Hands-On Approaches to Image Transformation

Photography doesn’t have to end with the click of the shutter or even after you’ve edited the image on a screen. What happens when you cut into a print, layer it with new materials, obscure parts of the image, or photograph it again? How does the meaning of a photograph shift when it is transformed by your hands?

In this new online workshop, artist Alena Solomonova explores photography as a physical, expressive medium. Working with your own photographs, you transform them through layering, collage, transparent materials, reflections, and everyday substances such as glass, liquids, honey, jam, sprays, and other unexpected materials. Rather than treating the photograph as a finished object, you use it as a starting point for discovery, allowing experimentation, chance, and physical intervention to lead the work in surprising and often unexpected directions.

Over six group sessions, Alena leads our investigation into new ways of making photographs through demonstrations, creative prompts, independent exploration, group discussion, and image reviews. Together, we explore how materials can shape meaning, evoke emotion, and open creative possibilities that might not emerge through photography alone. Each week encourages curiosity, play, and risk-taking, with an emphasis on process rather than perfection.

Along the way, we look at the work of artists who incorporate materiality into their practice and discuss how different surfaces and objects can completely change the way an image is experienced. Glass, fabric, paper, found objects, translucent materials, and even intentional damage become creative tools that challenge traditional ideas of what a photograph can be.

By the end of the workshop, you leave with a small body of experimental photographic work or the foundation for a larger project as well as fresh approaches for expanding your photographic practice through material exploration and hands-on experimentation.