Portrait, Intimacy and The Long Term Project 2021

We concluded our final class with Rania Matar & Special Guest Hellen van Meene in our workshop “Portrait, Intimacy and the Long Term Project”. 

We are grateful to have met many talented photographers over these past weeks and would like to thank all of them for bringing their unique perspectives, ideas and thoughtful images to our class. We will miss all of them and look forward to seeking their projects develop.

Finally, thank you to our Special Guest Hellen van Meene for sharing her work and experience with our class and, of course, Rania Matar for engaging the class in an intimate learning experience, sharing her knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for photography, while being so dedicated to helping every participant find their own unique vision and path towards developing a long term project.

The Experiences of Womanhood 2021

We recently concluded the workshop “The Experiences of Womanhood” with Elinor Carucci & Special Guest Laia Abril. We are amazed and humbled by the inspiring group of women who shared their stories, life experiences, emotions, and thoughts on womanhood and photography. We will miss meeting with all of you weekly but are excited to see the continuation of each of your respective bodies of work. Thank you to Elinor and Laia for the guidance, generosity, and honesty that you brought to the classroom.

Talking Photography: Conversations with Artists

Talking Photography: Conversations with Artists recently came to an end. During 8 weeks we had the wonderful opportunity of being able to see the incredible work of all of our guest artists, as well as gain some incredible insight into their practices, processes, and thoughts on photography in general.

We want to especially thank all of our special guests for taking the time to present their work, thoughtfully engage in conversation, and share their unique perspectives on photography today. Many thanks to our facilitator George Slade for leading each conversation to new depths and exploring each artists’ work in a unique way. We would also like to thank all of the participants from all over the world who joined in weekly to spend time with us and asked great questions, we are forever grateful for your enthusiasm and participation.

Again, Thank you Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, Andrea Modica, Carolyn Drake, Jessica Todd Harper, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Zora J Murff, Rania Matar and Andy Adams, Director of FlakPhoto Projects.

Your Work and Its Audience: Making the Match, 2020

Your Work and Its Audience: Making the Match, recently came to a close.

We shared a very productive and intensive week with our 12 participants who connected from three different continents. We are deeply grateful to our Guest Speakers: Elizabeth Krist, Joan LIftin, Douglas Marshall, Alan Rapp, Jane Yeomans and Elinor Carucci for sharing their time and wisdom with us. A special thank you to Mary Virginia Swanson, for her dedication and generosity throughout the week.

Many thanks to all of you! We hope to see you again soon!

Self-Portraits from Isolation

Our online workshop "Self-Portraits from Isolation" with Richard Renaldi and Special Guest Elinor Carucci has now come to a close. We are deeply grateful to our wonderful group of students who worked hard and produced amazing self-portraits. And to Richard and Elinor for their generosity, dedication and inspiration. It was a challenging and productive class. Thank you all!

Stay tuned for more online workshops in the near future!

The Engaging Portrait: A Stranger in Oaxaca with Richard Renaldi

We are thrilled and honored to announce our new workshop with Richard Renaldi “The Engaging Portrait: A Stranger in Oaxaca” which will be held in June 2020 in beautiful Oaxaca, Mexico.

This workshop will place a strong emphasis on environmental portraiture and the making of photographic portraits. 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 main objective of this workshop is to provide students with a technical and conceptual fluency that they may apply within their own practice.

Workshop dates are: June 25th - July 2nd, 2020. Applications open on September 25th.

For more information about the workshop and how to apply click here. We hope you can join us!

Richard Renaldi, Chris & Amaira, 2013, from the series Touching Strangers.

New Editing Workshop with Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb in Oaxaca, Mexico

We are thrilled to announce our new Art of Editing Workshop with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2020. A three-day intensive class open to students, passionate amateur photographers as well as more advanced photographers, anyone who would like to learn more about how to select and sequence their photographs for a variety of purposes, including for a website, for a portfolio to present to a magazine or to a museum, for an exhibition layout, or for a book dummy to present to a potential publisher.

Workshop dates are February 15-17, 2020.

Applications open on August 12, 2019, but we are inviting former Webb students, Mary Ellen Mark students as well as friends, to apply starting now. Alex and Rebecca’s workshops normally fill up quickly, so if you are interested in applying, please do so as soon as possible. 

