The Erotic Eye Workshop

01/12/2021

09/01/2019

07/13/2018

Happy Birthday Tomeu!

07/12/2018

03/16/2018

In the Sacred Eye Sicily workshop, the goal is to "see the invisible and develop instincts of a concerned photographer." Participants will learn from a photographer who practices what she preaches; Donna Ferrato Photography has been documenting the lives of battered women and children for over 4 decades, while also being an advocate and activist. Watch this short doc to get to know her work, and learn more from Donna at the Sacred Eye, now taking applications: https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye
https://vimeo.com/118353689

Watch all 6 episodes of Conflict free at http://thisisconflict.com. Many conflict photographers talk about getting “close” to their subjects; but…

03/15/2018

What does Donna look for in a photograph?
"I'm going to push you as hard as I can because I want you to care about the people in my photographs."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO6qrWlTWUI

Learn from Donna at Sacred Eye Workshop Sicily- now taking applications. https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye

03/14/2018

Here are the photographs of Sacred Eye co-leader Tomeu Coll. His series "Badlands," photographed around his home in Mallorca, creates mystery from the mundane and beauty from the decay of the swamp.
The workshops that Donna and Tomeu lead teach photographers to be always looking, even at things that are familiar or ordinary- they will start to develop their own unique voice.
Applications for Sacred Eye Sicily open through April 2nd, but we are accepting participants on a rolling basis so apply soon!
https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye

03/06/2018

How will you grow as a photographer by attending one of Donna's workshops? One common thing we hear from participants is that Donna teaches them to overcome their fears while photographing:

"From Donna, I learned to not have fear; to go inside, get closer." - Chiara Pansini, attended all 3 Erotic Eye workshops

The best advice I had from Donna is to plant my own seeds. So often in life we wait for things to happen. We don’t dare to do things. She showed me how to provoke, go to people, ask questions, even if you think you look stupid or you think you’re not good enough. - Julia Vogel, attended Erotic Eye California

Now taking applications for Sacred Eye Sicily: https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye

Photographs ©Julia Vogel, EE California & ©Chiara Pansini, EE Mallorca

03/05/2018

Our workshops are different from other photography workshops. We live & work together, so don't expect a relaxed 9-5 schedule- we critique and discuss late into the night and wake up early to photograph in the morning light. It's 24/7, and it is intense (we provide the caffeine!).
We stay in a large house unique to the area we're in- an 18th century farmhouse with a chapel and swimming pool in Inca, Mallorca; a noble's manor built 1609 surrounded by peacocks and sheep in Gustrow, Germany; a ranch in Joshua Tree desert and a merry prankster moon bus in California.
We cook together, and sometimes invite our subjects and special guests for dinner. In California, we had the honor of having Kevin Eugene Smith, son of W. Eugene Smith, join us to discuss his father's work over Donna's carbonara. We took over an abandoned building on the grounds of our house in Germany and created an exhibition of the participants' work. In California we were able to use our amazing hippie moon bus to camp in overnight so we could stay with our subjects longer in Slab City. We are spontaneous and flexible, open to letting things happen, how a photographer needs to be to take great photographs. In Sicily, we'll stay in a large Italian villa close to the sea and the island's volcanoes. We'll take group trips around the island on our bus and meet new people every day, getting to know them and their stories and finding poetry in the landscape around them.
Applications now open for Sacred Eye Sicily, taking place May 25-June 3, 2018 with Donna Ferrato, Tomeu Coll & special guest Letizia Battaglia. https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye

02/28/2018

We are beyond honored to have Letizia Battaglia joining us for the Sacred Eye: Sicily photography workshop.
Born in Sicily in 1935, Letizia Battaglia began her photography career in the early 1970s and started photographing the Sicilian Mafia in 1974, even receiving death threats. As the photography director of L’Ora, Palermo’s left-wing daily newspaper, she or one of her assistants was present at every major crime scene in the city until shortly before the paper folded in 1990. From these assignments, Battaglia and her long-time partner Franco Zecchin produced many of the iconic photographs that have come to represent Sicily and the Mafia throughout the world.
She has won numerous awards, including the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund for Humanistic Photography and the Cornell Capa Infinity Award from the ICP - International Center of Photography. [bio by Mary O'Donnell Hulme, ICP]
The friendship between Letizia and Donna goes back thirty years when they shared the W. Eugene Smith Grant in 1986. Letizia’s shocking photographs of mafia brutality in Palermo were matched by Donna’s intimate stories of women being battered behind closed doors. The photographers will show their work and reveal what they learned along the way. Their combined wisdom may inspire other photographers to do more than take pictures. Not every socially-conscious photographer is an activist; but Letizia & Donna have it in their blood. This workshop will address the importance of working with an empathetic eye.
Apply now: https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye/

All photographs ©Letizia Battaglia

02/27/2018

ANNOUNCING: Sacred Eye Workshop Sicily
May 25-June 3, 2018

With Donna Ferrato, Tomeu Coll, & special guest Letizia Battaglia

The first in a series of thought-provoking photographic sessions, The Sacred Eye, created by Donna Ferrato and Tomeu Coll, will push photographers to think before they shoot.

