Market Photo Workshop

Photojournalism Documentary Photography

HomePhotojournalism Documentary Photography

the Photojournalism & Documentary Photography programme

Duration: 10 months Location: Johannesburg, South Africa and participants’ respective communities, where feasible Who Should Apply: This Progamme is designed for prospective participants who are:

  • Photographers: Interested in expanding their creative practice include visual campaigns, multimedia storytelling, and social impact projects.
  • Media and Communication Students: Interested in exploring visual narratives, advocacy, and ethical representation.
  • Visual Artists & Designers: Looking to strengthen storytelling, visual communication, and design skills.
  • Activists and Social Change Practitioners: Seeking practical tools to use images and media for advocacy and social impact.
  • Researchers and Academics: Engaged in media, gender studies, African studies, or cultural representation.
  • Emerging Professionals: In journalism, filmmaking, photography, or social media, aiming to create meaningful visual content.

Cost

Participant TypeFee (Excluding Travel & Accommodation)Notes
South African & Continental StudentsR22,500Subject to change
International StudentsR63,340Subject to change

⚠️ Travel, accommodation, and personal expenses in Johannesburg are not included.

Programme Overview

The Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme (PDP) focuses on developing critical awareness of socio-political issues, cultural contexts, and contemporary media practices, particularly within the African landscape. The programme is designed to empower photographers to ethically document and engage with pressing social issues through responsible storytelling and strong visual narratives.

The PDP supports and mentors applicants from diverse backgrounds, providing a platform for individuals who are passionate about using photography as a tool to tell meaningful and impactful stories. Over an ten-month period of practical training, participants divide their time between the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg and their respective communities. While in Johannesburg, participants attend structured workshops that focus on practical photography skills, media training, and the development of creative and critical thinking. These skills are then applied within their communities, where participants produce documentary work that reflects local social realities.

All participants must be formally affiliated with a recognised community-based organisation to ensure meaningful community engagement, accountability, and ethical practice.

The programme’s outcomes include substantial bodies of work that explore social and community issues across different regions. Participants are encouraged to develop innovative approaches to photography and media as tools for positive social change. Projects are guided to resonate with target audiences, promote community engagement, and create meaningful and lasting impact on both the communities involved and the issues addressed.

Through hands-on professional experience combined with technical and theoretical support, the PDP highlights the role of photography, audio, video, sound, and text in shaping social justice narratives in Africa. The programme aims to introduce and nurture a new generation of African storytellers who are committed to social responsibility, activism, and ethical investigation.

The PDP further enables access to photography and storytelling practices while expanding participants’ exposure to industry networks. Participants are supported to become socially conscious practitioners who are knowledgeable about community issues and sensitive to local contexts. The programme provides practical experience and exposure to critical storytelling practices in Africa, while developing essential 21st-century skills such as collaboration, creativity, communication, critical thinking, self-expression, and problem-solving.

PDP Training Focus Areas

  • Technical Practice
    The Technical Practice module strengthens participants’ practical skills and technical knowledge through advanced use of digital cameras. Participants learn to work confidently with customised camera settings and diverse photographic modes, enabling greater creative and technical control in different shooting conditions.
  • Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
    This module provides participants with hands-on experience in producing meaningful photographic essays. It develops an understanding of photojournalism and documentary photography as powerful tools for storytelling, advocacy, and social commentary, while addressing the ethical responsibilities and expectations of photography as a public voice.
  • News Photography

The News Photography module introduces participants to the principles and practices of photographing current events and newsworthy stories. Participants develop skills in capturing timely, accurate, and compelling images that communicate information clearly and responsibly. The module emphasises speed, observation, composition, and technical adaptability in fast-changing environments, while reinforcing ethical decision-making, accuracy, and accountability in news reporting. Participants learn to respond to unfolding events, work under deadline pressure, and understand the role of news photography in shaping public awareness and discourse.

