Expressive Photography: Creativity in the Digital Darkroom

A powerful shift has taken place in the photographic world: more and more artists are creating images that move beyond documentation into interpretation. This contemporary form—often called expressive photography or photographic expressionism—embraces emotion, imagination, and experimentation. It draws on decades of creative innovation, from early expressionist painters to today’s digital pioneers, and welcomes everything from subtle abstraction to bold visual transformation. While some artists craft their effects in-camera, the digital darkroom has opened extraordinary new avenues for shaping mood, movement, color, and narrative.

Join Shelley Vandegrift in the evocative landscapes of Santa Fe for an immersive exploration of this creative approach. In this workshop, you learn to see with intention, photograph with curiosity, and transform your images into compelling visual stories that reflect your personal voice. The dramatic light, textures, and colors of the Southwest provide an inspiring foundation for your imagery, while the Digital Lab becomes the place where your ideas take expressive form.

We balance time in the field with hands-on post-processing sessions, focusing on tools and techniques in Lightroom and Photoshop that elevate your photographs into works of art. Shelley’s clear, approachable teaching style makes complex processes feel intuitive and empowering. Through guided demonstrations and individual feedback, you learn how to use digital tools to enhance abstraction, build atmosphere, shape color and tone, and create emotionally resonant images.

This workshop is ideal for photographers who want to expand their creative range, develop a fine-art sensibility, or simply explore new ways of interpreting the world. By the end, you’ll have a deeper understanding of expressive photography—and a collection of images that reveal your inner landscape.

During this workshop, you will:

• Photograph on location to gather the raw visual material for your artistic interpretations
• Explore the evolution of expressive and interpretive photography
• Learn digital techniques that transform a straight photograph into an expressive image, including:
  • Crafting montages through layers, masks, and blend modes
  • Using color and texture to evoke mood
  • Introducing motion, abstraction, and painterly effects through filters and creative tools
  • Building and applying custom brushes and texture overlays

This inspiring experience encourages you to develop your own visual language and bring emotion, mystery, and imagination to your work. Come join us—and discover the magic of turning photographs into expressive art.