It’s Personal
online lab
An intimate, three-month programme for photographers exploring the personal as a starting point for making work.
JANUARY - MARCH 2027
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ONLINE
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MAXIMUM 5 PARTICIPANTS
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JANUARY - MARCH 2027 ● ONLINE ● MAXIMUM 5 PARTICIPANTS ●
The Programme
What does it mean to make work that feels entirely your own?
Photography often begins with something close to us. A memory, a place, a relationship, an experience or a question that refuses to leave us.
IT'S PERSONAL is a three-month online mentorship and visual lab for photographers interested in exploring the relationship between personal experience and photographic expression.
Working with an intimate group of no more than five participants, we will explore how personal histories, emotions, memories and lived experiences can become the foundations of meaningful photographic work.
Through sustained conversation, experimentation, individual guidance and collective exchange, participants will develop a personal photographic project while questioning their ways of seeing, making and communicating.
This is not simply about producing more photographs. It is about understanding why we make the images we do, what drives our creative decisions and how to develop a visual language that feels genuinely our own.
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Allowing for sustained dialogue and individual attention.
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January–March 2027.
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Creating space for discussion, critical exchange and collective learning.
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Tailored to each participant's project and creative development.
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Bringing together the work developed throughout the programme.
What to Expect
Month One BEGINNINGS
Where does our work come from?
We begin by exploring the personal motivations, memories, experiences and questions that shape our photographic practice. Through conversations and creative exercises, participants will identify the ideas and impulses they wish to pursue.
Month Two FINDING FORM
How do we give our ideas a visual language?
Through experimentation, individual feedback and collective discussion, we will explore different approaches to image-making, narrative and visual expression. Participants will develop their projects while questioning familiar ways of working and considering new possibilities.
Month Three BRINGING IT TOGETHER
How do we shape a body of work into something meaningful?
Our final month focuses on editing, sequencing, writing and presentation. We will consider how individual images speak to one another and how a project begins to find its form.
The programme culminates in a collaborative digital zine featuring work developed by each participant.
A space to make work
that matters to you.
Discover the work that emerged from our first edition of IT'S PERSONAL, bringing together the individual voices, experiences and visual explorations of its participants.
FROM THE FIRST EDITION
Who Is It For?
IT'S PERSONAL is intended for photographers and visual storytellers at different stages of their practice who are interested in developing work rooted in personal experience.
You may already have a project underway, be returning to something unfinished or simply have an idea you have been wanting to explore.
You do not need to arrive with a fully formed project.
What matters is curiosity, commitment, openness to experimentation and a willingness to question your own ways of seeing.
Programme Fee - £500 per month
£1,500 for the complete three-month programme, payable in three monthly instalments.
Enrolment Now Open
JANUARY – MARCH 2027
Five places. Three months. A space to make work that matters to you.
Early Booking - 10% Off
£450 per month | £1,350 total
Book your place by 15 December 2026 and receive a 10% discount on the full programme fee.
Returning Participants — 10% Off
£450 per month | £1,350 total
A 10% discount is available to anyone who has previously participated in a workshop independently organised and led by Laura El-Tantawy.
Discounts cannot be combined.
Only five places are available.
Have a question about the programme or whether it's right for you? Email me before booking.