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Si vous residez en France, il est désormais possible de profiter de vos droits à la formation professionnelle pour participer à un workshop Venezia Photo. Selon votre statut, deux dispositifs existent pour vous accompagner dans le financement partiel ou total de votre workshop à Venise.
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi
STREET PHOTOGRAPHY From May 7 to 10, 2026

MEERI KOUTANIEMI

Seeing by Sensing
Storytelling Through Presence
Sale price€1.490,00 Finance my workshop

Led by Meeri Koutaniemi, this workshop explores presence, movement, and instinct as the foundation of photographic storytelling. Set in Venice and its lagoon, the city becomes an immersive learning environment where walking, drifting, pausing, and returning shape how stories are sensed and understood. Light, water, architecture, and everyday life naturally invite slowness, heightened awareness, and embodied attention.

Rather than beginning with image production, participants learn to move with situations and recognize when a story begins to take form through rhythm, interaction, and intuition. Photography is approached as a practice rooted in physical presence and relational awareness, where meaning grows from being in motion and staying receptive to what unfolds.

Through guided exercises, fieldwork sessions, mentoring, and group critiques, participants develop practical narrative skills grounded in observation and instinctive response. Emphasis is placed on sensing shifts in energy, timing, and proximity, and on learning when to act intuitively and when to wait. The workshop supports a balance between instinct, patience, and responsibility in the field, allowing stories to emerge with clarity and depth.

The workshop also offers practical tools for editing and sequencing, helping participants translate lived, embodied experience into coherent visual narratives. By the end of the program, each participant refines their personal voice and acquires both creative and methodological skills to develop thoughtful, place rooted documentary projects with confidence and autonomy.

Bio

Meeri Koutaniemi (b. 1987) is a Finnish photographer, journalist, and visual
artist working at the intersection of documentary practice, contemporary art, and social engagement. Her work spans more than 70 countries and is grounded in long-term projects exploring human rights, identity, and and the capacity for personal and collective resilience.

Originally from Northern Finland, Lapland, Koutaniemi began working internationally at the age of 19 and has since pursued an independent freelance career focused on sustained fieldwork and close collaboration with communities for the last 20 years.

Koutaniemi has received significant recognition for her contribution to visual storytelling. She was named Finland’s Photographer of the Year in both 2012 and 2013, and has been awarded several international honors, including the Tim Hetherington Memorial Award (USA, 2012), the Visa d’Or Daily Press Award (France, 2014), the FreeLens Award (Germany, 2014), and the Finnfoto Award (2025) for raising public awareness of social issues through photography.

Over the past decade, Koutaniemi has expanded her practice to include
scriptwriting and hosting for documentary television. From 2020 to 2024, she
wrote and hosted Irti kuvasta (Beyond the Image), a three-season television series
on visual arts for Finland’s national broadcaster YLE. In parallel, she has worked as a documentary filmmaker in Latin America. She has published nine books based on long-term photojournalistic research.

Her work has been exhibited in over 60 solo and group exhibitions internationally.

Koutaniemi currently works as a Canon Ambassador.

Pedagogical learning

• Deepen understanding of storytelling as a process rooted in presence
• Learn to recognise narrative moments through attention rather than action
• Develop sensitivity to atmosphere, rhythm, and temporal unfolding
• Explore how restraint, detail, duration shape narrative strength
• Build a coherent visual narrative through sequencing and editing
• Expand and refine personal visual voice by taking creative risk

Skills targeted

• Observational, situational, and emotional awareness
• Narrative thinking beyond single images
• Working with senses, time, repetition, and return
• Editing and sequencing for storytelling with intuition
• Strengthening personal authorship and intention

Target audience

This workshop is open to journalists, professional photographers, advanced amateurs, and visual artists seeking to deepen a thoughtful and engaged street photography practice.

Bringing together backgrounds in storytelling, photojournalism, art, and portraiture, the course intentionally blurs genres to foster a shared approach and help each participant develop a strong, personal visual voice.

Prerequisites

• Participants should be technically autonomous with their camera and
comfortable working with natural light.
• Personal photographic equipment such as camera, lenses of choice, memory
cards, an external hard drive, a laptop with charger, and editing software is
required. No artificial lighting is used.
• Participants are asked to submit a selection of 5-10 personal images prior to the
workshop.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
  • The complete workshop: from Thursday morning to Sunday evening
  • Welcome dinner
  • Any equipment loans
  • Access to any tourist sites or places of interest planned as part of the workshop
WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED
  • Meals (except from the welcome dinner) - there is a cafeteria and a restaurant available on San Servolo Island
  • Return transport to Venice and San Servolo
  • Accommodation: 100 rooms are available on site, in San Servolo, otherwise you'll need to arrange your own accommodation in Venice
  • Vaporettos and other water cabs outside the excursions scheduled as part of the workshop
  • All insurance cover for lost or stolen luggage, delayed or cancelled transport, theft or breakage of equipment during the workshop
Detailed program
Day 1

Morning

Introduction to storytelling as presence. Discussion on time, attention, and
narrative readiness. Observation and sensing exercises without photographing.

Afternoon

First field session focused on staying rather than shooting.
Street photography shooting session in public spaces.
Immersion in the street to photograph the chosen subjects and situations.

Day 2

Morning

Extended fieldwork. Participants return to the same place, subject or situation multiple times. Focus on rhythm, repetition, and subtle change. First images may be made.

Afternoon

Group discussion and guided image evaluations, designed to encourage constructive feedback, sharpen visual storytelling and nurture each participant’s artistic development.

Day 3

Morning

Continued fieldwork and reflection.


Afternoon

Introduction to sequencing and narrative
flow. Editing session centered on shaping the narrative through careful selection,
rhythm, and attention to detail.

Day 4

Morning

Final editing and sequencing. Group presentation of narrative works.
Discussion on presence, intuition, authorship, and how stories live beyond
explanation.

Afternoon

Individual meetings and personalized guidance for future projects
Discussion around long-term development and possible follow-up
Closing of the workshop and informal farewell moment
The program may be adjusted by the photographer to best respond to the needs and dynamics of the group.
Evaluation methods
  • Continuous assessment through daily individual feedback and group discussions
  • Final presentation of each participant’s work during the collective screening
  • End-of-session evaluation and self-assessment form to measure satisfaction and learning outcomes
  • Access to a shared alumni group for post-workshop dialogue and creative exchange
After the training

Participants’ work may be featured through Venezia Photo’s communication channels (newsletter, website, social media).
A private online group will allow participants to stay connected, share projects, and continue discussions beyond the workshop.
ACCESSIBILITY

All efforts are made to accommodate participants with disabilities. Please contact us in advance for adaptation of conditions.

Language of instructor

English

Duration & location

San Servolo - 4 days
Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi Sale price€1.490,00