October 11-13, 2025: Steve Simon: New York City Columbus Parade Edition

Workshop Details

Dates: October 11–13, 2025 (Sat, Sun & Mon – Columbus Day Weekend)

Group Size: Limited to 5 participants

Location: New York City, the Street Photography Capital of the World

Special Feature: Behind-The-Rope-Access

We’ve secured rare “press credentials” for the Columbus Day Parade—one of New York’s most vibrant annual events. Instead of being stuck behind barricades with half a million spectators, you’ll be walking the parade route itself, free to photograph from the heart of the action. With more than 35,000 marchers filling Fifth Avenue with energy, movement, and color, this opportunity will give you images and experiences no one else can get.

Them:

Us:

The Journey

We begin with an ice-breaking photo walk near our workshop venue in Chelsea, warming up our eyes and cameras. Over the weekend, we’ll dive into iconic New York neighborhoods as well as hidden corners most visitors never see. Each day blends shooting, thoughtful feedback, and conversation designed to fuel your creativity.

What You’ll Experience

Hands-on shooting sessions with Steve Simon, author of The Passionate Photographer and lifelong street shooter.

Proven street photography strategies to help you see differently and react instinctively to fleeting moments.

Personal coaching, group critiques, and creative inspiration that will accelerate your growth.

Pre- and post-workshop Zoom sessions so you arrive prepared and leave with a roadmap for your photography going forward.

A portfolio-building mix of locations: from the grit of Chinatown and Coney Island to the grandeur of Grand Central, the Brooklyn Bridge, Harlem, and beyond. (Final locations TBA)

Our Venue: NYC Seminar & Conference Center -  71 West 23rd Street (northeast corner of 23rd Street & 6th Avenue-Make sure you have ID!) Close to the F-Train, Flat Iron Building and Adorama/B&H so it’s a great location, you can be just about anywhere in the city in a very short time. Not only are there great coffee, eating and drinking places close-by, but the shooting possibilities are fantastic as well. Suite 901. 

After shooting in and around the Hudson Yards, as well as taking in the unique and new view of the city at The Edge, we head to our special dinner location Electric Lemon, a true New York City culinary event. The atmosphere is stunning; food is absolutely delicious and it’s quiet enough for great conversation.

"Electric Lemon, a seasonal American restaurant, celebrates the passionate farmers, growers and artisans of the Mid-Atlantic, transforming their pristine products into clean, conscious cuisine that puts flavor at the forefront. Offering stunning views from the 24th floor of the Equinox Hotel, located within New York City's Hudson Yards, Electric Lemon's sleek, expansive dining room and serene al fresco terrace make up the ideal multi-use, day-to-night setting. 

Street Philosophies

This intensive workshop will help you find your own unique vision and street style through assignments created to get you past photographic fears and cliches to capturing lyrical, poetic and decisive moments that communicate the energy of the streets. But mostly you will be shooting the theatre that is the street; sometimes together, often on our own.

We will do a pre-workshop zoom meeting and lecture so we can hit the ground running during the workshop. There will also be a two-hour post workshop zoom class and critique giving you plenty of time for a thorough final edit. 

You’ll learn about the “rhythm of place” and you will discuss the laws and ethics of street photography as well as dealing with difficult situations that might pop up. You will define a strategy for capturing the rich daily life of people on the street; overcoming fears and shyness, approaching strangers, framing, juxtaposition, layering your compositions, letting the image come to you and whether color or black and white best suits your vision. And you will have fun!

Though the schedule may seem packed, woven into the program is down time to relax, edit your work and percolate on the experience and what is being taught.

We encourage flexibility and independence among participants and will attempt to personalize your experience whenever possible. If you fall in love with an area and want to continue working there–you are encouraged to do so.

Limiting the participants to 4 allows us to tailor this workshop to meet the needs of each participant. Lectures and assignments will be personalized to get you out of your comfort zone and push you forward in your work.

Street Tech

You will talk street-tech with Steve, who will give you their minimalist view on gear along with a simplified shooting process to maximizing your response time to capture decisive moments. Steve’s street tools include Nikon Gear, with a carefully curated selection of lenses; but he is familiar with a wide range of equipment to help you maximize your mirror-less, compact, rangefinder, DSLR or even your camera phone for compelling street images.

We will talk lenses, auto focus, zone focusing, shooting form the hip, using live view, flash and a host of other tips, tricks, distractions and ideas that will improve your work dramatically. Along with gear choices you will learn best practices of handling yourself on the street, approaching strangers, and dealing with constantly changing variables. It’s a street photography workshop but the lessons learned will benefit you in all genres of image-making.

