Do you know where you're going next with your photography –– or where it’s taking you? This intensive weekend workshop will help photographers begin to understand their own distinct way of seeing the world. It will also help photographers figure out their next step photographically — from deepening their own unique vision to the process of discovering and making a long-term project that they’re passionate about. This workshop is for passionate amateurs and professionals, for documentary photographers and fine art photographers, for photography students and seasoned photographers. It will be taught by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, a creative team who often edit projects and books together — including their book and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, exhibition, Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba, and their recent books, Brooklyn: The City Within, and Waves.

Included in the workshop will be an editing exercise, either a photographing or editing assignment, as well as an optional pre-workshop assignment.

NOTE: This is a workshop for photographers who collaborate with the world, not for those who dramatically alter their photographs digitally.
NOTE: All participants and instructors will respect the current COVID protocols.

Workshop Schedule

You will receive a more detailed schedule after registering. This workshop schedule is subject to change at any time.

Thursday, October 3, 11pm
Optional Pre-Workshop Assignment Due

Get warmed up for the weekend workshop with an optional assignment, “The Light of Indianapolis,” in which you photograph around town, taking care to think about the quality of light as you make images. After you register, you will receive details for the assignment as well as instructions on how to submit your images for feedback during the workshop.

Friday, October 4, 6-7:30pm
Location: University of Indianapolis, UIndy Halls, Schwitzer Student Center

Two Looks: The Photographs of Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, a public slide talk with the Webbs, followed by a Q&A with Alex and Rebecca. The creative couple, who’ve published more than 20 books between them, will show a selection of work from both their individual and collaborative projects. Alex will present work from La Calle, a book of 30 years of his photographs from Mexico, and Rebecca will show work from her third book, My Dakota, and her new hybrid poetry book, A Difficulty Is a Light, punctuated by 15 of her photographs (Chose Commune, Fall 2024). Alex and Rebecca will also present selections from their joint book on Cuba, Violet Isle, as well as their most recent collaborative book, Waves.

This slide talk is required of all of the workshop students, since Alex and Rebecca will cover material they won’t cover in the classroom, but it’s open to the public, so please invite family and friends. It will be followed by a Q&A (so please bring your questions), and a book signing.

Saturday, October 5, 9:30am-6pm
Location: Aurora PhotoCenter, 1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis

9:30am-12:30pm: Workshop welcome, group portfolio review (classroom)
12:30-1:30pm: Lunch
1:30-3:00pm: Book presentation and group editing exercise (classroom)
3:00-3:30pm: “Light of Indianapolis” assignment review, Q&A (classroom)
3:30-5:30pm: For those who choose the Art of Editing option, you will stay in the classroom, and Alex and Rebecca will create an assignment tailored to your project.
3:30pm and beyond: For participants choosing the photographing option, they will photograph an assignment that they will choose themselves (outside classroom)

Sunday, October 6, 9:30am-6pm
Location: Day starts at Aurora PhotoCenter, 1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis

9:30am-12:30pm: Review of assignments
12:30-1:30pm: Lunch
1:30-4pm: Presentations by Alex and Rebecca; Q&A
4pm: Participants drive to University of Indianapolis, Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center Gallery, 1230 Greyhound Lane, Indianapolis
4:30-6pm: Night Calls exhibition talk/walk through, University of Indianapolis

Alex Webb has published more than 15 photography books, including The Suffering of Light, a survey book of thirty years of his color photographs. He’s exhibited at museums worldwide including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has been a Magnum Photos member since 1979, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, and other publications. He has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007. His other books include La Calle: Photographs from Mexico and the collaborations with Rebecca Norris Webb: Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba, exhibited at the MFA, Boston; Brooklyn: The City Within, shown at the Museum of the City of New York; and most recently, Waves (Radius, 2022), exhibited at the Provincetown Arts Association and Museum (PAAM). His most recent book, Dislocations, was published by Aperture in fall 2023. Webb is currently working on a project on U.S. cities.

Originally a poet, Rebecca Norris Webb often interweaves her text and photographs in her nine books, most notably in her monograph, My Dakota—an elegy for her brother who died unexpectedly—for which a solo exhibition of the work appeared at The Cleveland Museum of Art in summer 2015, among other venues. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic, and is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. A 2019 NEA grant recipient, her 10th book will be released from Chose Commune is fall 2024, called A Difficulty Is a Light, a hybrid poetry book punctuated by fifteen of her photographs, with an accompanying exhibition at the Alessia Paladini Gallery in Milan, Italy. Norris Webb is currently working on an ongoing series of photographs in the Dakotas, called Badlands, as well as her upcoming book, Glimmerings, a selection of some thirty years of her photographs.

Aurora Scholarship 2024

One tuition-free scholarship for a young photographer, 18-32, which will be judged by Alex and Rebecca, Aurora Founding Director Mary Goodwin, and University of Indianapolis Assistant Professor, Sarah Pfohl.

Applications open: Monday, May 20, 2024
Applications close: Friday, September 13
Notification of Acceptance: By Monday, September 23

To apply, please email the following to Alex & Rebecca at webbnorriswebb@gmail.com with this subject line: Aurora Scholarship 2024:

• 10 jpgs (2000 pixels on the longest side; 72 dpi) of work that you’re passionate about
• Short statement about why you’d like to take this workshop (no more than 150 words), including what you see as your next step photographically
• Short bio, including your age, where you’re from, your university (if applicable), and your relationship to photography (no more than 100 words)
• Two references: Names and emails of two people familiar with your photography, including photography educators, newspaper or magazine editors, curators, book publishers, and fellow photographers