Alain Briot Alumni Rendez Vous
May 3rd to 7th, 2019

1 seat available due to cancellation


A private, by invitation only, five day field workshop
exclusively for Alain Briot Workshop Alumni

Sunset near Bluff, Utah
We will photograph this location during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous


Of all the photography classes I've attended, the Alain Briot Workshops have opened the door to unexpected forms of creativity. I am very happy with the images I produced on that Workshop. In fact, I ended up with more interesting images from your workshop than from any other. Thanks again!

Joel Geffen

Workshops FAQ
Discover our other workshops

1 - Rationale
Attending a workshop is an event. You are introduced to a new way of approaching photography, you meet new people, you make friends and you return home with a to do list, with ideas about what to do next, and often with a new or a rediscovered passion for photography.

A workshop does not end when the event is over. It continues long afterwards as you work on the photographs you took during the workshop and share them with friends, workshop participants and customers if you sell your work. A workshop also continues with the friendships you started with other workshop participants. These friendships often take place online, via email or on social sites. They are important because they connect you with people who share the same passion as you.

However there comes a time when the web is not enough and we want to meet in person. This is the reason why Natalie and I created the Rendez Vous. We wanted to offer previous workshop participants an opportunity to see each other again, catch up, reconnect and share your work with each other.

We also want the Rendez Vous to be the opportunity to find out where your are at with your fine art photography work and where your want to go from there. Finding that out on your own is not easy. You know you want to reach the next step with your work but often you need an extra push to get it done. Or, you know where you want to go but you are not sure how to get there. One of the goals of the Rendez Vous is to facilitate this process by allowing you to find out exactly where you are at now in regards to your work, where you need to go next and how to do it.

2 - About the name Rendez Vous
A Rendez Vous is a French expression that means a meeting. It is used among friends and never in a business context. A Rendez Vous is something planned in advance, with a date and a time set. In the context of the workshop the Rendez Vous is a gathering of previous workshop participants --Alumni-- who share a common passion for photography.

I wanted to use this term in the context of the Alumni Workshop because I see this event as a gathering of friends, as a Rendez Vous among artists who enjoy each other's company, want to see each other again, want to catch up with things that took place since the last time they met and want to learn how to continue improving their work, reaching the next step and become better artists.

3 - Workshop Goals

The goal of this workshop is to create a learning and sharing environment between students and instructors and between students and students. To create this environment we will work in a small group setting, we will photograph beautiful but little known landscapes and we will complete artistic exercises aimed at developing your artistic photography skills.

The workshop consists of two main parts: instructional photography sessions in the morning and field photography in the afternoon as well as at sunrise and sunset.

4 - About the location of the Rendez Vous
We chose an inspirational location for the 2019 Rendez Vous: Northern Navajoland. Our base for the Renez Vous will be Bluff, Utah. Bluff is in the heart of Northern Navajoland and in the midst of still-unexplored and under-photographed beauty.

Bluff is not a very well known place. Most people travel through Bluff without stopping or spend a few hours there. You have to know bluff to appreciate it and you have to be intimately familiar with the surrounding landscape to appreciate it as well. This is an unexplored area that requires guides and intimate knowledge of the lay of the land.

Natalie and I started going to Bluff when we lived in Chinle because bluff is about 75 miles from Canyon de Chelly. We had, and we still have, friends in Bluff, friends who moved from Chinle to Bluff to live there. Many still do and we visit with them when we are in Bluff.

The 2017 Rendez Vous takes place in Chinle. The 2019 Rendez Vous takes place in Bluff. Both Chinle and Bluff are located in Northern Navajoland. While these two locations are less than a hundred miles apart, the landscape scenery found in Chinle is entirely different from the landscape found in Bluff. We therefore selected Bluff as the location of the 2019 Rendez vous because it is the logical geographical continuation of the 2018 Rendez Vous.

If you attend both Rendez Vous you will have covered a large part of the Northern Navajoland Area. There is more to Navajoland to the East, South and West but you will have already seen many locations that few, if any, visit and even fewer photograph. This makes this second Alumni workshop Rendez Vous particularly meaningful.

5- Hotel

We will stay at the Recapture Lodge, in Bluff, Utah for the duration of the Rendez Vous. It will be our 'home base'
for the Rendez Vous.

