Our Teachers



Anja Hitzenberger

visual storytelling, environmental portraits, critique groups, and how movies can inspire your photography

Janée Baugher

creative writing

Marco Bello

documentary photography and photojournalism

 

Samantha Box

self-portraiture and documentary photography

 

Daura Campos

alternative processes

Elizabeth Castaldo

hand-made books

Gianni Cipriano

lighting for environmental portraits

 

Claudia Cortínez

alternative processes

 

Carlos de la Sancha

"Developing the Continuity between Your Life and Photography"

Lesly Deschler Canossi

photographing domestic life

 

Jolanda Drukker Murray

embroidery and mixed media techniques

Dortje Fink

the history of photography

Allen Frame

“The Life You’re In: The Joy and Pathos of Autobiography”

Stefan Frank

the poetics of space, nighttime photography, and much more — including presenting The Photobook Show —

Helena Goñi

working with your personal photo archive

 

Lavonne Hall

color theory

 

Marianne Holm Hansen

combining image and text, and how to use architectural space to tell a story

 

Joanna Lehan

"Recent Histories: A Survey of Photography from 2000–2020"

 

Kai McBride

black and white photography, photobooks, and more

Martha Naranjo Sandoval

self-portraiture

 

Samanta Ortega

alternative processes

Néstor Pérez-Molière

lighting for still life and more

 

Anita Pouchard Serra

documentary storytelling and more

James Prochnik

street photography, poems and pictures, richness of light, and more

Zuzana Pustaiová

new approaches to photographing family stories and self-portraiture

 

Edward Ratliff

movies as inspiration and using InDesign to create zines and books

Scott Rossi

photographing strangers

Kat Shannon

Ways of Seeing, Photography as Pilgrimage, and other personal vision classes

 

Marina Thomé

multimedia, video, and multiplatform storytelling

 

Bryan Whitney

archiving and preservation of photographs

 

 

 

Anja Hitzenberger

Anja Hitzenberger is a photographer, filmmaker, consultant, and educator. She is the founder of StrudelmediaLive, an educational platform that offers live online photography classes and more to people around the world. Anja studied in the Creative Practice full-time program at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City, and has been on the faculty there since 2009. She is dedicated to working with people from different cultures across the globe.


Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows, film festivals, and on theater stages throughout Europe, the United States, South America, and Asia. Her photography has been published internationally and is a part of both private and institutional collections, including the International Center of Photography. She has received numerous artistic grants and has been awarded residencies in Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Beijing, and Tainan (Taiwan). A focus of her activities has been working with live performance, including producing a multimedia piece that toured in New York City, Austria, and Korea.

Anja has been teaching live online photography classes since 2015, as well as in-person workshops in New York, Europe, China, and Taiwan. Originally from Salzburg, Austria, she divides her time between New York and Vienna.

Anja’s Classes

  • Anja teaches visual storytelling, environmental portraits, critique groups, and how movies can inspire your photography for StrudelmediaLive.
  • Let Movies Inspire Your Photography, Part 2 (begins Friday, November 8, 2024)
Anja's course helped me to get out of my comfort zone and grow as a photographer — the assignments and the feedback helped me to be more honest about my work and challenge myself more. I cannot stress enough how useful her courses would be for anyone looking to improve as a storyteller and photographer. I really enjoyed the interactive part where you can speak and see the other people in class in real time — it really brings up the learning experience.
—Alejandra (Mexico)
Anja's class helped me much more than I was expecting. I was a bit lost in proceeding with my raw idea in the beginning, but the classmates from diverse backgrounds were there with me along the whole journey, sometimes as a critic and sometimes as a supporter, and their thoughtful feedback pushed me forward a lot. I recommend Anja's online classes to anyone who wants diverse feedback and the intimacy of the classroom experience.
—Hee Jung (South Korea)
 

Janée Baugher

Janée J. Baugher, MFA, is the author of the craft book, The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction, as well as two full-length poetry collections. She’s an assistant editor at Boulevard magazine, has been a featured poet on Seattle Channel TV and at the Library of Congress, and was awarded a 2024–2025 CityArtist grant by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. For her third poetry collection, she won Tupelo Press’s Dorset Prize for The Andrew Wyeth Chronicles (coming in 2026).

Janée’s Classes

  • Janée teaches creative writing for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Marco Bello

Marco Antonio Bello is an award-winning Reuters photojournalist, based in Caracas (Venezuela) and Miami. He originally studied business and worked as an IT consultant, but the political and social changes in Venezuela after the death of President Chavez in 2013 inspired him to become a photojournalist, eventually working for Reuters in Venezuela. In 2016 he attended the ICP Masterclass “Visual Storytelling in the Digital Age” in Turin, Italy, and in 2017 he was accepted to the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York. Along with photojournalism, he also teaches photography workshops in some of the main photography schools in Venezuela.