For more information go here.



Photographs: (Left) Alex Webb, Arcahaie, Haiti; (Right) Rebecca Norris Webb, Stained Glass, both from the La Fabrica book, Slant Rhymes.

Your Work and Its Audience: Making the Match, NYC 2019

Your Work and Its Audience: Making the Match, NYC 2019 has come to an end after an incredible week full of learning and photography. We would like to thank first and foremost Swanee for all of her hard work, energy, generosity, and for sharing all of her knowledge with us. 

Additionally, another heartfelt thanks to Photo Editor Elizabeth Krist for all her insightful contributions to the photography world at large and her commitment to helping each student throughout the week get to know other bodies of work that can help inform them on their own photography and ideas.

And thank you to our other Special Guests Joan Liftin (Photo Book Editor, Educator and Photographer), Jane Yeomans (Photo Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine), Esa Epstein (Sepia EYE Gallery), Taia Kwinter (Managing Editor at Aperture), and Chris Boot (Executive Director at Aperture). All of these wonderful individuals shared so much of their time and wisdom to help us learn more about their place in the photo world, how to succeed in their different fields and apply that to our own personal work.

Thank you to the Aperture Foundation for letting us use their beautiful location in the heart of Chelsea and to all their staff who so generously helped us out.

And a special thank you to all of the talented photographers who joined us every day this week and shared with us not only their own beautiful work, but their ideas and commitment to making their work the strongest it can be for their audience.

Finding your Vision: Oaxaca, Mexico 2019

Finding your Vision: Oaxaca, Mexico 2019 with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb has come to an end. We are deeply grateful to everyone involved in making this workshop a success.

To Alex and Rebecca for their dedication, inspiration and generosity, to our wonderful group of students who worked hard each day to produce meaningful work, to our team, Mark, Alberto, Eva, our fixers and drivers for their unconditional support, and to the staff of the Manuel Alvarez Bravo Photographic Center for letting us use their beautiful space, thank you to each and every one of you for being part of this incredible learning experience. And one last special thank you to the Oaxacan people for letting us photograph them and be part of their lives.

We’ll see you again soon and stay tuned for some exciting new developments in 2020!

Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship Winner: Francisco Javier Banda Silva

Congratulations to this year's “Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship” recipient Mexican Francisco Javier Banda Silva. He will be joining us this March for Finding your vision: Oaxaca, Mexico 2019 with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb.

His photographic work consists of portraits of young Chicanos living on the border between Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, U.S. "The work focuses on the present day condition and lifestyles of Cholos, Gang Members, die hard Low-Rider fans, skaters, and tattoo artists,” writes Banda, the 24-year-old Mexican photographer.

We are grateful to the nearly 70 young Mexican photographers who applied to the "Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship" from all over Mexico and the US. Also we would like to thank Mary Ellen Mark’s friends and former students, without whom this scholarship would not have been possible.

Your Work & Its Audience: Making the Match

We are extremely excited to announce La Luz Workshop’s newest addition, YOUR WORK AND ITS AUDIENCE: MAKING THE MATCH, NEW YORK CITY 2019.

We have been working very hard and are fortunate to have Author, Educator, and Mentor Mary Virginia Swanson leading this unique workshop that pulls together everything that is important in presenting a well-rounded piece of photographic work and navigating the diverse markets of imagery today.

This workshop is for photographers who have been working on a long-term project to help them identify the appropriate audiences for their work and how to connect with them.

Participants will learn about publishing their projects, pricing their work for multiple markets, fine art print sales, making the most of exhibition opportunities, how to best invest in competitions and portfolio reviews, securing commissions to make new work, as well as other essential topics.

A couple of days will be dedicated to editing students’ work with the guidance of Elizabeth Krist, former Senior Photo Editor at National Geographic Magazine. Students will learn the differences of editing for multiple presentations: editorial spreads, photo books, exhibitions as well as grant applications and industry competitions.