6 - Attendance
The Rendez Vous is open exclusively to Alain Briot Workshop Alumni. You must have attended an Alain Briot workshop to participate. Registration is by invitation only.

Photographing from the Boat along the San Juan River

7 - Workshop contents
The Rendez Vous features unique instructional activities that are not offered in any of our other workshops. Here are the instructional activities that are part of the 2019 Rendez Vous:

A - Print exchange
One of the unique aspects of the Rendez Vous is the Print Exchange. Students and instructors will each bring prints to the workshop, one for each participant and one for each instructor. During the workshop the participants (both students and instructors) will exchange their prints with the other participants. At the end of the exchange everyone will have a collection of prints from both students and instructors. Details about print size, subject matter, number of prints, presentation and so on will be provided to you after you register.

B - Print presentation
This is a second unique aspect of the Rendez Vous. Each Alumni will have the opportunity to give a 15 minute presentation about their work. The goal is to give you an opportunity to present your work to an audience, the way you would if you showed your work in a gallery, at an art show, in a museum or another public event. The exact contents of this presentation is up to each student. However, this presentation should address some (not necessarily all) of these points:

- Describe your personal approach to photography.
- Give us a list of the main features of your personal style.
- Tell us which artists (not necessarily photographers) inspire you.
- Explain how you are changing reality in your images.
- A good photograph should be surprising. What is the element of surprise in your photographs?
- Most importantly, how is what you see different from what other people see?
- What do you show us in your work that we would not see otherwise?
- Why would your work not be published in National Geographic?
- Why would your work be published in National Geographic?
- What projects are you working on now?
- Where do you want your photography to be in 2 years?

Natalie and our Navajo Guide, Marcus, preparing lunch along the San Juan River.

C - Artistic exercises
This is a third unique aspect of the Rendez Vous. During the workshop participants will be asked to complete a number of artistic photography exercises. The goal of these exercises is to give you a framework that will enable you to create unmistakably artistic images.

Completing these exercises is one of the main goals of the workshop. In addition to these exercises students will be free to do personal work and capture other images as they like. However, this personal work will have to be done in addition to the artistic exercises.

The Advanced Adjustment layers mastery workshop on DVD/USB will be our guide and our required ‘text’ for this course. During the workshop we will practice a selection of the artistic techniques taught in this tutorial. It is therefore necessary that you review and study this tutorial before the workshop.

D - River trip
A fourth unique aspect of the Rendez Vous is the full day river trip down the San Juan we will be doing during this event. This river trip will give us access to locations that cannot be reached by road or by hiking. These locations include archaeological ruins and Petroglyph panels. All of them are world class and very photogenic. Because these locations are very hard to reach, you will be able to create photographs few other photographers have.The cost of the river rafting trip is included in the Rendez Vous registration fee.

E - Unique Locations
Natalie and I will be guiding you to specific locations that we do not visit during regular Workshops. These locations are described in the itinerary below.

Comb Ridge
We will photograph this location during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous

8 - Your Itinerary
The itinerary for this workshop was designed with the goal of taking you to areas that we do not photograph during our regular Workshops so that if you attended it previously you would have a chance to photograph new areas. Out home base for the Rendez Vous will be Bluff, Utah.

Friday, May 3rd, 2019
On Friday we will be meet you in Bluff where we will start the Alumni Rendez Vous. We will start with an orientation session during which we will discuss the logistics and the goals of the workshop. You will receive the exact time and location to our meeting place after you register.

After orientation we will photograph sunset near Bluff.

Saturday, May 4th, 2019
On Saturday we will photograph sunrise at a little known location near Bluff. After photographing Sunrise we will go back to Bluff for Breakfast.

After breakfast the morning instructional sessions will focus on the print exchange and the personal print presentation. You will also be given a list of artistic exercises to complete that day.

In the afternoon, after lunch, we will photograph the Cedar Mesa area. We will be traveling from Bluff to Blanding and then on to Cedar Mesa.

We will photograph sunset from the top of Cedar mesa that evening.

Sunday, May 5th, 2019
Sunday will be our river rafting trip down the San Juan River. We will start our journey down the river around 8 am and we will be on the river all day. Lunch will be served by our boatmen, along the river. After getting off the river we will return to Bluff. You will have plenty of time to complete the artistic exercises during the day.

