Experience the “moveable feast” of Paris, during the glorious light and weather period of Paris in spring or fall. No matter when you visit, the city is an experience of a lifetime.

A one week workshop in Paris for students interested in exploring the rich humanistic traditions of street photography in Paris with one of the most prominent Parisian photographers today, Peter Turnley. Turnley, who has lived in and photographed Paris for the past 25 years, worked early in his career as the assistant to the famous French photographer Robert Doisneau. His acclaimed book, Parisians, by Abbeville Press, with a preface by Doisneau and Edouard Boubat, is a wonderful contemporary portrait of daily life in the world's most beautiful city.

Students will spend much time exploring and photographing the rich daily life of Paris. They will be exposed to the work of many of the greatest photographers of all time who at one time or another have documented the Paris scene: Kertesz, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Brassai, Atget, Izis, Ronis, Boubat, Ronis and Turnley, among others. Students will visit many of the rich museum spaces for photography in Paris, will meet several prominent members of the Paris photographic community, and get to meet one of the greatest black and white printers of all time. Students will be encouraged to work on their own personal portrait of the daily life of the city.

The workshop deals with the humanistic traditions of street photography, and students will be expected to think not only in terms of single images in a fine art sense, but will be highly encouraged to think of the notion of telling a story with a group of pictures. Students will be encouraged to photograph the life of Paris and accept the challenge of photographing people, as well as the environment and visual landscape of the city. Peter will help the students with this process and offer tips for overcoming any hesitations or mental blocks of timidity in this process Students will create a photo-story with 15 photographs on a theme of their choice about Paris or the life of the city. Peter will work with students in the choice of their theme, which can be very broad, such as “My impressions of Paris”, or very narrow, such as “The life of the Seine River”. It is not important that students know in advance what their theme will be, but they will be expected to accept the challenge of choosing a theme early in the workshop and sticking to it in order to create an interesting and coherent photo-essay. Students will choose at the outset if they will shoot their story in black and white, or color, and if they will shoot film or digitally. They will be expected to stick with their choice once it has been made. The students will also be encouraged to stick with one format of camera and Peter highly recommends using a 35mm camera for this workshop in street photography.

Film will be processed overnight, with contacts and ready the next morning for review and critique. For those shooting digital, please bring your laptop with imaging software loaded. Peter recommends a program called Photomechanic available for purchase, or to test-drive at www.camerabits.com

Peter will discuss technique, intent, composition, and the creative use of the camera and lens. He will review and critique your portfolio, and works-in-process, discuss careers, getting published and give you an idea of where you are, and what to do next to become better. This workshop is for experienced photographers and photography students who want to explore Paris, while working with and learning from one of today's masters of photojournalism. This is an opportunity to be inspired by the street and nightlife of Paris and to produce a new body of images. Students will explore the rich tradition of the "decisive moment" and be encouraged to contemplate the themes of humor, sensuality, light, elegance, and art and joie de vivre of the Paris landscape. This seven-day workshop should be one of the richest experiences of a lifetime for all participants. There are lectures, presentations, by Peter and several of the most prominent members of the international photographic community.

Companions
This is an ideal workshop to bring along a spouse, son or daughter or partner. Non-photographic companions may join the group sessions and meals but are not involved in the critique or review sessions. Companion supplement is $150.

Hotels
Peter has found three very nice hotels, in different rates, but all within walking distance of his apartment, where classes will meet. Below are the names, rates, web sites and phone numbers. We are asking that each you call and reserve a room in the hotel of your choice. You can also see each of these hotels on their respective web sites, and book on-line through a variety of sites. There are many other good reasonable hotels you can research on-line in Le Marais near Peter’s apartment where the daily class meets. Peter’s apartment is located on the rue des Guillemites, Paris 75004. It is in the very heart of the Marais.

