Testimonials

Clea Rekhou: “The VII Masterclass has been for me the most insight­ful expe­ri­ence about doc­u­men­tary pho­tog­ra­phy. It has allowed me to learn from inspir­ing mas­ters and men­tors so that I could push my bound­aries fur­ther. It taught me about “own­ing” my projects as much as dis­cov­er­ing the pro­fes­sion­al aspects of doc­u­men­tary pho­tog­ra­phy. The mas­ter­class is at the same time very con­crete, prag­mat­ic and con­cep­tu­al, philo­soph­i­cal. I met also many inspir­ing ‘class­mates’ who also very inspir­ing, inven­tive and touch­ing. Thanks to all the mas­ters for invest­ing in new voic­es. Thank you Stefano! Thank you Maciek!”

Sandra Buschow: “The mas­ter­class was such an intense time for me and I am so grate­ful for what I expe­ri­enced dur­ing this last year – it was so emo­tion­al. I went to Warsaw with an idea for a project and I got back to Berlin with an inspi­ra­tion for a very per­son­al and inti­mate sto­ry which was a total­ly dif­fer­ent thing! Thank you for this chal­lenge that entered my life so unex­pect­ed­ly! Above all, I would like to thank my men­tor Maggie Steber who brought my sto­ry to the fore­ground. I would also like to express my deep grat­i­tude to the lec­tur­ers, to Stefano, and to Maciek. It was any­thing but a com­fort­able jour­ney for me but you have pro­vid­ed a space for my sto­ry to evolve in pho­to­graph­ic expres­sion. I am still pro­cess­ing the feed­back and the effects of the exten­sive lec­tures, I have learned so much and I am just real­iz­ing the long-lasting impres­sion of all the content-related dis­cus­sions. Over time, some rela­tions have turned into deep friend­ships and I have spent an intense and fruit­ful time with my new friends. With all the con­se­quences and with­out the blink of an eye, I would do this mas­ter­class again. The most beau­ti­ful thing to me is that the over­all top­ic was pas­sion: the pas­sion for a sto­ry and pas­sion for pho­tog­ra­phy! And if you ask me, it’s this is what real­ly counts.”

Yulia Grigoryants: “Coming from Armenia, a small coun­try which today doesn’t pro­vide almost any school or course for young pho­tog­ra­phers, VII Masterclass in Warsaw was a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for me. It was a great chance to learn from pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers and spe­cial­ists, who shared their expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge with us. It was a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn and it, basi­cal­ly, opened my eyes.
What is great is that this is not a one-time Masterclass, but a long-term pro­gram, that facil­i­tates build­ing stronger bonds between the pho­tog­ra­ph­er and the sub­ject and of course between par­tic­i­pants and the pro­fes­sion­als. The Masterclass gave me an invalu­able and enrich­ing expe­ri­ence, which I will be able to car­ry with me through­out my career. I am deeply thank­ful to my men­tor Maggie Steber who con­tin­ues to men­tor my project and me even after the work­shop, giv­ing me moti­va­tion and pow­er to pur­sue and make the project deep­er.”