Street, Travel & Documentary Photography Workshop

Mumbai

Mumbai is a city of extreme density and constant negotiation. Space is shared, time is compressed, and private life unfolds in public view. Everything happens at once: labour, devotion, wealth, poverty, movement, and waiting.

This workshop is designed for photographers who want to learn how to work inside intensity without losing clarity, ethics, or narrative control.

Led by documentary photographer Daniel Rodrigues, this four-day intensive programme focuses on fieldwork, editing, and critical discussion in one of the most complex urban environments in the world. The emphasis is not on visual excess, but on understanding how stories emerge within pressure, proximity, and contradiction.

Maximum: 8 participants

Minimum: 5 participants

Duration: 4 intensive days

Fee: 675 € per participant

One edition available:

Workshop taught entirely in English

Why Mumbai?

Mumbai is one of the most demanding cities in the world for documentary photography. The city operates under constant pressure: bodies, traffic, labour, belief, and survival share the same space.

Light is harsh, fragmented, and often unforgiving. Time feels compressed. Distance is rarely available.

Each area carries a distinct visual logic:

• the informal economies of street labour
• the dense residential neighbourhoods
• religious spaces embedded in daily movement
• corporate districts bordering informal settlements
• transit zones where waiting and urgency coexist

Mumbai is not about visual excess for its own sake. It is about proximity, negotiation, and awareness. Photography here requires clarity of intention, ethical sensitivity, and the ability to make decisions quickly without simplifying complex realities.

O que irá aprender

• A 25% deposit is required to secure a place

• Remaining 75% due up to 30 days before the workshop

• Minimum of 5 confirmed participants

• Maximum group size: 8

Mumbai workshops fill quickly due to the strong visual environment and limited number of places.

Inscrição

Fee per participant: 675€

Includes:

• Four full days of guided work

• Theory, field practice and editing sessions

• Individual and group feedback

• Pre-workshop support (equipment, safety, cultural awareness)

Does not include:

• flights

• accommodation

• meals

• insurance

• local transport

Preço e condições

1) Light as a central element of storytelling

Mumbai is shaped by intense, vertical, and often unforgiving light. The sun is strong, reflections are harsh, and shadows are deep. Light becomes a force that reveals social structure, labour, and hierarchy rather than atmosphere.

You will learn to:

• work with extreme contrast and direct sunlight
• expose deliberately in high-pressure lighting conditions
• recognise how light reveals power, vulnerability, and labour
• use shadows, silhouettes, and hard edges to reinforce narrative meaning

2) Composition in dense, fast-moving environments

Mumbai does not offer visual pauses. The city is layered, compressed, and constantly in motion. Composition must happen inside congestion, not around it.

You will work on:

• organising chaos within the frame
• reading spatial density and overlapping layers
• composing with minimal physical distance
• building images where foreground, subject, and background collide

3) Human approach with cultural and ethical awareness

Mumbai demands a heightened level of ethical sensitivity. Proximity is unavoidable, and social dynamics are complex and visible.

You will learn how to:

• approach people with respect in highly exposed contexts
• work ethically in situations involving labour, poverty, and belief
• recognise power dynamics within a scene
• decide when not to photograph and why
• create trust through behaviour, presence, and consistency

4) Documentary storytelling in a megacity

The goal is not to collect striking images, but to build a coherent and responsible documentary narrative inside one of the world’s most complex urban systems.

You will explore:

• everyday routines under pressure
• informal labour and survival economies
• moments of waiting, repetition, and exhaustion
• contrasts between visibility and invisibility
• the relationship between people, space, power, and light

3) Human approach with cultural and ethical awareness

Mumbai demands a heightened level of ethical sensitivity. Proximity is unavoidable, and social dynamics are complex and visible.

You will learn how to:

• approach people with respect in highly exposed contexts
• work ethically in situations involving labour, poverty, and belief
• recognise power dynamics within a scene
• decide when not to photograph and why
• create trust through behaviour, presence, and consistency

4) Documentary storytelling in a megacity

The goal is not to collect striking images, but to build a coherent and responsible documentary narrative inside one of the world’s most complex urban systems.

You will explore:

• everyday routines under pressure
• informal labour and survival economies
• moments of waiting, repetition, and exhaustion
• contrasts between visibility and invisibility
• the relationship between people, space, power, and light

Programa de quatro dias

O que irá aprender

Estrutura de quatro dias

Preço e condições

Mornings

Short theoretical sessions, contextual discussion, ethical frameworks, and preparation for fieldwork.

Afternoons

Intensive fieldwork across different areas of Mumbai, with close guidance and individual feedback.

Late afternoons / Evenings

• Editing sessions

• Rigorous selection and sequencing

• Group critique

• Construction of each participant’s final narrative

Late afternoons / Evenings

• Editing sessions

• Rigorous selection and sequencing

• Group critique

• Construction of each participant’s final narrative

Late afternoons / Evenings

• Editing sessions

• Rigorous selection and sequencing

• Group critique

• Construction of each participant’s final narrative

Late afternoons / Evenings

• Editing sessions

• Rigorous selection and sequencing

• Group critique

• Construction of each participant’s final narrative

Fee per participant: 675€

Includes:

• Four full days of guided work

• Theory, field practice and editing sessions

• Individual and group feedback

• Pre-workshop support (equipment, safety, cultural awareness)

Does not include:

• flights

• accommodation

• meals

• insurance

• local transport

• A 25% deposit is required to secure a place

• Remaining 75% due up to 30 days before the workshop

• Minimum of 5 confirmed participants

• Maximum group size: 8

Mumbai workshops fill quickly due to the strong visual environment and limited number of places.

Preço & condições

• A 25% deposit is required to secure a place

• Remaining 75% due up to 30 days before the workshop

• Minimum of 5 confirmed participants

• Maximum group size: 8

Mumbai workshops fill quickly due to the strong visual environment and limited number of places.