On Location

–San Miguel de Allende

The Next Step: San Miguel de Allende

with Sam Abell

Online registration for this program has closed. To check availability, find out about future dates, or if you would like further information, please call 505-983-1400 ext. 111. Also, get the SFW E-Newsletter for updates!

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Course Description

The high but attainable purpose of this workshop is to understand and hone one’s vision and technique with Sam Abell by your side. This is a documentary photography workshop designed for those individuals serious about taking the next step in their photographic lives.

The workshop proceeds in three stages: the critical review of existing and new work, daily field sessions in and around the colorful city of San Miguel de Allende, and one-on-one sessions with Sam. In addition, Sam presents concise lectures about his technique and style. Our shared goal: to deepen our understanding of how meaningful photographic essays are created.

Growth is essential to both a well-made career and a well-lived life. Are you ready to take the next photographic step, personally and professionally? Participants in this legendary workshop should have enough of an established path in photography that, through their work and words, they can share with one another the road they have traveled so far, their dreams, and their future destinations.

Join Sam in transcendent San Miguel de Allende this fall—the week leading up to the Day of the Dead festivities—for a life-altering photographic experience. This is the only workshop Sam is leading for Santa Fe Workshops in 2024, so don’t miss it!

Additional Information

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Advanced Amateurs, Professionals

What You Should Know:

Participants need to be technically self-sufficient, as this is not a workshop to learn how to use your gear or editing software. Participants must be able to download, select, and transfer images to their own jump drive for class each day.

Portfolio Required:

Please see the Portfolio Section of Registration Information for guidelines on your submission of recent images that represent your current photography.

Activity Level:

To get the most from your workshop experience, participants should be in good physical (mobility, stamina) and mental health. Come prepared for the high elevation of San Miguel de Allende, long days, and seasonal weather. You must be able to carry your own photographic and personal gear at all times, both on campus and on location. You are responsible for being open and honest about your physical fitness, and we reserve the right to remove you from the workshop if we find your fitness to be less than that which you have described.

Participants should be able to engage in moderate outdoor exercise for up to an hour or more at a time including walking on uneven terrain such as cobblestone walkways and roads, dirt, and loose rock. Location work is likely to include early morning and/or late evening shoots.

Policies:

View Payment, Refund, Withdrawal, and Transfer Policies for this International Program.

Accommodations:

For participants wanting to stay at Hotel Posada de la Aldea, double accommodations are $440 per person for 6 nights, Sunday through Friday, (for couples taking workshops and friends traveling together), or $830 per person, single accommodations for 6 nights, Sunday through Friday. Additional nights at the hotel can be arranged for participants; please discuss needs with the Administration Office in Santa Fe.

Package Price INFO:

$3,295 (USD) includes tuition, breakfast Monday through Saturday, lunch Monday through Friday, final dinner on Friday, and model/location/materials fees if applicable to the class. Hotel accommodations are not included in the package price; see details above.

about

Sam Abell

Sam Abell is a gifted and insightful teacher, an expressive artist, and a sensitive photographer who learned photography from his father, Thad Abell. Sam worked for National Geographic as a contract and staff photographer, and also as a Photographer in Residence. In 1990, Sam’s work was the subject of a one-person exhibition at the International Center of Photography in New York. Since then he has published three collections of his work: Seeing Gardens, Sam Abell: The Photographic Life, and The Life of a Photograph. In addition, Sam maintains a career as a writer, teacher, and lecturer on photography.

Get to know Sam in our Inspiration Series video »