The Summit Series of Workshops are unique in bringing together a faculty of top photographers, editors and curators, with the best in photography education. Instructors come with differing backgrounds, tastes and areas of expertise, providing not just a variety but an opportunity unlike other workshops.
Not only is there top instruction (the faculty is picked not only for their accomplishments, but also for their teaching abilities) and opportunity to photograph in great settings with continuing critiques, there is the individual contact that goes far beyond portfolio reviews.
The networking at the Summit is also unique. Consider these things that have happened.
- “Lauren Greenfield, as an attendee, showed her pictures to publisher/packager Charles Melcher — who signed her to a book contract that resulted in “Fast Forward” and accelerated her career. Today, she is a member of the acclaimed VII Group.”
- “John Weller, student, showed his pictures of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado. Immediately, American Photo editor-in-chief featured them in the next issue of the magazine. Chris Johns, editor-in-chief of National Geographic ran them in his magazine. And the National Museum of Wildlife Art — where the Summit Nature workshop is held — featured them in a major exhibition the next year.”
- “Chris Anderson attended the workshop years ago when he was a photographer at a Colorado daily newspaper — and from the people he met including the picture editor of Time magazine, he decided to take the freelance route. In the years since, he has been over the world for a variety of magazines and this past year, was voted into the prestigious cooperative, Magnum.”
- “Bobby Model attended the workshop for the first time while a student at the University of Wyoming, returned and met editors including Bill Allen, then editor-in-chief of National Geographic along with Chris Johns, then senior assistant editor. It began a series of cooperative adventures and assignments for the magazine that combined Bobby’s mountaineering skills with his photography.”
- “Charles Laberge attended the Sports Photography Workshop where he met Matt Ginella, director of photography of Golf Digest and Golf World. Today. He is now one of the regular photographers doing work for those magazines along with others to whom Ginella has given assignments. In fact, Ginella comes to that workshop every year in search of new talent.”
- These are only a few examples of workshop attendees whose careers took a big step forward as a result of attending a Summit workshop. As Rich Clarkson, Summit workshops founder (former director of photography of National Geographic, Denver Post and Topeka Capital-Journal) has said, “Half of the people I have hired in my lifetime I first met at a workshop. It is the perfect place to find new talent.”