AT HOME
with DAVID ALAN HARVEY
Questions? Contact michelle@burnmagazine.org
Subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates.
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PAST WORKSHOPS
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Announcing
The Last New York Loft Workshops
OCTOBER 2017
Two weeks to choose from:
October 15 – 21, 2017
October 22 – 28, 2017
Where: David’s loft….Brooklyn, New York
Join me for one last historic photo workshop blast in my New York loft. Yup, the Kibbutz loft is over. Home of many artists including at one time or another 8 different Magnum photographers. This building has the vibes. Yet goodbye it is.
So if you have ever thought about taking one of my NYC classes, now is the time. The only time.
For almost all of my workshops in the last couple of years, I am working and teaching and teaching and working. To the advantage of my students.When I am in the middle of a project, it is just a really good time for emerging photographers to learn first hand. I am shooting the Kibbutz for a potential book project. So some of my work will go up on the wall, and your best of the week will as well. Day by day.
And well, it’s October. It’s New York. The pictures here all from the loft and the rooftop.
Yet forget a nice view and the hospitality of my team. That is incidental.
My workshops are all about your personal growth. I “squeeze the lemon.” I get out of you your very best work. This is my commitment always. I get to know you and your work and make you more “you” than what maybe you imagined.
Daily critique on an essay of your choosing and close mentoring is my mantra. Anyone who takes my workshop is essentially a student for life. I stick with those who want to move ahead with their work for book publishing, for gallery shows, for assignment work, grants, etc. If you do the work, I will be there to help you push it forward.
My classes begin in the morning (yes, coffee!) and include a group critique of whatever you shot the day before, along with visits from New York picture editors and curators, demo jam sessions with iconic photographers, and mentoring late into the evening (cold beer in the box).
It’s all a whirlwind of discovery and adventure.
My team produces a slideshow at the end and this is shown to the photo community of New York on the Friday evening of class. Fiesta follows of course.
We do require a portfolio review and a Facetime/Skype chat with finalists. There is a 12 student limit. Should we get enough interest we may add a second week.
Join us for autumn in New York. Yes, it is magic for sure.
Questions? Contact michelle@burnmagazine.org
____________________
A few comments from last year’s NYC workshop:
David’s workshops aren’t for the faint of heart or those who do not want to push through personal boundaries. He is part supporter, part instigator and all professional, delivering each comment at the precise moment and knowing confidently what he can get out of each student. I’ll never look through the viewfinder again without hearing his voice questioning why I’ve raised the camera at that moment and how I plan to tell the story. – Christopher Edwards
A truly inspirational process from start to finish! – Kevin J Mellis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
David is one of the most insightful & inspiring teachers I have ever had. He is demanding but cares immensely about the work of his pupils. Throughout the workshop he encouraged us to push ourselves. I achieved some of my best work in his class. – Sandra Cattaneo Adorno
David’s 2016 NYC workshop was the most incredible week for me. Not only did his guidance and opinions give my own judgement and understanding of what makes a great picture a well needed boost, we were privileged to meet some of his inspiring collaborators. I pushed my own work into new and exciting areas and upon my return to the UK, I purged my portfolio of many images I now deemed under par, surely the most telling evidence of the workshop’s effect on me. – Neil Buchan-Grant
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About David:
David Alan Harvey, Magnum Photographer and founder of Burn Magazine is a highly sought after mentor and teacher. His workshops are philosophical explorations into the heart of your work and motivation. They are about your own personal growth. A champion of authorship and voice he seeks out your personal obstacles and gives you a good shove to move yourself beyond them, then greets you with a high five and a beer on the other side. As anyone who has taken one of David’s workshops will tell you, once you take a workshop with him, you are essentially his student for life. He sticks with those who want to move ahead with their work for book publishing, gallery shows, etc. If you do the work, he will be there to help you push it forward.
In his weeklong workshops you will be asked to shoot an essay of your own choosing. Each day you shoot, each morning there is a group review and critique session. At the end of the week his team produces a slideshow of the work created. So, in this short week you get the experience of being a working photographer, shooting, working with an editor and experiencing the the pressure of a real deadline. Each workshop is different, but depending on the timing and location you may also enjoy guest teachers that include picture editors and curators, jam sessions with other iconic photographers and the occasional field trip to shoot alongside David.
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Finding Your Photographic Voice
When: October 15 – 21, 2017
Where: David’s loft….Brooklyn, New York
Student limit: 12
Tuition: $ 3400
( Personal travel expenses not included.)
