The Workshop

The workshop meets daily for approximately 3-4 hours each day in a beautiful conference room of The Iroquois New York Hotel in New York's Midtown. Students are encouraged to spend the rest of each day over the 6-day workshop, which starts on a Sunday afternoon and finishes at early evening the following Friday, exploring and photographing life in the streets of New York City. There are daily edit sessions of students’ work. The workshop ends with a final show with each student producing a 15-photograph picture story/essay that will be edited by Peter Turnley on the final day of the workshop. This workshop focuses on helping students overcome any anxiety or timidity in photographing people. Peter Turnley introduces a camera technique that is a time tested, proven approach for making spontaneous and authentic photographs in the Cartier-Bresson spirit of capturing the “decisive moments” in daily life. Turnley helps students find a sense of purpose in their photography-and pushes students to plug into their personal interests and passions to help them better share a visual response to their feelings and perceptions of the world around them. The workshop also pushes students to think in terms of creating a narrative with a set of photographs, and helps students find their own personal vision and photographic language.

Students will be pushed to spend one half of each day photographing the life of one of the world's most exciting cities.  Peter will provide a wide list of photographic themes and an extensive list of destinations to photograph. 

Students are guests for a group dinner on Monday night.

Lodging

Students find their own lodging during the week, but the possibilities are plentiful - including a special room rate offered to Peter's workshop participants, in The Iroquois New York Hotel, where classes are held. If participants are interested in staying at the charming Iroquois New York Hotel, contact the sales department indicating the dates of their desired stay and make sure to mention they are participants in the Peter Turnley New York photography workshop, June 15 - 20, 2025
Please contact The Iroquois New York Hotel sales department: Manya duHoffmann.

The Iroquois New York Hotel is located in a  very convenient, exciting, and safe location in New York's Midtown, two blocks from the #1 and a short walk from a lot of main subway lines. The Iroquois New York Hotel is located at 49 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036.  From the Hotel, students will be at walking distance from Theater District, Times Square, the Mid-manhattan Library, Grand Central Station, and Bryant Park.

Participants are welcome to stay any where of their choice.

Location

Daily class sessions are held in The Iroquois New York Hotel in New York's Midtown. Getting to class and then exploring the city is easy since it is conveniently located close to a lot of main subway lines, within easy commuting distance from all parts of Manhattan.  

Arrival

Try to arrive on Saturday. The first workshop session will begin at 2pm on Sunday, but arriving Saturday morning will give you an evening to get acclimated before the workshop begins on Sunday.

Departures

The workshop ends at early evening, Friday with a show of the students’ final 15-image photo stories made during the week. Students are free to leave on Friday evening.

Meals

One group dinner on Monday evening is included in the cost of the workshop. Aside from the group dinner, breakfasts, lunches and dinners are independent although students are encouraged to join each other in local restaurants and cafes.

Camera Gear and Technology

Participants will need to bring a digital SLR or rangefinder camera, a laptop computer, and a thumb drive. Two camera bodies are recommended, with a minimum of at least one wide-angle lens such as a 17-35mm zoom, 24mm, 28mm, or 35mm, Peter’s preferred lens. Students may bring longer lenses as well, but Peter will strongly encourage participants to use a wide angle lens in order to get close to the subject, which allows a sense of context, environment, and intimacy. A wide-angle lens that is relatively fast and has a wide aperture (1.4, 1.8, 2, or 2.8) is encouraged in order to photograph in low light situations. It is recommended that participants bring extra memory cards, extra camera batteries, and all necessary battery chargers for their equipment.

Students will need to know how to transfer the photographs they make each day onto their laptop computer. Each day, participants will bring a selection of their favorite photographs, or those they’d like to discuss, in a folder on a thumb drive, to the daily photo review and critique sessions. Students are encouraged to use image management software for this selection process. Peter recommends PhotoMechanic, however other programs such as Lightroom may be used. PhotoMechanic can be downloaded for a free trial basis from camerabits.com.

Students will be encouraged to choose from the outset if they want to show their work in color or in black and white, and they will be encouraged to stick to their choice of one of the other throughout the workshop.

Final Group Show and Portfolios of Past Work

At each photo critique and review session, Peter will work with each photographer to make a “selects” folder of their most successful images. At the end of the week, Peter will select with each photographer from this overall “selects” folder, a final individual photo story of 15 images, which will be seen as part of a group final show during the last workshop session. 

Each participant should also bring a portfolio of a selection of their past work. Approximately 30 photographs are recommended, and they may be brought in a folder on a thumb drive, or as a selection of prints. Students’ portfolios of past work will also be shared during the final session of the workshop.

Companions

This is an ideal workshop to bring along a spouse, son, daughter, or partner. Non-photographic companions may join group meals and are welcome to attend our final show.  They may of course accompany their *photographer* partner during their individual / non-group photographic time. They will not be able to attend daily class sessions.

Registration

The tuition for this workshop is $2,000. If you would like to register and hold a spot in this workshop, please make a $400 deposit by clicking on the registration button below. You will be taken to a page where you can pay by the deposit by paypal or credit card. The balance of the tuition, or $1,600, will be due within three months of the workshop. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Peter Turnley.

FULL WITH A WAITING LIST.

If you’d like to have your name put on a waiting list in case of any cancelations, please email Peter Turnley.

See Student Galleries from past workshops.

See Testimonials from past workshop.

Peter Turnley is an internationally renowned photographer. His photographs have been on the cover of Newsweek Magazine 43 times, and are published in most of the world’s most prestigious newspapers and magazines.