A Photography Workshop with Jem Southam

Following on from the hugely successful Following the Red River workshop, Jem Southam returns to TONER for a new 3 day workshop in March 2027. 

Landscape Stories opens up the relationship between photography, place and the stories that emerge when we spend time looking closely.

Led by renowned British photographer Jem Southam, this three-day workshop will look to guide you into a reactive and poetic form of landscape photography. Southam is known for his long form photographic projects, made over a number of years, with his focus returning to the same place or subject. We take a different turn with Jem to look into the ideas of reactive and a faster paced style of image making. A project such as Starlings, released by Southam’s new publishing company Raft, was a photographic book, where the photographs were made in around 45 mins. This concept of creating a body of work in a short space of time is something that both Jem and Matt Martin of Toner feel is just as important as projects made over months or years. 

The workshop will begin on the evening of Thursday 4 March with a talk by Jem Southam, introducing ideas and approaches that will inform the days ahead. This will be an opportunity to reflect on photography’s ability to describe, question and imagine the landscape, and to begin a shared conversation around the places we will encounter.

On Friday 5 March, participants will take part in a photowalk to locations around West Penwith. Moving through the landscape together, we will explore reactive practice. You will be given a series of prompts to support this, and discussions with Jem on how to develop this as we move through the landscape. Participants will be encouraged on how to develop their own photographic responses and stories throughout the day.

The workshop will conclude on Saturday 6 March with the collective installation of an exhibition at Toner. Bringing together work made during the workshop, this final stage will consider editing, sequencing and the ways in which individual photographs can form relationships with one another. The installation will become a shared expression of the workshop: a temporary collection of landscape stories made in response to the wider landscape of West Penwith.

Landscape Stories is an invitation to spend time with a place, to follow its paths and currents, and to consider what photography can reveal when we return, look again and allow stories to unfold.

The workshop is £350 per person

BOOK YOUR PLACE

This does not include travel or accommodation - 

You will need a digital camera and laptop

Weather appropriate clothing (For all types of weather)

All materials for printing provided by TONER

Lunch on Saturday is provided within your ticket price.