The battlefield of Verdun: for the French there is no more sacred ground than this region in north eastern France where the Meuse flows between wooded, rolling hills.
This is not a landscape of setting suns and reflective water but rather one of historical drama and emotion. For ten months of 1916 this region ravaged by perhaps the most ferocious fighting of the First World War - it was a ‘war within a war’ and claimed more than 700,000 casualties and whilst no British troops ever fought here, you cannot fail to be moved by the numerous scars of war which lie hidden in the woods.
Trenches snake between tumbled heaps of stones which mark the site of villages that vanished under a hail of shell-fire. Battered hunks of concrete forts and bunkers are witness to the destructive force of artillery and rusting amidst the undergrowth are unexploded shells.This is a lanscape of drame, of comedy and tragedy - the massive fort of Douaumont that was captured by a single soldier who then sat down and ate breakfast before telling anyone of his amazing feat. And how the subsequent battle to regain that fort cost 100,000 casualties. We will visit the mines of Vaquois where men fought blindly in the dark whilst planting explosives which blew away a whole hill-top and its ancient village.
There can be few other landscapes on earth which have such an emotional background and this course will take you into these hidden places to explain that drama thus enabling you to take photographs which reflect the emotion and history of such an extraordinary landscape.
Date of Course in 2014: To be agreed at time of booking.
This course will costs £1,525 which includes full board and travel from London to Verdun.
- First Day: travel to Verdun settle, in to hotel and have dinner together with an explanatory talk about the battle of Verdun and the landscape involved.
- Days Two - Five: we have four days in which we will be shooting in this fascinating region: each days itinerary will be planned around the weather to ensure that we make the best use of the light and we may even visit the woods of the Argonne
- Day Six: return to London.
