The Los Angeles Street Collective 2025 (Hybrid Learning – One Year)

About

Hybrid Learning (Online and In-Person)

The Los Angeles Street Collective (LASC) is a dynamic group of street photographers committed to visually capturing the spirit of Los Angeles and integrating the work back into the community. We photograph activity in public spaces, attempting to redefine traditional notions of street photography while interpreting the shades and rhythms of a sprawling habitat where diverse worlds clash and merge in complex ways. We nourish each other’s creative journeys while also engaging in deep dialogue about the work, both on an individual and collective level.

The Los Angeles Street Collective is a program by LACP and offers several outstanding opportunities for its members to spotlight their work..

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Exposure on LACP’s website and e-newsletters and listing under LACP’s Documentary, Street Photography and Photojournalism certificate program.
• Listing on LACP’s website featuring the collective’s street photography work.
• Virtual exhibition posted on the LACP exhibition page.
• In-person exhibition at LACP, to run for approximately four weeks.
• Special discount for use of LACP Digital Print Lab for making LASC Exhibition Prints
• Presentations by guest speakers at various monthly meetings
• Opportunities to publish your work in a Los Angeles Street Collective Zine, available for purchase and promoted via LACP’s online store and on MagCloud
• A designated LASC table at LACP’s Annual Photo Book Night
• One collective online zoom meeting and two scheduled street shoots per month for 12 months (12 online meetings + 24 scheduled street shoots).  NOTE: The Collective often schedules more than two street shoots per month.

PREREQUISITES:
There are no educational prerequisites, but you must already be practicing street photography and have a body of street work to show. We are looking for work that meets a certain level of criteria. Your submission will be reviewed by a small group of accomplished street photographers. If your work meets the criteria, it will be accepted and you will receive an invitation into the collective.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
Submissions are open all year round, however submissions received after June will be considered for the next calendar year of membership. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply by following the instructions below.

NOTE: Current members of the collective will have the option to renew, freeze or forfeit at the end of each calendar year for the following year.  Cost is currently $850 for the year, which will be prorated accordingly for new members who are approved to start between February and June.

Please include the following in your submission email:
• Your Full Name as you would like it to read on the website and other collective materials
• 15-20 images of your best street photographs taken in Los Angeles (the date does not matter – but they must be of Los Angeles and made by you)
• Image specs: 1400px on the longer side at 72dpi, saved as JPG
• Images should be named as follows in your desired sequencing order:
(First Name)_(Last Name)_01.jpg
(First Name)_(Last Name)_02.jpg
e.g.: Jane_Doe_01.jpg
• Your current Bio – 1 paragraph, written in 3rd person
• Your Statement about photographing on the street – 1 paragraph, written in 1st person
• Your website link
• Your Instagram link
• Send email to info@lacphoto.org
• Write LA STREET COLLECTIVE APPLICATION in your Subject Line

MEMBERSHIP:
• Annual Membership fee is $850.00 and covers one full calendar year (Jan – Dec).  Price will be prorated as the year progresses.
• Membership is up for renewal in the last 2 months of the year (Nov – Dec). You can decide at that time to renew, freeze, or forfeit.
• If you renew, you will continue to receive the benefits listed above for the following calendar year.
• If you freeze, you pause your membership for the upcoming calendar year and therefore do not receive the benefits actively during that time, but you will still remain on the LASC website for that year and will have the option to return to the collective in the year following that. This option can only be used for one year maximum.
• If you choose to forfeit, you will be removed from the Los Angeles Street Collective roster and will no longer receive any of the benefits listed above.
• For membership to be renewed for the upcoming year, annual dues must be paid by December 15th.

LASC will be led and organized by street photographer Safi Alia Shabaik (see below for bio)

The group meets online via zoom on the second Thursday of each month. If you have been accepted as a member, you will receive the specific details for each meeting via email.

Safi Alia Shabaik (IG @flashbulbfloozy), known by her moniker flashbulbfloozy, is a Los Angeles-based Egyptian-American interdisciplinary artist working in analog and digital photography, collage, sculpture, and experimental video. She discovered her visual voice at the early age of five in a children’s pinhole camera class at the California Museum of Science and Industry. She attended UCLA, earning her B.A. in Fine Art with honors. Under the mentorship of Catherine Opie, she learned the art of large-scale color printing in Opie’s custom-built darkrooms. Upon a move to New York, Safi became fashion stylist, photographic documentarian, personal assistant, travel companion, and confidante to the legendary icon Ms. Grace Jones, in her personal and public lives.

Safi’s photographic work explores identity, persona, transformation, daily life, and the humanity of all people. Her subject matter spans the self, family, street life, fringe culture, and counterculture – people who push their bodies to extremes and challenge societal norms. She has studied with and assisted many well-respected Street Photographers: Sam Abell, Matt Stuart, Stuart Franklin, Nick Turpin, Gus Powell, George Nobechi, David Gibson, Thomas Alleman, Ibarionex Perello, Kevin Weinstein, and Julia Dean.

Safi exhibits her work nationally and has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Black + White Photography, Lenscratch, Alta Journal, Catalyst: Interviews, Edge of Humanity, The Advocate, Upworthy.com, CameraCraft, Artillery, and in Grace Jones’s book: I’ll Never Write My Memoirs. She has been featured on several podcasts including The Candid Frame (episode 465) and the Young Onset Parkinson’s Network (YOPN), and her work has earned her recognition in PhotoLucida’s Critical Mass Top 50. In collaboration with the Parkinson’s Foundation, Safi is the proud recipient of a Visual Arts grant from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). She is the first (ever) recipient of the Las Fotos Project Foto Award for Self-Expression, presented by the Photographic Arts Council Los Angeles. Safi is a founding member of the Los Angeles Street Collective. She has presented her work upon invitation at Open Show, Alta Asks Live, and at several high schools and colleges in the greater Los Angeles area. A lover of the human form, the artist is also an award-winning mortician.

Details

• Thirty-six Sessions (minimum) over the year.
  
• Date: Hybrid class, 12 zoom sessions (dates TBA) + at least 2 monthly in the field street photography sessions (dates TBA)
• Enrollment limit: 15 students
• Skill/Experience Level: Advanced. By application only.
• Tuition: $850 (Prorated as the year progresses)
• Location: Online & DTLA

A details email complete with the Zoom link will be sent to the attendees prior to the start date. If you have additional questions please email info@lacphoto.org.

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