Photobook Development Workshop

Ever wonder what choices go into the creation of a successful photobook?

Join artist Liss Fenwick and publishers Bad News Books (Harry Culy and Michael Mahne Lamb) to learn the secrets of outstanding photobook development.

This workshop will take participants through the process of developing a compelling photobook. Bring along your own photographs and gain expert advice on design and storytelling elements that you can take away to create a successful photobook of your own.

Workshop includes:

  • Introduction to the process of compiling a photobook

  • Professional advice on photograph selection and storytelling

  • Discussion of design elements and how they inform the finished work

  • Examples of different photobooks, including Humpty Doom

  • Binding options, paper weight and cover design - and how to decide which will work best for your project

What you need:

Bring your dummy photobook, a selection of photographs you want to work with, or just your ideas.

Time: 2 hours

Where and When: Friday 9 August,1.30 - 3.30pm, Te Papa, Rangimarie 2, L3

Number of Participants:  To keep the experience interactive, numbers are limited to 20.

Cost: $30, students $20 

Workshop Leaders:

The workshop will be led by artist Liss Fenwick and their publishers Harry Culy and Michael Mahne Lamb of Bad News Books.

Liss Fenwick is visual artist from Larrakia country, living in Naarm/Melbourne. Their lens-based practice explores place and the transformation of problematic euro-and human-centred hierarchies in the so-called ‘Northern Territory’. In 2023 Liss’s Humpty Doom was shortlisted in the Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards. They were awarded the Fineman New Photography Award in 2021, and the Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize in 2018. Liss is currently working on a PhD at RMIT University. 

Harry Culy is the founder and co-director of Wellington’s Bad News Books. In 2020 he completed a MFA at Massey University. He has had numerous exhibitions of his work in public and dealer galleries in New Zealand and Australia. His photobook Mirror City was selected as one of PhotoForum’s 2023 member publications. In 2021 he was awarded an Arts Foundation Laureate award, receiving the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award. He is represented by Jhana Millers Gallery. 

Michael Mahne Lamb (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) is an artist and co-director of Bad News Books. He has a Bachelor of Design (Honours) from Massey University and an MFA from the University of Hartford in Connecticut. His exhibition Through Points is currently showing at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi — in which his photographs “embody the physical and psychological experience of the built environment, rather than attempt or pretend to ‘picture’ it”.

Book your place

This workshop is now fully booked. To register on the waitlist please fill out the form below.