Exploring Imagination: A Transformative Abstract Photography Journey in San Miguel de Allende

Contemporary abstract photography transcends mere style; it represents a movement. It necessitates a shift away from the literal, inviting your intuitive instincts to guide the creative journey. It investigates the overlap of photographic realism and abstract expressionism. Instead of capturing recognizable subjects, photographers concentrate on aspects such as shapes, hues, lines, and textures to convey thoughts and sensations. This approach departs from realism and embraces experimentation through diverse techniques, including intentional camera movements, multiple exposures, layered compositions, and single-image abstractions.

We cordially invite you to participate in our second creative abstract retreat in October 2025, set in the artistic city of San Miguel de Allende. Spanning five days, this event offers a chance to learn from prominent figures in the abstract arena. Renee Lynn, Stephanie Johnson, and Philip Sager, along with guest speakers Valda Bailey and Shelley Vandegrift, each provide a distinctive method to visual storytelling, transforming commonplace moments into powerful images that broaden the scope of photographic art.

Throughout the week, you will have a rare chance to collaborate directly with all three lead instructors and our guest presenters through practical assignments intended to enhance your creative outlook and technical abilities. Each day, attendees rotate with a designated team to a different instructor, who mentors them in crafting expressive art, imparts knowledge about ICM, ME, and other abstract techniques, and provides constructive critiques on new images created over the week. We gather daily for campus-wide lectures, demonstrations, image assessments, and group discussions, together enjoying breakfast and lunch. Afternoons are dedicated to exploring locations in and around vibrant San Miguel de Allende to produce new visuals. Collaboration and feedback exchange are encouraged across and within teams, fostering a nurturing community rich in diverse perspectives and inspiration.

If any small city on the globe can rival Santa Fe as a hub for art, it is undoubtedly San Miguel de Allende. Since 2001, this lovely place has served as our “home-away-from-home” every October. As a UNESCO World Heritage site, this esteemed travel destination offers an inviting atmosphere for delving into the culture of this historic town while nurturing your photography passion. This colonial gem has attracted artists since the 1940s and is now a thriving and continually developing community of creatives and art enthusiasts from all over the world. 

Each of our three lead instructors brings a unique viewpoint to abstraction, offering fresh ideas, technical demonstrations, and guidance. Stephanie is excited to return to San Miguel de Allende to impart her in-camera techniques for creating ICM and ME images, unveiling the magical realms achievable through these methods. The passion, expertise, and vision that Stephanie shares motivate you to perceive the world differently, challenge limitations, and engage more fully with your creative self. 

Philip draws inspiration from the emotional intricacies that shape visual imagery, which our minds simplify as we perceive, absorb, and interpret information. Typically, our eyes capture all visual data, yet our brains often direct our focus to just a few primary elements, thus constraining our actual “sight.” In creating photographs from the real world, camera optics enable us to appreciate the rich visual intricacies and numerous layers that our brains naturally simplify as they process visual information. To embody this perspective, Philip’s images are captured in-camera as singular photographs without multiple exposures or additional modifications during the editing process.

Renee’s focus is on the exploration of painterly ICM techniques and the innovative use of multiple exposures combined with layered textures. She outlines the method of developing a final image, emphasizing the transition from a traditional photograph to an expressionistic creation. The outcome is imagery that emphasizes personal experience through bold colors, exaggerated shapes, and rich textures.

Our two guest speakers provide valuable insights into their creative and technical methodologies. Valda will join us via Zoom from England, sharing her contemporary concepts and insights into impressionistic art-making. Shelley leads several Zoom sessions from Santa Fe, concentrating on elevating your post-processing skills with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. 

By merging the technical with the intuitive, this retreat in the renowned San Miguel de Allende presents a unique opportunity to experiment with innovative techniques, challenge conventions, and develop your distinct artistic voice. We urge you to immerse yourself, pose questions freely, and delve deeply into the realm of inventive photographic methods that celebrate unveiling the unseen.