Hotel Turenne le Marais
http://www.turennemarais.com/
6 Rue de Turenne
75004 PARIS FRANCE
Tel : (+33)1/42784325
Fax : (+33)1/42741072
E-mail : hotel@turennemarais.com

Hotel Abbatial Saint-Germain
http://www.sahuc-hotels.com/abbatial/index.htm
46 Blvd. St. Germain
33-1-4634-0212
fax 33-1-4325-4773
E-mail: contact@abbatial-saint-germain-hotel

Hotel Saint Roch
http://www.123europe.com/en/0/Europe/France/hotel/Paris/saint-roch-hotel...
25, rue St Roch
75001 Paris
Tél. : 33 1 42 60 17 91 et 33 1 42 96 06 36
Fax : 33 1 42 61 34 06
email : hotel.st.roch@gofornet.com
Two steps from the Louvre

Hotel Caron du Beaumarchais
12 Rue Vielle du Temple, Paris, 75004

Arrival
Plan to arrive on Saturday or latest by noon on Sunday. The first workshop session will begin at 2pm on Sunday. Flights from the States are often in the evenings, which mean you could fly Friday evening, and arrive in Paris on Saturday and give yourself an evening to get acclimated before the workshop begins on Sunday.

Departures
The workshop ends at noon, Saturday, with a final show of the students’ final 15-image photo stories made during the week. Students are free to leave on Saturday afternoon, which would enable those needing to get back to the States to work on Monday the time to do so. Those wishing to stay in Paris or France longer are free to continue their trip after the final class.

Technology
This is a digital or film workshop. You are highly encouraged to make a decision from the outset if you will shoot film or shoot digitally, and you will be encouraged to stick to this decision throughout the workshop. Students are encouraged to use a 35 mm camera. Students shooting digitally will need to know how to download their digital images each evening to a folder so that your days work can be brought to class the next day on a flash drive, external hard drive, or cd, for review each day with Peter Turnley. Students will be encouraged to choose from the outset if they want to see their work in color or in black and white, and they will be encouraged to stick to their choice of one of the other throughout the workshop.

What to Bring
Besides your SLR cameras, bring a body of your creative work with you to share—a portfolio or CD of images. Your portfolio can be prints or digital images. The workshop will have an LCD projector and there will be a final show of all of the students work during the final session.

Camera Gear
A digital SLR camera or SLR film camera or rangefinder film camera is required. Students may work with a high end point and shoot camera such as a Canon G10. Two bodies are recommended, with a minimum of at least one wide-angle lens, such as a 17-35mm zoom, or 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, or 50mm lens. In order to shoot comfortably in low light situations, it will be preferable that students have a wide-angle lens that is relatively fast and has a wide aperture such as 1.4., 1.8. 2 or 2.8. Students shooting digitally should bring several memory cards (at least 1 G cards are recommended), extra batteries and necessary battery chargers. Your laptop should have image management software, such as Apple’s Aperture, Adobe’s Light Room or, as Peter suggests, Photomechanic, which can be downloaded, free, on a trial basis from the site of camerabits: http://www.camerabits.com/site/index.html

Those shooting digitally should make sure you have a back-up system on which to download each day’s work. This can be your laptop, a portable external hard drive storage device, flash drive, or cds or DVDs. You will need a means of getting your edited images in a folder to Peter each day for review—flash drives are the most practical, but you can also use an external hard drive, or cd or DVD.

Research and preparation
Research and preparation are important parts of any adventure. There are many very thorough guidebooks about Paris, and extensive information about Paris and France to be found on the Internet.

Meals
The first and last meals are included in the cost of the workshop. You will be a guest of the workshop for a group opening dinner on Sunday night, and a final dinner on Friday night. Aside from the two group meals, breakfasts, lunches and dinners are independent but students are encouraged to join each other in local restaurants and cafes. Expect to be paying around $50 a day on meals.

For more information about teacher Peter Turnley, please consult his personal website: www.peterturnley.com

Turnley has published five books of his work:
Parisians
McClellan Street
In Times of War and Peace
Beijing Spring
Moments of Revolution