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Past Workshops
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Puerto Rico Shooting Workshop
with David Alan Harvey
Developing Your Personal Vision in a Photo Essay
March 12-18, 2017
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
The photographs you see here from Puerto Rico were shot on a ten day shoot last year. I was continuing with work for my BeachGames book which I started in Rio, but then realized to break away from the same backdrop as my (based on a true story) book set in Rio, that I needed to expand a bit. Not the basic theme, but the location. Still Puerto Rico has been a subject of mine for more than 20 years. Many pictures from my book Divided Soul are from Puerto Rico.
What does this have to do with you?
Well I have found that if I am seriously working on a book and invite students to that location and vibe and they are shooting simultaneous on their own essays, that it just creates the most amazing teaching environment one could ask for. In Puerto Rico we will put daily pictures up on the wall shot the day before. Yours and mine. It creates an amazing buzz to work like this. Forces all of us to just kill it!!
Yes the focus is on YOUR WORK. My daily morning critiques will only be about what you are shooting. My classes are never described as “easy”. I will push you to your limits…and hopefully beyond. While I am a dreamer and live in sort of a fantasy world (by all accounts), I am also very fortunately blessed with being a results oriented person as well. The two do not often go hand in hand. So the end result of your week of intense shooting – thinking – working – fretting – playing will be an essay. Perhaps not 100% complete, but certainly the base of a pyramid from which you can grow.
I view my personal workshops as an investment for you, not an expense. I only do these when I am in the right mood and ready to put everything I have into it. I do not teach by rote. If I am myself not producing I cannot mentor others to do so. I work just as hard to make a workshop its own art object at the end as I do for anything else I take on.
We will have 8 full on students. Plus, I will also offer one full tuition scholarship to a worthy young Puerto Rican photographer.
You must please submit a portfolio of your work. Don’t try to show me everything you have done. 15 photographs that best describe who you are is what I want to see. I do not care about “professionalism”. I care about heart and intent and of course visual acuity.
This workshop is not for everyone. It is only for those who want to find a voice and become photographic authors. My goal would be to inspire you to publish a book, have exhibits, and perhaps commissions as well.
My former students have done all that and more. Yet only you can make that happen. I just try to get you on the right lifetime road. The sweet beauty of adventure.
For sure I can smell that this Puerto Rico workshop will be one of those to remember.
-david alan harvey-
When: March 12-18, 2017
Where: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Participants: 8 + 1 Scholarship for a Puerto Rican photographer
Tuition: $ 3300
( Includes workshop and daily continental breakfast. Your personal travel expenses, lodging and other meals are not included.)
Questions? Contact michelle@burnmagazine.org
Subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates.

USA. Brooklyn, NY. 2015. Dasha Gavrylenko goes up on the roof of the ‘kibbutz’ appartment building to watch hurricane Joaquin. © David Alan Harvey
David Alan Harvey, Magnum Photographer and founder of Burn Magazine is a highly sought after mentor and teacher. His workshops are philosophical explorations into the heart of your work and motivation. They are about your own personal growth. A champion of authorship and voice he seeks out your personal obstacles and gives you a good shove to move yourself beyond them, then greets you with a high five and a beer on the other side. As anyone who has taken one of David’s workshops will tell you, once you take a workshop with him, you are essentially his student for life. He sticks with those who want to move ahead with their work for book publishing, gallery shows, etc. If you do the work, he will be there to help you push it forward.
In his weeklong workshops you will be asked to shoot an essay of your own choosing. Each day you shoot, each morning there is a group review and critique session. At the end of the week his team produces a slideshow of the work created. So, in this short week you get the experience of being a working photographer, shooting, working with an editor and experiencing the the pressure of a real deadline. Each workshop is different, but depending on the timing and location you may also enjoy guest teachers that include picture editors and curators, jam sessions with other iconic photographers and the occasional field trip to shoot alongside David.
2017 Workshop Schedule Coming Soon!
Questions? Contact michelle@burnmagazine.org
Subscribe to our BURN email list for announcements and updates.

© Michael Loyd Young

© David Alan Harvey
THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT – BUT WE HAVE A SHORT WAITING LIST STARTED
New York Workshop
…at home with David Alan Harvey
Finding Your Photographic Voice
When: September 25 – October 1, 2016
Where: David’s loft….Brooklyn, New York
This is my most primo workshop. It’s New York. It’s September. It’s New York. The workshop is in the now infamous loft in Brooklyn. The pictures here all from the rooftop.
Yet forget a nice view and the hospitality of my team. That is incidental.
