Overview

TESTIMONIALS: NOVEMBER 2022 PARIS WORKSHOP

I have learned so much from Justin over the years. I just finished his Paris workshop (second time!) and it was fabulous. Many thanks to Justin and Julia for a wonderful week. Learned so much and made great new friends! –Peggy K.

It was an amazing workshop! –Bruce C.

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the trip to Paris. I have several outstanding images and as you said if you get ten great photos out of a trip, it is a success. –Susan Q.

As my week of street photography in Paris ends I need to extend my thanks to Justin Black and Julia Keil who have led the workshop. I have learned a great deal this week due to their patience and wise instruction. In addition, the group of fellow photographers I shared the week with was without a doubt the best group of people I have ever shared a workshop. Spontaneous laughter and singing have been the needed sustenance to long days of walking the streets of Paris. –Ron S.

What a fantastic time in Paris with some amazing and talented people! I learned something from each one of you and left feeling energized. It was a treat to share this experience with such fun people. –Margie C.

Thanks for a fun week! You all were so much fun. I hope our paths cross again! –Bob L.

 

Paris and photography; photography and Paris – the two have been bound together in a lyrical poetic dance since the invention of the medium. Her romantic beauty, layers of history, and progressive culture have long attracted many of the world’s greatest artists, among them some of the most important photographers of the last century – Eugene Atget, André Kertész, Brassaï, Lee Miller, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many more – yielding a collective body of work that fills our imaginations and informs our notions of the City of Light to this day. Everywhere you go, one gets the impression that design is highly valued in Parisian life and culture.

Beyond the nostalgia and iconic views, Paris is always evolving. We find inspiration in the photographic raw material that Paris offers the creative photographer to capture new visions woven from aspects of past, present, and future. We invite you to join Justin Black and Paris-based photographic artist Julia Keil for this small-group workshop for just six passionate photographers, based at a 5-star boutique hotel on the Left Bank in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the heart of the 6th Arrondissement. Both on foot and using taxis to cover longer distances, we will explore our favorite vantage points along the river Seine, the city’s markets, parks, avenues, and side streets, so full of life, culture, and characters from another time. The streets of Paris have a unique ability to breathe beauty, and the city wears many faces depending on the time of day or night, the weather and the path you take through it. Through the changing light in early morning and evening, Julia and Justin will encourage you to open your mind’s eye to make the most of available opportunities, sharing creative insights and helpful instruction throughout. There is nothing like losing yourself in the Parisian arrondissements with child-like eyes, with the city’s symphony in your ears, wondering what notes may be played next.

Our visit coincides with the Paris Photo international photography festival, as well as Photo Saint Germain, and the many commercial art galleries near our hotel will feature an array of wonderful photo exhibits.  We’ll take advantage of Paris’s status as one of the world’s great centers of photography to make privately guided visits to two of the city’s most important photography galleries, drawing inspiration from exhibitions of work by great masters and contemporary artists alike. Back at our hotel’s meeting room, we will hold two group image reviews to provide you with constructive feedback that you can then apply during our next photographic outing. When we have a little down time during the day, you’ll be free to explore on your own, edit your photographs, do some shopping, visit the hotel’s spa, or just relax. And, of course, we invite you to join us for a celebration of Parisian gastronomic delights as we gather for group meals at some of our favorite restaurants, brasseries, and bistrots.

If your spouse or partner would enjoy joining you on this exploration of Paris, we have two additional spaces available for accompanying non-photographers, who will be welcome to join the group on all excursions and at meals, but photographic instruction in the field and classroom/critique sessions are not included in this registration option.

In 2020, at the request of a few regular clients, we designed a creative photography workshop in Paris, France, which we operated in November 2021. It was so well received by the participants that we decided to offer it again the following year in 2022. If anything, that workshop was an even bigger hit. I find photographing in Paris inspiring, exhilarating, and immensely productive, and though I know my way around town, there is no substitute for intimate local knowledge and experience. So, I invited my dear friend Julia Keil, an immensely talented and highly regarded Paris-based photographic artist, to join me as co-instructor. Between the time that I invited her and the start of the first workshop in 2021, Julia was awarded a Gold Prize in the renowned PX3 Prix de la Photographie competition, for a self-portrait series created in her Paris apartment during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Julia knows the city intimately, and has a great deal of experience teaching photographers to make the most of Paris as a creative palette. She is warm, engaging, and an absolute joy to spend time with. Together, we will teach you how to use the characteristic and unique opportunities offered by the city to create unique creative compositions, rather than simply doing a “tick list” of iconic views (though I suppose some of that is inevitable). We look forward to welcoming you for this creative exploration of the City of Light! –Justin Black