  • Visual Literacy
    Visual Literacy enhances participants’ ability to read, interpret, and critically engage with images. Participants develop their own visual literacy frameworks, tools, and criteria for seeing and understanding visuals. This includes creating, interpreting, evaluating, and using images and visual resources across different contexts.
  • Multimedia
    The Multimedia module introduces participants to producing stories using multiple media formats, including photography, audio, video, sound, and text. While technically intensive, the module places strong emphasis on creative storytelling that is suitable for public engagement and digital distribution across various platforms.
  • Augmented Reality
    Augmented Reality (AR) introduces participants to interactive storytelling within real-world environments. Using the Artivive application, participants embed video, sound, and interactive multimedia content into their photographs. AR enables artists to integrate research and contextual information into their work, offering audiences an alternative and immersive viewing experience through mobile devices. This module expands creative possibilities and encourages innovative audience engagement.
  • Incubation and Professional Practice
    The Incubation and Professional Practice module addresses barriers faced by emerging photographers in accessing professional opportunities. It equips participants with practical industry knowledge, professional skills, and exposure needed to navigate the creative and cultural industries, with a focus on sustainability and career development.
  • Mobile Journalism
    Mobile Journalism (MoJo) focuses on using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to capture, edit, and distribute news and short documentary content. This approach enables agile, accessible, and cost-effective storytelling without reliance on traditional or bulky equipment.
  • Podcasting
    This module introduces participants to podcast production as a form of digital audio storytelling. Participants explore formats such as monologues, dialogues, interviews, and fiction or drama, developing skills in audio recording, editing, and narrative construction for online distribution.
  • Critical and Creative Writing Modes
    Critical and Creative Writing develops participants’ abilities as close, reflective, and ethical observers of the world. Writers engage with research-based and observational practices, learning to critically examine social realities while considering the ethical implications of storytelling and representation.
  • The Market Photo Workshop has designed a comprehensive PDP curriculum that integrates photography, documentary and news practice, creative writing, multimedia storytelling, mobile journalism, social responsibility, ethical investigation, and critical thinking.
  • The Market Photo Workshop delivers both virtual and in-person training sessions and workshops focused on storytelling, creative writing, poetry, photography, photography ethics, and multimedia production.
  • A range of facilitators and mentors support participants in the production of photographic, multimedia, and written work through regular critique sessions and constructive feedback. Participants are guided in developing strong narratives and in presenting their work across various platforms.
  • Participants work independently within their own communities and in Johannesburg, with ongoing mentorship and guidance focused on narrative development and storytelling that documents and intervenes in specific social issues relevant to their communities.
  • Participants are exposed to diverse storytelling approaches, platforms, and professional networks that encourage critical thinking and active engagement. This includes participation in public forums and discussions that generate debate and discourse around stories and narratives.
  • The PDP integrates mobile journalism, augmented reality, and QR coding as tools for activism and storytelling within a rapidly evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution context. Through these technologies, participants produce, publish, and distribute digital stories, using new media as instruments for social activism.
  • The programme critically engages with the politics of representation, particularly as it affects womxn, queer communities, persons with disabilities, and other groups historically marginalised or excluded from dominant frameworks.
  • Participants are required to be linked with, or formally partnered to, a community-based organisation to support community engagement, access, and ethical storytelling.
  • Assessment processes will measure and evaluate outcomes against criteria including creative quality, ethical practice, demonstrated community impact, and participant development.

The PDP contributes to an expanding body of photographic and storytelling knowledge, generating insights into socially responsible practices that benefit the communities in which the Market Photo Workshop operates its education and outreach programmes. Through creative writing, photography, and media production, the PDP supports community development and amplifies voices often excluded from institutional and cultural spaces.

The Market Photo Workshop’s theory of change centres on democratising access to storytelling, production, and thought leadership to include marginalised voices and geographies. The programme emphasises self-reflexivity within photographic practice, recognising change as an ongoing process rooted in lived experience rather than a fixed destination.

View PDP Implementation Plan
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