Swellendam, Overberg, South Africa

Art Photography Retreat

Four days in a valley an easy drive from Cape Town, taught by Martin and Samantha Lee Osner. You photograph in the morning and turn those photographs into artwork with paint and texture in the afternoon. Nothing you bring with you, everything made there.

Next dates

21 to 25 June 2027

Length

Four days, Monday to Friday

Group size

Seven to ten people

Retreat fee

R22,500

What the four days actually are

You start with a blank canvas, not with photographs you already own

This is not a workshop where you bring a hard drive and learn to process it. Every piece you go home with is begun and finished inside those four days, in that valley.

Mornings are spent photographing. Afternoons are spent at the table turning those photographs into physical artwork with watercolour, texture, transfer and print. Evenings are spent looking honestly at what everybody made, which is where most of the learning lands.

Martin and Samantha both teach it, and they work in deliberately different ways. Samantha works minimal and quiet. Martin works with bold colour, heavy texture and strong line. Over four days you get both, and most people find they lean one way without meaning to.

What people make here

Every one of these artworks was created from beginning to end on the four day retreat

Each was started and completed on the workshop, either as an in camera multiple exposure or as a physical piece, worked by hand with paint, texture and transfer.

Some of the people below had never painted before they arrived. Several are now exhibiting.

What you are taught

Five artistic techniques explored over four days

The idea is abstract impression. Photography that stops describing a place and starts giving you an impression of it. These are the five ways in we teach on the retreat.

Texture alchemy

Building a surface into the photograph so it stops behaving like a print and starts behaving like a painted panel.

In camera multiple exposure

Two or more frames laid over each other at the moment of exposure, not afterwards. Your camera has to have the function, and we will show you how to use it properly.

Intentional camera movement

Moving the camera through the exposure on purpose. It sounds like a trick until you see somebody do it well, and then it is a discipline.

Paint print fusion

Printing onto a surface you have already worked, then painting back into it. The print and the paint end up inseparable.

Elementum synthesis

Art print fusion. Bringing a physical element you have made into the photographic print so the join disappears.

Art materials are provided. Bring a watercolour set, brushes and watercolour pencils if you have a hand you are used to. Printing is available on site at a nominal cost, so there is no need to travel with a printer or paper.

How a day runs

Photograph in the early morning and late afternoon and create throughout the day

There is no fixed timetable pinned to a wall. The day follows the light and what the group needs, which is the point of never taking more than ten people.

Early morning

Out in the valley

Wooded koppies, the river, grass that glitters in early light, and the horses that live in that field. Martin and Samantha come to you one at a time while you are working, not afterwards.

Through the day

At the table

Back to the studio with what you made. Watercolour, texture, transfer, print. This is where the photograph stops being a photograph. Then out again for the late light.

Evening

Looking at it together

Everybody's work on the table, talked about honestly. Then a fire is lit, and anybody who wants to braai brings their food across to the Manor House.

And there is no Wi-Fi

On purpose

Martin's phrase for it is that the Wi-Fi is not welcome. Four days without the noise turns out to be most of what makes the work happen.

What people said afterwards

Nine people who have experienced this retreat, and this is what they have to say

Several of these participants are now Creative Advisors at the Art Photography Academy.

If you are a keen artistic photographer who is looking for a great way to spend four nights in a beautiful part of South Africa, look no further. I have just returned from this wonderful art experience, where I enjoyed creative fun and fellowship with like minded people under the excellent direction of Martin and Samantha.

The course was intense, and we worked from sunrise to sunset before enjoying some wine and food together.

Martin and Sam are both extremely talented fine art photographers and they share their knowledge so freely and so professionally. I returned home with six artworks to be proud of, but, more importantly, a new set of skills which will stand me in good stead for many years to come.

Steve Trimby

And eight more

Where you stay

Self catering cottages at the art photography retreat

The retreat runs from a working farm in the valley. Comfortable, quiet, and you have a room and a bathroom of your own.

The Manor House is where the workshop itself is run from, and where everybody comes together in the evenings to relax over a meal.

• Your own room and your own bathroom, with towels provided
• A fully equipped kitchen, which in some of the cottages is shared
• An outdoor heated tub, so bring a costume and a pool towel
• Self catering, so bring your breakfasts, lunches and snacks with you
• A fire lit every evening for anybody who wants to braai, and the communal supper is optional

Where this ends up

The same techniques, on exhibition

These are Martin's and Samantha's own pieces, made with the processes you are taught on the retreat, photographed where they now hang.

It is worth seeing, because it is easy to think of this as a nice four days away and miss what it is actually for. Work made this way is work that stands framing. Every one of these opens in the gallery.

Dates, cost and booking

A small group, and usually two retreats a year

Generally between seven and ten people, never more than ten. We usually run two retreats a year, though sometimes only one. You arrive on the Monday and leave on the Friday, with four full days in between.

Before you pay, please read our cancellation policy. It sets out the deposit, what comes back if you need to cancel, and the three ways round it.

Before you book

The questions we are asked most