The Human-Altered Landscape

with Brad Temkin

July 27 – 31, 2026

Tuition $2195.00

(includes meal plan, see below)

Location Fee $165.00

Standard Deposit $400.00

Course Description

What do we leave behind and what is our impact on the landscape? People are everywhere, and our presence shapes the land in visible and in invisible ways. The images we make help us to understand our connection to nature and to the human-altered landscape. By creating pictures where tension and beauty coincide, we can pause, reflect, and ask questions.

In this week-long workshop led by contemporary landscape photographer Brad Temkin, students investigate their personal relationships with the landscape through daily image reviews, classroom discussions, and location-based exercises created on daily field trips to some of the treasures in northern New Mexico. We explore land, water, infrastructure, and the impact of humanity on the world around us. We focus on photographic fundamentals such as framing and light, while also emphasizing the collaboration, intention, and the act of making pictures in relationship to place.

Pre-visualization and post-visualization approaches are embraced, but the primary goal is to understand the life of images created, and understanding of our own process. This workshop is a collaboration between you and the landscape. Upon conclusion of our week together, we have gained greater clarity about our personal intent and approach by using the contemporary landscape as a canvas.

Additional Information

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Amateurs, Advanced Amateurs

What You Should Know:

Working knowledge of digital workflow and manual mode on your digital SLR or mirrorless camera. Participants must be able to download and select images using image editing software for class sessions.

Activity Level:

To get the most from your workshop experience, participants should be in good physical (mobility, stamina) and mental health. Come prepared for the high elevation of Santa Fe, long days, and seasonal weather including high temperatures. You must be able to carry your own photographic and personal gear at all times, both on campus and on location. You are responsible for being open and honest about your physical fitness, and we reserve the right to remove you from the workshop if we find your fitness to be less than that which you have described.

This is a location-heavy workshop. Participants should be able to engage in moderate outdoor exercise for several hours at a time, including off-trail walking on uneven terrain, including sand, dirt, and loose rock. Location work is likely to include early morning and/or late evening shoots.

Accommodations:

Participants are responsible for making their own accommodation arrangements in Santa Fe. On-campus accommodations are not currently available.

Meals:

Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner before the Friday evening Image Presentations, and daily beverage service are included.

Policies:

View Payment, Refund, Withdrawal, and Transfer Policies for domestic workshops.

about

Brad Temkin

Brad Temkin, based in Chicago, is best known for his photographs of contemporary landscape. His work is held in numerous collections, including The Art Institute of Chicago; Milwaukee Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Akron Art Museum; Amon Carter Museum of American Art; George Eastman Museum; and Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, among others. His images have appeared in such publications as Aperture, Black & White Magazine, TIME Magazine and European Photography. He has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships including an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in 2007 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017. Brad has published three monographs to date: Private Places: Photographs of Chicago Gardens (Center for American Places 2005); ROOFTOP (Radius Books 2015); and The State Of Water (Radius Books 2019). He has been an adjunct professor at Columbia College in Chicago since 1984.

Click here to view Brad’s Creativity Continues presentation called “What We Leave Behind.”