
from the Aperture book, The City Within, with Rebecca Norris Webb
FYV: Magnum Foundation, NYC
Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb
This workshop will be about finding your own unique vision of New York City by using the camera to explore the city in a direct, spontaneous way. Open to both serious amateurs and professionals alike, it is a workshop that will emphasize the development of your own personal way of seeing photographically. This workshop will also be about learning how to edit your work intuitively, and also include discussions about how to take your photography to the next level.
NOTE: This is a workshop for photographers who collaborate with the world, not for those who dramatically alter their photographs digitally.
Workshop location: Magnum Foundation, 59 E. 4th St., 7W, NYC
Workshop Limit: 12 photographers
Applications open: Monday, January 12, 2026
Application Deadline: Monday, March 9 , 2026
Acceptance Notification: Wed., March 11, 2026
Workshop fee: US $2000.
Workshop fee for students (full time or part time) and educators: $1800.
Workshop fee must be paid upon workshop acceptance to reserve your spot. You can choose to pay in full in a single payment, or pay in two installments ($1000 upon acceptance; second payment by Friday, March 27, 2026)
NOTE: For the safety of the entire workshop, we highly encourage everyone to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
TO APPLY, PLEASE EMAIL THE FOLLOWING:
1. 10jpgs (72dpi; 2000 pixels longest side) that represent who you are as a photographer. We aren’t interested in photographs done simply to satisfy an editor or art director or client. If you’re working on a project, please include a selection from the project.
2. Short statement about why you’d like to take this workshop (not more than 150 words).
3. Short bio: include where you live, your age, something about your relationship to photography, and what you see as your next step photographically (not more than 100 words)
Please write on the email’s subject line—FYV: NYC 2026—and email your application to: [email protected]
MORE ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
There are two main components of this class: the spontaneous act of photographing and intuitive editing. The workshop will begin with Alex and Rebecca, a creative team who often edit projects together (including their collaborative Aperture book Brooklyn: The City Within), who will critique each participant’s past work as a starting off point for a larger discussion about various photographic issues. By that first afternoon, participants will be working on their first assignment, which they will choose themselves. It may be a specific street, neighborhood, subculture, ethnic group, profession, family or individual; it may be photographing various events or festivals around the city; it may be photographing on the city’s ferries, buses, or other modes of transportation; it may be continuing work on an ongoing project in New York City; but it must be something that you’re passionate enough to return to every day to photograph.
For the rest of the workshop, we will meet in the mornings and critique as a group each student’s ongoing work. Throughout the workshop, we will try to build a coherent set of images for each photographer that will begin to represent his or her photographic stance or attitude toward the city of New York. We will view this work as a group at the end of the workshop.
Besides photographing and editing each day, there will also be print and book demonstrations and an editing exercise. We will also touch on a variety of topics, including the process of photographing spontaneously and intuitively; how to photograph in cultures other than one’s own; the relationship between images (such as the sequencing and juxtaposition of photographs); how to edit photographs intuitively; an introduction on being on press with a book; how to work with a designer on a book; the practical realities of the magazine and art worlds; the emotional and psychological implications of working in color vs. black and white; the difference between images in a book and images on the wall; and how long-term projects can evolve into books and exhibitions. There will also be a chance for each participant to have a one-on-one meeting with Alex and Rebecca, including, if you wish, a review of a long-term project or work-in-progress that the participant is passionate about.
CLASSROOM SCHEDULE: In Brief
Thursday: 10pm: Optional Pre-Workshop Assignment—The Light of New York—is due at 10 pm, and emailed to Alex & Rebecca:
Friday: 9:30am-3:00pm
Saturday: 9:30am-1pm (Individual Meetings: 1:30-3pm)
Sunday: 9:30-1pm (Individual Meetings: 1:30-3pm); optional group dinner in Brooklyn, 7:30-9:00pm
Monday: 9:30am-1pm (Individual Meetings: 1:30-3pm)
Tuesday: 9:30am-9:00pm
Schedule is subject to change at any time.
A final workshop schedule will be emailed to everyone about a month before the workshop begins.

from the Aperture book, Brooklyn: The City Within, with Alex Webb











