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HIDDEN LIFE
IN COSTA RICA

The wild art of noticing

THE WORLD GETS BIGGER WHEN YOU OBSERVE THE SMALLER

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Costa Rica is famous for toucans, monkeys, and scarlet macaws, and we'll find those too.

However, this small-group workshop is built around quieter encounters: the frog on a wet leaf, the moth at the light sheet, the spider guarding her eggs.

Based at Topanga Villa in Ojochal, we'll work across rainforest, mangroves, and coast, with time to shoot, edit, and rest between outings.

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What makes this workshop different

Led by a field biologist, who also happens to be a photographer

Christine Parent is an evolutionary biologist, National Geographic Explorer, university professor, expedition naturalist, and wildlife photographer. She has spent more than two decades conducting biodiversity fieldwork in remote places such as Ecuador (including the Galápagos), Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania, and the USA.Christine's specialty is creating spaces for people to notice the lives most of us walk past.

A luxury villa base, not hotel-hopping

We will be based at Topanga Villa, a private luxury estate in Ojochal, province of Puntarenas, with spacious rooms, beautiful gathering spaces, a pool, excellent food, and access to Costa Rica’s southern Pacific habitats.This gives the workshop a different rhythm: field sessions, chef-prepared meals, image review, rest, night walks, and time to build community without constantly packing and moving.

Macro, wildlife, natural history, and story

This workshop is especially strong for wildlife, macro and close-focus photography, but it is not only a technical photography workshop. We will work on fieldcraft, behavior, composition, lighting, storytelling, image selection, and how to capture a wildlife encounter that tells a story.

Want a better feel for what we’ll be photographing? View the Costa Rica Gallery.

Small group, one-on-one attention

The workshop is limited to 10 photographers, with option for non-photographer companions sharing rooms. Photographers will be fully immersed into workshop activities with at least 3 guides at all times, whereas companions will have alternative activity options. Meals will be shared with everyone.The small group keeps the experience personal, flexible, and responsive to conditions.

Open to travel companions

Photographers are welcome to bring a travel companion. Each photographer will have a private room, which may be shared with a companion at a reduced rate.Companions are invited to enjoy the villa, meals, pool, gardens, and relaxed group time. They may also join some scheduled outings when space and logistics allow, but the photography instruction, field coaching, and image review sessions are designed for registered photographers.Alternative activities for companions may also be offered during the workshop. These activities are not included in the registration fee and can be arranged separately.This is a good option for partners or friends who want to experience Costa Rica, enjoy the setting, and be part of the trip without participating fully in the photography workshop.

Who this is for

This workshop is for you if:

You love wildlife, and are especially curious about the small, strange, overlooked things.

You want to improve your field photography without being buried in gear talk.

You like natural history as much as (or more than) camera settings.

You want a mix of field time, learning, good food, comfort, and adventure.

You are excited by frogs, insects, spiders, lizards, fungi, plants, birds, mammals, and the occasional complete surprise.

You are comfortable with uneven trails, night walks, humid conditions, and the reality that wildlife does not take requests.

You do not need to be an expert photographer. In fact, this is your opportunity to learn and develop your skills. You should be comfortable using your equipment and interested in learning and sharing.

What you’ll learn

Finding the Unseen
How to slow down, scan vegetation, read edges, search leaf litter, notice behavior, and find small subjects without trampling the place you came to see.
Macro & Close-Focus Technique
Working distance, backgrounds, depth of field, diffused flash, natural light, tripod vs. handheld approaches, and practical field settings.
Camera Traps & Hidden Wildlife
How to think about elusive mammals, reptiles, and birds: where to place camera traps, how to read signs, and how to photograph animals you may not see directly.
Ethical Wildlife Photography
How to photograph small animals responsibly, minimize stress, avoid habitat damage, and put the welfare of the subject first.
Image Review & Storytelling
How to choose, edit, sequence, and refine images so they become more than isolated wildlife portraits.

Most importantly, we will focus on transferable skills: ways of looking, listening, searching, tracking, photographing, and asking questions that you can use at home or anywhere you travel as you continue your own journey of biodiversity discovery.

The setting: Topanga Villa, Ojochal

Above: Photos taken at Topanga Villa

Our home base is Topanga Villa, a private luxury property in Ojochal, between the mountains and the sea. After humid field sessions, night walks, and early mornings, you will return to a place where you can eat well, rest, edit, swim, talk, and recharge.Each photographer will have their own room, which can be shared with a travel companion at a lower rate if desired.Our base is surrounded by primary forest with a trail system leading to a small river with its own private swim hole and waterfall. Birds, insects, tropical flowers, reptiles and amphibians are all within walking distance. Topanga Villa will offer a soft landing for our field-based workshop.Workshop atmosphere: curious, generous, comfortable, field-focused, and intentionally small.

