Batsford Arboretum photography workshops in autumn: a guided day, 9:30am-3pm, in 60 acres of colour with Alan Ranger. £150 incl. entrance. Max 6, any level.

Summary

• Location: Batsford Arboretum - Gloucestershire

• Dates:

  • Sat 23 Oct and Sun 24 Oct 2027

  • Sat 30 Oct and Sun 31 Oct 2027

• Participants: Max 6

• Fitness: 1. Easy

• Experience Level: Beginner to Advanced

• Equipment Needed: DSLR or Mirrorless Camera

• Photography Workshop Event Batsford Arboretum

• Description: For fifteen autumns I’ve guided photographers through Batsford Arboretum’s 60 acres — more than 300 of them — and I know almost every inch of it: which tree, which shrub, which corner comes alive at which hour, and exactly where the light falls as the day moves round. This workshop is built on that knowledge. Open to all levels and any camera, it’s a chance to photograph Batsford’s autumn colour with a seasoned professional who puts you in the right place at the right time, so you can spend your energy on the thing that actually matters: seeing.

  Because that's where this workshop really lives. We'll cover the technical setup — exposure, depth of field, the settings that give you control — but that's only the floor. The real work is learning to look: to compose with intention and move beyond the cliché shot everyone else comes home with, to find the close-up, the macro detail and the quiet abstract as readily as the wide vista, and above all to read light, texture and colour as a harmony rather than chasing the over-saturated "look how vivid this is" image. Colour handled with restraint and relationship will always outlast colour shouted.

  With a group of no more than six and genuine one-to-one attention throughout, you’ll have the time and space to slow down and work properly across a guided day paced around the light. You’ll leave not just with a set of strong autumn images, but with a way of seeing — light, texture and composition — that changes how you photograph colour, woodland and the natural world wherever you go next.

  Good to know: the £150 workshop price includes entrance to the Arboretum. We meet at 9:30am in the Batsford café for a breakfast briefing (breakfast and drinks at your own cost), head into the arboretum at 10am, break for lunch at 12:30, then photograph a different part of the arboretum in the afternoon light, aiming to be back at the café by 3pm. The café and outdoor snack bar are open through the day, with toilets on site by the reception area.