Presented by David Alan Harvey and James Nachtwey

Charlottesville definitely has it’s place in history and few American cities have as much charm , combined with geographic beauty as does the home of the father of independence, Thomas Jefferson. Photographers generally speak of creative “freedom” as their number one goal and this year in the land of Jefferson we will explore your personal sense of independence as a creative thinker in the same way Jefferson was “one of a kind” and pushed for independence and freedom for America. This sense of personal freedom is just in the air in Charlottesville. In that spirit, we have created a special photo workshop for 2009.

Mastering the essay approach to photography is the key to opening the door to strong book publishing and serious gallery shows. Understanding narrative and having ‘something to say’ will separate you out as an ‘author’ at a time when almost everyone with a cell phone can make technically ‘correct’ pictures and there is such a plethora of mediocre work raining down on us.

You will be working very hard in this class to overcome this mediocrity. Together through your shooting and our tough but constructive critiques, we will build an essay to be shown to all at the end of the week.

This will be as challenging as any workshop we teach. There are always growing pains in my classes, because we will tell you the truth about you and about your work. Most of our students are the types of photographers who are actually trying to enter our craft in a professional way. We owe you an honest appraisal. However, we also encourage the photographer who may take the more subjective esoteric approach. We try to let the photographic artists fly and then let them be. We love the blend of humanistic photography with the more stylistic and when the two come together, there is magic.

Our job is to push you to YOUR PERSONAL next highest level and we do not come to class with preconceptions about who you should be. This will be a collaboration, it has to be ‘full on.’ And at the same time we will want you to be at peace and at one with a subject of your choice. We have taught together as a team before at a similar workshop. We know this combo of Nachtwey/Harvey works for students. The dissimilarities in our published work is matched by an equal passion for the craft of photography itself. As students you will see two approaches but with a singular drive and passion for creating serious bodies of work. Please join us for what promises to be a classic “one of a kind” workshop.

David Alan Harvey

At age twelve, Virginia native David Alan Harvey purchased a used Leica with newspaper route money and began photographing his family and neighborhood. At twenty, he lived with and photographed a black family in Norfolk, Virginia, producing his first book, Tell It Like It Is in 1966. Since then, David has shot over forty essays for National Geographic Magazine and his work has appeared in many magazines, anthologies, and exhibitions. He has published two major books, Cuba and Divided Soul, both based on his extensive work of the Spanish cultural migration into the Americas. His latest book Living Proof documents David’s intense journey into the world of hip-hop culture. David joined Magnum Photos in 1993. He currently lives in New York. In the winter of 2008, David and a committed group of photographers launched Burn Magazine as a new online photographic journal for emerging photographers. View the site at burnmagazine.org

James Nachtwey

James decided to teach himself photography after seeing images from Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. Upon graduating from Dartmouth he worked as a truck driver and on merchant ships, acquiring skills that would prove useful in his chosen occupation. After working as a newspaper photographer in New Mexico, he moved to New York in 1980. He has been a contract photographer with Time Magazine since 1984, was a member of Magnum from 1986—2001, and is one of the founding members of the photo agency, VII. The late Richard Avedon called his book Inferno “the most painful and beautiful book in the history of photography.” In 2007 Nachtwey was one of three winners of the TED Prize, an award “dedicated to ideas worth spreading.” Nachtwey’s work has been exhibited internationally, and his numerous honors include the Robert Capa Gold Medal (five times), the World Press Photo Award (twice), Magazine Photographer of the Year (seven times), the ICP Infinity Award (three times), and the 12th annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities. In 2008, James was featured as one of the 3 legacy artists at the LOOK3 Festival.