We are honored to have a team of very special guests join us throughout the workshop: Joan Liftin, Photographer, Photo Book Editor and Educator; Esa Epstein, Executive Director and Curator at sepiaEYE Gallery; Jane Yeomans, Photo Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine and Taia Kwinter, Associate Managing Editor at Aperture Foundation, who will share their years of combined industry knowledge with us.

This workshop will be held in New York City at Aperture Foundation from May 5 - May 11, 2019.  

For more details about the class please click here

We hope you can join us!

A conversation with Luis Lujan, recipient of the Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship to attend Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb’s workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2018

Can you tell us about yourself and your photographic work? 

My name is Luis Luján, I am 30 years old and I am a Mexican photographer. I am part of the founding team of a nonprofit organization, Uno de Siete Migrando (from Spanish “One out of Seven Migrating”), a name referring to the fact that one out of seven people in the world is migrating (as of 2012). This organization is dedicated to promote and protect human rights of immigrant people, based in my hometown, Chihuahua. My work in this NGO and the shelter for immigrants it runs, Casa del Migrante de Chihuahua (“Home of the Immigrant of Chihuahua”) has inspired my documentary work on this area. 

My main focus as a documentary photographer is to create awareness on social issues such as migration and to make visible the experience of Mexican and Central American migrants during their temporary stay in my hometown and migrant shelters I have visited across Mexico. I look for photographs that represent their resilient spirit facing the uncertainty and dangers of their journey, and the solidarity of anonymous people helping them. 

I hold a Master's degree on Environmental Science received in Saudi Arabia, education that has influenced my interest in sustainability and migration on a global scale.  I am also the founder of “Mejores Fotos”, a photography school where I have instructed more than 900 people in my hometown.

Do you have any formal training in photography?

At first I was mostly self taught in photography as I considered it just a hobby, taking advantage of all free available resources I could get on the internet.

As I progressed in my practice I started investing into workshops mostly on documentary photography of photographers I admire such as Eniac Martinez and Francisco Mata Rosas, among others. From these teachers I got personalized feedback and guidance that I could not get from any other source.

In the past years I have been honored and fortunate enough to get scholarships to learn from photographers I admire, such as war photographer Ron Haviv, and more recently, the Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship to learn from Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb. From this experience I have gotten much more than anything I could expect out of a formal education: clarifying my vision in photography.

I believe that not everyone has to have formal training in photography to do interesting and meaningful work. I feel as though being overly academic can place too much importance on the medium and not the end. I think that, for some of us doing documentary photography, having an alternative field of study (i.e. science) gives us a broader perspective on what to express through our camera.

Can you share with us your experience during the workshop with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb in Oaxaca? 

It was the most enriching experience in my nine years studying photography. I never visualized myself learning from someone I have admired for so many years.

What surprised me the most about this workshop is how clearly it delivered on its promise of guiding me in the development of my own personal vision in photography. I came to this experience feeling disoriented about how to take my photography to the next level without compromising on authenticity, and I left with a sense of clarity about what unique value my work can bring and how to direct it from the initial portfolio review down to the daily editing. 

Having both Rebecca and Alex bring different perspectives that complement perfectly was key to the success of the workshop. All week long they made time to hear our questions and guide us, while putting the nurture of our own personal vision as a priority. Seeing closely how Rebecca and Alex follow their intuition and the wisdom that can only come from years of experience was career-changing for me.

Ultimately, this experience opened my eyes to new subtleties in expressing through photography and editing; I was left with the excitement I once felt as a beginner and, at the same time, thrilled about the big challenges I will face to develop meaningful work in the years to come.

What would you say to young Mexican photographers thinking of applying for the scholarship? 

If you think you have something important to share about Mexico with the world through photography, please apply. This can be a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from real masters of their craft. Unfortunately, education at this level is rarely accesible for young photographers here in Mexico. Both Alex and Rebecca want to leave a positive legacy in our country and will support you extraordinarily during the workshop. Apply with your most authentic work, they will acknowledge it and support it. You have nothing to lose, and a new way of seeing the world to discover!

In addition to receiving a full scholarship to study with Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb during their workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2018, Luis will also have the opportunity to have his ongoing project about immigration reviewed by Alex and Rebecca periodically over the coming years as it develops. 

Learn more about the Friends of Mary Ellen Mark Scholarship here.

All images © Luis Lujan