Photography as an Agent for Change
Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) is thrilled to announce our 2026 Agent for Change series.
This year we are offering a series of free workshops that explore photography as a tool for advancement in areas of social justice, racial equity, disability, environmental justice, visual literacy, storytelling, and cross-cultural communications. These programs are some of the many ways we invest in community and local arts education.
Registration is free. Space is limited for these workshops, so we ask that you double-check you’re able to attend the session dates prior to enrollment.
At PCNW we are committed to providing accessible, inclusive photographic education and that often means through free programs and events. If you appreciate the work we do, please consider supporting us by donating or volunteering.
Plein Air Portraiture: workshop with Camille Trautman
Explore portraiture through the lens of artist Camille Trautman in this free, two-part workshop presented in partnership with the Frye Art Museum. The workshop draws inspiration from Trautman’s The North American LCD series, which incorporates the artist’s body within the landscape to explore identity, presence, and place. Participants will begin with an exhibition visit at the Frye Art Museum led by exhibition curator Alexis L. Silva. The group will then travel to Volunteer Park for a self-paced photography session exploring self-portraiture in nature. For the second session, participants will gather virtually for a supportive critique and conversation about their work. Each participant will have the opportunity to select up to three images to be printed and presented in an informal exhibition at PCNW.
BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists are especially encouraged to enroll. All experience levels are welcome. Participants may use any camera that feels most accessible—from a DSLR to a smartphone.
SCHEDULE:
APRIL 11, 2026 | Saturday 11am-4pm
- 11am-1pm: Exhibition walkthrough at Frye Art Museum
- 1-2pm: Bring your own lunch and arrange your own travel to Volunteer Park
- 2-4pm: Self-paced photography session at Volunteer Park. Should there be inclement weather, this portion of the workshop will be hosted at PCNW
APRIL 16, 2026 | Thursday 6-8pm (Pacific Time)
Session will be hosted online; a virtual meeting link will be provided in advance of the session
Visual Storytelling: Affirming our Common Humanity
led by Deborah Espinosa
Online
July 8 – 22, 2026 | Wednesday 5:30-8pm (Pacific Time)
This interactive workshop explores photography as a powerful tool for social change—one that affirms our shared humanity, challenges stereotypes, and invites empathy across differences. Through readings, guided discussion, and reflection, participants will learn how photographs can humanize complex experiences, amplify marginalized voices, and foster connection within and across communities.
Grounded in ethical, community-centered practices, the workshop emphasizes photography not as extraction, but as collaboration and relationship-building: an act of seeing, being seen, and honoring lived experience.
I Am Love: Queer Identity and Reciprocal Care
led by tom manzanarez
In-person
July 29 – August 12, 2026 | Wednesday 6-9pm
In this three-session workshop, students will explore queer identity through self-portraiture, visual storytelling, and digital compositing. Participants are invited to imagine what it might look like if a version of themselves could step outside their body and offer themselves love. Drawing inspiration from the nurturing, reciprocal love that manzanarez describes within queer community, this workshop centers love, respect, and affirmation as a revolutionary act. The poem In Lak’ech by Luis Valdez expresses this sentiment clearly: “If I love and respect you, I love and respect myself.” Care begins with how we give it. In queer love, learning to love and respect oneself is essential to survive, and this workshop explores the many ways individuals visually express that relationship with themselves.
Participants will engage with work by contemporary queer artists, spend time hands-on in the studio focused on photographing the self, and will learn techniques within Photoshop to create layered images embodying internal dialogues of self-love and care.
Visualizing Extreme Weather Events: Climate and Environmental Photography
led by Joy Saha
Online
September 24 – October 8, 2026 | Thursday 6-8pm (Pacific Time)
Join Bangladeshi documentary photographer Joy Saha for this online workshop exploring how photography can be used to bear witness to and interpret the effects of climate change and the resulting extreme weather events. Participants will examine how images shape public understanding of flooding, cyclones, heatwaves, forest fires, droughts, and the environmental aftermath. Learn and discuss the importance of creating ethical, visually compelling narratives that connect environmental change with human experience, and engage with the work of photographers from around the world who are leading by example.
The workshop combines lectures, image analysis, guided assignments, and group critique in a fully online format, making it accessible to participants across different regions and lived environments.
Free programming made possible with support from:
