The Art of Seeing: 12-Day Summer Photography Intensive
June 23 - July 4, 2025
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis
All applications received by 11:59pm on Nov 30 will waive the $95 application fee.
PROGRAM Overview
Are you ready to explore your personal vision and create magical photographs that surpass the familiar images of Italy? Imagine spending your days exploring the charming hill town of Spoleto, documenting the local culture, and taking a trip to the sunflower fields, while training your photographic eye.
In this course, you will be introduced to a wide variety of photographic genres including street photography, documentary photography, landscape, and architectural photography through the study of masters in photography. You will explore your artistic voice through lens choice, camera angles, lighting, learning how to approach people, and custom function settings on your camera. The course is very hands-on through on-location photoshoots and photo editing. Though image editing will be studied in this course to complete a final portfolio, the emphasis is placed on image capture and soaking up the beauty that the Italian culture has to offer.
Curriculum:
- Portfolio Development
- Writing an Artist Statement
- Understanding Light
- Composition & Color
- Digital Capture
- Advanced Exposure
- Advanced Techniques: F-stops, ISO, & Shutter Speeds
- Night Photography
- Landscape Photography
- Photojournalism & Documentary Photography
- Portraiture
- Photo History
- Visual Language
- Contemporary Trends
- Image Storage & Editing
- Retouching Techniques
- Inkjet & Outsourced Printing
Faculty (subject to change)
Heather teets
Heather Teets is currently the Director of Fine Arts at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, Indiana. She joined Park Tudor in 2001 and in addition to overseeing the Fine & Performing Arts programming, she currently teaches three levels of photography and a course in 2D Animation. She serves on the Leadership Team and Academic Council and directs the Janet Flanner Visiting Artist Series program.
With over 22 years of experience teaching analog and digital photography, Heather enjoys teaching the intensive photography course at Spoleto. She loves the freedom of utilizing the town as the classroom; providing the students with opportunities to engage with the locals and immerse in the culture, which profoundly enhances the student experience.
A Fine Art photographer, she has exhibited her work at galleries in Indianapolis and Dayton, OH, with selected works in privately held collections. She is an active member of professional arts and arts education organizations which include the National Association for Art Educators (NAEA), the Art Education Association of Indiana (AEAI), the Society of Photographic Educators (SPE), and the Contemporary Arts Society at Indianapolis Museum of Art. She has been teaching with Spoleto Study Abroad since 2005.
SAMPLE DAILY SCHEDULE
Our class schedule follows a typical Italian pace of life. The sample schedule below may vary slightly to allow students to photograph at all times of the day. There may also be variation to accommodate the interests of the group and the work each student would like to do in Spoleto.
8:00am - Breakfast at the Convent
9:00am - 12:00pm - Classroom Work
12:00pm - 1:00pm - Peer Critiques on Previous Day’s Shoot
1:15pm - 2:30pm - Independent lunch in Spoleto
2:30pm - 4:00pm - Free Time
4:00pm - 8:00pm - Field Photography
8:00pm - Family-Style Dinner
AcCOMMODATIONS
All students live together in European collegial style at the Residence di SantíAngelo, a gorgeous 15th century convent in the medieval section of Spoleto. The convent has been beautifully renovated with modern conveniences and has spacious courtyards and colorful gardens. It is only a short walk from the residence to classes, the main piazzas of town, and the restaurants where meals are served.
Students are supervised by faculty, staff, and resident advisors who live at the convent with the students. Classes take place in beautiful buildings throughout the historic medieval section of town with abundant, luminous spaces for photographic exploration.
TUITION
Program Dates: June 23 - July 4, 2025
Total Cost: $4975
What’s Included
Tuition for courses
Two meals per day
Lodging in a gorgeous 15th-century convent
Course materials
Entrance fees for group activities
Fieldtrip-related transportation within Italy
What’s Not Included
Airfare
Passport fees
Travel or Medical Insurance
Personal expenses
Camera equipment, computers, and editing software (students will be required to supply their own DLSR camera equipment with interchangeable lenses and computers for photo editing. Computers should have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop installed prior to departure).
A $95 non-refundable fee is due upon application. All applications received by 11:59pm on Nov 30 will waive the $95 application fee. Within 2 weeks of your acceptance into the program a non-refundable 50% deposit is due. The remaining 50% balance is by May 1, 2025.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis
All applications received by 11:59pm on Nov 30 will waive the $95 application fee.