Exposure Studio is a brand-new online program that offers Calgary based photographers an opportunity to develop their practice through a series of discussion-based events. Participating local photographic artists will also have the opportunity to become part of an arts collective that Exposure will continue to support.

Exposure Studio will provide opportunities for participants to engage with some of photography’s top professionals from around the world. As a Studio participant you will be able to gain invaluable knowledge and advice, advancing your development in your practice and profession. You will be able to ask Studio speakers for advice regarding your current practice, work in progress and career development. In this salon-style forum we stress interactivity, bringing multiple voices into dialogue, while promoting conversation about contemporary photography and the photographic medium.

Invited Studio speakers will be local, provincial, national and international photography professionals, ranging from photographers to curators, marketers to publishers. Discussion topics might include: how to gain exhibition opportunities, how to edit a portfolio, how to create a website, how to sequence images for publication, how to print your own photo book, how to approach magazine and newspapers for assignment work, or how to use social media to gain a following. Once Studio participants are announced we will also solicit input from you to guide discussions.

 The Exposure Studio program aims to promote social cohesion through art and will encourage community, connection and collaboration during this time of social distancing. Studio alumni will be encouraged to continue the conversation and to support one another on their creative journeys, with support from Exposure, post-pandemic. 

Applicant Eligibility 

Photographers at any stage in their careers may apply to Exposure Studio. Whether you are still studying or have recently graduated, whether you are self-taught, an emerging, or an established photographer and you would like to be a part of the Studio collective, we encourage you to apply.

Applicants to the Exposure Studio program must: 

• Provide a Calgary postcode to prove they are based in the city. 

• Have access to Zoom, which requires an internet connection. 

• Be available for the event sessions listed below.  

How to Apply  

Thank you for your interest in this new initiative.
Applications for  Exposure Studio 2020 are now closed.
Successful applicants will be notified by July 1. 

Session 1: Thursday July 9, 6pm

This session will be led by Exposure Coordinator, Beth Kane, and will allow everyone to e-meet. Beth will introduce you to the program and discuss topics that may be explored in Exposure Studio sessions. Advice will be given to participants on how to prepare for each session in order to get the most benefit from the Exposure Studio program. This session will also give us the opportunity to troubleshoot any technical issues participants may have.

Session 2: Monday 13th July, 6pm
Rania Matar (Boston, MA, USA)

Rania Matar was born and raised in Lebanon and moved to the U.S. in 1984. As a Lebanese-born American woman and mother, her cross-cultural experience and personal narrative inform her photography. She has dedicated her work to exploring issues of personal and collective identity through photographs of female adolescence and womanhood – both in the United States where she lives and the Middle East where she is from – in an effort to focus on notions of identity and individuality, within the context of the underlying universality of these experiences.

Rania’s work has been widely published and exhibited in museums worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Carnegie Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and more. She has received several grants and awards including a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2017 Mellon Foundation artist-in-residency grant at the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, 2011 Legacy Award at the Griffin Museum of Photography, 2011 and 2007 Massachusetts Cultural Council artist fellowships. Her work is in the permanent collections of several museums, institutions and private collections worldwide. She has published three books: L'Enfant-Femme, 2016, A Girl and Her Room, 2012, and Ordinary Lives, 2009.

During this session Rania will talk about her practice as a portrait photographer: how she conceptualizes projects, how she finds subjects, builds rapport, and navigates relationships with the people she photographs. Rania will also provide advice on preparing a body of work for exhibition and guidance on sequencing and editing for publication.

Session 3: Sunday 19th July, 11am 
Mark Sealy (London, UK)

Mark Sealy is interested in the relationship between photography and social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He has been director of the London-based photographic arts charity, Autograph ABP, since 1991 and has produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide, including the critically acclaimed 2013 Human Rights Human Wrongs exhibition curated for Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto and The Photographers’ Gallery, London, in 2015. Mark is currently serving as Principal Fellow Decolonising Photography at University of Arts London

 Mark has written for international photography publications, including Foam Magazine, Aperture, Creative Camera and Next Level, and written numerous essays for publications and artist monographs. Mark’s recently published book, Decolonizing the Camera: Photography in Racial Time (Lawrence & Wishart, 2019), considers whether photographic practice and photographic history has been utilized as a liberating device, or as an oppressive weapon in colonized communities of color. He proposes a reading of photographic media through the lenses of Blackness and Otherness, reorienting the colonial gaze, and empowering the subjects in front of, and behind the camera. 

 During this session Mark will talk about his curatorial practice, his latest publication Decolonizing the Camera: Photography in Racial Time and the importance of Autograph ABP and its mission.

