Masterclass Course 2
Advancing the Personal Project for Social and Individual Change
This project-based class is about how the photographer can conceptualize their work to increase its impact in pursuit of social and individual change. We will look at diverse presentation strategies while exploring how to cultivate the photographer’s voice as author, with special attention given to the selection and sequencing of imagery, the addition of photographs with other media, the ethics of image-making, and a respect for diverse cultural contexts. Each student should complete the course with the new work that they create, a deeper understanding of their own vision, and a more nuanced understanding of the potentials of visual media to impact others.
We will meet for three hours weekly for the first four weeks, and four hours for the last session; maximum of 12 students. Each student will also have a one-on-one session with the instructor.
This class is part of the Masterclass with Fred Ritchin.
How to Apply
This Masterclass is by application only and is open to image-makers around the world. A limited number of partial and full scholarships are available for those not able to afford the full fee. Questions? Email study@strudelmedialive.com
How to submit your application
Applicants should submit:
— 10–15 images from a single project:- jpgs only, 2000 pixels on the longest side
- image files must be named this way: Firstname_Lastname_01.jpg
- your name and email address
- your Instagram and/or website links if available
- where you heard about StrudelmediaLive and this Masterclass
- a short bio (150 words max)
- your Instagram and/or website links if available
- which class or classes you’re applying for
- For Masterclass Course 1, a short statement of purpose explaining why you want to take this class (200 words max)
- For Masterclass Course 2, a short statement or description of the project you want to work on (200 words max)
- If you want to be considered for a scholarship, please explain why you would need scholarship assistance and what portion you would be able to pay.
Please send all applications, via swisstransfer or wetransfer, to study@strudelmedialive.com.
Fred Ritchin has spent the past half-century working as a writer, editor, educator, curator, and software developer. He is the dean emeritus of the School at the International Center of Photography; was professor of Photography & Imaging at New York University where he co-founded the Photography and Human Rights program in collaboration with Susan Meiselas and the Magnum Foundation; was picture editor of The New York Times Magazine and executive editor of Camera Arts magazine; and has written four books on the future of imaging, including most recently The Synthetic Eye: Photography Transformed in the Age of AI (Thames & Hudson, 2025)and Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen, which was recently re-printed by Aperture.
He also curated the first mid-life retrospective of the work of Sebastiao Salgado at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; conceived and edited the first non-linear online documentary, “Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace,” with photographer Gilles Peress (nominated by the New York Times for the Pulitzer Prize in public service), and curated the first exhibition of contemporary Latin American photography in the United States, as well as exhibitions at the United Nations. He also created the first multimedia version of the New York Times newspaper, and conceived of the Four Corners Project, an available open-source software to increase the credibility of the photograph.
Ritchin has taught and lectured worldwide, including in Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, and the United States. He also writes a column on Substack, “Notes of a MetaPhotographer.” Ritchin lives in New York and Paris.
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