We will photograph sunset near Bluff that evening.

Anasazi Ruin
We will explore and photograph Anasazi ruins during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous.

Monday, May 6th, 2019
On Monday we will take a break and not get up for sunrise. You can still go photograph sunrise on your own if you like of course but it is optional.

After breakfast the morning instructional sessions will focus on continuing the participants print presentations started on Saturday. We will also discuss the artistic exercises that you worked on the day before.

After Lunch we will explore the Montezuma Creek area. This is a vast area and we will follow our inspiration in regards to finding photogenic locations. We will photograph this are during the day and until Sunset

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019
On Tuesday we will photograph Sunrise from a location chosen during the workshop because of its interest to participants. After sunrise we will have breakfast in Bluff as a group. The workshop ends after breakfast so that you have plenty of time to drive back to your destination.

9 - Important things to keep in mind
- Bring clothing suited for a variety of temperatures, from cold mornings to warm afternoons. Also be prepared for potential rain and for active weather. To quote David Muench: "bad weather equals good photographs."

- Food, lodging and transportation are not included. Some of you may want to camp, some stay in a hotel, some may want to eat with the group while other may prefer to be on their own. This arrangement provides for maximum flexibility while keeping the cost of this workshop to a minimum. It gives you maximum freedom in planning your meals and give you time by yourself if you choose.

- We will email you directions to Bluff, where we will meet on the first day, as well as a list of hotels in the towns where we will be staying when you register. You will then receive an email with the Friday evening meeting place and a detailed workshop schedule approximately 2 weeks before the workshop.

- We will be photographing from 4000 to 6000 feet elevation on average. Normally the only problem you can expect is a slight shortness of breath. However the higher elevation is something to keep in mind if you live at sea level or you are prone to encountering physical difficulties at higher elevations.

- An SUV is recommended for this workshop. We will be driving on a lot of dirt roads and high clearance will be a plus.

-We have a no tag-along policy. Spouses, friends, significant others and non-photographers need to be both Alumni and registered as full-time participants to join any aspect of this workshop. This includes meetings, print reviews, lectures, meals and all other aspects of this workshop. No exceptions. Spouses and significant others must be registered for the entire length of the workshop. We cannot do single day registrations for this workshop as we do occasionally for our other workshops. For further details read our Workshop FAQ.

- We do not carry cell phones. We will use walkie-talkies to communicate with each other during the workshop, when we are on location and when we are driving. If you become separated from the group we will call you on your walkie-talkie to find out where you are (provided you are within a 2 or 3 mile range). For these reasons we ask that you bring a walkie-talkie, such as a Motorola Talkabout or equivalent, to the workshop. Please set your walkie-talkie to channel 4-5.

We will raft down the San Juan River during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous

10 - Cost
The cost of the Rendez Vous is $1695. This price includes a $200 river fee. This fee covers a full-day rafting trip down the San Juan river. It includes lunch for that day, the guiding fee and the river permits.

The registration fee includes the $100 Alumni discount. Because this event is open only to Alumni, we are only featuring the Alumni price. There is no point in having two prices since this workshop is open only to previous participants.

There are three ways to reserve your seat in the 2019 Rendez Vous:

1 - Use the paypal button below:

2019 Workshop Alumni Rendez Vous
May 3rd to 7th, 2019
$1695

2 - Email us at alain@beautiful-landscape.com

3 - Call us toll free at 800-949-7983 (or 928-252-2466) and register over the phone.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. A receipt will be mailed to you the day after your registration has been processed. You can charge the registration fee in one installment or in 3 equal installments placed to your card a month apart starting when you register. Just let us know your preference when you sign up.

Registrations are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend you act now because this workshop is receiving a high level of interest and will sell out quickly.

If you have any questions before registering click here to send us an email inquiry. We are pleased to assist you with any questions. You can also call Alain or Natalie Briot at 800-949-7983 or 928-252-2466.



I also have two additional portfolios of photographs taken along the San Juan River:

San Juan River Portfolio One

San Juan River Portfolio Two

11 - About Alain and Natalie Briot
I specialize in creating large format, fine art landscape photographs and I have been photographing since 1980 in Europe and since 1983 in the United States. I have 6 years of experience teaching photography and communication courses at the graduate and undergraduate level at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. I have 20 years of experience photographing the Southwest and Navajoland, the fascinating region we will explore during this workshop.

