Turning the camera onto ourselves: sharing stories through self-portraits

Most photographers would agree that having their photo taken is last on the list of things they want to do ... until now! This workshop will guide participants through the art of self-portraiture and narrative building through hands-on exercises in storyboarding, studio lighting techniques, subject placement, photo capturing, editing and captioning. Participants will walk away feeling more confident and skilled in photographing themselves with a deeper understanding of how to share personal stories.

Participants are encouraged to arrive with a story about themselves that they want to share through photography. A basic understanding of photography is required⁠. Participants must bring their own digital camera and computer with Lightroom

Instructor Bio: Gilad Cohen is a Jewish-Canadian Toronto-based artist, photographer, podcaster, public speaker, and advocate for human rights. Since 2008, Gilad has worked as a community mobilizer with a focus on connecting audiences to urgent and compelling stories through multimedia arts. In 2012, Gilad founded JAYU, an award-winning Toronto-based charity that serves the arts community through the annual Human Rights Film Festival, The Hum, a human rights podcast which he produces and co-hosts, as well as the iAM Program, an initiative that provides arts and social justice mentorship to more than 200 equity-deserving youth from across the GTA each year.

Gilad is deeply passionate about mental health, often speaking about it publicly and advocating for better practices in the arts and non-profit sectors. As a photographer, Gilad specializes in portraits and travel photography. He has led photography and social justice storytelling workshops with equity-deserving populations across North America since 2015.

He is an alumna of the Toronto Arts Council Leaders Lab and the Rothschild Fellowship at Cambridge University in the UK. He has sat on the Board of Directors for several arts and human rights charities including Global Youth Volunteer Network, Scarborough Arts, and RISE Edutainment. He currently sits on the Board of HanVoice, Canada’s largest North Korean human rights advocacy charity.

Image Caption: Gilad Cohen, Self portrait taken by Gilad Cohen (detail), Digital Photograph, 2021.