Frui is excited to announce the latest of our new destinations for the summer! The perfect location for a Frui photography and painting holiday, Portugal is packed with picturesque locations as well as a delicious local cuisine and of course, plenty of wine.

Frui’s expert yet down-to-earth painting and photography tutors will be there to guide you as you get to know the location through creativity. Portugal certainly isn’t short of subject matter. From ancient and colourful streets of Lisbon to fairytale castles hidden amongst the forest on Europe’s westernmost point, you’re sure to find inspiration for for some stunning imagery. And when the sun sets we’ll down paintbrushes and explore the nightlife of the city. After all, there’s a rich and hearty local cuisine to sample and bars that come alive with the sound of traditional Fado music.

Here’s a taste of what we’ll get up to on this seven day trip:

We’ll start in the winding and narrow streets of Lisbon. Rua da Galé, in the city’s oldest district, boasts buildings with perfect pops of colour. It’s a wonderful area to get lost and explore a typical Portuguese neighbourhood- with camera or paintbrush in hand of course!

Then there’s the amazing 19th Century Funicular railway of Elevador da Bica- we’ll paint and shoot this iconic scene by day, and come back for the area’s renowned nightlife; this is a Frui trip after all!

From the tops of the city’s hills we’ll take in stunning views over the rooftops, rivers and the rugged Atlantic coastline.

We’ll also visit Europe’s most westerley point; Sintra. The pastel-hued palaces here are a hodgepodge of architectural styles that look like they’re straight from a fairytale. It’s an inspiring place that your tutors will help you to capture in your artwork.

But it’s not just about photography and painting – let’s talk food, another favourite Frui activity! With smart new restaurants offering new-wave Portuguese dishes, old-style establishments serving classics and plenty of bars and food markets, it’s the perfect foodie destination.

As well as unforgettable sights and mouthwatering flavours, Lisbon also has a unique sound: Fado – life, struggle and passion in song! We will seek out the best bars in which to experience this wonderful Portuguese art.

Come along, it’s going to be a great trip!

21st- 27th July 2018
£2050 per person
There is already lots of interest in this holiday, so we are giving our regular Fruisters a chance to hold their place in advance and receive a £100 earlybird discount before it goes on live on our website. You can do this through the link below for a deposit of £100. If you have any other questions please email hello@frui.co.uk, we’d love to hear from you!

Jerusalem; the sacred hub of the Abrahamic religions and one of the oldest cities in the world. A living mosaic of Babylonian, medieval and Ottoman architecture and the best opportunity you will have to see 360 degrees of the living historical panorama.
Make your photographic pilgrimage here with Frui to discover the narrow passages of the old city where these cultures meet and see how such a deeply woven history can make for unique and fascinating images.

Director James has personal contacts that live in this great city,  giving us unfettered access and unique queue jumping abilities. We are also planning to have a talk with Skynews camera-man and war zone correspondent Jake Britton on how to take meaningful images in challenging situations.

On this five day trip, we ‘ll start at the coastal town of Jaffa, explore the world-famous and the less well known among Jerusalem’s sights, and journey into the desert to see the Mar Saba monastery. There’s Mahane Yehuda and Etz Chayim street markets, Temple Mount, Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall. The images you bring home will ring with church bells, the refrain of the call to prayer and the strain of the shofar.

The itinaray will be:

Day – 1
Arrive Ben Gurion
over night in costal town of Jaffa
Check into hotel
walk around the town explore the beautiful old town
Dinner at Manta ray

Day – 2
Drive to Jerusalem
Check into hotel
Lunch in the old city
Export the labyrinth of the old city
guided tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Western Wall
Drive to mount of olives for evening light
Drinks Hotel Notre Dame over looking the old city

Day – 3
Morning head to Bethlehem
Tour of the wall
exclusive tour of bethlehem church nativity
Lunch traditional Palestinian falafel
Visit to Mar Saba monastery in the desert
Back to Jerusalem for tutorials
Dinner in the old town

Day – 4
Morning got to the famous historical market in the old town
Lunch the market
Explore the Hezekiah’s Tunnel
Garden of Gethsemane
Temple Mount
Review of images and final dinner

Day – 5
Relaxing morning transfer to airport.
visit The Garden Tomb
Few time for shopping
Late lunch
Transfer to airport for 8pm flight

Dates: 22 – 26 February

Price: £1899

Because we have limited spots on this trip …and it’s so close, we are giving the chance to our regular customers to hold their place in advance before it goes on live on our site. You can do this through the link below for a deposit of £150. If you have any other questions please email hello@frui.co.uk

It’s awards season and we’re going to be giving away bumper prizes to the best photographs and paintings that you’ve made on our 2015 or 2016 holidays!