The mission of this workshop is to shine a light on the great strength of Sicilian women. Photographers will explore the challenges women encounter in a male dominated society. Our daily prayer is to respect every woman’s unique voice as they speak their truth in the face of hardships of domestic violence, s*x assault, s*xism and ageism.

In Italy, honor killings of unfaithful wives, daughters, and sisters were quasi-legal until 1981 and only officially condemned in 2007. Over 100 women are killed in Italy by men each year, the vast majority by their partners or ex-partners. Around one in three Italian women suffer abuse at some point in their life. The goal is to see the invisible and develop instincts of a concerned photographer.

We are proud to announce that Sicily’s legendary photographer, Letizia Battaglia, author of such books as Passion Justice Freedom (©1999 Aperture) and Anthology (©2016 Drago), will join the group for a day in Palermo, to discuss her work, and provide insight from her experiences.

Each day the group will travel to new places, meeting and listening to the locals while focusing on the complex environmental and personal aspects of these women’s lives. This is a chance for earnest photographers who want to make a difference and are open minded. In the past, Tomeu and Donna accompany photography students to help develop their practice. The class has mandatory daily critiques, to help them improve. Some photographers keep returning to these workshops because our mentorship doesn’t stop when the workshop ends. We encourage photographers to work outside their comfort zones. As a photographer from the LA workshop said:

"The best advice I had from Donna is to plant my own seeds. So often in life we wait for things to happen. We don’t dare to do things. She showed me how to provoke, go to people, ask questions, even if you think you look stupid or you think you’re not good enough." —Julia Vogelweith

The Sacred Eye is now accepting applications to spend ten awareness-building days learning how to use your cameras to break down the wall of patriarchy and to find women who want to tell their stories their way.

APPLY: https://www.eroticeyeworkshop.com/sacredeye/

Many thanks to our sponsor Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia "CSF-Adams"

photo: Donna & Letizia receive the 1986 W. Eugene Smith Grant

Applications now being accepted for the Sacred Eye Workshop Sicily, May 25-June 4, 2018, with Donna Ferrato & Tomeu Coll.

01/17/2018

Erotic Eye Workshop photographer Stephen Pile will have his humorous, well-observed photographs from the Meatpacking District on display in the exhibition "Walking." Join me for a beer tonight at the Paulaner for the opening!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gallery-show-walking-tickets-41850222141

Please join us on January 17th, at the Paulaner Gallery for our next opening. This event will showcase the talent of these wonderful artists: Jason Baker, Bruce Byers, Nune Karamyan, Ted Andreasian, Andreea Waters, Alec Vianu, Stephen Pile, Jason Rice, John Neitzel and Robert Essel. The theme this m...

07/10/2017

It was the end of the trilogy of the Erotic Eye Workshops; which began in Mallorca, Spain in 2015 and ended in Slab City, California in 2017. Two crazy photographers bring a group of hopeful, hungry, innocent photographers into their web of merry prankster fun and hardcore, concerned photography. The workshop is not for the politically correct; it cuts through the salami.

Unscripted. Unplugged.

Sign up for the Erotic Eye workshop at Cortona On The Move!
I'll be in Cortona for the opening of my retrospective "American Woman: 40 Years" and while there, teach a no-holds-barred Erotic Eye mini-workshop with my partner in crime, Tomeu Coll. Just a few spots remaining: http://www.cortonaonthemove.com/festival/cotm-summer-school/donna-ferrato

The Erotic Eye Workshop with Donna Ferrato, Tomeu Coll, and Mark Peterson.
Film edited by Tomeu Coll.
With photographs & footage by:
Monika Barth
Gabriela C
Stefano Cherti Photographer
Tomeu Coll
Cate Dingley
Donna Ferrato Photography
Greg Hunter
Chiara Pansini
Mark Peterson
Stephen Pile
Joseph Reid
Julia Vogel

07/03/2017

The Erotic Eye Workshop at Cortona On The Move is going to be like nothing we've ever done before!
And the workshop participant with the best erotic photograph will win a signed copy of "Love & Lust," now a rare out-of-print treasure.
Fun fact: Donna didn't sign this book with a pen- what did she sign it with? Any guesses?

Sign up for the workshop here: http://www.cortonaonthemove.com/festival/cotm-summer-school/donna-ferrato

06/21/2017

Have you heard the news? Erotic Eye will be at Cortona On The Move festival and Visura is offering a full tuition scholarship to one of its members.
No worries if you're not a Visura member, you can still sign up for the workshop here! http://www.cortonaonthemove.com/festival/cotm-summer-school/donna-ferrato

Visura is delighted to announce The Cortona On The Move Scholarship Open Call , an opportunity for one photographer Visura member to attend the Erotic Eye Workshop on July 16 & 17, 2017 led by Donna Ferrato for Cortona On The Move....

06/14/2017

Erotic Eyers, do you miss erotica master Donna's honest and brutal teaching methods? Tune in tomorrow to Master of Photography to watch Donna lend her eye-deas to some innocent, unsuspecting young photographers...

https://www.facebook.com/SkyArtsDE/videos/1552519161434574/

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