Snap-happy holidays

Take a photography class on holiday and come home with great-looking photos. ALANNA GALLAGHERfinds six courses to make your snaps memorable

1 PARISSee the city that inspired Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Brassai through a lens with Better Paris Photos, a walking tour of the city that tightens your camera technique.

Founder Sophie Pasquet speaks perfect English and asks that you to send her a selection of photos to give her an idea of your level before you meet. When you do meet her she breaks the ice by discussing your shots, offering advice on composition and tactics. She will then show you how you could improve these pictures, training your eye to think about composition. This is best done over a cup of strong coffee. Induction over, you shuffle onto the street, camera in hand for a secret tour of the Marais and its landmarks.

Choose from an introductory four-hour session to several days. Four hours costs €150 and is best appreciated on a one-to-one basis to get the most from the time.

Ryanair (ryanair.com), Air France (airfrance.ie) and Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) fly to Paris. Stay in a central apartment with parisbynumbers.com or enjoy a romantic apartment setting on the Île de la Cité at auvieuxparis.fr. Better Paris Photos: tel 00-33-6-74042184 or betterparisphotos.com

2 ANDALUSIAIndulge your passion for photography and master the technical and creative side of your digital SLR with a fun photography course in sunny Spain.

Set in a beautiful pueblo blancoin Andalusia, near Ronda, classes take place in the village of Jimena de la Frontera, which is surrounded by the Los Alcornocales natural park.

A four-day course costs approximately €767. The price includes all accommodation, meals, soft drinks and wine, airport transfers and three full day’s tuition with husband and wife team Alberto Saro and Sue Callister. Three- and seven-day courses are also available.

As a group you share a beautifully restored casa señoralon a pedestrian cobbled street in the heart of the old town. Built circa 1700, the former court'house exudes Andalusian charm. Each student gets their own twin or double room with en suite. There is no single supplement.

There are two photographers to every six people. The trip includes visits to cave paintings, archaeological sites and nearby Jimena castle, a Moorish construction with Roman origins. Flights are not included in the price.

Ryanair (ryanair.com), Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) and Iberia (Iberia.com/ie) all fly direct Dublin to Malaga, which is around 90 minutes by car from the village. Golearnto.com or tel 00-44-845-6250445

3 VENICEImmerse yourself in the wonder of Venice, one of the most romantic places on earth. Get up close and personal with the atmosphere and architecture of La Serenissima and learn to capture her panoramic views with a three-day course, which takes place in the vaporous month of December.

Create compelling holiday shots with expert advice from Jonathan Chritchley, an English landscape photographer living, working and photographing in France. He spends a lot of time in Venice and says he knows it like the back of his hand. A columnist for UK publication Black & White Photographyhis work also graces the art section of Ikea.

The trip includes four nights BB in the Hotel Cavalletto e Doge Orseolo (00-39-041-5200955 or sanmarcohotels.com), a four-star Best Western. One side of the hotel overlooks Orseolo Basin, a picturesque body of water where the gondolas tie-up, right behind St Mark’s Square.

The Venice workshop covers film and digital, and the group is capped at six students. It takes place from December 3rd to 5th and costs €1,499 per person. This price includes accommodation but excludes flights and transfers.

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Venice; Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Venice-Treviso – 25 miles from Venice. See oceancaptureadventures.com or tel 00-33-6-71003769

4 THE PYRENEESCapture Pyrenean wildlife on a seven-day photography course under the expert tutelage of Andrew Cooper, a BBC Natural Worldphotographer and producer whose documentary The Farm That Time Forgotspearheaded a new era in nature programming.

A biologist by training, Cooper has worked on safari in Kenya and, as the producer of some of the highest-rating BBC wildlife documentaries, he is full of fantastic stories as well as tricks of the trade to help everyone from pure beginners to advanced photographers get the most from their photographs. He is also keen to catch the dawn’s “golden hour” and its magical colours and atmosphere. This is a course for early birds.

Explore a variety of themes and locations, while walking through one of Europe’s most unspoilt regions.

Situated in the western Pyrenees, just south of the foodie city of San Sebastian, the traditional farmhouse accommodation offers students a house party atmosphere, where guests are encouraged to help themselves to an aperitif, food and wine. You get your own double room and there is no single supplement.

The course takes place from October 16th to 23rd and costs €1,409. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies direct from Dublin to Biarritz. See spanishlanguagewalkingholidays.com or tel 00-44-121-7113428

5 GREEK ISLANDSIn the capable hands of advertising photographer Glenn Steiner, choose a six-day Cyclades course that starts on mystic Santorini. At the week's end you journey by ferry to the magical island of Anafi. This course starts on September 12th and runs until September 18th. A second course, "In search of the northeast Aegean", is from September 21st to 27th and explores the island of Samos and the holy ground of Patmos and also transports students to Kusadasi in Turkey to explore the Library of Celsus at Ephesus.

Each course costs about €1,945 and includes accommodation, Continental breakfast and transport on and between the islands. Group size ranges from five to seven. You will need to arrive the day before to make sure you’re in situ for the dawn start and this accommodation isn’t included in the price quoted above.

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies Dublin to Athens on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Aegean Airlines (en.aegeanair.com) fly to Thiro on Santorini in the Cyclades and Samos in the east Agean. Find flights to both Santorini and Samos on Greeka.com. Or take a ferry to either island from the port of Piraeus, outside Athens. See greekislandphotography.com or tel 00-1-415-459-2001

6 JAMAICASpend a week in Jamaica testing your skills while also exploring the rain forest and beautiful beaches of a lesser-known side of the island. Stay at Mocking Bird Hill, an eco boutique hotel where award-winning travel photographer Jon Whittle will show you how to shoot memorable pictures.

The seven-night, eight-day course costs around €1,613 per person and includes accommodation in a double room, breakfast, dinner, tuition, transportation, guides for hikes, museum entrance and traditional drumming and dancing. Beverages, other incidentals and airport transfer from Kingston are not included. This price is based on a minimum of eight people attending. The maximum number in the group is 14. The courses take place from November 26th to December 3rd and December 3rd to 10th.

Although Kingston is only 100km, the journey time can take up to two-and-a-half hours. An airport transfer will cost $165 (€134) for one to two persons in an individually chartered taxi. The team at Mocking Bird Hill is also happy to assist guests needing overnight accommodation at Kingston.

Virgin Atlantic (virgin-atlantic.com) and British Airways (ba.com) are two airlines that fly to Kingston from London Gatwick. Mocking Bird Hill, Port Antonio, Jamaica 00-1-876-993 7267 or visit hotelmockingbirdhill.com

Picture Ireland

IF YOU WOULD rather follow a photography course in Ireland, photographer Peter Cox is organising a series of beginners and improver workshops based in Dublin and Co Cork. His one-day composition courses take place in Dublin and Cork city and cost ¤50. Tel: 01-6853000 or 026-68555 or visit petercox.ie/.