This is going to be a fun afternoon where we’ll be announcing the winners and offering honourable mentions to some of our most colourful clients. We’ll also be showing off your wonderful works of art and fabulous photos throughout.

As always, category winners will receive either a framed print of their winning photograph or a bottle of bubbly for the painters. The overall winner of the night will also win 50% off their next Frui holiday!

Photography categories

Painting categories

When & Where

Saturday 8 October from 3 – 6pm

Terms & Conditions

Looking for ways to improve your photography and take your skill to the next level? We asked resident Frui tutor, Simon Tupper, for his top photography tips…

1. Seasonal photography

Spring is a great time for photography, because of all the flowers and natural foliage. My top tip for photographing flowers is to shoot them in the shade or on a cloudy day. In direct sunlight the bright colours can be too much for your camera’s sensor to handle, and you end up losing the detail.

2. Respect your phone

Think of your phone camera as a serious photographic tool. Of course it can’t do everything a ‘real’ camera can do, but it’s always with you and that counts for a lot. The image quality from most new phones is enough for online use, and because of they are so connected it’s probably more likely that photos from your phone will end up being seen by others. So utilize your photo skills and put as much care into your phone pictures as you do when you’re using a proper camera.

3. Black and white

If you want to produce black and white photos, it’s best to take them in colour and convert them to black and white using software that allows you to control what shade of grey different colours will become. If your camera is set to save images as colour JPEGs, you won’t get to see them in black and white until they’re on a computer. However if you set your camera to record ‘raw’ files instead and also set it to ‘monochrome’ or ‘black and white’, the pictures will be black- and-white on the screen but still have all the colour information saved should you need it later on.

Some of Simon’s own pictures…

See more of Simon’s amazing photographic work by visiting simontupperphotography.co.uk.

Looking for ways to improve your photography and take your skill to the next level? We asked resident Frui tutor, Simon Tupper, for his top photography tips…

1. Aperture Stars

As well as controlling depth of field and the amount of light coming into your camera, the aperture can change how points of light (like the sun or streetlights) look in your picture. With a small aperture (big f- number!), point light sources will have a star effect around them caused by diffraction from the aperture blades. With the aperture wide open (smallest f-number), light sources are usually surrounded by an even haze. Out-of-focus lights in the background become attractive little circles. This is called ‘bokeh’ and photographers get very excited about it. Not many are entirely sure how it’s pronounced though.

2. Be selective

Be ruthless when selecting photos to show, wherever you’re showing them. It’s always better to have a smaller series of really strong photos than to dilute a set with a few that don’t quite cut it. Great photographers might start with 100 possible strong candidates when making a series of 5- 10.

3. Go the extra step

Be confident in your vision for your photo and don’t be afraid to do what you need to do to get the shot as you want it- move a bit closer, ask your subject to change their pose (or clothes!), lie on the floor, climb on a bin. Whatever you need to do. Having the idea for the shot was the hard bit. If it’s a good one, it’s worth putting in that little bit of extra effort to do it justice.

Some of Simon’s own pictures…

See more of Simon’s amazing photographic work by visiting simontupperphotography.co.uk.

Looking for ways to improve your photography and take your skill to the next level? We asked resident Frui tutor, Simon Tupper, for his top photography tips…

1. Running on empty

Don’t wait until your card is full or your battery is empty to change them, otherwise you might run out at the key moment. I’m talking from experience here! Make sure you’ve always got enough shots in hand for when something awesome occurs in front of you.

2. Background check

Photography compresses the 3D world into two dimensions. When you take a photograph, you bring the background and foreground to the same level. Because of this, the ‘background’ is way more significant in a photograph than it is when you look at that scene it in real life. Try not to neglect it when you compose your pictures.

3. Challenge yourself

Set yourself photography challenges. Sometimes it’s easier to focus when you have a specific goal and the creative possibilities are narrowed down a bit. In fact, instead of setting them yourself, why not take part in Frui’s ‘tutor’s challenges‘? Or come along to a photography social, where you can complete our live challenges with the help of a drink or two!

Some of Simon’s own pictures…

See more of Simon’s amazing photographic work by visiting simontupperphotography.co.uk

Our friends at the Art Fund need your help to move the entire contents of photographer Vanley Burke’s flat, including his archive, to the Ikon Gallery for a brilliant new exhibition!

Vanley Burke is a renowned photographer concerned especially with black culture in Britain; he was born in Jamaica in 1951 and has lived in Birmingham since 1965. Alongside his numerous exhibitions, Burke is also an avid collector – his archive is vast and varied, including posters, books, clothes, records, ornaments and countless other items that provide a fascinating and invaluable insight into the UK’s African Caribbean communities.

Get donating Frusters!

