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Summer Registration Opens May 18
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PHOTO 78 — Picture Your Life: Photographing Today for Tomorrow

Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Joel Simon, John Lambert
Duration: 6 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Jul 22—Aug 26
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—9:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $385
   
Refund Deadline: Jul 24
 
Unit(s): 1
   
Enrollment Limit: 45
  
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Summer
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 6 weeks
Time: 7:00—9:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jul 22—Aug 26
Unit(s): 1
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $385
 
Refund Deadline: Jul 24
 
Instructor(s): Joel Simon, John Lambert
 
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
 
Enrollment Limit: 45
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
 
 
What story is more consequential than your own life? As we move quickly through daily routines, we rarely pause to recognize their significance. This course invites you to photograph your life with intention, framing the moments that give it meaning. By reflecting on inherited photographs and personal archives, we’ll consider what memories endure and why, and clarify what feels essential to document now. We’ll then create new images using family gatherings, children’s artwork, shared meals, beloved pets, and the spaces that shape our lives. We’ll also examine how photographs construct meaning through composition, light, and visual structure, applying these principles in guided assignments and feedback. Students will leave with stronger technical skills in photography, sharpened powers of observation, and a body of images designed to record experiences and shape how they’re remembered for generations to come.

This course is open to students of all skill levels. Students are welcome to use any camera, including mobile device cameras.

JOEL SIMON
Documentary and Fine Art Photographer

Joel Simon studied with Leo Holub, founder of Stanford's photography program, and Sam Abell and has worked as an editorial and fine art photographer for four decades. He has lectured on more than 65 trips with Stanford’s Travel/Study program. His work has been published in Vanity Fair, TIME, GEO, Condé Nast Traveler, STANFORD magazine, and Sunset. His work can be viewed at joelsimonimages.com.

JOHN LAMBERT
Photographer

John Lambert has been photographing for over 50 years. He has a background in engineering and has embraced both digital capture and editing from their earliest beginnings, developing digital workflows since the late 1990s. Lambert's work has received numerous awards, including being selected for the annual Yosemite Renaissance Competition and Exhibition. His work can be viewed on Instagram @brightonjel and at lambertphotographic.com.