Expand Your Photo Education with These Classes, Lectures, Podcasts + More
Browse the historic MoMA photography collection without leaving home. Learn from photographers like Bruce Gilden, Annie Leibovitz, Tyler Mitchell, or Susan Meiselas. Try your hand at creating anthotypes, a photographic process dating back to the 19th Century and using organic, plant-based materials. Or get no-nonsense feedback on what it takes to run a profitable business.
For this edition of the Feature Shoot newsletter, we rounded up some of the best educational resources on the web, for emerging and established photographers alike. From workshops to guides, articles to webinars, these tools and platforms can help you improve your skills behind the camera, master the more challenging aspects of running a business and marketing your work, or step outside your comfort zone to try something new.
MoMa: Seeing Through Photographs
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) offers this free class through the Coursera platform. Running for approximately seventeen hours, the course will take you through some of the most powerful and iconic images from the museum’s collection, while also providing a behind-the-scenes look into artist studios. As of 2020, they’ve also opened up more opportunities than ever for students to share and receive feedback on their work. As of this writing, more than 350,000 people have taken the class.
Penumbra Foundation Online Learning
Penumbra Foundation in New York might be known for their in-person workshops, but they also offer online classes. Topics include how to write an artist statement, how to pitch a project, and how to discuss your work, with other courses focusing on the art of the still life, photography history, and more. Penumbra also offers a unique array of courses on alternative and historical processes, including cyanotypes, ziatypes, anthotypes, and beyond.
Magnum Learn hosts classes presented by Magnum Photographers, including but not limited to Alec Soth, Gregory Halpern, Matt Black, Bieke Depoorter, and Jonas Bendiksen. One of their most popular courses is The Art of Street Photography, which is thought by seven photographers, from Bruce Gilden to Susan Meiselas. All of the classes on Magnum Learn are available on-demand, so you take them at your own pace.