14 destinations, over 100 holidays, almost 1000 guests and we’ve lost count of the number of bottles of wine!

Over the past three years we’ve seen you guys take some cracking shots on our holidays, so we’re hosting an awards evening to honour your talents and say thank you for your loyal custom. On the night you’ll have the chance to reunite with Frui faces from your holidays while enjoying a few glasses of vino and, who knows, perhaps even a boogie!

So, if you’ve joined us on holiday since 2012 then it’s time to pick your best photos and email them to us for a chance to win! We’ll be showing off your photographs throughout the evening and announcing the winners on the night!

Where and when

Jewel Bar, Covent Garden, 23rd January 2015 from 7pm (winners announced at 8pm)

Categories

People in their environment

Details that tell a story

Bags of personality

Country in a nutshell

Mega landscapes

Prizes (Yay!)

The winner of each category will win a print of their photograph, a £100 Frui holiday voucher and a steamy smooch from James. One of the lucky category winners will also win a £400 Frui Holiday voucher!

The rules (Boo!)

You can enter JUST ONE image per category by emailing hello@frui.co.uk. Images must be emailed one at a time with the category in the subject line. Images must be no larger than 5MGB and no smaller than 2MGB. Any images smaller or larger will be discounted. All photos must have been taken on a 2012, 2013 or 2014 Frui holiday. Deadline for entries is 15th January 2015.

Judges

All entries will be judged by Frui co-founder and best-selling author of Read This If You Want To Take Great Photographs, Henry Carroll. Frui’s head of photography and travel photographer, Filip Gierlinski. Frui tutor and travel photographer, Simon Tupper.

RSVP essential

Even if you haven’t been away with us over the past three years we’d love you to join us on the night! Please reserve your spot by emailing hello@frui.co.uk. Good luck everyone and we look forward to seeing you and your pics on the night!

Looking for ways to improve your photography and take your skill to the next level? We asked resident Frui tutor, Simon Tupper, for his top photography tips…

1. Create a series

Often we think about photographs as one off images. That’s fine, but photographs are at their most powerful when you create a series on a theme. A series allows you to create a narrative, tell a story and explore your subject deeper. The trick is to know what your series is about and that’s where you have to tap in to what interested you the most, whether that’s a person, a place or an event.

2. Be ruthless

Sometimes you can work really hard to photograph something. It might mean spending a day walking to a viewpoint, waiting for the weather to clear or battling with your confidence on the street. The more effort you put in the better your pictures will be. But sometimes things still don’t work out. Always be objective about your pictures. Don’t hold on to ones which don’t work simply because they were hard to get. Viewers judge a image on its own merits rather than how hard it was to capture, so be ruthless with your editing!

3. Choose your lens carefully

I see it all the time on Frui holidays and courses. Frusters see something interesting but then capture it with the wrong lens, whether it’s too wide or too tight. Your choice of lens has more impact on your composition than anything else. You have to make sure that you’re using the right lens for the right subjects. Wide angle lenses make environmental details all important, while telephoto lenses concentrate attention on the subject. Think about what you’re trying to capture and then choose your lens.

Some of Simon’s own pictures…

See more of Simon’s amazing photographic work by visiting simontupperphotography.co.uk

James Dean Diamond; a superstar name to match his superstar status as one of Frui’s professional photographers and tutors! Based in the South-East, James teaches for Frui in Brighton and London. We asked him some questions to see what floats his photography boat…

How did you get into photography?

My father was an avid photographer, and used his Canon A1 to shoot landscapes, skyscapes, travel photos and portraits of the family. I was hooked from the age of 11 and bought my first ever camera; a Pentax Auto 1-10 SLR which was the smallest SLR camera available to buy at the time. Since then, a camera has become as essential in everyday life as eating and breathing.

How do you improve your photography?

Practice, practice, practice! I experiment with camera settings when I’m on location and in the studio to find what works and what doesn’t. My inspiration is to be original and communicate what my work is about, conceptually and aesthetically.

What do you love about photography?

Every time I go out with my camera is a new photographic adventure, which I love! Something I come across in the street could be my newest best photo.

Where’s your favourite place to photograph?

Although I’ve travelled a lot for my photography, I would say that the great City of London is my favourite place to photograph, which is handy because it’s right on my doorstep. I like photographing London because it is quite nondescript compared to Paris or New York. Variety is the key to locations, and I feel that London offers so many stories and subjects.

You’ve just completed your Masters Degree, tell us about it?

It was intense but I learnt a lot about my art practice and gave me an in-depth look into why I make art as opposed to just how and what. My dissertation focussed on the function of abstraction and blurring in Gerhard Richter’s work which I found profoundly influential on my own work.

Thanks James!