I joined Darren for a day, on two separate occasions, while I was staying in Essaouira in November. The first day was for portraits and reportage - Darren started the day by running through the basics that we might need and making sure everyone found the relevant settings on their cameras. With a mixed abilities group, it is always hard to find the right balance between making sure the beginners have all they need to get started but not spending too long so that more advanced users get bored. For me, I thought Darren got it just right - he managed to make it informative and relevant to what we would be trying to achieve and also showed examples on his laptop, which helped make sense of it all. I felt I learnt more in the first hour with Darren than I had on any other photo days I've experienced. Once we got out around Essaouira, Darren kept checking on each of us, monitoring our progress and offering help and advice where needed, but was not overbearing. He was also constantly looking out for photo opportunities and pointing them out to us if we had missed them, which really helped to get you to tune in to your "artistic eye". He encouraged us to be confident when going for a shot and also advised when one might be inappropriate, as not everyone was open to being photographed. After a couple of hours of working around the port and with 3 ladies who posed for us, we had a break for lunch and then met again in the late afternoon, when the light was more interesting, for further work around the port and old town. Once it was dark, we returned to the hotel, where Darren went through all our photos, picking out about a dozen from each person which he then went through in more detail, offering advice and encouragement, pointing out strengths and weaknesses in each shot. This was quite a feat as I think each of us had about 200 photos to be looked at initially! If he had criticism, he always tried to make it constructive and helpful, so that we could learn and improve.
The second day spent with Darren was with one other person, of a similar experience to myself. We went out to a Berber market and after lunch, on to a river valley with a small waterfall and sand dunes for some landscape work. I found that I was much more confident in the market as a result of the work I had done the previous week with Darren. We had the opportunity for more self expression on this trip, but Darren was always available if we needed help or advice and he was still always keeping an eye open for photo opportunities we might have missed. At the end, he created two folders of our best photos on his website and gave advice on how we might continue to improve. I feel I definitely gained from spending two days with Darren - he was both informative and encouraging and I think the photos I took while in Essaouira showed a definite improvement over time, with the last ones being some of the best I have taken. I would definitely recommend his courses for anyone wanting to improve the quality of their photos, as well as enjoying a great place, which is incredibly photogenic. (Note: The photos seem to be displayed in a random order and not the order they were taken/loaded)

We booked three days photography in November with Darren after our summer holiday and brief visit to Essaouira in August. Darren put together an itinerary to include the medina, port and some reportage photography. The first part of the class each day is looking at camera technique as well as referencing examples from other photographers concentrating each day on a different genre. We were also allowed to photograph local women as part of our portrait workshop. The port is fantastic, where the fish was bought in fresh, although a challenge to photograph we watched the fishermen bring their catch to shore and the subsequent haggling that went on to send this fish to market. At the end of every day he reviewed our photos selecting the highlights and arranging galleries of work as a record for us after our trip. My wife and I were pleased with the results at the end. Aside from the photography he suggested restaurants for us. I can't recommend this tour highly enough - you will take back a lot of wonderful memories.

Essouira is a lovely town and a great place to try out your photography, We did leave with some lovely photos and Darren did teach us some new things about taking abstract photos and the importance of light and shade. Compared to other tutors we have learnt from, Darren does not seem to have a real passion for photography and it feels that he is teaching the theory he has learned.

Unfortunately we found Darren's attitude was negative and condescending to the local people, economy and town, which is surprising as he lives and works there.

On the other hand his wife Namia was a delight and we really enjoyed leaning how to cook a tagine and look forward to cooking this at home.