the tree line at every turn.

*All parks and gardens images copyright Royal Parks Organization

Peter Essick

Peter Essick is a photographer, author, speaker, instructor, and drone pilot who specializes in nature and environmental themes. Named one of the 40 most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography Magazine UK, Essick has been influenced by many noted American landscape photographers from Carleton Watkins to Robert Adams. His goal is to make photographs that move beyond mere documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land

Essick is the author of two books of his photographs, The Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Our Beautiful, Fragile World. He has had solo exhibitions of his work at the Booth Western Art Museum, Yoho National Park: A Canadian Gem, and at Lumière Gallery, Compositions in Nature. Essick has photographed stories for National Geographic on many environmental issues including climate change, high-tech trash, nuclear waste, and freshwater. Essick’s photographs are in public and private collections. He is represented by Spalding Nix Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia and Cavan Images, New York, New York.

Currently, Essick’s book of his photographs about Fernbank Forest, an urban old-growth forest in Atlanta, will be published by Fall Line Press in Spring 2020.

click on images to enlarge