He has received awards from Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris (2018), 75th Picture of the Year International (POYI) Award of Excellence (2018), American Photography 34 Chosen Winner (2018); NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism (2018), PDN Photo Annual (2018), International Photography Awards (2017), Honorable Mention; Latin American Fotografia 6 Winner (2017), and National Award of Journalism (2015).

Marco’s Classes

  • Marco teaches documentary photography and photojournalism for StrudelmediaLive.
I appreciate how you shared what you had to do to take photos and your whole workflow process. It was kind of like doing an internship with you — getting a real inside look from a person who is shooting for one of the top agencies in the world — without having to wear a bulletproof vest and gas mask.
—Deborah (Boston)
I was fortunate enough to take this documentary photography class with Marco Antonio Bello, and have come away with new insights and a much better understanding of what documentary photography is all about. Thank you Marco for your tenacity and inspiration!
—Barbara (New Jersey)
 

Samantha Box

Samantha Box is a Jamaican-born, Bronx-based photographer. In her studio-based practice, she uses self-portraiture, sound, and installation to articulate her personal diasporic/Caribbean experience. This work has been exhibited at the Houston Center of Photography (2019), and the Andrew Freedman House (2020). In Spring 2021, Box will join the Bronx Museum of the Arts’ AIM Fellowship program.

Her previous documentary work focused on New York City's community of LGBTQ youth of color, and was widely recognized, notably with a NYFA Fellowship (2010), and shown, most prominently, as part of the ICP Museum’s Perpetual Revolution exhibition (2017). This work is part of the permanent collections of the Open Society Foundation, EN FOCO, and Light Work.

Samantha holds a certificate in Photojournalism and Documentary Studies from the International Center of Photography (2006). She also holds an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photographer/Bard College (2019).

Samantha’s Classes

  • Samantha teaches self-portraiture and documentary photography for StrudelmediaLive.
It has been such an inspiring process taking classes with Samantha and Néstor. They’re such dedicated and talented teachers — I owe you both a lot of gratitude.
—MG (Brooklyn)
Samantha is a warm person — thoroughly knowledgeable in photography and in still life in particular.  Her enthusiasm is always apparent, and she always points out new directions for her students' photography projects.
—June (New Jersey)
 

Daura Campos

Daura Campos is a visual artist based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her process with 35mm film — using destruction and care — she creates photographic works where each piece is a testament to its resilience. She explores brokenness and healing, creating photographic work that pushes against assumptions of representation and is free to express itself through abstraction.

She has exhibited at Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich), Museum of Art of Pereira (Colombia), Rotterdam Photo (Rotterdam), Experimental Photo Festival (Barcelona), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Gallery 44 (Toronto), and Gallery Kannski (Reykjavík), among others. Her selected awards include a high commendation from the JUST Art Award, a special mention from the Art Vue Foundation Yearly Prize, and a FORGE Fellowship.

Daura’s Classes

  • Daura teaches alternative processes for StrudelmediaLive.
I was happy to have discovered StrudelmediaLive and the Cameraless Photography class with Daura and Samanta! Thank you both for the enthusiasm, knowledge, and hard work you put into the class. I appreciated the materials you put together for each lesson — they were really thorough and looked wonderful — and that you posted them quickly. Thank you also for your observations and insights that you shared with each of us based on our individual styles and concepts. I was happy to have been in the class and expand on my knowledge of cameraless processes. You make a good team! If you teach another class or have exhibitions, please let me know.
—Marta (US)
 

Elizabeth Castaldo

Elizabeth Castaldo is an artist, printmaker, and bookbinder based in Peekskill, NY and New York City. She has completed residencies at the Center for Book Arts (New York City) and Printmaker's Open Forum (Oxford, PA). Castaldo received her MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Atlanta where she was a Dean's Fellow in Printmaking, and her BFA from the School of Visual Arts. In November 2020, her solo exhibition, Proximate Magic, was presented at Saint Joseph's College in Patchogue, NY. Her work was included in the traveling exhibition, Freed Formats: The Book Reconsidered and she organized the exchange portfolio Earth/Mother for the SGCI 2020 conference "Puertografico." She teaches printmaking and book arts at Parsons School of Design, Nassau Community College, and the Center for Book Arts. Her work is held in many private and institutional collections including SCAD, Yale University, The University of Alberta, and Carnegie Melon University.

Elizabeth’s Classes

  • Elizabeth teaches hand-made books for StrudelmediaLive.
Elizabeth is a wonderfully patient teacher! I am excited to now have an object in my hand that I believe not only reflects my images, but connects and combines them into a story.
—Barbara (Zurich)
Thank you for a great class — this is a great thing to be able to do now and I know it’s something I’m going to continue doing.
—David (Westchester)
 

Gianni Cipriano

Gianni Cipriano is a Sicilian-born independent photographer based in Napoli, Italy. His work focuses on contemporary social, political, and economic issues. Gianni regularly works for The New York Times and has been documenting the ongoing upheaval in Italian politics for L’Espresso weekly magazine since 2013. His editorial work has also appeared in Time, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde Magazine, The Guardian Weekend Magazine, among others.

