Photographers Wanted: Open Call for Participants

Applications close 15 September 2026

An elderly woman walks along a stone mountain path in Armenia, part of the Danish Cultural Institute's Landscapes of Memories project. — *Landscapes of Memories*, Armenia (2024) — Danish Cultural Institute. Photo: Martin Thaulow.

In the autumn of 2026 Danish Cultural Institute in collaboration with ICON× and Good People ApS are organizing an online photography school for practitioners eager to learn more about portrait techniques, ethical photography, interview techniques, and storytelling through pictures and anthropological interviewing. With 12 online sessions, self-organized fieldwork, personal mentoring and peer-to-peer exchange, 2 photographers from each country: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine will have the chance to get direct masterclasses and mentoring from Danish portrait photographer Martin Thaulow and build a network with likeminded people across the countries. The school will take place from mid-September until the end of November.

The programme is both a learning opportunity and a platform for co-creation. It will culminate in a collective publication showcasing the stories and photos from across the participating countries.

The participants will document the impact of Danish-supported projects in the region and explore questions of space and place, and how spaces reflect and interact with the social, cultural, and political realities of the region.

Applicants must

Be committed to participate in the educational programme (details will be elaborated at the info session).
Have a working level of spoken and written English.
Have access to proper photography equipment or the possibility of renting it (Camera, 1 flashlamp including trigger, and a camera stand).
Have prior experience with basic manual photography and camera settings.
Be curious to learn new techniques, and interested in cross-cultural collaboration.

Applicants can expect

12 Online pre-scheduled group sessions and needs-based individually planned mentoring sessions.
A dedicated and professional learning environment.
A new network of photographers across borders.
Shared usage rights of the photos together with the DCI.
Proper credit in all future usage and/or reference to their photos.
Financial support in the form of a lump sum to carry out fieldwork.
Those selected photos will be featured in a final publication (details will be given at the info session).

Deadline for applications: 15th September, 2026, 23:59, CEST.

About the artist, his methods and the concept

This is not a lecture series. It is a working programme: you photograph, you show unfinished work, you get concrete feedback, and you photograph again. Learning and production run in parallel, and the work made along the way culminates in a collective photographic project.

We work from method rather than equipment — a small, controlled setup you can carry alone into the field. Across the modules we cover portrait and light, ethical work with vulnerable people, and documentary method: interviewing, structured collection and keeping your material in order. Each module gives you a narrow assignment rather than an open one. Constraints force decisions, and decisions are where a personal visual language becomes visible.

The shared thematic frame is space and place — how cultural spaces reflect and interact with the social, cultural and political realities of the region. Everyone works within the same frame, in six different countries. Alongside the group sessions, each participant gets an individual portrait session and ongoing mentoring on their own material, and responds to the work of participants in other countries. The network forms through the shared work, not through a contact list.

Skills and criteria

The programme is open to practitioners. No photographic education or professional career is required — but you need a practice we can build on, and you need to work independently between sessions.

English. All sessions, mentoring and feedback are in English, with no interpretation. You must be able to follow a professional conversation, ask questions and receive constructive criticism in English.

Photographic level. At least one completed photographic project of your own — a series, an assignment or a personal project — and confidence working in manual mode (aperture, shutter speed, ISO).

Equipment. A camera with manual control, one flash with trigger and a light stand — owned, borrowed or rented. The portrait assignments are built around a single controlled light source and cannot be carried out without it.

Commitment. Beyond the online sessions you photograph on your own between them and deliver assignments on time. Sessions are recorded, so a missed session can be caught up — but the mentoring only works if the material arrives.

Willingness to be seen. You will show unfinished work to me and to the other participants, and be asked to say something useful about theirs. That openness matters more than your current level.

Martin Thaulow Danish photographer and visual artist, founder of Good People ApS

Works with portraiture, visual journalism and public exhibitions on democracy, civil society and human stories. Has produced exhibitions and photographic projects with the Danish Cultural Institute, among them Armenia — Landscapes of Memories (2024), and has trained and mentored local photographers online in several countries.

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