Session 4: Thursday 23rd July, 6pm
Andrew Jackson (Montreal, QC, CA / Birmingham, UK)

Andrew Jackson is a British photographer who lives and works between the UK and Canada. His work negotiates explorations of selfhood, representation and narration within intimate and personal interventions, which focus on transnational migration, belonging, displacement and collective memory. 

Many of Andrew’s works are held in international collections of photography including the UK Government Art Collection. Andrew’s assignment clients have included Buzzfeed News, FT Mag, Stern Magazine and UK based newspapers; The Guardian Weekender, The Independent on Sunday New Review Magazine and The Independent on Saturday. He is an alumnus of the Autograph / Light Work international Photography residency in Syracuse, New York. 

During this session, Andrew will also share his experiences working on projects and assignments. He will also offer advice on how to approach projects with an understanding of and respect for ethical issues.

Session 5: Friday 24th July, 6:30pm 
Louie Palu (Toronto, ON, CA)

Louie Palu is an award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work has appeared in publications and exhibitions internationally. He is a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and Harry Ransom Center Research Fellow at the University of Texas in Austin. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Grant and a Milton Rogovin Fellowship at the Center Creative Photography.

He is well known for work which examines social political issues such as human rights, conflict and poverty. His work is in numerous collections including the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), National Gallery of Canada, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Museum of Fine Arts Boston. His work has been featured on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Der Spiegel, NPR, El Pais, The New York Times and La Republica. His photographs and films have been exhibited in numerous museums and festivals such as the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art and Munich Documentary Film Festival.

During this session Louie will talk about his experiences practicing as a documentary photographer and publishing and exhibiting his work internationally. Louie will offer guidance on how to work on long term projects and publish books.

Session 6: Thursday 6th August, 6pm
Vincent Cianni (Newburgh, NY, USA) 

Vincent Cianni is a documentary photographer and educator whose work focuses on social justice issues. His most celebrated works Gays in the Military and We Skate Hardcore explore community and memory, the human condition, and the use of image and text. 

Vincent’s work has been exhibited internationally and his photographs are represented in numerous public and private collections. The Archive for Documentary Arts at Duke University established a study collection of his documentary projects in 2007. We Skate Hardcore was voted Best Book Design by the American Association of University Presses.  His work has also been reproduced in photo journals and anthologies such as The New York Times, Huffington Post, Double Take, Photograph, Creative Camera, The Sun, and The New Yorker.

During this session Vincent will share his experiences with and advice on community-engaged projects rooted in social activism: the logistics, challenges, rewards, insights and ethical issues that result from socially engaged work. He will also address approaches to sequencing and editing work for publication.

Session 7: Sunday 9th August, 11am
MaryAnn Camilleri (Toronto, ON, CA)

MaryAnn Camilleri is the Founder of The Magenta Foundation, Canada’s pioneering non-profit, charitable arts publishing house. Magenta was created to organize promotional opportunities for artists, in an international context, through circulated exhibitions and publications. Maryann is known and respected for her commitment to providing a platform for emerging talent and increasing the profile of under- documented established artists. 

During this session MaryAnn will offer advice on gaining exhibition and publication opportunities, how to put together a well edited portfolio, and guidance on organising pop-up exhibitions. 

Session 8: Sunday 16th August, 11am
Natasha Caruana (London, UK)

Natasha Caruana is an internationally exhibited artist working across photography, moving image and installation. Her work begins autobiographically, exploring narratives of love, betrayal and fantasy, underpinned by a performative and playful approach, created by drawing from archives, the Internet and personal accounts. 

In 2018 Natasha set up Work-Show-Grow which hosts supportive and collaborative workshops with the belief that progressing a creative work doesn’t need to be lonely and competitive, it can be fun and supportive. Natasha also runs the NC scheme, an annual mentorship aimed at women under-represented within the arts to support their creative development and confidence. 

During this session Natasha will talk about her practice and her creative research process underpinning her work. Natasha will offer advice on how to gain exhibition opportunities, how to edit a portfolio, how to use social media to gain a following, and the importance of being part of a community.  

Session 9: Thursday 20th August, 5pm  
Alec Soth (Minneapolis, MN, USA)

Alec Soth is a photographer born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published over twenty-five books including Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), NIAGARA (2006), Broken Manual (2010), Songbook (2015) and I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating (2019). Soth has had over fifty solo exhibitions including survey shows, and has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). In 2008 Soth created Little Brown Mushroom, a multi-media enterprise focused on visual storytelling. 

During this conversation with Alec and Exposure, Alec will talk about his practice as a photographer and publisher, discussing the processes behind creating a body of work: where to start, how to research, and the stages of making a photobook; sequencing, editing, and creating a narrative.