The purpose of the Photo Soup project is to collect and share personal histories among workers in the world of photography. The core of this multi-year initiative is an annual four-day retreat in Rockingham, Vermont, during which six to eight invited participants consider their individual paths into photography in formal presentations and informal talks. Each year’s gathering is loosely organized around a given theme, and attendees represent all corners of the photographic field, including curation, academia, publishing, commerce, and artistic practice, with an emphasis on less-heard voices. Together we explore the life and ecosystem—the soup—of photography, a medium that somehow still serves us as no other can.
Each year’s Photo Soup conversations are gathered in a modest publication, and you can get the book here.
The Photo Soup project is supported by Streamway Foundation Trust and organized by Alison Nordström and Diana Stoll.
“The motivation behind Photo Soup is to look at the broader context of photography, the ecosystem—the soup. And to try to suss out some of what’s happening by examining the personal experiences of people who have been deeply immersed in various corners of the field, have seen the changes, have played a part in the changes.”
—Diana Stoll
“Photo Soup is also a reminder of certain values and approaches that characterize our experience of the Field even in times of great change. The face-to-face exchange of ideas seems harder to orchestrate these days, but when it happens, its inimitable value is clear.”
—Alison Nordström
PHOTO SOUP 3: Education
October 17–20, 2024
Streamway Foundation, Rockingham, Vermont
Photo Soup’s third roundtable looked at the state of photographic education in the United States. This year’s participants, all practicing photographers and teachers, work in settings that range from a public high school for the arts to BFA and MFA programs to adult workshops and museums. Among the topics discussed are the dilemma of balancing practice and pedagogy, the demise and resurrection of the darkroom, and how the MFA no longer guarantees a teaching position. The group examined the evolving roles of photography in education, shifts in learning structures over the past 50 years, and how these changes shape the experiences of teachers and learners.
Participants
David Hilliard
Anne Leighton Massoni
Lorie Novak
Vivian Poey
Tom Rankin
Guy Michel Telemaque
Alison Nordström (director)
Diana Stoll (director)
“It’s all about relationships . . . if I have any value in this industry, it’s being able to connect people, people I feel can help each other, or who would love each other.”
—Elizabeth Krist, at Photo Soup 2
Streamway Foundation, Rockingham, Vermont
“The book, the process, having it out in the world, with its own life, as an ambassador for the artist’s work, is really important. Making a book can have an imprint on the artist, not just on the viewer.”
—Joshua Chuang, at Photo Soup 1