The Art of Portraiture: Photography Intensive

Week1: Portraiture and the Circumferences of Self with Richard Renaldi

Join Richard Renaldi for an immersive experience where you'll explore the complexities of self-expression through portraiture, engaging in practical exercises and discussions to refine your skills and deepen your understanding of the craft. This workshop will place a strong emphasis on the making of photographic portraits with a focus on environmental portraits and self-portraiture. Students will create imagery that will focus on themselves and the circumferences of people around them including (when possible) colleagues, family, friends, and strangers. We will cover the construction and aesthetics of what makes an engaging portrait; including background, lighting, directing, and casting. We will also explore the figure/ground relationship, the use of creative perspectives, and the decisive acuity required for spontaneous portraiture. The workshop’s main objective is to provide students with a technical and conceptual fluency that they may apply within their own practice.

Week 2: Making Portraits: Common Ground & Surprise with Michael Wilson

Guided by Michael Wilson, learn to approach the photographic portrait as a conversation, building confidence with your subjects, the environment and the portrait process. This workshop is open to people at any level of photographic experience who want to become more energized and confident in photographing people.

We will look at the photographic portrait as a conversation; building connection and gaining trust with the subject, increasing attentiveness to the environment and its impact on the photograph, and examining various types of portrait encounters and the associated challenges and expectations. Workshop participants will leave this class with heightened confidence in approaching people and strategies to ensure the portrait process succeeds. Students will receive robust feedback on their work, and additionally, learn by critiquing the work of their peers.

Week 3: First Mentored Week

In addition to the workshops, you will be paired with a mentor from our resident faculty who will assist your creative development.

Week 4: The Multi-Form Portrait with Smith Galtney

Under the guidance of Smith Galtney, discover dynamic methods for connecting with portraiture subjects to acquire a wealth of raw materials to craft compelling, multi-faceted portraits. In this age of limitless digital content, telling someone’s story frequently involves more than just one medium. Writers are often asked to get pictures, and photographers to record audio and video, and both are expected to engage with subjects in ways that are immediate, honest, and disarming.

This weeklong workshop involves lectures, readings, group discussions, critique, and fieldwork to explore the many ways artists and documentarians can connect with their subjects, gather a wealth of raw material, and create rich, multi-faceted portraits.

Week 5: Finding Intimacy with Elinor Carucci

Join Elinor Carucci in Finding Intimacy, a photography workshop looking and photographing inward: into our own lives, our bodies and intimate experiences, into strangers, what we know and don’t know, the world around us. This workshop enables students to enhance their vision and style while delving deeper into a more personal and intimate place, to the emotions and nuances of their lives and what is around them. This course will aim to bring more depth to any experience that the artist encounters. This workshop will encourage students to find intimacy and use it to investigate, comment on, and reveal the spaces and people around them.

During this intensive 5-day workshop, participants will be guided in the conception and realization of making a photo project intimate. Students will be encouraged to break the boundaries between themselves and their subjects as they work on their own projects.

Week 6: Second Mentored Week

In addition to the workshops, you will be paired with a mentor from our resident faculty who will assist your creative development.