A space for learning, creating, and connecting through photography

I don’t think I can convey in an email just how much I valued Fred Ritchin’s “Advancing the Personal Project for Social and Individual Change.” I’ve never experienced a workshop quite like this. Fred’s honesty, his profound understanding of photography, of the business, of people, of history, his willingness to share his time and vast knowledge, as well as his willingness to meet us where we are — is priceless.

I need to thank Emile a lot for five incredible workshop weeks. The way he looks at images and how sensitive and unhurried he conducted each individual session was really unusual. Also, the others in the class were very special, sensitive, and creative — I learned so much from everyone. This class opened up some new venues for me to take — I’ve also been tempted to pick up analog photography, bringing me back to my beginnings.

Marianne’s “Image and Text” was one of the most interesting, challenging, and beneficial classes I’ve taken. Not only is Marianne an excellent and engaging instructor but the other students all presented thoughtful work and feedback on each other’s assignments. While my future projects may not always include text, that possibility is now part of my planning along with subject, photo selection, sequencing, layout, and other considerations.

It was probably one of the best classes I’ve taken and I was — and still am — pumped because Anita imparted such a wealth of knowledge on us, I seriously wish it never ended.  

Fred’s classes are far from the technical aspects of photography; instead, they focus deeply on its ethics. At the core of his teaching is the idea of understanding and connecting what you photograph with how you photograph it.

I really enjoyed taking “Architecture and Narrative” with Marianne — she is a very, very inspiring teacher and I want to take more courses with StrudelmediaLive.