A photography workshop Like no other.
Concept • Creativity • Camera Work
Interior, SD | May 6-10, 2024 | 5 days / 4 nights | $2900 | 10 seats
Bonus Days • Cowboys, Rodeos, Landscapes and a sense of wonder (May 4-5, 2024)
5 participants max for an additional $1000
"Parker doesn't just change the way you shoot, he changes the way you think. About everything". -James C.
So what is this workshop all about?
If you are not familiar with this workshop series Parker puts on, it consists of 5 days and 4 nights of challenge based assignments to flush you out of your comfort zone and break you down, followed by sleep deprivation, amazing food and drink and then a rebuilding of your definition of photography. This workshop is never meant to teach you how to be Parker or to increase the eye candy in your portfolio. It is simply meant to unlock YOU as a photographer.
This workshop isn’t the kind where you will stand in a line, shooting the same model while you are fed all of the camera settings. There is no learning in that. You will work for every single frame you make and you will be rewarded greatly! You will discover what you have to offer the world that extends far beyond a pretty picture.
This workshop is as unique as the folks who trust in me and fly all the way here to have their "eyes wiped clean" as one attendee described it. It is designed to make the toughest fail and the bravest cower. Once the wall falls we can truly learn why we are photographers. It is community based. We ALL learn from one another.
Investment
$2900 includes any model fees, location fees, and lunch.
Your retainer of $1000 will reserve your space in this workshop. The balance of $1800 will be due 60 days prior to the workshop date.
If you are interested in the Bonus Days, let me know via Email.
This workshop will be limited to 10 participants.
Both Film and Digital are welcome.
More details . . .
You will be staying at the amazing Circle View Ranch guest ranch/working cattle ranch !! Once you have grabbed your spot in this workshop, contact Amy and Phil at the ranch for lodging and breakfast and dinners.
Fly into Rapid City, rent a car, and be there in an hour or so. Fly into Sioux Falls, rent a car and be there in 4.5 hours. Or make a road trip out of it and drive from where you are!
Monday, is check in/ meet and greet, preview of the week and a welcome dinner. Show up around 3-4pm.
The rest of the week will be similar to below but will be custom created as we go and as the participants needs arise.
Tuesday, 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. With my belief that the camera gets in the way of the photographer and the photographer gets in the way of the artist, you will journey past your camera to discover your unique purpose for pushing the shutter button through experimenting, writing, and playing.
(probably the very same three things you started your journey into photography with, but have traded in for “more important” things)
Wednesday, 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.
Thursday, 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.
Friday, gather for a morning review/recap. Farewell to your new tribe of courageous creatives at 11am.
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 19 years and photographing for over 35 years. His work has shown in Paris, Mexico City, Rome, Bangkok, and, most recently, Bologna, Italy.
For the last 7 years, two of Parkers photographs have been touring around the world for a Lucie Foundation exhibition with the likes of, Sebastiao Salgado, a prolific documentary photographer, Steve McCurry, one of the most highly regarded National Geographic photographers in the world, James Balog (chasing Ice) and so many more.
Together our photographs have reached millions, creating a visceral experience of what climate change means to us and to our homelands. This is considered one of the highest achievements in photography accolades.
I haven’t made a dime from it. And I haven’t won any awards. But I’ve had the chance to speak to millions of hearts, to help them feel the precious and precarious beauty of our earth.
And, it has become my mission and my passion to teach others what I taught myself:
A great photograph is more than a pretty picture.
A great photograph begs more questions than answers.
A great photograph should not only be seen but deeply felt.
A great photograph is determined by YOU and therefore a great photograph can be created by YOU.
A great photograph changes the course of history. Whether it is your history, the history of one person or the history of the world.
This is your value. This is your task. This is your time.
Isn’t it time to make your photographs include a part of you? Isn’t it time to find your authentic self?
I will answer for you.
YES.
We need you.
So, I invite you to join this workshop where Parker J Pfister will lead an expedition into your head, heart and gut in a surreal landscape with one common goal: to unlock your creative force and make imagery of your dreams.
Photos of the past
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