MEET YOUR GUIDES

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Christine Parent, Ph.D.Workshop Leader · Evolutionary Biologist · National Geographic Explorer · Wildlife PhotographerChristine is an evolutionary biologist, National Geographic Explorer, professor, expedition naturalist, and wildlife photographer. She has spent over two decades doing fieldwork in places like Ecuador (including the Galápagos), Peru, Costa Rica, Chile, Japan, the Solomon Islands, Hawaiʻi, and Tanzania.As The Snail Hunter, Christine combines science, photography, and storytelling to help people notice the overlooked lives around them — frogs, insects, snails, spiders, lizards, and the small dramas most travelers walk past. She is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, with a good level of German.

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Luke Harmon, Ph.D.Evolutionary Biologist · Naturalist · Workshop Co-LeaderLuke Harmon is an evolutionary biologist, professor, naturalist, and educator whose work explores how life diversifies across the tree of life. He brings deep scientific knowledge, years of teaching experience, and a generous, curious approach to field learning.On this workshop, Luke will help find reptiles and amphibians (his favorites) and connect wildlife encounters to bigger evolutionary stories such as why animals look, move, behave, and diversify the way they do. He brings humor, field experience, and practical support to the group.

Eugenio GarcíaCosta Rican Naturalist Guide · Wildlife Expert · Local Field LeaderEugenio García is a Costa Rican naturalist guide with deep knowledge of the country’s wildlife, habitats, and field conditions. He brings the local expertise that makes a trip like this work: where to go, what to listen for, when to look, and how to move through the forest with care.Eugenio will help guide the field sessions, find wildlife, interpret Costa Rican ecosystems, and connect the group to the hidden life of the rainforest, coast, and forest edges.

Workshop highlights

Seven days & six nights at Topanga Villa

Maximum 10 photographers

Option to invite a travel companion

Chartered flights and private shuttles

Chef-prepared meals

Rainforest field sessions

Night walks for frogs, insects, spiders, and nocturnal life

Macro, close-focus, and long distance bird photography instruction sessions

Constructive image review and editing sessions

Beach & coastal landscape session

Mangrove, estuary, and coastal forest boat excursion

Light sheet / insect attraction sessions

Natural history talks woven into the field experience

Optional 2-day Corcovado extension

Above: Photos taken on the mangrove tour on Sierpe River.

PLANNED ITINERARY & SCHEDULE

Optional Extension: corcovado national park

Above: Photos from Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

DATES: December 18–19, 2026 (2 days & 1 night)
COST: $1,200/person
Boat access via Sierpe and Drake Bay
Travel through the river, coast, and rainforest edge on the way into the park.La Sirena field time
Explore the lowland rainforest around one of Corcovado’s most wildlife-rich areas.Deeper rainforest photography
More time for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, plants, tracks, textures, and forest scenes. This is your chance to possibly see tapirs, collared peccaries, more monkeys, coatis, anteaters, toucans, scarlet macaws, army ants, basilisks, tree anoles, kingfishers, crocodiles, to name a few.Small-group extension
A more immersive add-on for guests who want to keep exploring after the main workshop, with a guest:guide ratio that remains small at 5:1 or lower.The extension package includes private boat transport, lunch, dinner, breakfast, overnight lodging at the station, and guided walks.Our workshop extension is open to both photographers and companions at the same per-person price. Space may be limited, and the exact logistics will depend on final boat schedules, number of participants, park access, etc.

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Nito (above) will guide our walks through the Corcovado forest. Nito is regarded as one of the best naturalist guides in Costa Rica and is known worldwide for his ability to find and interpret wildlife that most people would miss. With deep local knowledge, sharp field instincts, and years of experience in the Osa Peninsula, he brings the forest to life, from tracks and calls to birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and the hidden stories unfolding all around us.

ready to join us?

Space is limited, and rooms at Topanga Villa are unique. A $1,000 deposit reserves your spot, and accommodations will be assigned by preference in the order deposits are received.If the workshop minimum is not met by Aug. 15, 2026, deposits will be refunded. Once the workshop is confirmed, the remaining balance will be paid in two installments.Reserve your spot early for the best choice of rooms!

• Get more info
• Reserve a Spot
• Contact me