Santa Fe Noir
with Helen K. Garber
October 4 – 7, 2025
Course Description
Come and experience the Wild West through a film noir lens. During this four-day workshop led by photographer and Santa Fe resident Helen K. Garber, participants safely explore the rooftops and dark alleys of Santa Fe—as well as a western film set after dark—during the week of October’s Supermoon, also known as the Harvest Moon.
Our time together includes lectures on the history of nighttime photography and visits to a lineup of Western themed locations. We spend our first two nights working on-location in the city of Santa Fe, exploring shadows, forgotten alleys, and the scenes of the streets. Each night spent photographing in the city concludes with a communal drink at a historic hotel bar to maintain the noirish sensibility. We then arrive at the highlight of our workshop: a night of photographing on an Old West film set at sundown as the Harvest Moon rises. Western attire is encouraged so we can take turns modeling for each other. We are also joined by a team of working cowboys in full Western regalia, who model for us and perform rodeo tricks on horseback as the sun sets.
Mornings are spent editing the previous night’s images and learning to digitally recreate the stylized noir aesthetic in the Workshops Digital Lab. In the afternoons, we project and review our images as a group. Afterward, we look to Western noir pulp fiction and film for inspiration, exploring the iconic compositions, lighting choices, and visual tricks of the genre. We watch a selection of the best Western noir films curated by historian Alan K. Rode (Blood on the Moon), and reference the works of Dorothy B. Hughes (In a Lonely Place), who set a number of her novels in Santa Fe. The adaptation of her Ride the Pink Horse, starring Charleston Heston and shot during the 1950s Santa Fe Fiesta celebrations, will be featured.
As we uncover our best images from the workshop, making digital ink-jet prints of a few of them in The Workshops state-of-the-art digital lab is a wonderful way to bring our time together to a close. For those seeking an adventure into the shadows, grit, and mystery of the Western noir genre, this is the workshop for you.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
Working knowledge of digital workflow and manual mode on your digital SLR or mirrorless camera. Black-and-white and color photography are both welcome during the workshop.
Special Notes:
Before the workshop begins, you receive a list of recommended Western noir fiction to familiarize yourself with the genre’s language, character, and place.
Computer workstations equipped with M-series Mac minis are provided in the Digital Lab. Please ensure any external hard drives are formatted to be read by Mac systems. See "Santa Fe Campus" for more details.
Activity Level:
Participants should be able to engage in moderate outdoor exercise for up to an hour or more at a time, including off-trail walking on uneven terrain including sand, dirt, and loose rock. Location work will include early morning and/or late evening shoots.
Policies:
View Payment, Refund, Withdrawal, and Transfer Policies for domestic workshops.
Accommodations:
Participants are responsible for making their own housing arrangements in Santa Fe. On-campus accommodations are not currently available.
Package Price INFO:
$1,295 includes instruction, materials fees, location fees, daily beverage service, and one group dinner. Travel, accommodations, and all other meals are the responsibility of the participant.
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about
Helen K. Garber began her career as an editorial portrait photographer, with images published in numerous books and journals, including The New York Times.
Prints from her Noir folios can be found in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, the George Eastman Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Worcester Museum, the archives of the Venice Biennale, and IMMA Dublin. The work has been exhibited and reproduced internationally with her 40-foot-long, 360-degree panorama, A Night View of Los Angeles, exhibited at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and at the front entrance of Photo LA, Santa Monica, CA.
Urban Noir: LA/NY is her 17-minute projection combining her noir images of LA and NY with captions from pulp fiction and a soundtrack composed and performed by Grammy winner, John Beasley. It was presented with live music as the 7th lecture of the Annenberg Center of Photography in Beverly Hills. It was also projected at the Oscar Noir festival for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is in their permanent archives.
She has taught night photography workshops at Otis College of Art and Design, Photo LA, and the Skirball Center.
Helen lives with her husband, three horses, and five dogs at their Rancho de Sueños in Santa Fe. Her present mixed media work is represented by Grace Gallery, Santa Fe.
Website: helenkgarber.com
Instagram: @helenkgarber
