Resource Center: Workshops

Digital Journalist 
Presented by Digital Journalist, the monthly multi-media magazine for visual journalism, the Platypus Workshops are aimed at taking professional image-makers and story producers to the next level. The annual workshops are led by seasoned photojournalists, and participants are divided along professional lines: “Shooters” are paired with “Producers” and “Student Producers” to explore the latest technology and the new ways of storytelling. The site showcases testimonials and video footage from past years.  

Eddie Adams Workshop 
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Eddie Adams founded this 4-day intensive program in order to bring together students and photojournalism veterans in an intensive long weekend of exchange. The workshop stands out for other reasons: a limited number of students are selected based on the strength of their work, each student is paired with an experienced photojournalist, and the whole thing is free (!). Not surprisingly, competition for spots in this annual workshop is stiff, and the prestige is high. 

Forward Focus 
Forward Focus Workshops offer a sort of “road map” to both adventure and philanthropy for experienced and emerging photographers and writers who want to cover developmental, environmental, and relief efforts worldwide. Forward Focus supports nonprofits and NGOs by hosting targeted “volunteer-vacation” photography workshops, where photographers can contribute to positive change in the world by documenting the work and disseminating images that make international development and aid projects visible.

Fotoweek. D.C. 
A week-long celebration of photography in America’s capital city, Fotoweek D.C. includes a variety of events that consider the many facets of the practice of photography. Exhibitions, lectures, talks, workshops and projections are packed into the week-long schedule, many taking place in some of Washington’s inventory of storied venues, including the Smithsonian and the National Geographic Headquarters.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshops
Exceptional for the number and quality of its instructors, and remarkable for its accessibility, the Foundry photojournalism workshops travel to a new continent every year, offering the local photo community and its international participants an uncommon education. In venues as diverse as Sarajevo and Istanbul, Foundry instructors take students into field, making connections with local photographers and setting the scene for genuine reportage experience. In fact, the instructors, respected and established photographers all, make a commitment to keeping the cost of the workshops affordable for all, but particularly for participants from the host country. This inclusive approach has consistently fostered a supportive atmosphere for creative exploration and truly useful feedback.

International Center for Photography, New York 
Housed in elegant digs on New York’s Avenue of the Americas, the International Center for Photography’s school of photography is a rare institution that offers a range of photo educational options. In association with Bard University, ICP has built solid undergraduate and MFA programs, as well as its own, shorter, certificate programs. In addition, the community at large can access its continuing education classes and “teen academy” internships. The museum and its important collection round out the Center’s comprehensive mission to promote and support photography.

Kalish Workshop 
“The Kalish” as it is known, is workshop designed to address the gap between those with web skills and those with visual storytelling skills in online news organizations. Clearly, the rapid transformation of news gathering and presentation from print to digital media can create some difficult transitions in the news room. Conducted at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, the workshop aims to help both groups become proficient visual editors in the modern newsroom.

Light Work, Syracuse NY 
One of the most recognized media workshops on the scene. For over 30 years, the Maine Photographic Workshops has offered a surprisingly large variety of one-week intensive workshops aimed at advancing the participant’s skill levels in many areas. With over 250 workshops, photographers can explore just about any facet of their craft. The site provides clear information about the workshops, the teachers and the workshop experience.

Maine Media Workshops 
For over 30 years, the Maine Media Workshops (formerly the Maine Photographic Workshops) has offered a surprisingly large variety of one-week intensive workshops aimed at advancing the participant’s skill levels in many areas. With over 250 workshops, photographers can explore just about any facet of their craft. The site provides clear information about the workshops, the teachers and the workshop experience.

Missouri Photo Workshop
For over 60 years, the Missouri Photo Workshop has challenged photographers from around the world to hone their skills by documenting the fascinating stories of small town life in Missouri. Slideshows, starting with images from the first Workshop in 1949, reveal a continuum of well-researched and skilfully captured local stories drawn from the work of international participants who are guided by MVP’s faculty of respected photojournalists. The MPW moves to a new town each year, and has over the years, created a constellation of stories that, taken as a whole, form an intimate and original portrait of Middle America’s changes.

Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego 
The museum’s collection and exhibition schedule highlights modern and contemporary work which address social and historical issues. Its other, complimentary, strength is a commitment to public outreach and public education programs, through lectures, workshops and after-school programs.

National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)
National Press Photographers Association site provides a central meeting place where photojournalists can discuss topics that relate to the profession and stay current through the Association’s schedule of workshops and seminars. Established professional donate their skills for workshops that address the art and science of storytelling. The site also contains news and events pages, professional development information, competition notices, and services for members. Members have access to active message boards covering a broad range of topics including business, news, current events, digital editing, ethical issues and photo gear.

