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The Workshop

!!!!!
ONLY ONE
SPOT LEFT


SESSION #3
APPLY TODAY
!!!!!


*******************

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SESSION#3 
APRIL 16 - 23

SESSION#3 
APRIL 16 - 23

 Irina Rozovsky & Mark Steinmetz 

 Irina Rozovsky & Mark Steinmetz 

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Curran Hatleberg !!!

Curran Hatleberg !!!

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!!!!!
live & in person 

special guest

JUAN BRENNER
!!!!!

**********

SESSION #1
March 5-12

SESSION #1
March 5-12

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SESSION#2
MARCH 19 - 26

SESSION#2
MARCH 19 - 26

Alessandra Sanguinetti
&
Jim Goldberg

Alessandra Sanguinetti
&
Jim Goldberg

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 Irina Rozovsky & Mark Steinmetz 

 Irina Rozovsky & Mark Steinmetz 

SESSION#3 
APRIL 16 - 23

SESSION#3 
APRIL 16 - 23

**********

**********

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SESSIONS 1-3
!!!

PABLO ORTÍZ MONASTERIO

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...and live via
satellite techno
lgy...
 

CAROLYN DRAKE

SESSIONS 1-3
!!!

!!!
SPECIAL  GUEST
INSTRUCTOR

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Workshop de Allende is a week-long photographic arts retreat PRESENTED BY TBW BOOKS IN SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO.

 

​Sessions are led by esteemed visiting artists offering personalized instruction to a selected cohort of 10-12 artists focused on the medium of photography.

Participants will enter the Workshop with a selection of images that over the course of the week will be discussed, reviewed, edited, and refined with the intention that each artist leaves with a deeper and more focused understanding of their own work.

 

​The Workshop is an arts intensive that doubles as one of the best vacations you've ever been on. All accommodations, meals, and guided outings are inclusive. Just get here and we’ll handle the rest!

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The Basics
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The Workshop is not simply a portfolio review. It is an intensive, immersive and highly interactive experience where you will spend quality one-on-one time and group sessions with instructors and fellow participants. 

 

​Each day is spent in rotations between mentorship meetings with the instructors, photo book seminars, presentations by guest artists, group critiques, and independent time for editing, reflecting and exploring San Miguel de Allende.

 

Over the course of the week your understanding of your work and your practice will evolve, take new shape, and find new direction.  

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Special Guest

Pablo Ortíz Monasterio

Sessions 1-3 

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GUARANTEED 
TO OUTLAST 
US ALL!!!

!!!
BOOKS

The Workshop emphasizes an understanding of the contemporary photo book – photography in its most tangible, accessible and personal presentation.​ 

 

The edit. The sequence. The layout. The images themselves. Heck, even the title and paper stock will be discussed. A photo book is all of these things and by design is greater than the sum of its parts. At the end of the retreat you'll come away with a clear sense of how your project, in its particular ideas and sensibilities, fits within the book format. 

 

Each of our instructors has significant experience producing photobooks from a photographer’s point of view. This, combined with editorial, design and publishing know-how from TBW Books founder Paul Schiek, will provide participants with an insider’s perspective on the road to publishing a perfectly articulated photobook.

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We welcome photographers of all kinds and from all backgrounds to apply. You might be firmly situated in the photo world, but maybe you've been taking photos in secrecy and have never sniffed an art school campus. Nobody "doesn't belong" for lack of experience or credentials. If you’re serious about your practice and your work shows promise, we want you here!

 

Our instruction and discourse are at the highest level, but we try not to be stuffy about how we engage with photography and we strive to create an environment in which everyone feels they belong. The Workshop will meet you where you're at and will ensure you leave with a new  view not only of your own work but of what photography can be and do in your life. 


Payment plans and a limited number of need-based scholarships are available.

The Food
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Workshop de Allende is unique in its emphasis on food as a tool to build community, not only between its instructors and participants but within the community of San Miguel de Allende as well. Every meal will be either prepared or curated by our Culinary Director, Chef Karina Alejandra.

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Put
pineapple
bbq sauce on your breakfast taco if ya
nasty...

The meals are what binds this thing together. Every meal is shared, and as a group you will be eating some of the best food San Miguel de Allende has to offer.

