Act I - New York - Eroticism Revealed

Location: New York City
Dates: December 2-4 & 9-11, 2011
Application Deadline: November 22, 2011

APPLY

 
Come join me on a special visual and psychic journey into the realm of the erotic…

In this special workshop series, award-winning photographer Donna Ferrato with special guest and erotic alchemist, Nicole Daedone, will guide you in seeing, unleashing, revealing and capturing the essence and manifestations of eroticism in its many dimensions.

Ten photographers will be selected to explore both ordinary and extraordinary elements of eroticism that inhabit our everyday lives and hidden fantasies. Through shooting exercises, guided exploits, exploration and free-form experimentation, this workshop will allow you to discover the prominence and subtlety of eroticism everywhere.

The first of these workshops – a trilogy — will take place over two consecutive weekends in New York City. The second and third will take place in the Spring of 2012 in Mallorca, Spain and Palm Beach, Florida, respectively.

This workshop provides an opportunity to shadow the movements, channel the creativity, and receive individualized instruction with photographer, Donna Ferrato. Critiques and consultations with Donna Ferrato, Mark Lipson and Alessandro Russino. Editing and post-production instruction with Alessandro Russino. Access to a wide-range of events and visual, audible and tactile experiences that explore physical and psychological dimensions of eroticism

…and so much more

 

Workshop Faculty

Donna Ferrato

“Donna Ferrato is the Anais Nin of contemporary photojournalism.” She is a gadfly, an activist, a mother, a provocateur, and foremost, an internationally recognized photojournalist who has created images that have documented and changed the world around her. American Photographer described Ferrato as “a photographer who emerged from – and goes beyond – the black and white documentary tradition.”

Ferrato’s attention has been consumed with two major projects, domestic violence and human sexual behavior. One might ask what these two seemingly disparate subjects have in common. For Ferrato, they are individual segments in her perpetual pursuit to visually explore and record the most intimate aspects of human behavior. Her images have challenged ignorant attitudes about love and violence promoted by society and brought attention to injustice, changed laws, and provoked people to ponder on behavior that usually remains behind closed doors.

In 1982, while on assignment about the libidos of a rich suburban couple, something occurred that changed Ferrato’s path as a photographer. She witnessed a husband beat his wife in a drug-induced rage. Her first instinct was to take a picture. Then she stopped him. She caught his rage on film. This event started Ferrato’s mission to stop the cycle of abuse with proof of its terrible toll on society through taking pictures.

In 1991, Aperture published her decade-long investigation of families under siege in the book LIVING WITH THE ENEMY. Ferrato is presently working on a video about the children in the book. She has the world’s most comprehensive domestic abuse website online, www.AbuseAware.com, sponsored by WebMD.

In order to achieve a sense of balance in her life and work, Ferrato searches for love in its many forms. Her two other books, AMORE (Motta Editions, 2002) and LOVE & LUST (Aperture, 2004) reflect her thoughts about love and the importance of being open and non-judgmental about the many ways to love.

Ferrato’s empathetic eye is a natural born tool that helps her look at lovers in a way that is not intrusive. She feels women have been misunderstood as men historically set up women in predictable male masturbation scenarios; Helmut Newton on one end of the stick, and Penthouse’s Bob Guccione at the other. Her photographs reveal the desire to understand where women’s fantasies come from, and how their sexual pleasure may be directly related to fantasy or corporal self-awareness.

Nicole Daedone

Nicole Daedone is a sought-after speaker, teacher, and author who has spent her groundbreaking career redefining orgasm from a woman’s point of view. Starting with her fundamental belief that a woman’s sex is her power, she treats supposedly taboo subjects with unparalleled humor, intelligence, and insight. Nicole is the author of Slow Sex: The Art and Craft of the Female Orgasm (Grand Central/Hachette, May 2011) and is the founder of OneTaste, a company that offers training in sex, desire, orgasm and relationships through online media and in-person coaching and courses. The practice at the heart of her work is called OM or Orgasmic Meditation.

Mark Lipson

Born in Toronto, Mark Lipson bought his first camera at 15. He has pursued making images, both moving and still, ever since. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1978, after NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he began his career in the 1980’s developing screenplays and producing television and film.

Mark Lipson is the producer for the Errol Morris documentaries, THE THIN BLUE LINE, FAST CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL and most recently TABLOID, which premiered at TIFF 2010. Gifted in supporting ground-breaking documentaries, these films won top awards from the International Documentary Association, National Society of Film Critics Awards, National Board of Review, Independent Spirit Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, to name a few.

More recently, he was post-production supervisor for the Errol Morris film STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, for Participant Media COUNTDOWN TO ZERO and STAND UP TO CANCER. Currently he is supervising “This Space Available” for Emotional Branding.

Lipson is equally passionate in his work as a photographer. Recognized for his bold and graphic images, his art photography can be found in such notable publications as “The Art of the SX-70”, Circus Americanus, The Material Man and “True Stories” which was based on the feature film by David Byrne. Lipson’s photography is held in several private collections including the International Polaroid Collection.

His commercial photography includes shooting national campaigns for Apple, Nike, Citibank and eHarmony.

He is based in Los Angeles.

Alessandro Russino

I’ve always photographed fashion, I find it to be a semi-transparent mask that conveys many social symptoms, along with dreams and codes. I like to search what the dress covers and what it leaves discovered, where ends the code and begins the dream. When I arrived in New York for the first time, I spent whole days in downtown Broadway only for watching the world and the freedom of diversity passing me by. I find natural to look details into faces, eyes or body movements to decipher who is in front of me. I like to photograph subtle emotions, small fragments of daily life, preferably in moments of stasis or in the postures, and deliver them as small icons. A photograph has its value also because it’s a moment captured from the real, like a proof of authenticity, even if provoked.
 

Application & Fees

To apply, email a one-page letter explaining the reasons you wish to participate along with a link to a portfolio of 10 images or 20 jpeg files that best represent your previous work and passions. Deadline for applications is November 22, 2011

The workshop fee is $5000 and includes 5 days of instruction/accommodations; opening dinner, entry to outside events and activities.

Travel, meals, and transportation in and around New York City not included.

For more information or to apply
eroticismworkshop@donnaferrato.com