Pacific Street Workshops
Led by photographers Ken Schles and Jeffrey Ladd, New York’s Pacific Street Studios Photographic Workshops offers a limited schedule of specialized workshops for experienced students and professionals.

Photographic Center Northwest – Workshops
Although Seattle’s Photographic Center focuses on the promotion of fine art photography through a variety of activities, education is clearly a top priority. The Center’s on-going series of workshops cover everything from “Photoshop for Beginners” to journeys to Mexico with renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark. The Center’s school offers an accredited fine art photography certificate program, intensive 10-week courses, member and youth programs, and lectures. Other features include the non-profit gallery shows emerging and mid-career artists, juried public exhibitions, an artist-in-residence program and offers darkroom rentals. The site also offers a list of reviewed links, useful for Northwestern photographers.

Photographic Resource Center, Boston University - Workshops 
Boston’s vigorous and independent photo non-profit, fulfills part of its wide-ranging mandate by offering workshops and seminars, often on specific topics and techniques and dovetail with the Center’s other educational initiatives. The PRC offers its members and the wider public up to eight annual gallery exhibitions, an ongoing series of web exhibitions, an education program which includes lectures, research resources based in the PRC’s Aaron Siskind Library and other unique events. If that were not enough, the PRC also hosts a web-based photo discussion forum, publishes In the Loupe, its stylish newsletter, and offers the annual Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Awards. Vigorous indeed!

Picture Berlin
Designed by artists for other artists and conducted in the heart of Europe’s arts Mecca, Picture Berlin is annual invitation to emerging contemporary artists and photographers to immerse themselves in an intensive 6 week program. The intention here is to blend the intensive focus of an individual studio practice with the dynamic exchange of a larger artistic community. Picture Berlin residents are provided with the space and support to advance their work, which is nourished by a schedule of lectures by Berlin-based artists, local exhibitions, studio visits and art walks, individual encounters with international artists and curators, and the supportive community of fellow residents. Perhaps the greatest attraction is Berlin’s rich art scene, always on the cutting-edge, that envelops this program.

Photo Xpeditions
What legendary photographer Mary-Ellen Mark, director and cinematographer Martin Bell and an ensemble of photo professionals offer is adventure travel for photographers, a kind of master class in capturing the moment while immersed in a new environment. Travel and experience are as important as the craft of photography in these journeys, and the shared moments are perhaps meant to be captured rather than documented.

Project Basho
Project Basho, a small artist-run photography resource center, is clearly an instigating force on Philadelphia’s photography scene, offering an ambitious program of photo related activities including exhibitions, a juried photo competition, darkroom rental, an imposing schedule of classes, lecture and film series, and – intriguingly - informal critiques.

Rayko Photo Center 
In a town where people have access to some excellent photo resources, this San Francisco community photo facility manages to be nearly all things to all photographers. Each semester there are classes & workshops offered in the categories of Digital, Darkroom, and Technique. Students can put this new knowledge into practice in the Center’s rental darkrooms, digital lab and studios. The Center’s website also details their other programs and services, including a youth photo education program that features photo “summer camp,” and a gallery space with a regular roster of curated shows.

Santa Fe Workshops 
The Santa Fe Workshops offer a long seasonal list of workshops. The Workshops limit class sizes and invite recognized professionals to teach - thus providing a more personal, intensive and creative experience. Another attraction is the range of Workshops’ scholarships offered by major photo companies such as Nikon, National Geographic and Kodak - of course, the beautiful Workshops’ campus in beautiful Santa Fe doesn’t hurt either. A large gallery of student work displays a sample of the Workshops’ experience.

Short Courses 
Dennis Curtin, longtime publisher and author of many computer and photography books, made the switch to on-line publishing in 1997, and has since built a solid repertoire of “short courses” on various aspects of digital photography. Curtin’s explanations of the basics of digital photography, such as selecting a camera and how best to use it, displaying and sharing pictures, digital work flow, even pixels and image size, are clear and concise. Curtin refers to Short Courses as an “experiment,” but one gets the sense that many view this site as a valuable resource for getting started in digital photography.

Studio Marangoni Center of Contemporary Photography 
The Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence, Italy is an international non-profit center for the study and exhibition of contemporary photography. FSM offers short courses, workshops and full certificate programs in traditional and digital photography for Italian and foreign students. The Fondazione is also an exhibition space that has hosted many current photography shows, has been a site for Italian photo biennial festivals, as well as collaborating in international photo festivals in Europe and the U.S.

Summit Series Photography Workshops 
The Summit Series of Photography Workshops is a high-end continuing education in photography, including particular workshops on travel, adventure and sports photography, reputed for the quality of its teaching, equipment and networking possibilities.