 

We will alternate between meals prepared on site by Chef Karina and ones enjoyed out on the town with menus collaboratively curated by Chef Karina and the head chef of each restaurant.  On any given day dinner might be a guided street food tour, a home cooked meal prepared with fresh produce grown on a farm nestled in the nearby Sierra Madre Occidental Mountain Range, or the tastiest mole in town.

 

The Workshop works closely with local farms, restaurants, and chefs who share our desire to use the best available ingredients as a way to tread lightly on the earth and ensure that a myriad of responsibly sourced food styles and options are offered to our guests.

 

Chef Karina's expertise and enthusiasm for the cuisine of Mexico and SMA ensures that every dish served, every restaurant dined in, every bottle of wine uncorked, is chosen with LOVE AND INTENTION.

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Karina Alejandra - Workshop de Allende Culinary Director

Karina's career in food began at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, and has led her to acclaimed restaurant kitchens all around the world. Nowadays she runs Pantera Negra, a pop-up with a focus on Mexican and African-American ingredients, creating dishes that represent both cuisines in a cohesive way, heavily inspired by her own heritage and traditional Mexican cooking techniques.

 

Karina became interested in photography at a young age, spending time developing film with her grandma in her grandma's darkroom and helping her uncle chemically transfer his photographs onto wooden panels. To this day, making photos is still an important part of her life, personally and professionally.

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Its always
"happy hour" 
when its classic margs w/  
vulcanic salt!

I don’t
care how you
think hot dogs are “supposed to be”

I like mines to be
a hot mess*
k bye

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Nestled in
between deez
buns is ....... fried
chicken, chamoy, chermoula, jicama, purple cabbage,
dijon,& aioli !

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Your Stay
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The Workshop will house its guests at Casa Corazon, a beautiful 10 bedroom historic home at the top of town overlooking SMA. Casa Corazon is special in its combination of the historic elements of classic Spanish colonial architecture with modern amenities, like a rooftop patio with a scenic view, complete with a full bar and an infinity pool.

 

A separate house, Casa Besos, is reserved for our visiting artists who will be staying offsite but just down the street (through an alley, left at the Virgin de Guadalupe mural, and another right).

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Each room in Casa Corazon comes with a king or queen-sized bed and full private bathroom. Some rooms are larger than others and offer different amenities and window views. Upon acceptance, rooms will become available (some with added costs) on a first come first serve basis. If you are interested in sharing a room with a friend or partner who is also applying to the workshop, please note this on the “Anything Else?” section of the application. 

 

Group critiques, presentations, one-on-one meetings, as well as daily meals will take place on site, either in the main indoor living room, the outdoor central courtyard (it has a waterfall!) or on the upper terrace overlooking town. Our aim is to provide an environment that allows guests to be both comfortable and creatively stimulated.

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Mostly it’s going to be a week of photography and eating... however, the Workshop will have guided outings planned for you as well. You might learn about Siquieros and mural painting from a curator at Instituto de Allende, or go on an art-historical tour of the city’s sign paintings by the best rotulista in town. There’s also the botanical garden, Baroque and Churrigueresque-style churches, wineries, town square mariachi, and La Fabrica la Aurora, a defunct textile factory turned arts center. And on Sunday - let’s go to the the natural hot springs!

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San Migul de Allende
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For those unfamiliar with San Miguel de Allende, this small and uniquely beautiful city is a historical arts center in the state of Guanajuato, about a three hours drive from Mexico City. SMA was awarded a UNESCO World Heritage designation in 2008, and since the early 20th century has served as a hub for Mexican and expat artists through the formation of cultural institutions like Instituto de Allende and Escuela de Bellas Artes.

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San Miguel de Allende has a special history of expat arts organizations and international tourism, but we do not take our presence here for granted. From its beginning, Workshop de Allende has collaborated with the people who call San Miguel home to establish practices designed to benefit the city's longtime residents.

Everyone employed by the Workshop, including kitchen staff, servers, artisans, guides, and drivers are all paid above a living wage. We do not haggle or seek deals on goods or services.

