CEPA’s photography classes and workshops cover a variety of subjects for students of all ages and skill levels, including film photography, digital photography, darkroom, photoshop, studio lighting, and more.
CEPA’s photography classes and workshops cover a variety of subjects for students of all ages and skill levels, including film photography, digital photography, darkroom, photoshop, studio lighting, and more.
A 2-Day Class
Saturday, March 16th and 23rd
10:30am–1:30pm
Ages 16+
This course serves as an introduction to the basics of digital photography. Over the two day workshop, students will learn how to set up and use their digital cameras, the basic methods for properly exposing photographs, and tips for creating compelling images with your camera. This class will also cover the workflow for uploading and editing images in Adobe Camera Raw. It is required that you have a digital camera to participate in this course.
Participants must have a digital camera with the capability to shoot in RAW. CEPA has limited cameras available to rent. Please call or email info@cepagallery.org to arrange a camera rental.
CEPA Learning Center
This class is limited to 8 participants.
Saturday, March 16th and 23rd
10:30am–1:30pm
Membership starts as low as $40/year for individuals—and even lower for students at only $25/year!
Learn about CEPA Membership »
A 1-Day Workshop
Friday March 29nd, 2024
6:00 – 8:30 PM
All ages
Make your own eclipse viewer and connect with the history and science behind photography in this all ages workshop offered in anticipation of the total solar eclipse on April 8th.
This workshop will investigate how the camera obscura, the technology that preceded photography, was used for solar observation and the role it played in the discovery of photography. Students will learn how a camera obscura works, understand its role in photography through making pinhole photographs, then design and build their own camera obscura to use during the eclipse.
Students will leave class with a handful of pinhole photographs, a working camera obscura to view the eclipse with, an intro to basic wet darkroom work, and a bit more knowledge of photohistory.
The class will also look at Jason Lazarus, an artist working in the expanded field of photography. His upcoming project, “How to Watch a Solar Eclipse,” endeavors to become the world’s largest archive of used handmade solar eclipse viewers. The collection is designed to become a safety net for those who might otherwise toss their viewers in the trash, and a vehicle to consider “vision and visibility, poetry and poetics, art, history, science, intergenerational intimacy, and access.”
After the eclipse, participants are invited to return their viewers to CEPA. Each viewer will be titled with the name, age, and location then sent to Jason. All participants who donate a used solar eclipse viewer will get to be part of a public art project and receive a free signed artist thank-you print celebrating the eclipse!
More Information about Jason’s project can be found here: https://jasonlazarus.com/projects/how-to-watch-a-solar-eclipse/
All Materials and Supplies Included. Participants are encouraged to bring their own box.
CEPA Gallery Learning Center
This workshop is limited to 8 participants.
Friday, March 29, 2024
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Membership starts as low as $40/year for individuals—and even lower for students at only $25/year!
Learn about CEPA Membership »
A 1-Day Class
Saturday, March 30th
10:30am–3:30pm
Ages 16+
Get started with the basics of large-format photography and ponder the struggles of 19th-century photography.
Offered as part of The Power of Resilience and Hope – Photography and the Holocaust: Then & Now, this class explores photography’s role in myth and memory through the captivating world of Stephen Berkman’s fictional 19th-century studio in Predicting the Past: Zohar Studios alongside August Sander’s People of the 20th Century.
Using a 4×5 camera, film, and direct positive paper – which has the speed and appearance of 19th Cent. processes – participants will have the opportunity to practice natural light portraiture in much the same way it was done 100 years ago, creating their own myths or memories in the process.
The class will cover how to use a 4×5 camera, load and develop film, and use a spot meter. Students will get practice working with film as well as direct positive paper. All Materials Included.
CEPA Education Center
Saturday, March 30th
10:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
Membership starts as low as $40/year for individuals—and even lower for students at only $25/year!
Learn about CEPA Membership »
Check out the description below to learn more about the teaching artist for this workshop.
A 1-Day Class
Friday, April 26th
5:30pm–8:30pm
Ages 13+
For those interested in archiving their family history, our Archival Methods Workshop offers an opportunity to learn basic preservation techniques that can be used on your collection at home. Overall, this workshop promises to demystify archiving and provide you with the practical knowledge and skills to preserve your materials effectively. Whether you’re new to archiving or looking to enhance a pre-existing skillset, this workshop offers a comprehensive and hands-on learning experience. Don’t miss the chance to take your archiving expertise to the next level and contribute to the preservation of prized family photographs!
The workshop aligns with the exhibit by equipping participants with the tools to preserve the physical ephemera of their family history. This is a workshop about remembrance and preservation, which fits well with the themes of the exhibition.
CEPA Learning Center
This class is limited to 8 participants.
Friday, April 26th
5:30pm–8:30pm
Membership starts as low as $40/year for individuals—and even lower for students at only $25/year!
