Experimental Photography: Film Soup and 35mm Interventions
with Daura Campos
January 14 – February 18, 2026
*
Course Description
What happens when you let go of control and let chemistry, chance, and curiosity transform your film? In this new online workshop, Brazilian visual artist and photographer Daura Campos leads you through Film Soup and other analog interventions on film negatives. A playful, expressive, and often unpredictable approach to working with 35mm film.
Film Soup is a process that physically alters undeveloped photographic film using common household ingredients such as lemon juice, salt, soap, or ink. Emerging from analog experimentation communities, it embraces accident and decay, challenging conventional ideas of photographic control and perfection. The results are unexpected and often surreal. You learn how to prepare and shoot film specifically for this process, send it out for development, and scan it for review and discussion. A list of labs that accept film soup rolls is provided, along with scanning options, including smartphone scanning methods for those without access to a scanner.
Alongside Film Soup, Daura teaches a range of other creative interventions on 35mm negatives. These include scratching, bleaching, hand-coloring, drawing, and collage, which are techniques that treat negatives as surfaces for direct manipulation and expressive experimentation. Found film or previously shot negatives can be used, allowing for flexibility in source material.
Over five sessions, you explore the chemistry and materials behind each approach, learn safe handling practices, and receive guidance through live demos, lectures, group discussions, and project-based assignments. The workshop encourages personal expression and creative risk-taking, offering a space where “mistakes” become part of the process.
Throughout the program, you complete a series of experimental works and wrap up by developing a final piece or small series to share during the last session. This workshop is a chance to step away from perfection and predictability—and embrace the beauty of the unexpected.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
No prior experience with alternative processes is required.
To participate, students need access to a 35mm film camera, the ability to shoot with it, and a way to send their film out for development. All techniques taught are home-friendly, and a simple, easy-to-source materials list will be provided upon registration.
Students can use found film or previously shot negatives, offering flexibility in source material. A personal darkroom is not necessary. Participants will receive a list of labs that accept film soup rolls, along with scanning options, including smartphone-friendly methods for those without access to a scanner.
If you are a photographer or artist between the ages of 18–40 and interested in this workshop, one full tuition scholarship is available. Please submit your information at the following link for consideration: https://form.jotform.com/252176550247154
Special Notes:
Class will meet 5:00 – 7:00 pm (Mountain Time) on Wednesdays starting January 14 and ending February 18; no class on February 11 (five online group sessions). Enrollment is limited to 13 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
Daura Campos is a visual artist and photographer based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Her artistic practice investigates social issues through experimental photographic techniques, treating analog film as an active, reactive medium to spark dialogue about photography and its role in society. Her work reshapes visual fragments into layered stories, reimagining how images are perceived, understood, and remembered. Daura has exhibited at the CICA Museum (South Korea), MK Gallery (England), Rotterdam Photo (Netherlands), Pinakothek der Moderne (Germany), Museum of Art of Pereira (Colombia), Gallery 44 (Canada), and Open Eye Gallery (England), among others. Her work has been recognized by the IPA – The International Photo Awards with an Official Selection Prize (2024), Analog Sparks Awards with 2nd Place in the Technique category (2024), among others. Graduated in Film and Media from PUC Minas, Daura works as an independent artist and teaches courses and workshops on historical and experimental photographic processes in person and online, in Brazil and abroad.
Website: dauracampos.com
Instagram: @dauracampos
