About Us

StrudelmediaLive, founded by Anja Hitzenberger in 2018, offers live, interactive, and instructor-led online photography classes to people around the world. Our classes are intentionally small with most limited to 8 students: this not only ensures personal attention and connection, but has also helped us create a strong, shared, international community of photographers. In our classes, students learn and grow together — through expert instruction, group discussion and critique, and sharing in each other’s creative development. We foster an environment where students from all backgrounds can come together and inspire one another and we make sure that our students feel guided, supported, and taken care of throughout their journey of learning.

Our instructors — in addition to Anja — are a diverse group of skilled and imaginative teachers based in New York City as well as across the US, Europe, and Latin America. Our students participate from all the continents on earth (except, so far, Antarctica).

In addition to our classes, we present three separate series of live talks on photography-related topics. The Photobook Show with Stefan Frank is a free series of talks on recent (and not-so-recent) photobooks and how they advance this unique medium. Vantage Points is a free talk series on a wide range of topics, including artists and our students presenting their work. Photo_Talks: What Moves You? brings together diverse photographers from around the world talking about their work and what inspires them. Started in 2020, this pay-what-you-wish series raises money to feed the food insecure, and has raised over $10,000 to date. All of our previous talks from all three series are archived on our YouTube channel.

We have a growing scholarship program, with the foundation being the StrudelmediaLive Opportunity Scholarship. This scholarship was established to provide a range of photographers the chance to develop their creative expression and refine their visual practice by studying with our accomplished international teachers. StrudelmediaLive believes that a diverse group of students enriches the learning experience for everyone involved, and this scholarship — open to anyone around the world, of any age — works toward that goal by providing tuition assistance to students who wouldn’t normally be able to afford our classes.

In addition to the many classes and talks on photobooks and zines that we offer, StrudelmediaLive has recently started a new imprint to publish a variety of work. Photographers in the StrudelmediaLive community create work on a very high level and we want to nurture these projects — from start to finish — by offering our support, guidance, knowledge, and expertise in the complex process of professionally publishing their work.

We feel that creating a book or zine — a physical object — is a great way to complete a project and give it the presence and audience it deserves.

We also organize occasional in-person workshops, retreats, and gallery walks, including in New York City, Austria, and in Santa Fe.

Anja Hitzenberger’s commitment to cultural and intergenerational exchange infuses every aspect of our classes and offerings. Drawing on her experiences studying at the International Center of Photography in New York, teaching workshops in China, Taiwan, and Europe, and collaborating with creatives from New York City to South Korea to India, Anja celebrates the richness of meaningful exchange in every session.