The Poetry of Place: Creating Beautiful Landscape Photographs with Your iPhone
with Deborah Samuel
October 22 – November 19, 2026
Course Description
This new, five-week online workshop with multi-talented photographer Deborah Samuel invites participants from beginner to intermediate to discover the art of landscape photography using the camera they carry every day—their iPhones. Through a combination of classroom instruction, demonstrations, guided outdoor exercises, weekly assignments, and image reviews, participants explore the essential elements of landscape photography, including observation, composition, natural light, weather, and thoughtful editing.
The workshop begins with a review of the iPhone’s camera, examining its basic controls and camera settings. Participants are also introduced to the creative controls of the Hipstamatic app and learn how its lenses, films, and editing tools can be used to create expressive and distinctive landscape images. Each two-hour group session builds on the previous one, encouraging participants to see more intentionally, to feel the landscape internally, to develop confidence in creating compelling images, and discover their own photographic style.
More than a technical photography program, Deborah’s workshop encourages participants to cultivate a deeper connection with the natural world and learn to be at one with the elements while working within the landscape. By the end of the workshop, participants have enhanced their technical skills using an iPhone to create stronger photographs, a deeper connection for the land around them, and the creative confidence to express their own unique perspective through a thoughtfully edited portfolio of images that express the poetry of place.
Additional Information
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
What You Should Know:
An iPhone 13 or higher is required, along with a basic understanding of the camera functions of the iPhone.
Special Notes:
Class will meet 5:00 – 7:00 pm (Mountain Time) on Thursdays starting October 22 and ending November 19 (five online group sessions). Enrollment is limited to 12 participants.
Zoom Video Conferencing software (available for no charge from Zoom.com) will be used to facilitate the class sessions. Further details will be emailed to registrants.
These live online sessions take place in the standard Zoom meeting format. Students can use their microphone and camera, see and hear the instructor and other students, and participate in live discussion and interaction throughout the sessions.
Santa Fe Workshops always aims to produce a high-quality experience for our online attendees. That said, variables including regional and local internet provider speeds, traffic on Zoom's servers, and your own computing hardware can contribute to a less-than-ideal streaming event. While we do our best to minimize the impact of these variables, they are outside the control of Santa Fe Workshops.
Policies:
View Withdrawal and Transfer Policies for online programs.
Recording class sessions using personal devices or third-party tools is not permitted. Session recordings are provided by Santa Fe Workshops and are available to enrolled students for two months after the class. This policy helps protect the intellectual property and privacy of both instructors and students.
about
Deborah Samuel is a fashion, editorial, and fine-art photographer based in Toronto after time spent in Ireland, New York, London, Los Angeles, and Santa Fe. She was quickly recognized for the distinct style of her fashion photographs and her intuitive and intense portraits of celebrities, writers, artists, dignitaries, sports heroes, and musicians, including Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Rush, and Queen Noor. Deborah became an in-demand editorial photographer, working for magazines such as GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Spin, and Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, Saturday Night, Report on Business, Vista, and Maclean’s. She has also directed music videos of musicians and bands for major record companies—Atlantic Records, Capitol Records, and BMG Music Group, to name a few.
In 2000, Deborah turned away from the commercial world of photography to pursue her own personal work. This work evolved into formal portrait studies of animals and nature. In 2012, The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto exhibited Elegy, a solo exhibition of subtle photographs of animal bones. In 2017, The Gardiner Museum exhibited her work, Artifact. Her work is exhibited in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It is included in the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, Winnipeg Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and numerous private and corporate collections.
Deborah has lectured widely and led photography workshops throughout North America. She has published four books: Dog, Pup, The Extraordinary Beauty of Birds, and Elementals—an ode to the enduring beauty of nature’s phenomena.
Website: deborahsamuel.com
Instagram: @deborahsamuelphotography