My workshops are all about your personal growth. I “squeeze the lemon.” I get out of you your very best work. This is my commitment always. I get to know you and your work and make you more “you” than what maybe you imagined.
Daily critique on an essay of your choosing and close mentoring is my mantra. Anyone who takes my workshop is essentially a student for life. I stick with those who want to move ahead with their work for book publishing, for gallery shows, for assignment work, grants, etc. If you do the work, I will be there to help you push it forward.
My classes begin early morning (yes, coffee and breakfast) and include a group critique of whatever you shot the day before, along with visits from New York picture editors and curators, demo jam sessions with iconic photographers, and mentoring late into the evening (cold beer in the box).
It’s all a whirlwind of discovery and adventure.
My team produces a slideshow at the end and this is shown to the photo community of New York on the Friday evening of class. Fiesta follows of course.
We do require a portfolio review and a Facetime/Skype chat with finalists. There is a 15 student limit.
Join us for springtime in New York. Yes, it is magic for sure.
____________________
A few comments from our most recent NYC workshop:
David’s workshops aren’t for the faint of heart or those who do not want to push through personal boundaries. He is part supporter, part instigator and all professional, delivering each comment at the precise moment and knowing confidently what he can get out of each student. I’ll never look through the viewfinder again without hearing his voice questioning why I’ve raised the camera at that moment and how I plan to tell the story. – Christopher Edwards
A truly inspirational process from start to finish! – Kevin J Mellis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
David is one of the most insightful & inspiring teachers I have ever had. He is demanding but cares immensely about the work of his pupils. Throughout the workshop he encouraged us to push ourselves. I achieved some of my best work in his class. – Sandra Cattaneo Adorno
David’s 2016 NYC workshop was the most incredible week for me. Not only did his guidance and opinions give my own judgement and understanding of what makes a great picture a well needed boost, we were privileged to meet some of his inspiring collaborators. I pushed my own work into new and exciting areas and upon my return to the UK, I purged my portfolio of many images I now deemed under par, surely the most telling evidence of the workshop’s effect on me. – Neil Buchan-Grant
____________________
When: September 25 – October 1, 2016
Where: Brooklyn, New York
Student limit: 15
Tuition: $ 3200
( Includes workshop and daily continental breakfast – personal travel expenses and other meals are not included.)
THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT – BUT WE HAVE A SHORT WAITING LIST STARTED
We all know these days that almost everyone is a photographer. A minus? No, a plus. It means mankind has adopted the still image as a language. Seems to be primal. We are on our phones looking at pictures all day long. Voracious. Does this mean the fine art, the sophisticated image, the incisive documentary that is often photography is gone? Is the world so diluted with images that there is no way to separate? Not at all. It has just intensified. You cannot just “get the shot”. No different than with words which can be meaningless, or poems. It all depends on the author. My approach to mentoring is to find out what makes each student tick, and dig out the author in them. I critique the pictures, sure. I do that everyday in a workshop. Yet I critique from the point of view of building a style , a look, a feeling, or an editorial approach. I do not try to create professional photographers. I simply try to help make each student be the best they can be. For those who are inclined to be pros, I can help. For those who simply want to be a better artist or storyteller, I can help. If you interview my past students they will tell you my classes are tough. I will not bullshit you about your pictures because for me that would be a disservice. I cannot help without being honest with each student. I do look for those with lofty goals. Dreamers. Can-do types. People who believe they can make it happen. Without this energy, I cannot be of great service. A life in photography can mean many things. Or all things. Personally I love book making and exhibiting prints and creating essays for magazines. Within those venues anything is possible. I love the excellence of all styles and all genres if they are on the highest level. I am not trying to make those I mentor a clone of myself , but to have their own voice. You will shoot everyday. You will be critiqued every day. You will sleep little. You will have a result at the end. Your work will be shown in a grand AV presentation with a sophisticated audience to view. This workshop is not easy, yet will be the most fun you will have in your life. Work fun. The best kind. I’ve lived a life in photography. It works for me. Perhaps I can help to make it work for you. I will try to make it so.
David Alan Harvey
When: November 29th – December 5th, 2015
Where: Miami Street Photography Festival
Partecipants: 15
Tuition: $2,000 ( Includes workshop and daily breakfast. Travel expenses or other meals are not included)
To apply and for more info, please visit: Miami Street Photography Festival
PARTICIPANTS: 15
TUITION: $2,000
(Includes workshop and daily breakfast. Travel expenses or other meals are not included)
Subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates.
Photo © David Alan Harvey for upcoming book, “BeachGames”.
