The Hand-Colored Photographic Print
with Kate Breakey
July 13 – 17, 2026
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Tuition $2195.00
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Materials Fee $325.00
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Standard Deposit $400.00
Course Description
Beginning in the 19th century, the earliest photographs were often tinted with paint to make them more “life-like.” After the advent of color film in the 1950s, this was no longer necessary, and hand-coloring photographs became an interpretive, expressive art form, to make photographs more compelling and unique. Today, hand coloring photographic prints is being taken to exciting new levels of artistic expression, and none more so than the work of photographic artist Kate Breakey.
In this workshop based in Santa Fe, Kate introduces you to techniques that extend the print statement by applying oil paints, pigments, pencils, and inks or pastels in combination. She also includes a few digital techniques using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and demonstrates how to output images on a variety of papers. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Kate encourages and inspires you to explore and experiment with a variety of materials and techniques while helping you find your own creative process. For her, photography is a magical process, but the “hands-on” aspect of applying pigment is not only fun, it is a meditation on the joy of making something that comes from somewhere within. Each day consists of short slide shows, demonstrations, and supervised studio time with plenty of individual one-on-one guidance.
Kate invites you to join her in Santa Fe to play in the giant, creative sandbox that is hand coloring.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
No experience in hand coloring prints is needed; however basic skills in Lightroom or Photoshop are preferred.
Activity Level:
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.
Meals:
about
Kate Breakey’s early training as a painter and printmaker makes her regard photographs as a starting point – surfaces to embellish. She paints and draws on them, gilds, and sometimes embroiders her images which are all invariably about her fascination and wonder of the natural world.
Kate is internationally known for her large-scale, richly hand-colored photographs including her acclaimed series of luminous portraits of birds, flowers and animals in a series called Small Deaths published in 2001 by University of Texas Press. Other monographs include, Painted Light, 2010, a career retrospective that encompasses a quarter century of prolific image making and Slow Light, Published by Etherton Gallery in 2011. Her collection of photograms, entitled Las Sombras/The Shadows was published by University of Texas Press in 2012. This series is a continuation of her lifetime investigation of the natural world which in her own words is “brimming with fantastic mysterious beautiful things.”
Born in Australia in 1957, Breakey received her master’s degree from the University of Texas, Austin. Since 1980 her work has appeared in over 120 solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Australia, Japan, and France. Her collections include the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, The Australian National Gallery, and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts, as well as various private collections. She has resided in the Tucson, Arizona for 22 years and teaches workshops nationally and internationally.
Website: katebreakey.com
Instagram: @katebreakey