He graduated from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography in New York in 2008. He has received recognition and awards from POYI (Picture of the Year International), American Photography, New York Photo Awards, International Photography Awards, and the Ian Parry Scholarship.

Gianni’s work has been showcased in group exhibitions in venues such as the Rencontres d’Arles, FOLI Lima Biennale of Photography, MOPLA, Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism and at the MAXXI museum in Rome.

Gianni’s Classes

  • Gianni teaches lighting for environmental portraits for StrudelmediaLive.
Fantastic class! Thank you Anja and Gianni.
—Jay (Oakland)
Thank you so much! Learned so much so quickly!
—Tina (New Orleans)
 

Claudia Cortínez

Claudia Kaatziza Cortínez is an Argentine/Chilean/American artist and educator. She has exhibited her work, curated exhibitions, and organized educational projects in the US and Latin America for over a decade. Her studio practice combines printmaking, sculptural, and photographic techniques that depict urban and domestic architecture as sites of reflection and transformation. Central to her work is experimenting with materials such as paper pulp and light sensitive chemistry to capture imprints of spaces and objects, and how the residue of these imprints can communicate a larger socio-political narrative. Claudia is co-founder of LAZO, an art collective that brings together Latinx artists to create participatory projects and exhibitions. Claudia received her BFA from Rhodes Island School of Design (RISD) and MFA from Yale. Recent awards and residencies include the Yale Norfolk Teaching Fellowship, Silver Art Projects Residency, Rema Hort Mann Grant, Center for Book Arts Residency, Lower East Side Printshop Residency, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Community Engagement Grant among others. She is currently an artist in residence with her collective LAZO at The Clemente in New York City.

Claudia’s Classes

  • Claudia teaches alternative processes for StrudelmediaLive.
The cyanotype class of Claudia was really mind blowing for me! Exploring this new printing technique and creating digital negatives has really opened a new window that I want to incorporate in my photographic practise. Claudia has been a very inspiring teacher. She went thoroughly through the process of cyanotype on glass as well as her own practise and work of other contemporary and historical artists using cyanotype printing techniques. I also very much appreciated the attention Claudia gave to our individual projects/ideas, pointing to artworks and ways of working we might find relevant and inspiring.
—Eugenia (Berlin)
The cyanotype class was super interesting and I liked Claudia's way of sharing very generously her knowledge over a technique she has long been working on; I find it not so common, artists tend to keep their "tricks" for themselves. And I really enjoyed sharing this class with such a wonderful group of people. The challenge was to make us work on something very manual, from a distance and through a video screen and, in my opinion, she succeeded greatly.
—Lara (France)
 

Carlos de la Sancha

photo by Victoria Manzoli

Born in Mexico City and now living in Brooklyn, Carlos works in bookmaking, portraiture, unique chromogenic prints, poetry, and street photography. Carlos earned a BA in psychology at the Universidad Autónoma de México, before transitioning to photography and studying at different institutions in Berlin, New York City, Oaxaca, and Mexico City, where he worked as a printer and production assistant for Cristina Kahlo for over 7 years. He completed his Creative Practices certificate at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City in 2021. His work has been exhibited at venues including Centro Fotográfico Manuel Alvarez Bravo and Centro de las Artes de San Agustín in Oaxaca, Mexico; Imago Fotokunst (Berlin); and ICP (New York City).

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Carlos’s Classes

  • Carlos teaches "Developing the Continuity between Your Life and Photography" for StrudelmediaLive.
The class was a deep dive from our personal images and into ourselves and back again! I loved the class and I think all of the participants in this really incredible group did as well…. Teaching a course that involves individual needs as well as the personal creative process is delicate and really requires a great deal of understanding and flexibility; I thought Carlos was extremely sensitive in his approach, and I felt extremely fulfilled and self-aware by the last week of class.
—Glen (Toronto)
 

Lesly Deschler Canossi

Lesly Deschler Canossi is a photographer, photography educator, and cultural producer. She holds an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and is a faculty member at the International Center of Photography. She has taught at Columbia University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Lamar Dodd School of Art, Cortona, Italy.

In 2016, she and Zoraida Lopez-Diago co-created Women Picturing Revolution — an organization dedicated to female photographers who have documented conflicts, crises, and revolutions in private realms and public spaces. WPR presented for Fast Forward: Women in Photography at the Tate Modern on the topic of their forthcoming book Representations of Black Motherhood and Photography, Leuven University Press: Spring, 2021.

Deschler Canossi recently created the panel, Urgent Pictures! Photographs of Unrest Reconsidered, Focus on the Story photography festival. Her ongoing personal photographic project Domestic Negotiations explores autonomy, partnership, and the role of the mother as artist.