We do all we can to support locally owned establishments when dining out and source local and organic ingredients for our on-site family style meals. We have a rigorous composting, recycling and reuse program and, in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of our guests' flights to and from SMA, carbon offsets are annually purchased on behalf of the Workshop.

​Each session begins by establishing expectations and standards of conduct for visiting participants and instructors, both within the Workshop and in town.

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The Crew
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Bronco

 

Not super smart.  A bit slobbery. Slight limp on the back left leg. Will just sort of be around a lot. Soul Mate: Rob Gronkowski.

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Chippy

Born and raised in Oakland. Holding down the details from an undisclosed location (somewhere in Oakland). Basketball fiend. Friend to all.

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Ariel Thauby Alvarez

Sous Chef  to Chef Karina

 

Also responsible for translating this very site to Spanish (thanks bud!)  The only person amongst us who knows Diego Rivera's full name (google it!).   

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Raimundo Silva Sánchez

Head of Transportation

Raimundo and his team ensure we arrive on time wherever we’re going. “Happy Day” – that’s what he says when you get out of the car. Best guy ever.

Alec Soth

Magnum Photographer. 

Ping Pong FAnatic.

Lives in the twin cities.

Published Books: Too many to name...

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Pablo Ortíz Manesterio

Guest Instructor Sessions 1-3 

 

Photographer, writer and educator. Internationally recognized as one of the most prominent voices on the subject of Mexican photography. Was entrusted in 2010 with editing the personal photographic archive of Frida Khalo for the book Frida Kahlo: Su fotos.

Lives and works in Mexico City.

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Irina Rozovsky

Session 3 Instructor

Books include: Island in my Mind and In Plain Air. She lives in Athens GA.  Was born in Moscow. Speaks fluent Spanish. Runs The Humid with Mark.  Can beat Alec Soth in ping pong (allegedly).

Overall Ranking: ​​★★★★★

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Mark Steinmetz

Session 3 Instructor

 Middle name: Christopher. Certainly one of the greatest living photographers. Books include: way too many to list. Father and husband. Runs The Humid with Irina. Meditates daily.

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Karina Alejandra

Culinary Director

 

Lives and cooks in SMA. In her downtime does a pop up called Pantera Negra which combines her love for Mexican and African-American cusines. Happiest when: "tending to plants and cooking for the homies.” Favorite guilty pleasure: Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

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Curran Hatleberg

Session 1 Instructor

Lives in Baltimore. He’s the father to River (the Dreamer). Whitney Biennial in 2019. Eats slower than anyone you'll ever meet. Books include Lost Coast and River’s Dream. Shows at Higher Pictures Generation in Brooklyn.

Alec Soth

Magnum Photographer. 

Ping Pong FAnatic.

Lives in the twin cities.

Published Books: Too many to name...

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Carolyn Drake

Guest Instructor (VIDEO)

Has lived all over but currently based in Vallejo, CA. Has a pitbull named Mango. Self published three incredible books, Internat, Two Rivers, and Wild Pigeon and two with TBW Books, Knit Club and another one not yet announced! Interests include: toppling the patriarchy and swimming.

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Alessandra Sanguinetti

Session 2 Instructor

 

Born in Argentina. Has mastered the art of intimate documentation. See: The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams, On the Sixth Day, and most recently, Some Say Ice. Member of Magnum Photos.

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Paul Schiek

 

Founder of TBW Books and this workshop. Father, husband, enthusiast of vintage signage and the Milwaukee Bucks. Lives and works in SMA.

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Jesús Juarez Soria

 

One of the last few rotulistas (traditional sign painters) in town, and one of the best to ever do it. Did all the hand lettering for this site. Oddly has cleanest clothes of any painter we ever met. Unofficial nickname: Cool Hand Jesús.

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Jim Goldberg

Session 2 Instructor

 

Has created some of the most influential photography books of our time. Rich and Poor, Raised by Wolves. Etc. Lives and works on a farm in Petaluma CA. Member of Magnum Photos. Recent Injury: torn achilles.

CLAIM TO FAME

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Juan Brenner

Session 1 Visting Artist

 

Small camera, huge heart. Seriously good book: Tonatiuh. Lives and works in Guatemala City. May or may not cry when getting little tattoos :(

FAQ
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STAY IN THE KNOW

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