Natalie is a certified Art Teacher. She has been teaching since 1992, first in Houghton, Michigan, then in Chinle, in the heart of Navajoland, starting in 1995. Natalie loves teaching and specializes in helping her students fulfill their vision through visual exercises. Natalie is extremely patient and attentive to her students' needs.

Cedar Mesa Sunset


12 - Instructor Availability
We will be lecturing, organizing, helping, working and photographing with you from sunrise to sunset, with a break for breakfast and lunch, during the entire duration of the workshop.

13 - Cancellation policy
All monies are non-refundable. If you cancel participation in this workshop your registration fees may be transferred towards registration in another Beaux Arts Photography workshop under certain conditions. Transfer of fees to another workshop is not automatic and is decided solely by Beaux Arts Photography as a courtesy. We reserve the right to decide whether to transfer your fees to another workshop or not. You must register for another workshop scheduled one year or less from the starting date of the workshop you originally registered for. Participants transferring from another workshop will be registered for this other workshop in excess of the regular number of participants. We can only accept two transfers per workshop. If you decide to attend a higher priced workshop, or if the workshop fee has increased, the difference in cost between the two workshops will be charged to your credit card when you notify us that you want to sign up for this other workshop. A ten percent transfer fee may be applied at the time of transfer. In order to get a transfer credit you can only cancel one workshop, Summit or seminar per calendar year. Your registration is guaranteed only when we have payment in full. We reserve the right to change this policy at any time. Workshop fees can only be transferred to another workshop and cannot be used towards purchase of a product such as mats, portfolio cases, CD or DVD tutorials, prints, portfolios, or other. Workshop fees cannot be transferred towards purchase of the Mastery Workshop DVDs. We cannot transfer consulting fees towards workshop registration. If this workshop is cancelled by us you will receive a full refund.

We will photograph World-Class petroglyph panels during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous

14 - Transfer policy specific to this workshop
The Alumni Rendez Vous Workshop is unique in our current workshop line up in that it is open only to previous workshop participants. Because of the unique requirements for this event we cannot accept transfers for this workshop. All registrations need to be new registrations in order to participate in this event.

15 - Liability Limitation,
Beaux Arts Photography, Beautiful-Landscape.com, Alain Briot, Natalie Briot, guides, and cooperating agents aim to provide every participant a safe, educational, and enjoyable experience. We act solely as agents for you regarding accommodations, special activities, and travel, by any means, and assume no liability for any act, error, omission, injury, loss, delay, mishap, or damage to persons or property arising from any cause during the course of the workshop or in transit thereto. We can accept no responsibility for losses or additional expenses due to delay or changes in the services to be provided. We reserve the right to change our arrangements should conditions necessitate, or to cancel any aspect of the workshop due to exceptional circumstances. In the event that we deem it necessary to cancel the workshop we will provide a full refund which the participant(s) acknowledges as full and final settlement. In the event of a workshop cancellation airline tickets, car rentals and hotel reservations associated with participation in this workshop will not be refunded. We recommend you purchase refundable airline tickets and make refundable car and hotel reservations. We also recommend you carry travel and camera equipment insurance.

As there is always an element of risk in any adventure associated with the outdoors, participants must read this form carefully. This liability release will certify that the participant is physically fit and capable of participating in outdoor photography exercises in field locations, and is fully and completely aware of any associated risks created by field locations and weather.

Meeting times, meeting places and itinerary are subject to changes dictated by the weather, the road conditions and other imponderable variables that are part of doing landscape photography. We do not carry cell phones. You are responsible for being at the meeting place at the designated time and have your photographic equipment with you.

By joining this workshop I acknowledge that I have read the above information concerning responsibility and release Beaux Arts Photography, Alain Briot, Natalie Briot, their guides, instructors and any cooperating agent from any liability. Beaux Arts Photography, Alain Briot, and Natalie Briot will assume no liability for injury, illness, or loss of personal property or expenses thereof associated with workshop participation. I also acknowledge that Alain and Natalie Briot have the right to refuse service to anyone at anytime and that workshop policies are subject to change at any time .

Kiva
We will photograph several prehistoric Indian Ruins during the 2019 Alumni Rendez Vous.




Text and photographs are Copyright © Alain Briot 2018

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