Today is the day I have been dreading. It’s a portrait shoot in the market and will be totally out of my comfort zone. I dislike crowded spaces, do not speak the language and have to stick my camera into strangers’ faces and invade their personal space.

Yet again the weather could be better. There is a fine drizzle falling and people have umbrellas up making the already crowded market even more cramped. The market is vast, sprawling up streets and alleys seemingly endlessly. I wander for over an hour looking for inspiration. It is not coming. I take a few experimental shots but they are nothing special. The problem is that I am trying to be surreptitious and it’s not really working.

Tim comes to join me and lend moral support. He encourages me to approach people and ask them with wild gesticulations if I can take their photo. It is an improvement but I am clearly going to need to push myself if I am to take anything worthwhile.

These are a little better but I know the extroverts in the group will have produced some stunning pictures – and indeed they did. I wander around for another hour or so and am still struggling to nail it.

I love the energy in this photo which matches the Carpe Diem tattoo. Unfortunately I needed a deeper depth of field as only SICILIA is in focus, which was not the intention.

I meet up with Tim again before lunch and he reviews my morning’s work. He says “You have 10 minutes Maggie. Engage with someone and take something special.” I was pleased with the result. Pin-sharp focus, perfect exposure, context and stall-holder fully interacting with me.

We find a lovely authentic restaurant for lunch. I have the freshest and tastiest bruschetta. The quality of the ingredients is superb and turns a simple dish into something very special.

The afternoon is at leisure. We roam around the old streets of Palermo and find time for a beer in a street cafe. The buildings are characterful and it even stoops raining. Hooray!

This is the last evening of our course and we head down to the marina for our final photography review session. Jon is staying on a friend’s boat and has invited us all aboard for pre-dinner drinks.

It has stopped raining for now but the sky looks ominous

With Tim’s assistance we all have to pick our best 3 unedited photos from the trip. The quality of everybody’s work is astonishing and each person has very much their own style. Jon says he would like to publish a book with our photos in it. A lovely idea but it will never happen – he is so disorganised. On a positive note he has sorted out my room for the next two nights and also negotiated it at a much reduced rate but he does come from the school of lastminute.com.

We reluctantly finish our drinks and head off for our evening meal. It is going to be a late night. Jon has booked the table for 21.30 and says we are going to bars afterwards. It is a long walk from the marina and the heavens open again. The roads are busy but Sicilian drivers are incredibly courteous and generally stop to let pedestrians cross. This even applies to the six lane highway running along the old walls of the city. Remarkable.

Raining again as we walk to the restaurant

We eventually arrive at the restaurant. It is tiny with bottles stacked from floor to ceiling. Our table is even tinier and not really sufficient for 11 people.

The meal is excellent though not the cheapest. We settle the bill and then head off to sample the local nightlife. We find a lively bar with large outside awnings, make ourselves comfortable and order the first of many drinks. We spend a very pleasant few hours talking rubbish and make it back to the hotel at something like 3am.