Summit Photography Workshops Blog

Everyone is looking to save money as this year moves forward with a stimulus emphasis. President Obama promises investments not only to get the economy going in the short term, but much of this spending as investment in future well-being. Rebuilding the infrastructure — bridges and highways now, but significant investments in education.

For many of us, investment in the future means investment in ourselves, for learning not only new tricks but time-honored career advances are built around experience and using the skills of others. Education prepares us for those days when the economy begins its return as it always does.

Education is personal investment.

And workshops provide not only that learning experience but the kind of networking that can be both useful now and becomes our personal spark when new opportunity is once again present. Spare time should not be wasted time — it can be a great opportunity.

And educational workshops are always tax deductible.

We are often asked about the faculties, for they represent many of the best in the field — and a divergence of experience, styles and specialties.  The concept of team teaching is unique to the Summit series of workshop and every workshop has at least eight faculty members which include both top rated working photographers, editors from major newspapers, magazines and book publishers along with curators and critics of serious photography.

They are selected not only for their expertise, but for their ability to teach well and a love of photography — which keeps them usually willing to talk with the attendees into the late hours of the evening.  We often fly faculty members in from far off places around the world including Paris, Moscow and London.  Several years ago, we called James Hill, a Brit who is a contract photographer for the New York Times and winner of a Pulitzer for his pictures from the Iraq front lines.  We made connections on his satellite phone in Afganistan and began to talk of Photography at the Summit.  ”Yes, I’ve wanted to attend this workshop for several years,” he said before we were able to interrupt to say we weren’t trying to sell him a place as a student — we wanted him on the faculty!  He has joined our faculty twice since and was an unusually effective teacher.

So how are the instructors recruited.  The answer is — we mostly don’t have to recruit.  Our regulars plus newcomers every year actually campaign to join the workshop faculty.  We take care of them well, but they love the atmosphere, the camraderie and meeting new students and participants.  They all want to come back and we have received calls a year in advance asking if they would be selected for the next Summit or Sports Workshop.  But as much as they love the faculty group, the facilities and the atmosphere, they love to meet and get to know the students.

And the editors in the group always find new talent and workshop participants have left with everything from a book contract to an exhibition booking to a major magazine assignment. Two students years ago are now staff photographers at Sports Illustrated and another has been a major contributor to Golf Digest.  An amateur attending her first ever workshop had one of her pictures selected as the Photo of the Month in National Geographic magazine and website and another was featured in American Photo magazine.  The networking is unlike any other workshop.

As Jay Maisel, who teaches at a variety of workshops around the country says, “These are the best workshops anywhere.”

The 2009 lineup of faculty members is underway and among the first who will join the Fall Photography at the Summit instructors is 2008’s first place winner in both spot news and spot news picture story from World Press Photo, John Moore of Getty Images.  His pictures, which also won him the title, “Photojournalist of the Year” in this country by the National Press Photographers Association, were of the assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.  Stationed in Pakistan for several years before returning to the United States, he covered not only the turbulent politics of that part of the world, but also the war in Afganistan and Iraq.

James Hill, the New York Times photographer in Moscow, produced a remarkable behind-the-scenes look at the Russian penal system made famous by words — those of Solzhenitzyn’s devastating portrait of the gulag.  The pictures appeared in the Times and can be seen on their website: nytimes.com/world.  Hill has been on the Summit faculty twice.

Sports Illustrated’s annual “Best Sports Pictures of 2008″ issue is out, dominated by the pictures of Heinz Kleutmeier, Damian Strohmeyer and John Biever, all faculty members from Sports Photography Workshops over the years. This year also features a picture by Rich Clarkson from the National High School Finals Rodeo, an amazing and embarrassing moment in which the rider was caught with his pants down.

Fall Photography at the Summit 2008 alumnus Karen Schuenemann shared with us this great shot from Thanksgiving weekend taken in El Dorado Park in Long Beach, CA. She was positioned about 10 feet away when the Osprey hit the water, grabbed it’s lunch and spirited away.

Editor & Publisher magazine selects the top newspaper photos of the year annually and in their latest citations, Mark Terrill of the Associated Press won top prize in the largest circulation category and Helen Richardson of the Denver Post won from the 100,000-249,000 citculation category. Both pictures came from the Beijing Olympic Games.

David Burnett has a unique sense of place, importance — and humor. Thus, he has crafted a video from his trip to the olympics in Beijing — that is particularly enjoyable. Entitled “The Olympics You Didn’t See,” it shows what an American press corps person sees, experiences and copes with covering the olympics.

We’ve recently added a new series of videos, Conversations at the Summit, to our SummitWorkshops YouTube Channel. This new series is comprised of short interviews with leading photographers and editors in the field, who happen to be regular workshop faculty, discussing various topics in photography.

The September issue of Arizona Highways magazine is largely Summit driven. The two major portfolios of stunning pictures from Arizona are the work of two Summit Workshop regulars. Jack Dykinga, joining us next month for Fall Photography at the Summit, shows his fondness for film in an issue that compares digital with traditional film. And in a big departure for the magazine, the cover story with 14 pages inside are all stunning black and white - the work of Tucson-based photographer Joel Grimes who attended both Summit and Sports Photography Workshops over the years.