Lesly’s Classes

  • Lesly teaches photographing domestic life for StrudelmediaLive.
Lesly is an amazing teacher and human being. She helped me a lot throughout this process of being a new mother. I hope I’ll keep photographing at home for a long-term project, documenting my son’s life and my motherhood experience.
—Cris (Florida)
Lesly's class was great, very inspiring and gave my daily life and family pictures a real purpose. I see the photos in a more artistic way now rather than just being there to document our life and family, and it feels good!
—Lara (France)
 

Jolanda Drukker Murray

Jolanda Drukker Murray is a contemporary sculptor and textile artist based in Utrecht (The Netherlands). She studied art history at Leiden University and attended a program at Artibus Art School Utrecht with a focus on ceramics and bronze. She began collecting fabrics and creating wall hangings which were exhibited in several shows. She also created a “Circle of Life in 10 Kimonos” for the Kröller-Müller Museum. Jolanda specializes in “documentary embroidery”: telling stories using embroidery as well as mixed media techniques on photos and pictures from magazines. Her latest textile installation Stonehenge is a combination of photo embroidery, embroidery. and stitch work. She is currently working on Dialogue between Photography and Embroidery, an artbook in which she is embroidering on photos by the Dutch photographer Milja Markies.

Jolanda’s Classes

  • Jolanda teaches embroidery and mixed media techniques for StrudelmediaLive.
I really enjoyed the class! I've been wanting to do embroidery for a while but haven't known where to start. Jolanda did a great job showing us a wide range of techniques and inspirations, and challenged us to create every week. I honestly thought the class was perfect. I plan to continue doing embroidery work on my photos.
—Drew (Minneapolis)
I wanted to say thank you for your wonderful classes. I knew I was going to enjoy it but didn't realise how much. Your feedback and the open conversations with the other students was so insightful, it exceeded my expectations, hence I was happy to stay up til 2am!!
—Silvana (Australia)
 

Dortje Fink

photo by Detlef Eden

Dortje Fink is an art and photography historian, educator, cultural organizer and podcaster based in Berlin. With academic training at Humboldt University in Berlin and Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, her research interests involve photographic archives, exhibition histories, lens-based media art, visual culture, biases of canonization, and decentering the history of photography. Her deep engagement with works of Carrie Mae Weems, Philip Kwame Apagya, Boris Mikhailov, Martin Chambi, Nickolas Muray, and Manfred Paul has inspired her writing, which has been published in exhibition catalogues and magazines. Since 2014, she has been working with C/O Berlin — an exhibition space dedicated to photography and visual media. She hosts, along with Julia Wolf, the German podcast "rein theoretisch – Fotografisches mit Fink&Wolf" about photographs whose visibility is restricted for a variety of reasons.

Dortje’s Classes

  • Dortje teaches the history of photography for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Allen Frame

photo by Marco Giugliarelli courtesy of Civitella Rainieri

Allen Frame is a photographer and writer, based in New York and represented by Gitterman Gallery. He has released four books of photography: Whereupon (Palermo Publishing, 2023); Innamorato (Meteoro Editions, 2023); Fever, (Matte Editions, 2021); and Detour, (Kehrer, 2001). Currently, his work appears in the exhibition Mexichrome at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. His two-person exhibition Lost and Found was presented at Soft Network in New York, in November. He is a winner of the 2017/2018 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and CEC Artslink’s Back Apartment Residency in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2019. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including Luxe, Calme, Volupte, which he co-curated with Sergio Bessa at Candice Madey Gallery in 2023. He is an Adjunct Professor of Photography at Pratt Institute (MFA) and also teaches at the School of Visual Arts (BFA), the International Center of Photography in New York, and for StrudelmediaLive.

Allen’s Classes

Allen Frame is a treasure — intelligent, deep, perceptive. We’re fortunate that he is on your faculty.
—Lisa D. (Brooklyn)
Allan Frame’s class was a truly extraordinary experience! Working in that group was incredibly inspiring, creatively challenging, and so very supportive. I feel like I have taken a huge step into a deeper awareness not only of myself — but of the photographic process as well. Looking forward to the next course.
—Glen (Toronto)
 

Stefan Frank

Stefan Frank is a photographer and writer, working from Heidelberg, Germany. Way before he came to photography, he studied mathematics and philosophy at Ruhr Universität Bochum and worked as an IT specialist. He studied at Atelier Smedsby with JH Engström and Margot Wallard in Paris in 2017, before he eventually began studying photography at Ostkreuzschule, Berlin, with Peter Bialobrzeski. He graduated in 2023 with the work Irgendwo ("Anywhere"), a project dealing with politically motivated crime and the terror-spree of the far right in Germany. He has been teaching with StrudelmediaLive since 2020, giving courses on surrealism, poetics of space, gestalt theory for photographers, and more. His work has been exhibited in Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin.