In class, you will look at a selection of your best work from the previous day. These daily critiques are of crucial importance, where you share ideas and constructive criticism as we look through each others’ images. We will speak truthfully about your work and help you identify strengths and weaknesses. The workshop will be a “safe place” for group discussions with suggestions and new ideas put forward. We will also be providing assignments to push you to a higher level in your work. 

We know that photography doesn't end when you push the shutter button and capture an image. In some ways that is where it begins. In this day and age of digital photography it is paramount that you find a consistent way to deal with the thousands upon thousands of images you will take in your life time. 

Steve will walk you through their processes of organizing, editing, processing and archiving their huge library of images. You'll see how they work with programs like Photo Mechanic, Lightroom and Photoshop. He will discuss how to deal with memory cards on a shoot all the way through archiving onto drives and in the cloud. 

Steve has wandered countless miles through the streets of cities around the world and will bring his collective knowledge to share in this master class.

Monday October 13th: The Parade!

• 11am: Columbus Day Parade.

  Floats, bands and groups start lining up between 43^rd and 47^th streets (between Madison and 6^th) around 10.  

  The parade starts at 11:30am; ends at 3pm.

  Main locations along route: of 47^th – 72^nd streets: Formation area above.

  St. Patrick’s Cathedral (50^th – 51^st on 5^th), Apple Store area on 5^th and then the Red Carpet Area (between 68^th and 69^th streets).

Our final Zoom Class gives us time to throughly edit your work from the parade. Steve will ask for up to 60 of your best images from which you create a 20 picture narrative. Steve will create his 20 image narrative from your work and we will compare our selections in the post-workshop critique and lecture. 

“I am a tourist." – Garry Winogrand

Testimonials

Gary Niederpruem, Chicago

“What a fabulous experience. I learned more about photography in one week than I had in 5 years. Steve is very knowledgable about the technical side as well as composition. He is very patient, gives excellent feedback and will work one on one with you on any photography subject you want. I asked him for help on night photography and at 10 PM he was out on the streets of Havana with me with step by step instructions on how to take the shot. 5 star plus rating!!”

Anna Blanco, New York City

“Best workshop I’ve ever taken! Steve is not only a great photographer, he is also a terrific teacher. He is patient and very hands- on. In some workshops the instructor sends students out to shoot after a short lecture–Steve goes out with his students, coaching them throughout the process. His course is well organized and covers diverse topics. He is funny and engaging and generous with his time and knowledge. I had SO MUCH fun and am ready to sign up for the next one. Highly recommended!”

Anne Dunford, Ithaca, New York

"My week in Steve’s Street Shooting workshop challenged me tremendously. There’s nothing like taking your work apart and putting it back together with new vision to make you a better photographer. If you take this workshop, I guarantee you will see the world differently at the end."

Paul Lavergne, San Juan, PR

"Steve’s passion for photography is contagious and his teaching abilities and knowledge extraordinary! I highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in photography."

Chapman Solomon, Mountain View, CA

“Participating in the NYC Street Photography Workshop was an enriching and exhilarating experience. It challenged me to step out of my comfort zone to improve my skills. Steve’s curriculum and hands on approach offered me an opportunity to learn new techniques, add some creativity and visualize subject matter from another perspective. Each day presented abundant photo opportunities, resulting with the capture of some amazing images, exceeding my greatest expectations.”

Stephen Sholl, New York City

"Not only is Steve a great photographer, he is also a caring, compassionate person as well. He is constantly trying to help participants achieve their photographic goals in a gentle, caring, and sincere manner. Sadly, the critiques of my work were very helpful. Steve was right-on in terms of his suggestions to better my work. The totality of the workshop was terrific, primarily because the parts were all excellent as well. Choice of shooting locations, image reviews, suggestions, videos shown, and galleries visited were all great. Steve also promoted wonderful interactions among the participants. The venue was perfect for the workshop. you could spread out, leave our things there, use the facilities, and eat the goodies provided. You know you’re in good hands with Steve! An outstanding workshop!!"

Steve Lavelle, London

"This is an outstanding workshop, led by a world-class photographer. It is impossible to spend time in a room with Steve Simon and not be inspired to get out there and make great images …I had high expectations and you exceeded them…Steve is very personable, articulate and passionate about photography, very welcoming with a warm, engaging personality. Steve’s style is outstanding. I knew of Steve from the TWiP podcast and would have attended if he was talking about how to watch paint dry…”

Oscar Piñeyro, Dallas

"I just spent the last three days with Steve Simon, What a wonderful experience, the best time spent in a workshop ever. Steve is a perfectionist, every presentation not only had spectacular photography but also the perfect music to enhance the mood, a roller coaster of emotions. He cannot hide his journalistic background every single image tells a story. His technique is flawless; his teaching patience unparalleled. I am eager to start a new chapter of my photography applying what Steve taught me in the last few days."