Personal Project Workshop

Deepen your practice and develop your own personal photography project
with Peter Merts

If you are an intermediate-level photographer and are ready to deepen your practice, consider this new course in which each student will develop their own personal photography project or projects.

Transition from making single independent images, to working on multi-image projects that you—with the help of your instructor and fellow students—personally conceive, plan, and execute. This class is designed to help you engage, across multiple photo shoots and class sessions, with one or more topics of your choosing. Photo projects can deepen your engagement with photography; they can develop their own logic, visual style, vocabulary, and momentum. They can lead the photographer to places—both literal and figurative—that they did not anticipate, and can even confer a useful authority on the artist.

The six class sessions are spaced 3 weeks apart, to allow photographers time to advance their project in a significant way. The core of each class is the supportive group critique, in which we review and discuss work done since the prior class. Additionally, instructor Peter Merts will at times show work by classical or contemporary photographers and will offer additional Lightroom instruction and tips on cataloging, culling, editing, and outputting their work.

Meeting Schedule

Feb 27, Day 1

Mar 20, Day 2

April 10, Day 3

May 1, Day 4 

May 22, Day 5 

Jun 12, Day 6

Workshop presented by The Image Flow Photography Center, providing photography classes, custom printing services, and fine art reproduction.

 

Instructor Bio

Peter Merts

Peter Merts has been a photographer for 40 years, focusing on documentary, portrait, and fine art projects. His work has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Huffington Post, Newsweek Online, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.

For the past 15 years, Peter has documented California’s Arts in Corrections program, visiting over 120 art classes in all 36 of California’s adult state prisons. He co-published, with Dr. Larry Brewster, the book Paths of Discovery: Art Practice and Its Impact in California Prisons (now in its 2nd edition). In 2022, Peter published a monograph with Daylight Books: Ex Crucible: the Passion of Incarcerated Artists.

Peter’s recent photography awards include the 2020 Critical Mass Top 50, and the 2021 CENTER Social Award.

Thursdays

Febuary 27 – June 12, 2025
2 PM – 4 PM 

In-person, 6 sessions, Classes are 3 weeks apart 

Requirements

  • Digital camera with manual controls (DSLR or mirrorless)
  • A laptop computer with Adobe Lightroom Classic installed
  • Working knowledge of Adobe Lightroom 
  • Critiques will require prints

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Who Should Take This Workshop

Intermediate photographers who want to expand their artistic technique and photography skills, and are prepared to take control of their photography with self-assigned projects.

Pertinent Details

  • Maximum eight (8) students
  • Class prints will be discounted to $12 each (5 max per critique)

Workshop Fee Includes

  • In-Person class meetings
  • Self-directed shooting assignments
  • Class discussion and print critiques
  • Advanced Adobe Lightroom Classic instruction

In-Person

The Image Flow Photography Center
328 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo, CA
415-388-3569
Located in Marin County CA, just north of San Francisco.

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