creativity, camera-work and self-expression
Arabi, Louisiana • Sept 18-23, 2023
Cultivating Creativity Session I • Sept 18-19 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
Camera Technique Session II • Sept 20-21 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
Post Editing Session III • Sept 22-23 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
$895 per session or all 3 sessions for $2200
A week of intensive study that will prove to change photography as you know it.
With each Session, Parker will be guiding you through your own human experience, vision and voice to discover / re-discover its connection to the world.
With this path established you will explore the photographic techniques needed to express this connection.
Once your work is created with the camera, you will embark on its final journey. Tuning into your personal culling and post processing style, will unlock a powerful self expressed finish to your photograph.
If you want more meaning from your photographs — and from yourself — step up. This is your time to rise.
This is your time to show the world something new...YOU.
"Parker doesn't just change the way you shoot, he changes the way you think. About everything".
- James L Conway (Producer/Director)
A Sabattier paper negative of a projected pattern on the human form from an 8x10 camera. ©Parker Pfister 2015
THE SESSIONS
Parker is making this loads easier and WAY more affordable than ever before!
You have the option to be frugal and only attend one amazing session. Awesome! We can’t wait to meet you.
But then again, two sessions will double the amazingness, inspiration, and techniques!
But maybe it’s time to push yourself to the next level and get the full experience, while simultaneously getting a generous discount by attending all 3.
Session I -
Cultivating Creativity to Creation
Sept 18-19 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
$895 or attend all 3 for just $2200
Inspirational • Thought provoking • Hands on Instruction
This foundational session will inform and lead you into the remaining week’s sessions and into the rest of your career as a photographer. If you can only attend one session, I find this one to be the root of it all.
cre·a·tiv·i·ty (noun) is the sum of our life’s experience and knowledge as it relates to a particular creation. I fully believe we are ALL uniquely creative.
Day one, Parker will be leading demonstrations in concept, play and execution. You will be learning to dream and play with your mind and camera, maybe for the first time since you were a kid! THIS is where concepts are born. The ideas that grow into a masterful photograph are what you will begin focusing on.
Day two, Parker will lead an intensive on in-camera creative techniques, composition, texture and colour palette theory. You will learn how pre-visualization leads to stronger photographs.
• Portraits, Land/Urbanscapes, Still Life and Fine Art will be covered.
• Models will be on hand to play with your concepts you have created.
Session II -
Camera Technique
Sept 20-21 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
$895 or attend all 3 for just $2200
Hands on • Camera • Lighting • Composition • Augments
Picking up where we left off from session I, Parker will help you push the conceptual ideas you dreamed up to a higher visual representation. Through Parker’s hands-on instruction, demonstrations and guidance you will understand the camera, lighting and directing in a whole new way.
• We will be working in multiple settings with natural lighting, continuous lighting and multi strobe lighting,
• Intentional camera settings and augments will be covered in-depth.
• Portraits, Land/Urbanscapes, Still Life and Fine Art will be covered.
• Models will be on hand to play with your concepts you have created.
Session III -
Post Editing
Sept 22-23 • 9am-5pm • 15 seats
$895 or attend all 3 for just $2200
Hands on • Culling • Editing • Finishing • Alternative Processes
Continuing on from Session I and II you will begin the final journey of your photographs, culling and finishing. Parker will demonstrate his unique way of finishing a photograph or “post processing”.
Parker will demonstrate his unique way of culling and explain how culling starts before the click of the camera.
Parker will introduce you to his non-traditional and alternative processes that embody his signature style. Working in programs such as Lightroom and Photoshop, Parker will teach you how to tease out the subtleties of a photograph, bringing it to its full potential.
the nola experience
The New Orleans experience is one that instantly fills the senses with its history and rich culture. Get lost in the beautiful streets, meet colorful characters, listen to amazing music and eat some of the best food in the world!
NOLA is the only place in the world where you can find Waldo, The Big Lebowski gang, Oscar the Grouch and 11 Lucha libre’s all on the same street. Thankfully Waldo stopped to snap a phone pic of the Lebowski gang… ©Parker J Pfister 2010
Cover for a Hurricane Katrina relief book. ©Parker J Pfister 2005
The Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau grave. ©Parker J Pfister 2002
The story of the X’s goes like this; you must break off a piece of brick from another tomb, spin around three times, scrape three X's onto the tomb, and do some sort of knocking on the tomb. Lastly, an offering should be left at the tomb and your wish will be granted.
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ©Parker J Pfister 2006
This van tells the tale of the water finally receding in the 9th Ward.
the details . . .
Fly into MSY Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Stay where ever you like in NOLA. There are so many amazing places!
We will be meeting every morning at 6707 St. Claude Ave., Arabi, LA 70032 in the Arabi Visual Arts (AVA).
(a quick 12 minute drive from the French Quarter)
Check in is at 8:30 am sharp on the first day of your desired sessions. Sessions will begin at 9 am sharp.
Model / location fees included.
Bring a camera, notebook and sharp pencil, courage, curiosity and a laptop if you are doing Session III.
Hey Parker, I have a question…
Hey Parker,
New Orleans Saint Super Bowl XLIV Champion, Roman Harper. ©Parker J Pfister 2022
About the instructor:
Parker Pfister is an artist, a teacher and a mentor. He creates stories using photography and film as his translators. He is an avant-garde director of photography and photographer based out of Asheville, NC, and traveling often. His capacity to not only navigate and embrace any given situation, but to own it and make it speak is what distinguishes him from others. Parker has been a creative process educator for 21 years and photographing for over 38 years. His work has shown in Paris, Mexico City, Rome, Bangkok, Bologna and, most recently, Bologna, Italy.
What past attendees are saying!
"When you know how to use the gear in your hands, but over time, the gears in your head have locked up. Parker J Pfister takes you apart piece by piece, before the workshop even begins, and rewires your brain so that the gears in your head work the gear in your hand in a whole new way!" -Kim D.
"Parker reminded me that photography is an art form, not just a service I provide." -Clare B.
"I have never been to a workshop where it was not about the instructor but it was truly about me. I have never had an experience before or since quite like it. I learned to embrace me and my own path and make peace with it in a way that it began to show up in my work like never before. It was life changing and career changing. It was the best gift I could have ever given myself." -Cindy S.
"This workshop was the catalyst in our business that propelled us in a direction that separated us from the rest of the photography crowd. Rather than Parker just teaching you how he does what he does or how he shoots the details and bride and groom, he teaches you how to shoot in a way that makes it completely you, and in doing so you find your voice and your work becomes a representation of your soul. This Workshop was the best money we have ever spent on our business and is one of the biggest reason our work stands out the way it does, ultimately leading to bookings and finding the right clients for us!" -Devin R.
All Images from previous Parker J workshops