Mumbai Experience Photography Workshop
Documentary, Street & Travel Photography with Daniel Rodrigues World Press Photo Award Winner
Documentary, Street & Travel Photography with Daniel Rodrigues World Press Photo Award Winner
This four-day Mumbai photography workshop is designed for photographers who want to develop a documentary and street photography approach in one of the most visually intense cities in the world
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, creating one of the most demanding environments for documentary photography.
This workshop is designed for photographers who already have experience and want to learn how to work inside intensity without losing clarity, ethics, or narrative control. It is not a beginner class, and it is not a tour. It is a focused learning process grounded in observation, responsibility, and real situations.
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.
The Mumbai workshop takes place in October 2026, starting on October 29.
The programme runs over four full days and is limited to a small group to ensure close guidance and meaningful development.
Maximum: 8 participants
Minimum: 5 participants
Duration: 4 intensive days
Fee: 775€ / 915$ 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.
What you will learn in this workshop
• 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.
Registration
Fee per participant: 775€ / 915$
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
Price & Conditions
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
Testimonials from workshop participants
Luís
Peniche, Portugal
"I consider the experience to have been very positive. You have a real gift for teaching, and I felt quite privileged to accompany you during these days, to see how you interact, photograph, and to hear all your insights and experiences. It ends up being enriching not only in terms of photography but also on a personal level.
For me, photographing people and interacting with them was a major block, and now I feel more confident. I still have a lot to practise and improve, but I feel capable of doing it. I also highlight how well organised everything is, from the platform to the programme, it is impeccable.
Likewise, the fact that you are an easy-going and flexible person creates a relaxed atmosphere, in the best sense. I also want to mention the review and critique sessions of the photographs we were taking, which I found essential to do better the following day and to have a clear focus on the points I needed to improve. Overall, a five-star experience, and I think you are a very good teacher, and photographer, of course."
Boris
France
"Daniel is a recognised and award-winning professional photographer.
I knew this before taking part in a four-day street photography workshop with him. What stayed with me most, however, was the person: approachable, generous with his time, and remarkably kind. I particularly appreciated the way he teaches visual storytelling, drawing directly from his own field experience.
This workshop was deeply enriching, not only for my photographic development but also on a human level."
Jamie
Montreal, Canada
"After four days with Daniel's instruction, I'm seeing photography (and Lisbon) through a completely new lens. The workshop was exactly what I was looking for: a blend of theory, guided shooting and light assistance with editing.
During the street sessions, Daniel--supportively but insistently--pushed us to overcome nagging fear and approach and centre our subjects. He never hovered, but he was never too far away, which gave us the confidence to explore areas of the city we might not have visited on our own and to purposefully experiment with our technique.
I'll forever think of light and shadow not just as questions of exposure but as direct elements of composition. Frank conversations about ethically and meaningfully capturing life in urban scenes also shaped our fieldwork. Our photos started to become a dialogue with the people and the places they inhabit rather than passing tourist snapshots.
Most of all, it was fun. I ended every day exhausted but inspired having learned not just from Daniel but also the other participants. Worth every cent."
Four-day Programme
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
Price & Conditions
Price & Conditions
Fee per participant: 775€ / 915$
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.
• 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.
About Daniel Rodrigues
About Daniel Rodrigues
Daniel Rodrigues is a photojournalist and documentary photographer. He won the World Press Photo in 2013, has been a regular contributor to The New York Times for over a decade and has worked in more than thirty countries, from conflict zones to isolated communities, major cities and everyday stories.
In these workshops, Daniel shares not only technical knowledge but also the way he thinks, observes, prepares and engages with people, constructing narratives that make sense to him and to the editors he works with.
Mumbai · October 29–November 1, 2026 · Limited to 8 participants