Stefan’s Classes

This course was excellent, and I would/will recommend it to friends.... What I've liked about all of the three classes I've taken through StrudelmediaLive is that they are well-structured and organized. Stefan was exceptionally well-prepared for each session — it was all about teaching the material and he made an enormous amount of material available to the class.
—Barbara (New York City)
Thank you for guiding us down the Surrealism path. I had fun and enjoyed the course — I will be revisiting the “tool box” to feel more comfortable with Surrealism! I look forward to taking another class with you in the future.
—Alan (Minnesota)
 

Helena Goñi

photo by Helena Goñi

Helena Goñi is an artist driven by analog processes in photography and is a photobook enthusiast. Helena is from Bilbao, Spain, and is currently based in Brooklyn, where she moved in 2021 thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the International Center of Photography.
 
She holds an MFA in Photography from Central Saint Martins (London) and a BA in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, BilbaoArte Foundation, Cité des Arts (Paris), and Koganecho AIR (Japan). Her work has been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the International Center of Photography, 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo), PhotoMuseum Zarautz (Spain), Aldama Fabre Gallery and others. She is also the founder of Caleidoscopio, a photography educational platform for youth in the Basque Country.

Helena’s Classes

  • Helena teaches working with your personal photo archive for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Lavonne Hall

Lavonne Hall is a native New Yorker and has been extremely active in the photography and film communities for more than 25 years. She is a fine art photographer, a live-streaming influencer, and a social butterfly. She teaches at the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts, where she received her Masters in Digital Photography (and for whom she developed two iPad apps). She presents Lightroom demos for Adobe and Wacom, has worked with Pentax, Fuji Film, B&H, KelbyOne, and Adorama among others, and is the coordinator of the NY Photo Salon. One of her passions is getting people out and about to experience life through photography.

Lavonne’s Classes

  • Lavonne teaches color theory for StrudelmediaLive.
I loved Lavonne's class on mastering color. She is a selfless, inventive, and no-drama teacher whom I truly appreciated. I have taken many classes in the past and the teacher often wants to be the star … but Lavonne’s approach is to extend to the student a different way of looking at photos via color and, of course, light.
—Pat (Northern New Jersey)
 

Marianne Holm Hansen

Marianne Holm Hansen is a Danish artist based in London. She studied at the Fynske Academy of Fine Arts (Denmark), International Center of Photography (New York), and completed an MA in Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Practice, at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has worked internationally as an editorial photographer, photography lecturer and educator, and today collaborates continuously with institutions such as Tate Modern and the Royal Institute of British Architects (London) to deliver workshops and projects that invite participants to engage critically and creatively across media and themes.

Marianne's work is shown internationally through exhibitions, publications, and live events. She has received awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (New York) and Arts Council England, amongst others, and held research and production residencies in the UK, USA, France, Finland, and Serbia. She has just published her second book, Void As (A) – A Proposition, collating photographs and texts to propose a series of prompts for thinking differently about language, time and space. 

Marianne’s Classes

  • Marianne teaches combining image and text, and how to use architectural space to tell a story for StrudelmediaLive.
Thank you so much Marianne for this wonderful class! Adding text to my images isn’t something that I’ve ever done, but after this class I really like what I can do with images and stories. I also loved the structure of the class, how, step by step, we got to understand about adding text to images. Thank you for sharing your work, it's so creative! And the other work you showed was original and gave me a lot to think about.
—MG (Brooklyn)
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.
—Arturo (Mexico City)
 

Joanna Lehan

Joanna Lehan is a New York-based teacher, editor, writer, and curator. She co-organized several international survey exhibitions at the International Center of Photography (ICP), including three triennial exhibitions: Strangers (2003); Ecotopia (2006), and A Different Kind of Order (2013), as well as 2017’s Perpetual Revolution. She edited monographs by Susan Meiselas, Trevor Paglen, Hank Willis Thomas, and Thomas Ruff and for Aperture Foundation, as well as several projects for the Walther Collection. She has written for Aperture magazine, Photograph, PDN, Time’s “Lightbox”, and Contact Sheet, and contributed essays to several books. She teaches Survey of Contemporary Photography at ICP-Bard and at Barnard College.

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Joanna’s Classes

  • Joanna teaches "Recent Histories: A Survey of Photography from 2000–2020" for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Kai McBride

Kai McBride is a photographer, musician, teacher, and avid cyclist who recently uprooted from Brooklyn to sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico. He spent the last ten years teaching photography and managing the photo facilities at Columbia University, his alma mater, where he received an MFA in 2008.

Born on the island of Kauai in 1972, by his 18th birthday Kai had lived in California, Oregon, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Texas, Oahu, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. He sharpened his powers of observation while adjusting to life between suburban ranch-style homes, cabins with no running water, and a 20-foot teepee in the field of a commune.

His photographs have been exhibited in museum and gallery exhibitions, and are held in public and private collections. His first monograph, About Face: Picturing Tampa, was published by SPQR Editions in Fall 2016.