Learn about CEPA Membership »
A 1-Day Workshop
Saturday, April 13th, 2024
2:00 – 5:00 PM
All ages
The Tunnel Book Workshop is about the potential for expressing personal narratives and creative stories in a connected series of stacked and layered frames. Participants will be guided by a series of prompts to create a scene through several art pieces on translucent photo frames. These pieces will be joined together into a final art object that provides the illusions of depth and movement within a diorama. These works will be motivated by exploration of identity and will present interesting juxtapositions of images that illustrate the complexity of human stories. The frames will come together to form a final, cohesive image, reflecting the diverse aspects that make up the self.
All Materials and Supplies are Included.
CEPA Gallery Learning Center
This workshop is limited to 8 participants.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Membership starts as low as $40/year for individuals—and even lower for students at only $25/year!
Learn about CEPA Membership »
CEPA is now offering one hour tutorials covering basic and commonly requested topics. These are brief introductions, designed to get you started on your journey with photography quickly or to help refresh those looking to get back into it.
For more in depth instruction, see our workshops above or arrange a one on one lesson.
Tutorials are by Appointment Only. To book a tutorial, purchase a tutorial product and then email nate@cepagallery.org or call 716-856-2717 to arrange an appointment.
Basic Exposure and Image Control
Learn about the basics of Photography! This one hour tutorial covers the fundamentals of exposure and image control through Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed, as well as basic camera control for either digital or film.
Basic B/W Film Development
New to the darkroom? This tutorial covers the basic process for developing and processing your film by hand. Learn about chemistry, how to load a daylight tank, as well as some tips and tricks to avoid common beginner mistakes. Bring a roll of exposed B/W film to learn with hands on.
Basic Digital Workflow in Lightroom
This tutorial covers a basic workflow in Lightroom. Learn about the RAW file format, as well as how to import, organize, edit and export your digital images.
Basic Digital Printing
Learn how to print your digital images! This tutorial covers resolution, cropping/resizing for print, as well as color profiles and proofing.
CEPA summer art programs are a blast! Students learn the art and science behind photography, experimenting in both the darkroom and computer lab.There are classes for 8-12 year olds as well as teenagers and they run for a full week, half day. There is something for everyone, beginners as well as advanced.
A Week-long Summer Class
July 8–12 @ 9:00am–12:00pm
Ages 8 to 12
This class is jam-packed with all sorts of fun photo activities, including darkroom, digital, and experimental photography. There’s something for everyone, with many opportunities for students to get hands-on with photography.
Cameras are available for use, or students are welcome to use their own.
For ages 8-12
CEPA Gallery Learning Center
This workshop is limited to 8 participants.
July 8-12, 9:00am-12:00pm
A Week-long Summer Class
July 8 – 12 @ 1:00pm–4:00pm
Ages 8 to 12
Learn about the nature and science that underlies photography in this STEAM class. Students will spend the week experimenting with some of the earliest traditional photographic processes while they get hands on with the science of light and photochemistry.
Offered in partnership with the Coalesce Bio Art Lab at the University at Buffalo. Students will take a field trip to UB to collect plants and natural material, which they will process in the Biolab at Coalesce and use to make photographs – Art made of Nature and from Nature!
Techniques explored include Pinhole Photography, Macrophotography, Anthotypes, and Cyanotype.
All materials included. For ages 8-12.
CEPA Gallery Learning Center
This workshop is limited to 8 participants.
July 8 – 12 @ 1:00pm–4:00pm
Ages 8-12
A Week-long Summer Class
July 15-19, 1:00pm-4:00pm
Ages 13 to 17
In this class, inspired by the New Vision photography movement, students will practice a number of different analog hands-on techniques while learning a little art history. New Vision was a photography movement that briefly existed between WWI and WWII. Despite being short-lived, this moment greatly shaped our modern sense of photography, producing many of the pictorial conventions familiar to us today.
Techniques students will experiment with include 35mm Photography, Double Exposure, Photograms, Collage/Typography, Cliché Verre, and Collage.
All materials included. Students are welcome to bring their own film cameras if they have one or will be provided with CEPA film cameras to borrow.
For ages 13-17
CEPA Gallery Education Center
This workshop is limited to 8 participants.
July 15-19, 1:00pm-4:00pm
We can create a custom class for four or more people, and we also offer one-to-one tutoring. To discuss, contact Nate Ely, our Education Director:
A former student of one of CEPA’s many art programs in schools, Darron Whitsett participated in a photojournalism program where students created a newspaper from the ground up. He later joined ArtWorks!, one of CEPA’s after school programs. During the year-long advanced photography course, students worked with all of CEPA’s artists in residence—learning and working in their style, exhibiting their work throughout Buffalo, and producing a personal catalogue at the end of the program.
“CEPA’s art programs helped shape my life in so many positive ways. The things I learned then are the foundation of what I do today. They have afforded me the chance to travel and be creative, a dream I have had since I was a child . . . a dream that CEPA’s program gave me a framework for. For that I will be forever grateful.”
Darron is a professional photographer, designer, and artist. Learn more about him at darronlw.daportfolio.com.