4-Day Travel Photography Retreat
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
December 30, 2025 – January 2, 2026
(Welcome Circle December 29)
Investment: $999 USD
(Limited to 12 participants)
✨ Start the New Year in Paradise, Camera in Hand
Ring in the new year with your lens focused on beauty, movement, and light. This four-day photography retreat is designed to immerse you in the colors, textures, and spirit of Puerto Vallarta — one of Mexico’s most captivating coastal destinations.
From street scenes and ocean sunsets to whale watching and creative editing, you’ll learn to capture storytelling images that reflect both your journey and your artistic voice.
With small-group instruction, one-on-one guidance, and over 20 hours of hands-on learning, you’ll return home refreshed, confident, and creatively inspired.
Puerto Vallarta is one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Mexico and for good reason! With the incredible food, scenery, beaches, sunsets, and amazing people, there is no better location for a Photography adventure.
📸 Retreat Highlights
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Whale Watching Excursion
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Night Photography Fireworks Workshop (New Year’s Eve)
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Guided Shoots on the Malecón, Playa Conchas Chinas & Romantic Zone
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Food, Travel, and Portrait Workshops
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Lightroom & Photoshop Editing Sessions
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Welcome Circle and Farewell Dinner
🗓️ Course Itinerary
Monday, December 29
Optional Welcome Circle
Join us for a relaxed evening meet-up to connect with your group before the retreat begins. We’ll discuss goals, gear, and creative intentions for the week ahead.
Tuesday, December 30
Morning: Travel Photography Workshop — Malecón
Learn to tell visual stories that capture the soul of a place. Practice photojournalistic techniques, street portraits, composition, and movement as we explore Vallarta’s iconic boardwalk and cathedral. This course will provide techniques for creating photojournalism-type street portraits and scenes, as well as shooting in both harsh and low light, capturing editorial portraits of locals and vendors, and learning skills like panning and zooming for fun effects.
Afternoon: Lightroom Essentials
Build your travel editing style and learn how to organize and edit your photographs. This 2-hour course will teach you everything you need to know about importing and organizing your images, as well as advanced editing skills to take your images to the next level. Students are encouraged to bring laptops or mobile devices with Lightroom or Lightroom Mobile pre-installed. You will be working right alongside us and will be able to work on your own images from the last few days.
Wednesday, December 31
Morning: Whale Watching Excursion — Wildlife & Motion Photography
Head out on a 3-hour charter across Banderas Bay, photographing humpback whales in their natural habitat. This charter will give us the opportunity to see whales up close and photograph them while learning more advanced focusing techniques and how to freeze or blur motion for creative impact. The cruise will also offer us the opportunity to practice using slow shutter speeds for a stunning effect!
Night: Fireworks & Night Photography Workshop (New Year’s Eve)
Celebrate the new year while practicing long exposures, light trails, and creative night photography with the nearly full moon and New Year's fireworks.
Thursday, January 1
Early Afternoon: Food Photography Workshop
Delight in the city’s incredible cuisine and dine with friends while learning techniques to capture the most appetizing, story-rich food images.
Non-photography guests are welcome to join us to provide you with additional dishes to practice on!
Evening: Sunset Workshop — Playa Conchas Chinas
Puerto Vallarta is famous for our vibrant sunsets. Join us on the beach and enjoy the view while capturing the perfect sunset! Learn how different apertures and settings can greatly change the visual effects of your image. We will discover the benefits of HDR photography and shoot long exposures after the sun goes down. Learn how to control the colors of your sunset using white balance and practice using different lenses for a more diverse collection of images.
Friday, January 2
Morning: Natural Light Portraits — Parque Lázaro Cárdenas & Romantic Zone
Learn the art of natural light portraits using the sun and shade as well as reflectors and diffusers. You can use this knowledge in future travels and take stunning portraits with minimal equipment. We’ll work with a local model so you can capture real-time portraits with on-site instruction.
Afternoon: Photoshop for Travel Photography
To wrap up our retreat we will be retouching your photos from all of our courses and learning how to retouch skin, remove distractions, create composites, collages, and graphics, and more! This session will also serve as a peer critique; each student will submit photos from each lesson of the workshop and we will review and retouch them as a class.
Evening: Farewell Dinner & Critique
Share your favorite images, stories, and connections from the week as we close our retreat with a celebration dinner in the Romantic Zone.
💻 What’s Included
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Over 20 hours of guided instruction and editing
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Whale watching charter & photography guidance
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All location and model fees
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Lightroom and Photoshop sessions
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Course handouts & creative exercises
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Welcome Circle (Dec 29), Food Photography meal (Jan 1) and Farewell Dinner (Jan 2)
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Continued community through a private alumni group
🧭 Who It’s For
This retreat welcomes all experience levels and all types of cameras — from DSLRs to mirrorless or mobile. Whether you’re a beginner looking to improve your travel photos, a hobbyist seeking creative inspiration, or a small business owner refining your visual storytelling, you’ll gain skills that elevate your photography for years to come.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What skill level is this workshop for? We welcome all skill levels in this workshop! Each lesson will begin with a group instruction; however, while we are shooting, individual instruction will be offered to each student. During this one-on-one time, students will be provided with tips that will suit their needs. From those just picking up a camera to budding professionals, we are happy to help everyone improve their images and offer stunning scenes to add to your portfolio.
Are phones or point-and-shoot cameras allowed to join? Yes, absolutely! Similar to skill levels, any and all camera types are able to take away wonderful images during the workshop. With lessons on lighting, composition, and basic photography knowledge, even camera phone shooters will love and benefit from this workshop!
What subjects will we be learning? Our workshop includes lessons on Adobe Lightroom, Travel & Street Photography, Food Photography, Sunsets, Portraiture and Adobe Photoshop, as well as a Whale Watching Tour and Night Photography with the New Years Eve fireworks. These lessons are packed with skills, techniques, and knowledge. Each lesson will come with a course handout with notes to use when you get home.
What gear should I bring? We want you to be able to maximize your photographic experience without overloading your luggage. Upon registering for the course, you will receive a recommended equipment list as well as some travel and safety tips. Whenever possible, we will provide guests with non-camera-specific accessories, but supplies are limited! We are also able to rent gear from local businesses on your behalf for an additional fee.
Do I need to bring a computer? For our Lightroom and Photoshop Courses, we do recommend that you bring your laptop with the programs already installed in order to fully participate and practice using those programs. However, it is not uncommon in our courses for students to simply follow along and take notes. We want to cater to your unique learning style, so please do what makes you comfortable.
*Lodging and transportation are not included, but please let us help you find accommodations! We have lots of local recommendations.
💰 Investment
$999 USD per person
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$300 deposit to reserve your spot (refundable until December 15th, 2025)
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Balance due by December 19th, 2025
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Early bird rate ($899) available until November 15
Included in the Workshop fees are over 20 hours of instruction via group demonstration or lecture, one-on-one attention, and class critique. Students will also receive handouts for each course, travel and safety tips, and recommendations for your visit to Puerto Vallarta. After the Workshop, you will be invited to join a Facebook group of other Nomad Family Students in which you can participate in our themed challenges and ask or offer advice.
🌴 Join Us
Spend New Year’s in Puerto Vallarta surrounded by creativity, community, and adventure. Capture breaching whales, fireworks exploding over the bay, and sunsets that glow like paintings.
This isn’t just a workshop — it’s a creative reset to begin your year with purpose, beauty, and inspiration.
📩 Reserve your spot now — limited to 12 photographers.