Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop

About the Workshop

The 4th Annual Workshop is for Photographers of All Skill Levels

The Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop is a unique partnership between High Sierra Workshops and ISE designed to teach photographers about documentary and street photography, cultural sensitivity, and visual thinking. Join us on our Coastal Cultures of the West voyage as we sail to ports throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Northern Europe–all while traveling aboard the MV Explorer floating campus for 50 days visiting 18 ports of call. Read below to find out more information about the Ultimate Travel Photography workshop, or visit High Sierra Workshops.

Curriculum

  • Days at sea are spent in one of the ship’s classrooms learning about travel photography concepts, approaches and applications through educational lectures, round-table discussions and extensive case studies, all led by two globe-trotting professional travel photographers.
  • In port, workshop participants head out to apply the methods and techniques learned in the classroom through both individual & group photo assignments, along with instructor-led and guided photo walks in specific ports of call. In port assignments can be completed in conjunction with Enrichment Voyages’ Field Program offerings.

Click here for more information about the 4th annual Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop.

Past Workshops

   Left: Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop final show, 2012. Right: Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop final show, 2011.

Expert Teachers

Michael Mariant

Michael “Photo Mike” Mariant is a travel & documentary visual journalist based in California, while his travels have taken him around the world. Following several years as a newspaper photojournalist and desk editor, Michael moved away from local and regional coverage and up to wire service photography.

For over a decade now, Michael has been a contract photojournalist for The Associated Press, responsible for coverage of the Central Coast of California along with sports and entertainment assignments in Los Angeles, notably anchoring the agency’s coverage of the Michael Jackson trial from 2003 to 2005. Coupled with his domestic photojournalism, Michael spends nearly a third of the year abroad shooting travel/documentary stock imagery along with lecturing on the topics of Cultural Sensitivity and Immersion in Travel Photography.

Michael is also the consultant and multimedia coordinator for the Semester at Sea study abroad program, providing lectures and instructions to the college students while shaping the direction of the programs multimedia efforts in video, still photography and podcasts through social media.

While still taking on editorial and Associated Press assignments, Michael has shifted his focus to DSLR cinematography projects, as well as educational travel photography workshops for Nikonians Academy and High Sierra Workshops, as well as university and industry lecture engagements so as to instruct others on the analytical, cultural and visual approaches to travel photography and cinematography.

Spencer Weiner

Spencer Weiner is an award-winning visual journalist based in Santa Barbara, California. His 30-year career has allowed him to witness history and intimate moments in regular people’s lives.

His academic studies include political science and religious studies at Jerusalem Institute, Israel and fine art photography and photojournalism at the University of Florida. Weiner has documented everything from the impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and reconciliation efforts in South Africa to Modern Jazz clubs in Cairo.

Weiner states “There’s no economic or sociopolitical boundary I am not interested in crossing, both as a peaceful witness and as a social advocate.” His images have been featured in magazines and newspapers all over the world: in the New York Times regional newspaper group, in the Associated Press in Florida and Georgia, and in the Los Angeles Times for 18 years. In 2004 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting as a member of the Los Angeles Times staff for reporting on the devastating Southern California wildfires. 

Currently, Spencer is principle of his own Photo Agency, SAW Foto, and a founding partner of JTA News photos, which specializes in Multi-Media Photojournalism. In 2011, he circumnavigated the world as staff photojournalist with Semester at Sea.

Sign up Today!

The Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop is a flat fee of $495 per person in addition to voyage fare. For your convenience, the charge will be added to your shipboard account. Please note, tuition for the workshop cannot be pre-paid. 

To sign up for the Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop

To make a reservation on the Coastal Cultures of the West Enrichment Voyage