The Gers

A week long photography workshop in the heart of France's historic Armagnac country.

The Gers is one of the original 83 geographic departments created during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony, famous for its douceur de vivre ("sweetness of life").

Located in southwestern France between Toulouse and Bordeaux, the Gers is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region. Designated department 32 of the current 95 departments comprising France, it is in the prefecture of Auch and is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Landes, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The Gers is often referred to as among the least densely populated, most rural, areas in all of Western Europe.

Historically known as the Country of d’Artagnan and the renowned musketeers, the Gers offers rolling and luminous landscapes, flavours and tones of character, a philosophy of the time, a culture of delight to all the senses, leisure activities for recharging one’s batteries and tourism to be discovered all year round from fortified towns to picturesque hamlets.

Famous for its signature product, Armagnac, which predates Cognac by more than 200 years, The Gers also boasts a variety of fauna and flora unique to the area. There are Intermittent stands of oak forests where wild boar (sanglier) are still hunted in a tradition dating back hundreds of years. Vestiges of the Roman occupation of the land are prominent, along with medieval fortresses and classic French Chateaux. The daily markets, which move from town to town, have been providing the residents with produce and other goods for nearly 700 years. The Gers is the cradle of Gascony, a land stamped by history, and still bearing its marks.

The weather in the Gers in July is fairly predictable - long, warm days with full sun and occasional showers. We will base our activities on the lighting and mood of the day, visiting different villages each day for lunch, and shooting before and after in locations that are near these villages. These villages are, for the most part, medieval in origin and retain the character of their ancestral beginnings. There remains also evidence of the Roman occupation in the 1st and 2nd centuries a.d. This time of year is marked by the spectacle of blooming sunflowers, wildflowers, distinctive pocket forests, and vast fields of grape arbors, as well as magnificent sunrises and sunsets. We will enjoy moderately-priced dinners in local restaurants, mindful of the progress of the sun, which brings magical lighting to the sunset hour.

Monday Evening: Get together reception at Lac de Courtes, walk to dinner in the village of Estang at Hotel du Commerce.

Tuesday: Morning coffee in Eauze, discuss day's activities. Shooting in various locations followed by lunch in a local village (to be decided depending on weather and goals.) Sunset shoot.

Wednesday: Morning coffee, etc. Sunset shoot followed by group discussion/photo review.

Thursday: Sunrise shoot followed by morning coffee, Eauze open market, lunch, etc.

“There are days in the Gers when you can neither experience nor imagine more beauty than what meets the eye, as you drive through its narrow country roads. Field after field swells with crops bursting with sunlight and fertility.There is a quality of light in abundance there that I have seen nowhere else. As a photographer for most of my life, I have never visited a more beautiful, luminous landscape.”