Sketchbook Practices for Photographers

A sketchbook is a valuable tool for studio practice: a vessel to help artists preserve their thoughts, process their ideas, and grow as makers. For photographers, a sketchbook can be a place to write down exposure records, keep notes during courses or lectures, display exhibition postcards, preserve test prints (and scraps that may otherwise be destined for the trash), and more. Because everyone approaches the practice in a different way, no two sketchbooks look the same.

Kelly Webeck introduces various ways that the sketchbook can be used as a tool for a photographer’s studio practice. Together we look at examples of sketchbooks from contemporary photographers, both established and emerging, to see how the written word is combined with visuals to support a developing body of work. These examples are shared alongside images of finished bodies of work (and, when available, installation photographs), so we can discuss the connections between the sketchbook process and the final pieces.

Through guided visual and written assignments, participants are given the opportunity to work with their own sketchbooks over the course of the workshop, and we share our ongoing progress in the second half of each group session. As you get comfortable writing with courage and conviction, you discover how a sketchbook practice can substantially influence your image-making.