On Location

The Next Step

with Sam Abell

Online registration for this program has closed. To check availability, find out about future dates, or if you would like further information, please call 505-983-1400 ext. 111. Also, get the SFW E-Newsletter for updates!

Sign-up for the Newsletter:

Course Description

The goal of this legendary workshop—rarely offered and always sold out—is to help serious photographers, both professional and advanced amateurs, jump-start the process of taking your work to the next level. It is designed to motivate you to identify obstacles, clarify your work, and take the steps necessary to revitalize your career and photographic life.

Working with renowned photographer and teacher Sam Abell, participants edit their existing portfolios and generate new work. In addition to an intensive daily program of editing and photographic assignments, our schedule includes in-depth, one-on-one and group portfolio sessions with Sam, and field trips to photographers’ studios, galleries, publishing houses, and photo bookstores. Throughout the workshop, each individual seeks to answer two essential questions: “What is a well-lived photographic life?” and “How do I achieve it?” The durable result of this immersion in photography is a leaner, finer approach to working, editing, and carrying projects and careers forward to the next level.

Growth is essential to both a well-made career and a well-lived life. Are you ready to take the next photographic step, personally and professionally? Participants in this workshop should have enough of an established path in photography that, through their work and words, they can share with one another the road they have traveled so far, their dreams, and their future destinations.

Additional Information

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Advanced Amateurs, Professionals
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, select, and transfer images to their own jump drive for class each day.

Categories
Creative Vision, Professional Development
about
Sam Abell

Sam Abell is a gifted and insightful teacher, an expressive artist, and a sensitive photographer who learned photography from his father, Thad Abell. Sam worked for National Geographic as a contract and staff photographer, and also as a Photographer in Residence. In 1990, Sam’s work was the subject of a one-person exhibition at the International Center of Photography in New York. Since then he has published three collections of his work: Seeing Gardens, Sam Abell: The Photographic Life, and The Life of a Photograph. In addition, Sam maintains a career as a writer, teacher, and lecturer on photography.

Get to know Sam in our Inspiration Series video »

Website: samabell.com

Instagram: @samabellteacher

Gorman on Gorman: Five Decades

November 17 - 19, 2020

Finding Your Voice

December 15 – 17, 2020

Wild Stories: The Perilous Art of Adventure Writing

December 1 – 4, 2020

Color, Light, and Design

January 4 - 21, 2021

You May Also Like

Photographic Haiku

with M. H. Rubin

January 6 – 23, 2026

A Natural Eye: The Expressive Landscape—Big Sur, California

with Eddie Soloway

December 2 – 7, 2025

Silver and Gold Leaf Photography

with Marcy Palmer

April 7 – 28, 2026

The Creative World of ME ICM

with Stephanie Johnson

November 12 – December 17, 2025

The Language of Polaroid: Exploring Your Creative Potential

with Jari Poulin

February 5 – March 12, 2026

Get Seen: Submitting Your Work to Competitions, Festivals, and Galleries

with Sonia Goydenko

November 15 and 22, 2025

Photoshop Compositing: A Garden of Delights

with Ryn Clarke

January 5 – 22, 2026

The Expressive Lens

with Renee Lynn

January 5 – 26, 2026

Emotions and the Ephemeral World of Florals

with Leanne Trivett S.

January 14 – February 11, 2026

Urban Impressions: A New Way of Seeing

with Pedro Correa

March 11 – 30, 2026

Creative Foundations in Photoshop

with Shelley Vandegrift

April 1 – 29, 2026

Wabi-Sabi: The Japanese Approach to Design and Aesthetics

with Richard Martin

December 2 – 12, 2025

Artist Residencies for Photographers

with Ella Morton

December 13, 2025

Beyond the Frame: The Business Side of Photojournalism

with Marie Monteleone

February 7, 2026

Seeing Differently: Three Voices Exploring Abstraction

with Andy Gray, Barbara Kreutter, Nick Fancher, and moderator Stephanie Johnson

December 6, 2025

Our Photo Critique Room

with Don Werthmann

January 10 – February 14, 2026