The Atelier Smedsby offers a one-year distance learning class with three individual/group meetings in Paris. Founded in 2010 by photographers JH Engström (b. 1969, Sweden) and Margot Wallard (b. 1978, France), Atelier Smedsby was formed with the objective of increasing artistic independence via workshops.
Since its first edition in 2012, the atelier has helped many talents to gain inspiration for their upcoming projects. And most importantly, the tutors of the workshop have provided aspiring photographers with an environment where they can gain useful experience in the field. This involves editing; finding your own visual language and defining the individual photographic approach; critique the work of others, and one's own - at both theoretical and practical levels. These, and other skills trained during the workshops, will eventually lead the participants towards the establishment in the professional world of photography. All the tutors of the atelier are widely known within this field: JH Engström, Margot Wallard, Anders Petersen, Christian Caujolle, Gilou Le Gruiec, Todd Hido, Michael Grieve, Jim Goldberg and Cristina de Middel.
Some of the participants of the past years have meanwhile gained international attention for their work. To only name a few: Leif Sandberg (2012-2013) published the acclaimed book 'Ending' in 2017; Christian Vium (2014-2015) was a FOAM Talent and Lensculture Emerging Talent in 2015; Jenny Rova (2018-2019) made the book 'ÄLSKLING A Self-Portrait Through the Eyes of My Lovers' – winner of the Swedish Photo Book Award 2018; Margaret Lansink (2019-2020) has won a Hariban Award in 2019 with her book 'Borders of Nothingness - On the Mend'.
The 2020 edition of the Atelier Smedsby workshop follows the unchanging formula of the previous years. In between meetings, the participants will report monthly on the progress of their works via Skype. During these monthly reports, all the participants will be able to ask questions, demonstrate the evolution of their work, receive evaluation and feedback and with this, take their personal projects to a different level.
During the course, general issues about pushing the possibilities of photography beyond classical conceptions will be addressed. Apart from this, students will be guided through all the steps of the creative process - starting from the original idea, production and preparation for each take, research for sources and documentation, to final decisions on the exhibition or editorial form.
The price of the one-year workshop is € 3600 and the deadline to apply is April 5, 2020.
