Expressive Black-and-White Landscapes
with Carlan Tapp
January 3 – 21, 2026
Course Description
Landscape photography is formed by the point of view of the photographer; it is a spiritual experience, the reflection of a culture. Historically, the great masters of black-and-white landscape used large-format cameras and traditional film processes. Now advances in digital technology have opened new opportunities for photographers who wish to explore the aesthetic and technical aspects of digital black-and-white landscapes.
The earth has a vast range of landscapes, including the icy landscapes of polar regions, mountainous landscapes, vast arid desert landscapes, islands and coastal landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past boreal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes of temperate and tropical regions. Most importantly, we quite often overlook the landscapes we live within which exist right out outside the door we open each day in our lives.
The character of a landscape helps define the self-image of the people who inhabit it and a sense of place that differentiates one region from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives. During this online workshop we explore landscape as varied as farmland, a city park, the ocean beach, or the backyard of your home.
In this workshop with Carlan Tapp we take the time to learn, to see, and fully express the spirit of the black-and-white landscape as we discover a place and the secrets of its beauty. We consider the concept of landscape and how it is connected to the cultural, social, and geographical aspects of our environment.
We combine traditional Zone System methodology with new digital processes to forge a complete digital grayscale workflow. We learn to express in the black-and-white image our personal interpretations of landscape. Blending traditional, new, and emerging techniques and technologies, we discover the extraordinary possibilities of expressive digital black-and-white landscape work.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
Working knowledge of digital workflow and manual mode on your digital SLR or mirrorless camera. Participants must be able to download and select images using image editing software for class sessions.
Special Notes:
Class will meet 9:30 - 11:30 am (Mountain Time) on Saturdays and Wednesdays starting January 3 and ending January 21 (six online group sessions). Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Zoom Video Conferencing software (available for no charge from Zoom.com) will be used to facilitate the class sessions. Further details will be emailed to registrants.
Santa Fe Workshops always aims to produce a high-quality experience for our online attendees. That said, variables including regional and local internet provider speeds, traffic on Zoom's servers, and your own computing hardware can contribute to a less than ideal streaming event. While we do our best to minimize the impact of these variables, they are outside the control of Santa Fe Workshops.
Policies:
View Withdrawal and Transfer Policies for online programs.
For the convenience of participants, recordings of each class session are posted privately for one month after the end of each session. Santa Fe Workshops takes the recordings down after one month to protect the intellectual property of our instructors.
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about
Carlan Tapp is a documentary filmmaker and photographer. In the late 1970s, he assisted Ansel Adams for three years at his Yosemite Workshops, and shortly thereafter he enrolled in Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. A descendant of the Wicocomico Tribe (Taptico family), Carlan, together with his wife, founded Naamehnay Project-Question of Power, a federal nonprofit focused on creating a visual voice for Native American homelands and sacred sites impacted by energy industrialization in America. Carlan’s work has been featured in Harley-Davidson HOG Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Associated Press, and NPR’s “Living on Earth.” His photo essays are syndicated by Redux Pictures in New York.
Carlan’s project, Question of Power, opens at the New Mexico Museum of History in Santa Fe in 2025. Two decades of work, including black and white photographs, audio interviews, and short films will be showcased as part of an exhibit on climate change.
When he is not teaching, Carlan can be found riding his iron pony on two-lane highways across the American Southwest telling the stories of people, places, and the landscape.
Websites: carlantapp.com, naamehnay.org
Instagram: @carlantapp