Kai’s Classes

  • Kai teaches black and white photography, photobooks, and more for StrudelmediaLive.
I am so glad I signed up for this black and white class. Kai is a wonderful teacher. Not only is he organized, interesting, challenging and creative, but he goes that extra mile to provide us with very helpful handouts and resources! This class is opening up a whole new world to me!
—Barbara (New Jersey)
Thanks, Kai! The class was an enormous learning experience for me. The arc of my understanding between weeks one and four amazed me. I thank you for sharing your encyclopedic knowledge and your methods and I hope we have the chance to experience another class together soon. I can’t wait to get back in the studio to cut and paste. 
—Fran (New York City)
 

Martha Naranjo Sandoval

Martha Naranjo Sandoval is a Brooklyn-based artist, publisher, cataloguer, and bookseller from Mexico City. She holds a degree in film from Centro de Diseño, Cine y Televisión in Mexico City, and an MFA from the International Center of Photography and Bard College. She is the co-founder of the editorial project Matarile Ediciones, which publishes work by artists who are immigrants or part of a recent diaspora. She published her book Sangre de mi Sangre (edited by Justine Kurland) in 2021 and Dashwood Books published her book Como Agua para Ajolote a year later. Miriam Gallery (Brooklyn) presented The Stench of Orange Blossoms, a solo exhibition of her work, from January to March 2023.

In 2014 she won the Conacyt-FONCA scholarship (awarded by the Mexican Government) for studies abroad and in 2017 was part of the Flux Factory Artist in Residence, for which she organized the community project Día de Muertos. Along with artist-curator groana melendez, she organizes platforms to showcase artists and promote critical conversations, including a rapid-talk event with Celebrate Mexico Now and the Camera Club of New York, and the Apartment Series Issue of the Nueva Luz Magazine.

Martha’s Classes

  • Martha teaches self-portraiture for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Samanta Ortega

Samanta Ortega is a laboratory scientist, photographer, and art educator based in São Paulo, Brazil. Integrating the past, present, and future of the history of photographic processes, she is dedicated to exploring and sharing research on plant-based photographic developers in an experimental approach to film manipulation and studies within photochemistry. By valuing analog photography that is based on the reuse of materials and simplification of processes, she addresses accessible alternatives in spaces with different infrastructures and audiences of a wide age range and levels of knowledge. She has taught at institutions including SESC (Brazil), Pinacoteca de São Bernardo do Campo, and at analog photography festivals and independent cultural spaces focused on film photography throughout Brazil.

Samanta’s Classes

  • Samanta teaches alternative processes for StrudelmediaLive.
I was happy to have discovered StrudelmediaLive and the Cameraless Photography class with Daura and Samanta! Thank you both for the enthusiasm, knowledge, and hard work you put into the class. I appreciated the materials you put together for each lesson — they were really thorough and looked wonderful — and that you posted them quickly. Thank you also for your observations and insights that you shared with each of us based on our individual styles and concepts. I was happy to have been in the class and expand on my knowledge of cameraless processes. You make a good team! If you teach another class or have exhibitions, please let me know.
—Marta (US)
 

Néstor Pérez-Molière

Néstor Pérez-Molière was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently resides in The Bronx. His practice takes place mainly in the realm of photography, but also incorporates performance, drawing, video, installation, and intaglio techniques. All of these are used in unison as he turns his camera on himself and delves into self-portraiture, exploring his relationship with his body, body image ideals, and food relationships as subject matter.

Nestor has an MFA from Hunter College and holds a BSc in botany. He was part of the Artist in the Marketplace and Creative Capital’s Taller mentorship programs, and was part of The Bronx Museum of the Art’s Fourth Biennial. He has exhibited at the Museo de las Américas, the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, Longwood Gallery, and the Liga de Artes de San Juan. He currently teaches digital and darkroom photography at the International Center of Photography and The Point CDC.

Néstor’s Classes

  • Néstor teaches lighting for still life and more for StrudelmediaLive.
Thanks for a really helpful class! I enjoyed each session — well designed, with the right amount of photo critique and theory — and I feel much more comfortable handling my camera now. You offered great atmosphere in the sessions and provided really useful feedback and practical tips. Crucial for myself: Photography is getting closer and closer to my heart and I'm eager to keep my photography practice going and keep shooting almost daily to improve – and to find my voice as a photographer. Thank you for helping me taking these next steps! Hope we see each other in future classes!
—Stefan (Vienna)
It has been such an inspiring process taking classes with Samantha and Néstor. They’re such dedicated and talented teachers — I owe you both a lot of gratitude.
—MG (Brooklyn)
 

Anita Pouchard Serra

Anita Pouchard Serra is a French-Argentine photographer based in Buenos Aires and working mostly in Latin America. Her work focuses on current societal problems involving identity, migration, empowerment, and territory, with a strong transdisciplinary approach. She considers each project a laboratory to explore her photographic practice, from drawings to performance. She is a Pulitzer Center grantee and National Geographic Emergency Fund recipient (2020); a "We, Women" grantee by Women Photograph and United Photo Industries (2019); an Open Society Foundation "Moving Walls" fellow (2018); and a multiple IWMF (International Women’s Media Foundation) grantee. Her work has been published in Time, The New York Times, Le Monde, Bloomberg, Amnesty International, Days Japan, Wired, and Geo magazine among others and has exhibited her work in Argentina, France, Uruguay, Spain, and the United States. She has taught photojournalism in Argentina, France, the United States and El Salvador.