Publishing Your Book
2 day Loft Workshop with David Alan Harvey
(and special guest Teju Cole)
October 3rd – 4th, 2015
New York
I wanted to make a book. MY BOOK. A unique book that made people think, explore and wonder. I have been pleased to have been published by the best of trade book publishers, including NatGeo, powerHouse, and Phaidon, and for sure that is one way to go. However, getting complete control over your book is the ideal, so…I made my own book!
By the time this workshop starts my Burn team and I will have published three books of my own this year as well as new BurnBooks for two other photographers. Those whom I have mentored. Being prolific is not a goal of mine, yet a convergence of forces enveloped me and three books needed to be born. So I know what’s up out there in the land of book publishing. I seem to have a pretty good instinct for what sells, what is less likely to sell, yet popularity is not something I strive for…Quality and depth is what I am about. If popularity comes as a by product of authorship, that’s cool. Yet popularity is a bad first goal. Try to be popular and you won’t be.
This two-day workshop is all about bookmaking and the new frontier of publishing, breaking loose from the status-quo. I can show you how to present your work to the traditional publishers OR how to make your own distribution if you are so inclined.
The workshop will help you through the entire process, from fundraising for shooting your project, to editing and sequencing pictures, to choosing a title, to creating a dummy. You will learn about layout and design, about paper, binding and packaging, and how to approach a printer. How to market, distribute and sell your book. Production process from A to Z.
Some of the BurnBooks team will be present, along with guest appearances from the New York publishing world.
I teach a wide variety of classes including shooting essays and lighting. So elements of both will come into play here as well. I will try to help you blend technique, with narrative, with production. All of it. It all flows.
For more information, please contact kaya@burnmagazine.org
Subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates
Photo © Michael Loyd Young, Workshop students meet on David’s loft rooftop.
Rio de Janeiro
“The Photographic Essay” with David Alan Harvey
Master Class
February 1st-7th, 2015
SOLD OUT
Rio de Janeiro. Just the name alone conjures up imagery. Spectacular location geographically and the place of beauty and passion and well yes, a physical and psychological Shakespearian stage of life. For me to do a workshop in Rio, following the publication of my award winning (based on a true story) and an essay in NatGeo, and smack in the middle of my shooting on my Beach Games project , should for anyone I mentor here be the experience of a lifetime if ever there was one.
I have rented an apartment right on the beach in Rio as the location for our classroom. For critiques of daily individual shooting and a hang spot to discuss ideas and directions for my students.Most of the time however, you will be exploring one of the great cities of the world with a history and culture to fall in love with for sure. At least I did. I am quite sure you would as well.
Join me. My work here for NatGeo and for (based on a true story) has me familiar with the streets and the culture . I will have on hand a top local team as well to make sure you get around with grace.
As in all my workshops I pay attention to YOU. To make sure your investment is a lifetime investment, not just a week of “class”. Besides in February it is going to be freezing in most of Europe and most of North America, and a hot summer day in Rio! Think about it.
We will select the most promising students for this class. My workshops are always challenging and are intended for those who really want to make a mark.
Portfolio review and personal Skype or phone call with me prior to acceptance.
10 student limit for this very special class.
dah
February 1st-7th, 2015
Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tuition: $3,200
10 Student Limit
To apply, please submit a portfolio to be reviewed by David (website link best).
Additionally, please include in your submission a brief description of yourself and where you are as a photographer.
Workshop contact: Kaya Lee Berne
For updates subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates
Photo ©Diego Orlando
Venice, Italy with David Alan Harvey
Master Class
September 7th – 13th, 2014
SOLD OUT
Where: Venice, Italy
Tuition: $3,200
PORTFOLIO REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION….12 student limit
To apply, please email kaya@burnmagazine.org
For updates subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates
Dubai
“The Photographic Essay” with David Alan Harvey
Master Class
March 8th-14th, 2014
As a young boy I dreamed of becoming a magazine photographer. The brilliant photo essays of Henri Cartier-Bresson,W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Frank that graced the pages of international picture magazines that came into my home were my first sights and smells of the world “out there”.
Where: Gulf Photo Plus 2014 – Dubai’s Photography Festival
Tuition: $3,000
PORTFOLIO REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION….15 student limit
To apply, please visit the Gulf Photo Plus Site
For updates subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates

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Rio de Janeiro
“The Photographic Essay” with David Alan Harvey
Master Class
January 19th-25th, 2014
Rio de Janeiro. Just the name alone conjures up imagery. Spectacular location geographically and the place of beauty and passion and well yes, a physical and psychological Shakespearian stage of life. For me to do a workshop in Rio, following the publication of my award winning (based on a true story) and an essay in NatGeo, and smack in the middle of my shooting on my Beach Games project , should for anyone I mentor here be the experience of a lifetime if ever there was one.
