THE SECRET GARDEN OF LILY LA PALMA
May 22-25, 2025 | Blenheim Park Maine
Step into the surreal and cinematic world of Lily la Palma, where photography becomes an act of fearless imagination. This transformative workshop, led by Guggenheim Fellow and National Geographic photographer Maggie Steber, with guest instructors, Sarah Leen, National Geographic's first female Director of Photography, and Lucie-awarded photographer Kerry Payne Stailey, invites you to break free from convention and explore photography as fiction, as poetry, as dreamscape.
In the enchanting setting of Blenheim Park—where cherry blossoms drift, secret gardens whisper, and light bends to your vision—you’ll craft images drawn from your deepest creative well. You’ll be encouraged to embrace playfulness, unearth untold stories, and reimagine what photography can be.
With curated props, evocative fabrics, dramatic lighting, and the boundless beauty of nature, you’ll have the tools and the freedom to create something entirely your own. This is a retreat from the linear, a celebration of what photography could be. Through guided exercises and daily critiques, you’ll learn to push your storytelling further, refining your vision while embracing the unknown.
This workshop isn’t just about making pictures—it’s about discovering who you are through photographic fiction. Be wild at heart. Step into the Secret Garden and awaken what has always been inside you.
TUITION AND DETAILS
This exclusive workshop is limited to 10 participants.
Dates: Thursday, May 22, 9:00 AM – Sunday, May 25, 3:30 PM, 2025
Tuition: $1,795 per person, including instruction, workshop materials, studio hire, gear loaners, one group dinner, and daily refreshments.
Accommodation: Not included, but a selection of charming nearby options will be provided.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to take your craft to new levels and study with titans of the industry in a breathtaking private lakeside estate setting.
STUDENT WORK AND BEHIND THE SCENES AT “THE SECRET GARDEN OF LILY LA PALMA”, BLENHEIM PARK 2021 to 2024
ABOUT MAGGIE STEBER: Maggie Steber, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, has worked in 70 countries photographing stories on the human condition.
National Geographic Magazine named her a Women of Vision, and her monograph on Haiti is entitled Dancing on Fire.
Her numerous accolades include Pulitzer Prize Finalist, the President’s Award from the Overseas Press Club, the Lucie Award for Photojournalism, and the Leica Medal of Excellence, among many others. Exhibited worldwide, her work is included at the Library of Congress and the Guggenheim Foundation. Maggie has worked on staff at the Associated Press and The Miami Herald, as well as on a contract basis for Newsweek Magazine.
For many decades Maggie told the stories in photographs of others, showing cultures, the histories of people and their experiences, both good and bad, of science and even personal stories that were her stories. She began to make different kinds of photographs that depicted her own experience in life, in what she saw, what she dreamt about, and things both dark and bright. For this work she received support from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and it continues to grow and has had impact on new ways of telling stories.
ABOUT SARAH LEEN: Sarah is the Founder of the Visual Thinking Collective. She has been a photographer, a photo editor and the first female Director of Photography at the National Geographic Magazine and Partners.
For nearly 20 years she worked as a freelance photographer for National Geographic magazine until 2004, when she joined the NGM staff as a Senior Photo Editor. Leen published 16 photo stories and produced five covers for the magazine. Sarah has also won numerous awards for both her photography and photo editing from the NPPA, the Pictures of the Year and the World Press Photo Awards.Sarah has juried numerous contests including Pictures of the Year International, LensCulture, Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, the FotoEvidence Book Award, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, the Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, the Getty Images Editorial Grants, the World Press Joop Swarts Masterclass and the Santa Fe Center Reviews.
In 2013, Sarah became the first female Directory of Photography for National Geographic Magazine and Visual Media. She led a team of photo editors, photo researchers, freelance photographers, studio photographers, and a photo engineer. She assigned all photographers, managed departmental budgets, and led the visual content for both the National Geographic magazine and the Nat Geo Traveler magazine.
She has juried numerous contests including Pictures of the Year International, LensCulture, Critical Mass, Photo Lucida, the FotoEvidence Book Award, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, the Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, the Getty Images Editorial Grants, the World Press Joop Swarts Masterclass and the Santa Fe Center Reviews.
She is on the Board of the International League of Conservation Photographers, on the Advisory Council for the Eddie Adams Workshop and a member of The Photo Society. Leen has curated exhibitions at Photoville in Brooklyn, NY, the Annenberg Space for Photography LA, LOOK3 and the National Geographic Museum.
ABOUT KERRY PAYNE STAILEY: Kerry is an Australian born, Maine based photographer and educator whose work explores the eternal themes of birth and death and how we can use photography to process all that happens to us in between.
Her work has been published widely and exhibited internationally and in 2015 she was awarded the coveted Lucie Award and named ‘Photographer of the Year’ by the Lucie Foundation. She teaches photography both online and at her workshop location in Maine.
OUR BEAUTIFUL LAKESIDE SETTING:
The workshop will be held in beautiful Midcoast Maine at Blenheim Park set on 16 landscaped, lakefront acres. It’s located about 1 hour north of Portland, Maine and about 7 miles from the charming town of Damariscotta.
In addition to an inspiring weekend with likeminded artists, our lakeside setting will do wonders for your spirit too. We’ll sprinkle in guided meditation by the lake, a shared dinner and other activities to help make this not only a wonderful time to advance your artistic vision, but a great opportunity for you to ‘reset’ from the daily grind, while building lifelong connections with other artists who share your interest in creating this type of work.
Students should show 10 photographs on the first day to share a sense of where you are at. Show something risky, or a collection of images from a project or story you have shot. We will work on how to select your best work as well as sequencing and how you might write about your work.
This workshop is for experienced photographers and artists who want to break out of the box and experiment with new ideas.
LIMITED TO: 10 PARTICIPANTS
DATE: Thursday, May 22, 9:00am to Sunday, May 25, 3:30pm, 2025
TUITION: Tuition for this 4 day program is $1,795 per person and includes tuition, workshop materials, studio hire, gear loaners, 1x group dinner and refreshments, daily.
ACCOMMODATION is not included, but a range of charming nearby options will be provided.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to take your craft to new levels and study with titans of the industry in a beautiful private lakeside estate setting.
COVID SAFETY: We are confident in our ability to offer a safe experience for our workshop programs but we ask that if you experience ANY cold or flu symptoms you test for Covid before attending class.
CANCELLATION and WITHDRAWAL: If you are unable to attend the following cancellation policy applies:
Withdraw 45 days or more prior to the start of your workshop and we will refund all payments made, less processing fees paid to online service providers.
Withdraw less than 45 days, but more than 30 days prior to the start of your workshop and we will refund 50% of your workshop tuition.
Withdraw 30 days or less prior to the start of your workshop, we cannot offer a refund, however you may transfer your place in the program.
QUESTIONS: EMAIL WORKSHOP PRODUCER KERRY PAYNE STAILEY
LOCATION: Blenheim Park, Midcoast Maine. Blenheim Park is a private residence and retreat space, set on 16 landscaped, lakefront acres. It’s located about 3hrs north of Boston, 1 hour north of Portland, Maine and 7 miles from the charming town of Damariscotta.