Anita’s Classes

  • Anita teaches documentary storytelling and more for StrudelmediaLive.
Anita's course gave me the opportunity to learn more about photography, and also about myself. She was always so willing to help us and guide us to the best ways of narrating our feelings and thoughts through photography.
—Nanu (Venezuela)
Anita's Documentary Storytelling class is a creatively refreshing exploration of how to broaden your documentary practice.... She helped me think more holistically about the work I was creating. I felt as though her class nurtured an artistic side of my practice that’s often lost in discussions of technical expertise, photo critique, and sequencing. She digs deep and helps her students create more powerful projects.
—Katie (Washington, DC)
 

James Prochnik

James Prochnik is a Brooklyn-based photographer who uses photography as a means to explore the world outside, focusing on people, place, memory and the poetry of the everyday. His photographs have been published in The New York Times, Vice Media, Lenscratch, USA Today, and Shots Magazine and have been exhibited in galleries around the country. In 2019, James launched NYC Photo Community — a weekly newsletter listing photography events, workshops, exhibitions, and opportunities for photographers everywhere. James has been a regular guest lecturer on ethics and aesthetics in street photography at the University of Vermont.

James’s Classes

  • James teaches street photography, poems and pictures, richness of light, and more for StrudelmediaLive.
I want to thank you [James] for such an inspiring class. You are a wonderful teacher! You brought to the forefront for me just how essential light is in a taking good photos. You also encouraged me to be experimental and I have got to know my camera better as a result. Best wishes for your upcoming photography projects. I hope you’ll be teaching again before too long.
—Anna (California)
James is an excellent instructor. Patient, informative, astute and generous with his time and feedback. All of that AND an awesome photographer. I learned a lot.
—Jules (New Jersey)
 

Zuzana Pustaiová

photo by Boris Nemeth

Zuzana Pustaiová's interest in visual arts began with painting but soon switched to photography, which she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava (Slovakia) where she completed her Ph.D in 2022. Her artwork uses role-playing as a principal tool to explore and reveal the relationships between family members, relatives, friends, and other social groups. With a sense of wit, humor and irony, she uncovers the cultural stereotypes related to gender, age, tradition, and social inclusion. In 2022, her book One Day Every Day was shortlisted for the Paris Photo – Aperture Photobook Award. She has received numerous awards in contemporary photography — including the Grand Prix at the Rovinj Photodays 2021 and Finalist for the 2017 Lucie Foundation Scholarship in Los Angeles. In 2018 she was named Slovak Photographer of the Year. She has exhibited internationally in Europe and Canada and lives and works in Levice and Bratislava.

Zuzana’s Classes

  • Zuzana teaches new approaches to photographing family stories and self-portraiture for StrudelmediaLive.
Zuzana is an experienced and inspiring teacher who motivated us a lot to find our true artistic voice by connecting with something essential and at the same time showing us many opportunities to be creative. I can't believe that I could approach a very difficult personal topic and transform it with photography.
—Ha Thu (Vietnam)
I really enjoyed Zuzana’s class. She helped me develop a concept for a project and gave me the push I needed to get started. I am sure it’s gonna take a while to get it done, but I know now what I want to do and how to continue. I felt that Zuzana has been genuinely interested in everyone’s work and I appreciated her feedback and tips.
—Birgit (Zurich)
 

Edward Ratliff

photo by Anja Hitzenberger

Edward Ratliff is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator. In the visual realm, he’s a graphic designer who works in print and digital media with clients ranging from individual artists to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His film, video, and installation work has been exhibited internationally.

As a composer and multi-instrumentalist, he’s led bands in clubs, theaters, and festivals across New York City and in Europe and Asia, and has received numerous commissions and grants for dance and theater scores. His music has been heard in shows on Netflix, HBO, Nickelodeon, Hulu, PBS, and more — everything from a biography of Dostoyevsky to Real Sex Xtra. He “is best known for making richly cinematic music that captures New York City’s momentum and diversity” (The Wall Street Journal) and has been called “a wonderfully spunky and imperturbable trumpet player” (The New York Times).