I have rented an apartment right on the beach in Rio as the location for our classroom. For critiques of daily individual shooting and a hang spot to discuss ideas and directions for my students.Most of the time however, you will be exploring one of the great cities of the world with a history and culture to fall in love with for sure. At least I did. I am quite sure you would as well.
Join me. For my first full on workshop in Rio ever. My work here for NatGeo and for (based on a true story) has me familiar with the streets and the culture . I will have on hand a top local team as well to make sure you get around with grace.
As in all my workshops I pay attention to YOU. To make sure your investment is a lifetime investment, not just a week of “class”. Besides in January it is going to be freezing in most of Europe and most of North America, and a hot summer day in Rio! Think about it.
We will select the most promising students for this class. My workshops are always challenging and are intended for those who really want to make a mark.
Portfolio review and personal Skype or phone call with me prior to acceptance.
12 student limit for this very special class.
dah
January 19th-25th, 2014
Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tuition: $3,200
SOLD OUT
To apply, please submit a portfolio to be reviewed by David (website link best).
Additionally, please include in your submission a brief description of yourself and where you are as a photographer.
Workshop contact: Kaya Lee Berne
For updates subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates
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Day of the Dead
Workshop with David Alan Harvey
Oaxaca, Mexico
October 28 – November 5, 2013
I am often asked by many, who assume that I have been “all over the world”, to please name my favorite “place”. The “where would you go on your vacation?” or “where would you shoot on your own” question… Certainly right up at the top would be my beloved Oaxaca, Mexico. I shot there for many months while working on a National Geographic story “Song of Oaxaca”. Much of the work from this story was part of the portfolio that allowed me to become a Magnum nominee in 1993. Oaxaca has a special place in my heart. Mexico in general, but Oaxaca in particular.
This is the 4th year of the Day of the Dead workshop. This eight-day workshop is longer than most that I teach. It was designed this way so that participants will have a chance to photograph the preparations, traditions and processions surrounding the Day of the Dead tradition and also have time to document the everyday life of the streets in Oaxaca and the surrounding valleys.
You will be pushed to your limits if you join me. There are always days of frustration in my classes… not every day is a happy day. You should know going in that my intent is to take you from where you are as a photographer to your logical or aesthetic “next step” with the emphasis on becoming an essayist and communicating with true “visual literacy”. I will do this with group critique and “one on one” discussions… our collaborative “final product” is an audio/music track slide show with each of you up on the screen as authors… your name, your title, and in front of an assembled audience from the local art community and special guests… at that moment, that very moment, you will forget the blood and the sweat from the days before.
Join us for a creative exercise and psychologically uplifting way of looking at your work. I welcome all styles of photographers from the journalistic to the conceptual.
Abrazos,
David
October 28 – November 5, 2013
Where: Oaxaca, Mexico
Tuition: $3,000
SOLD OUT
**This workshop is designed for all levels of photography and is the only week-longworkshop offered where David shoots alongside students in the field.
To apply, please submit a portfolio (a link to your website is preferred) as well as a brief description of yourself and where you are as a photographer.
Workshop contact: Candy Pilar Godoy
For updates subscribe to our BURN email list for news and updates

David speaks with James Nachtwey, Diego Orlando, and Michael Christopher Brown – all guests at the February 2013 Book Publishing Workshop (along with Bruce Gilden) © Eva-Maria Kunz
2 day Loft Workshop with David Alan Harvey:
How To Publish Your Book
September 21-22, 2013
New York
I wanted to make a book. MY BOOK. A unique book that made people think, explore and wonder. I have been pleased to have been published by the best of trade book publishers, and for sure that is one way to go. However, getting complete control over your book is the ideal, so…I made my own book!
This two-day workshop is all about bookmaking and the new frontier of publishing, breaking loose from the status-quo. I can show you how to present your work to the traditional publishers OR how to make your own distribution if you are so inclined.
The workshop will help you through the entire process, from fundraising for shooting your project, to editing and sequencing pictures, to choosing a title, to creating a dummy. You will learn about layout and design, about paper, binding and packaging, and how to approach a printer. How to market, distribute and sell your book. Production process from A to Z.
Some of the BurnBooks team will be present, along with guest appearances from the New York publishing world.
I teach a wide variety of classes including shooting essays and lighting. So elements of both will come into play here as well. I will try to help you blend technique, with narrative, with production. All of it. It all flows.
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