The Palm Springs Photo Festival, located in the exclusive, sun-capital of Southern California, offers the rare chance of meeting one-on-one in an informal, social situation with famous photographers, magazine editors, museum curators, art directors and photography educators. Attendees can sign up for portfolio reviews throughout each day of the 5-day event as well as study with master photographers and attend informative seminars and symposiums with influential industry experts. This festival is intended for professional photographers, passionate amateur photographers, students and emerging photographers. This is your chance to see how it’s done by great practitioners of the medium. Watch them work, show them your photographs for critiques, learn how to be better – think differently about your work, attend events to see career-spanning slide shows of master photographers. Come and feel photography clear to your bones.
Our program is built around the following elements: Workshops, Seminars, Symposiums, Portfolio Reviews, Tech Consultations, Evening Presentations, our Open Portfolio Review, and Networking Parties at the Palm Springs Art Museum. The idea for the festival is to allow attendees to meet and interact with fellow attendees and our invited participants throughout an intensive six day, five night festival.
At first, the depth and options in our program can seem daunting. My personal recommendation is to first look at our celebrated WORKSHOP PROGRAM and determine if you will be enrolling in one. There are four-day and one-day workshops. You can even enroll in a 4-day workshop and a one-day workshop if you choose (The fourth day of four-day workshops end at 11:00 am, and are optional. We’ve scheduled most one-day workshops to fall on the fourth day of the festival to allow you this choice). If you decide to enroll in one of the four-day workshop programs, you’ll have the fourth day as well as the fifth day (Friday) of our program to take Portfolio Reviews, Tech Consultations and Seminars. We’ve deliberately scheduled many of our important Seminars on the fourth day (Thursday) and repeat four from earlier in the week so that our Workshop attendees will be able to attend.
Look over our PORTFOLIO REVIEW Program. These one-on-one consultations, in 20 minute increments, are offered throughout each day by important industry experts. This is where you can show your work to museum curators, collectors, art directors, editors, ad agency creatives, leading photographers, educators, gallery owners, reps and others who can offer you a valuable critique and advise. This is one of our most popular features. Take a look at the list of our Portfolio Review faculty and make a list of the reviewers you’d like to meet. You will be able to sign up each morning for reviewers working that day. If there’s someone very important to you who will be reviewing on Mon-Wed, and you’re enrolled in a workshop, you might consider taking a short break from your class to take the review. If your workshop will be on location on one of the reviewers days, this may not be possible, but we’ve tried to assure each reviewer is available on at least two different days. Look carefully at the Review faculty list, sorted by affiliation on our Portfolio Review page. There are two schools of thought:
1). Take reviews from those you think can get you work.
2). Take reviews from those whose credentials indicate their critique will be most valuable for you.
My thinking is that the second scenario is the more appropriate in most cases. Also consider that though you may be a commercial photographer, and tempted to show your work to reviewers from the commercial sector, you might be well-advised in finding out what experts in different disciplines than yours say about your work. They may have a different take and this might prove very valuable. By the same token, a fine-art photographer might find a good reception for his or her work from the commercial sector. You may also open up an entirely new direction for yourself by doing so.
Our SEMINAR Program offer lecture-style classes taught by experts in their fields. They are designed for serious amateur, emerging and professional photographers alike. You will all learn valuable information, tips and shortcuts from the pros in our seminars. They run all day, each day in the Grand Ballroom of the HYATT Regency Suites Hotel. This program offers 18 great classes, many of which are FREE with your daily registration. This program is one of the best offered anywhere.
For the second year in a row, we present something many of you have been asking for: TECH CONSULTATIONS. In the same way as you can sign up for a Portfolio Review, you can now sign up for a one-on-one tech session with a Tech Wizard and get answers to your own specific questions. Bring your laptop if you need to show your own issues to the wizards. They will have Macintosh computers available as well. Photoshop questions? Need to better understand the potential of actions, automate portions of your work flow, figure out how to retouch complicated situations, what Lightroom II can do for your digital asset management needs? Having problems with calibrating your monitor, profiling papers, understanding how to use the advanced features of your printer? Bring examples. Our Tech Wizards will have the answers. Now all you have to do is ask.
The Palm Springs Photo Festival offers one major SYMPOSIUM daily to which all attendees are invited. We have invited industry experts from museums, galleries, auction houses, art schools and manufacturers in addition to leading photographers to sit on panels and discuss vital aspects of the photography world. Our symposiums are designed to stimulate and educate photographers by enlightening them in honest, forthright discussions on subjects central to our careers and are held in the spectacular Annenberg Theater of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Each night at 8:45pm, we reassemble at our EVENING PRESENTATIONSin the Annenberg to watch career encompassing slide presentations by world famous photographers in addition to see the amazing results of our Slide Show Contest as well as our much awaited RAFFLES of wonderful gear offered by our Sponsors. Two of our Evening Presentations are followed by our Networking Parties in the Palm Springs Art Museum gardens which we feature wine tastings from California winemakers and an open bar.
We also have special events: Our OPEN PORTFOLIO REVIEWwhich is open to the first 75 photographers enrolled in the Portfolio Review program at no cost, is an opportunity to present your work to all of our faculty, attendees and staff on Sunday, March 28, between 1 and 5 pm in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt. This is how we kick off the Festival. The Open Review is followed by our OPENING RECEPTION, held at the amazing Korakia Pensione Hotel just 2 blocks from the Hyatt between 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm. We serve hot hors d’oeuvres and offer a limited open bar.
Speaking of our highly regarded SLIDE SHOW CONTEST, each year our jury selects 16 lucky finalists who receive wonderful prizes. The Grand Prize Winner receives a Canon wide-format printer and gifts from our major sponsors. Send in your selection(s) as early as possible. Now you can use FTP as well as sending in a disc.
Palm Springs is only a two hour drive from Los Angeles, or San Diego and boasts an international airport with connections to many major cities.
Don’t Miss It! REGISTER NOW and RESERVE YOUR HOTEL ROOMS. For a limited time, while supplies last, we can offer you a suite at the Attendee Headquarters Hotel (The Hyatt Regency Suites) for only $109 per night! These go quickly so act now.
Feel Free to contact us to discuss any aspects of our program at 1-800- 928-8314
See you there!
JEFF DUNAS Director
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