Presenting ACP's second workshop

How do we compete for the attention of the public in today's cacophony of images? If you wish to make fresh and compelling photographs that tell stories and convey ideas to the public, this workshop is your wake-up call and guidepost.

Photographers at all stages of their careers need to question and refresh their visual concepts while considering new directions for working in this ever- changing world of media. While print venues -- magazines, newspapers and books -- remain desirable options for serious photographers, competition is greater than ever and some of those venues are experiencing shrinking resources.

One place that is wide-open for creative story-telling is the internet, but shooting and editing photographic stories for the web requires some different story-telling techniques. Some are saying that multi-media is the future of photography. Yet simply combining photographs with audio or video does not in itself make a compelling multi-media story. Whether or not you embrace the idea of moving beyond the strictly photographic, familiarity with these new tools and formats can expand pathways and ways of thinking about photography for all photographers.

This workshop is ideal for those photographers who are learning how to work on projects, stories and essays and wish to consider the full range of both old and new media strategies.

Maggie comments on her workshop below:

My students will discover fresh and innovative ways to create and share stories through research and class discussion of ideas, daily shooting, and critiques of the work done during the workshop. Students must come to the workshop with two potential story ideas, well thought-out and researched so that we can take full advantage of the 5 days we have to work together. I am open to ideas that are narrative based stories or thematic concept based projects. Each day we will spend some time shooting and time in class reviewing, critiquing and exploring cutting edge work by photographers creating innovations in various arenas. In addition, I will help each student learn or further his or her abilities in critical areas such as: how to approach people, how to organize story ideas, how to pitch stories to magazines or online curators and editors. We will learn to make better photographs and to tell more compelling and carefully edited stories for web-based sites as well as print.

Students should bring portfolios, bodies of work in progress, or recently completed work if possible. Maggie would like to see this work in addition to class work in order to help each student find the path best suited for their goals.

About Maggie Steber

Maggie Steber is an internationally awarded documentary photographer, educator and photo editor whose work has appeared in major newspapers, magazines, book anthologies and national and international exhibitions. Best known for her photo essays in National Geographic and her humanistic documentation of Haiti, Steber published Dancing on Fire: Photographs from Haiti with Aperture and was awarded the prestigious Ernst Haas grant. Maggie was recipient of the prestigious Alicia Patterson Fellowship in 1988.

Through her workshops, including those at the International Center for Photography in New York, the LOOK3 Photo Festival in Charlottesville, and other prestigious international workshops, she has helped numerous photographers achieve their aspirations by overcoming personal obstacles and barriers. Notably, she has taught the World Press Joop Swart Master class in Amsterdam -- a coveted prize awarded each year to emerging global documentary photographers. Maggie's teaching is so valued there that she has been invited back three times -- most recently in November 2010.

Comments from Past Workshop Participants

Maggie, how do you thank someone who has changed your life forever? Inspired by you the way nobody ever could before... 
                                        -- Saiful Huq Omi, Joop Swart Master Class, 2010 
                                           Recipient of Magnum Emergency Fund Grant

I'm still stunned at how you managed to distill the psyche of the photographer in a few dozen words in the beginning of our class. It was amazing having you here. I had known your work for years and it was lovely to have the person behind the pictures confirm my perceptions. 
                                        -- Peter van Agtmael, Joop Swart Master Class 2009 
                                           Magnum Photos Nominee

The things I learned from you really pushed me as a photographer but more over as a person. Such sweet intimacy in your photographs remains in my mind and it was really touching. I really felt humanity can exist in photojournalism. I really feel you are one of a few photographers whose exisitence naturally encourages young people!! 
                                        -- Kosuke Okahara, Joop Swart Master Class 2009 
                                           Photographer

I think that you and a few others (in the Master Class) offer the group some HOPE and a feeling that things can go more than one way. I really thinK that in this moment in photojournalism and photography in general, we have to be more and more creative and flexible to get out of the mold and out of the box and let the mind and craft wander in the direction that feels intuitive and "right"... whatever that might be. 
                                        -- Kathryn Cook 
                                           Photographer

Workshop Details

    Start Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011 
    End Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2011 
    Daily Schedule: Class typically 9am to 11am-1pm; afternoon/evenings shooting 
    Location: TBA 
    Enrollment: Limited to 15 participants 
    Tuition: $800 / $725 for ACP members 
    Portfolio: 10-15 photographs required

Maggie has the following to say about the daily workshop schedule:

I would like for the workshop to begin at 9am sharp.The mornings will be spent looking at work brought by the students, shot during the week by the students, including editing,,as well as presentations of photographic work by various photographers. That will probably go anywhere from 11am to 1pm, depending on what's happening with the students' work and editing. It's flexible. The afternoons will be spent working on their stories. If enough students would prefer to have one or two mornings to photograph, we can switch those days, and can decide this once the class meets.

Accommodation, transportation, meals, and other expenses are not included. All participants will be responsible for bringing their own equipment, including camera and computer with editing software. Austin has two quality labs, Precision Camera and Holland Photo, for film users but use of a digital camera for the workshop is recommended.

Please e-mail ACP with questions.

Helpful Links

    Austin Center for Photography   [web site] 
    Austin Visitor Information   [web site] 
    Capital Metro (public transportation)   [web site]