Edward’s Classes

I want to tell you again that your class was great. I'm very inspired. Is there any chance you and Edward can continue this class? I don't want it to end!! It encompasses everything I love.
—Lee (California)
I really enjoyed this class — It helped me think about my work in a deeper way. And I loved learning InDesign. Now I feel I have the tools to put it all together. Thank you both.
—Jennifer (Monaco)
 

Scott Rossi

Scott Rossi is a photographer based in New York who is originally from Canada. His work captures the poetic nuances of daily life and the complex relationship between people and their environment. Rossi is a Documentary Practices and Visual Journalism program graduate from the International Center of Photography (ICP) and holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Victoria. Following his move to New York City in 2020, he began his project, Common Place, a visual meditation on Central Park, resulting in his first monograph. His work has been featured in or commissioned by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vogue, and the British Journal of Photography, among others. He has exhibited internationally at the Rotterdam Photo Festival, The International Center of Photography, and Photo 2022 in Melbourne.

Scott’s Classes

  • Scott teaches photographing strangers for StrudelmediaLive.
 

Kat Shannon

Kat Shannon is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator working in photography, text, and video, currently based between São Paulo, Brazil, and Orlando, Florida. Her work examines notions of intimacy, human connection, gender, community, and culture. She holds degrees in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design (BFA) as well as Bard College (MFA).

Kat has held teaching positions at Yeshiva University, Brookdale College, Stetson University, Middlesex College, and ICP, and previously worked for three years as the head curator at an art consultancy in New York. In 2017 Kat co-founded the collaborative artist collective Memory Foam through which she curates exhibitions, publishes and collects artists' books and zines, and produces an artist interview series called "Artists Eat Ice Cream."

Kat’s Classes

  • Kat teaches Ways of Seeing, Photography as Pilgrimage, and other personal vision classes for StrudelmediaLive.
I loved Kat’s class on photography as a pilgrimage. This is one of the most thoughtfully planned and presented classes I've ever taken. Kat brings a rich depth of materials, unique assignments, and thoughtful discussions to the classroom, and is exceptional at making conceptual ideas tangible. Kat is a fantastic teacher. She is thoughtful, articulate and poetic. I'll take anything she teaches.
—Melissa (Chicago)
I thoroughly enjoyed Kat's class. I think she's very personable and a good teacher. Her lessons were always interesting, and the readings and information about various photographers opened up a new area for me re: "pilgrimaging" with my camera. And her critiques were always helpful. Very glad I took the class and I've signed up for her next class.
—Susan (New York City)
 

Marina Thomé

Marina Thomé is a photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Portugal and Brazil. Marina works as a director, researcher, and editor for multimedia platforms and experiments with portraits, archives, and soundscapes. Her films have been presented in festivals in France, USA, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Colombia, and elsewhere, including the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York and Festival Biarritz Latin America in France. She is the co-founder of Estúdio CRUA, an award-winning production company that connects new media and social impact. They produced the Hackathon Webdoc Project, involving over 100 participants in workshops on creating collaborative multi-platform documentaries. Marina holds masters degrees in Creative Documentary (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and in Communication, Art & Technology (Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo). She studied photojournalism and storytelling at the International Center of Photography (New York) and has taught multiplatform storytelling at art institutions in Brazil, Portugal, and Spain.

In 2023, she coordinated Arché, a creative development space for film professionals from Iberoamerican countries, at the Doclisboa and Porto/Post/Doc Festivals, organized by APORDOC-The Portuguese Documentary Association. She's currently working on her project Red Skies, a video installation supported by DG Arts (Portuguese Directorate-General for the Arts), to be presented in the Azores Islands.

Marina’s Classes

  • Marina teaches multimedia, video, and multiplatform storytelling for StrudelmediaLive.
Marina creates a warm, accepting and encouraging environment and pushes just enough. As a result, each student’s final work was very personal, from the heart.
—Lisa (New York City)
When will Marina Thomé teach her next class? She is wonderful.
—Lisa (New York City)
 

Bryan Whitney

Bryan Whitney is a photographer and artist in New York City whose work often involves experimental imaging techniques, such as x-rays, 3D imagery, virtual reality, and other alternative processes. Whitney holds an MFA in Photography from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and a BA in the Psychology of Art from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught photography at Rutgers University and currently teaches at the International  Center of Photography in New York City. A recipient of a Fulbright Grant for lectures on American Photography in Eastern Europe, he has exhibited across the United States and internationally. He has  traveled the globe for special projects, including archeological expeditions in Sudan and in the Republic of Georgia. His work has appeared in magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Fortune, the New York Times, and in books, posters and advertising campaigns worldwide.

Bryan’s Classes

  • Bryan teaches archiving and preservation of photographs for StrudelmediaLive.
Bryan is an excellent instructor, and it’s been a pleasure to learn from his experience. It is a valuable course, and I have a better starting point for organizing my archive.
—Inbal (New York City)
Bryan has a great presence — very calm, organized and knowledgeable with his presentation material. He provided very good explanation of technical items like scanning slides and negatives. I enjoyed the class and it stimulated me to organize my analog and digital files. Bryan summed up each class with follow up material and handouts that explained further all the topics covered.
—Greta (San Francisco)