Join our first PMF creative retreat in Dungeness, February 2025
“The gardener digs in another time, without past or future, beginning or end. A time that does not cleave the day with rush hours, lunch breaks, the last bus home. As you walk in the garden you pass into this time – the moment of entering can never be remembered. Around you the landscape lies transfigured. Here is the Amen beyond the prayer”.
Derek Jarman, Modern Nature
The team at Peter Marlow Foundation are proud to announce our first creative retreat in the beautiful surroundings of our home in Dungeness, Kent.
A group of 12 photography based practitioners will have the opportunity to work together with their peers, director of photography, curator and educator Emma Bowkett, photographer Kalpesh Lathigra and Shannon Ghannam, Director of Development and Programming at PMF.
We will also be joined by photographer Lynda Laird who will share her experience of a recent artist residency at Prospect Cottage, the former home of Derek Jarman and how the natural landscape of Dungeness informs and inspires her work.
Derek Jarman, Modern Nature
The team at Peter Marlow Foundation are proud to announce our first creative retreat in the beautiful surroundings of our home in Dungeness, Kent.
A group of 12 photography based practitioners will have the opportunity to work together with their peers, director of photography, curator and educator Emma Bowkett, photographer Kalpesh Lathigra and Shannon Ghannam, Director of Development and Programming at PMF.
We will also be joined by photographer Lynda Laird who will share her experience of a recent artist residency at Prospect Cottage, the former home of Derek Jarman and how the natural landscape of Dungeness informs and inspires her work.
Whilst this is a retreat focused on photographers we also recognise the many important roles across photography and welcome applications from anyone working across photographic practice (picture editors, curators, educators for example) and who think they would benefit from this experience.
This unique event, spread across 4 days, would suit practitioners at varying stages of their careers and would be particularly useful for those facing some of these common challenges as a creative.
* How to approach projects and research
* How to edit and sequence long term projects
* How to pitch and promote your work
* How to navigate the financial realities of being a freelance photographer/creative
* How to reignite passion for your work
Applicants will be asked to share their creative challenges and ambitions for the retreat when applying and we will tailor our sessions to best address these for the group.
This unique event, spread across 4 days, would suit practitioners at varying stages of their careers and would be particularly useful for those facing some of these common challenges as a creative.
* How to approach projects and research
* How to edit and sequence long term projects
* How to pitch and promote your work
* How to navigate the financial realities of being a freelance photographer/creative
* How to reignite passion for your work
Applicants will be asked to share their creative challenges and ambitions for the retreat when applying and we will tailor our sessions to best address these for the group.
Nourishing vegetarian/vegan meals and drinks will be provided over the weekend and on the Saturday we will visit the famous Fish Hut in Dungeness for lunch (veggie options available).
As well as a full programme of talks and group sessions we will have time for yoga, meditation, bird watching, walks, star gazing, fire side chats and a bracing cold water swim for the brave!
Participants will be able to hear about the work of Peter Marlow and PMF and use our extensive photobook library that was acquired from the Magnum Tokyo office.
Peaceful and luxurious accommodation is available on site for an additional, discounted fee of approx £150 for the period, some of these are in a shared house. Please talk to the team about this on application. Staying on site is recommended as it will add to the experience of the retreat, please note that travel once in Dungeness is difficult without a car.
The PMF team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
As well as a full programme of talks and group sessions we will have time for yoga, meditation, bird watching, walks, star gazing, fire side chats and a bracing cold water swim for the brave!
Participants will be able to hear about the work of Peter Marlow and PMF and use our extensive photobook library that was acquired from the Magnum Tokyo office.
Peaceful and luxurious accommodation is available on site for an additional, discounted fee of approx £150 for the period, some of these are in a shared house. Please talk to the team about this on application. Staying on site is recommended as it will add to the experience of the retreat, please note that travel once in Dungeness is difficult without a car.
The PMF team will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Below you will find a proposed schedule, we may adapt this to the needs of the group:
Tuesday February 4th 2025
Online Lecture by Kalpesh Lathigra about his work followed by an in conversation with Emma Bowkett. This ticketed lecture will be open to the public and proceeds will go directly to support our free educational programming. This is included in the ticket price and for the scholarship place. The public can buy a ticket to this talk here
Friday February 7th 2025
3pm Arrival and settle into accommodation
4pm Welcome and Introductions
7pm Special Welcome Dinner
Star Gazing and Fireside Chats
Saturday February 8th 2025
7:30am Yoga (optional)
8:30am Breakfast
9:30am Group review of ambitions for the retreat, including current challenges and ambitions for your work
12:30pm Lunch (Group visit to Fish Hut)
1:30pm Walk to Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage and talk by Lynda Laird about her residency. Please note that the cottage will not be open at this time of year.
3pm Self Directed Time or smaller break out groups/1-1’s with Emma/Kalpesh/Shannon
6:30pm Dinner
8pm Talk by Emma Bowkett about her work
Free time and drinks
Sunday February 9th 2025
8am Yoga (optional)
9am Breakfast
10am Self Directed Time or smaller break out groups/1-1’s with Emma/Kalpesh/Shannon identifying intentions for next steps.
12:30 Lunch
1:30pm Group regroup - Reflections on time in Dungeness and sharing intentions
4pm Sunset Walk
6pm Final Dinner and Drinks
(Some people may want to leave after dinner or depart in the morning)
Monday February 10th 2025
8:30am Breakfast
Free time/Swim pending weather
Goodbyes and Departure!
We hope participants will leave feeling like they have expanded their network of peers and industry contacts and that they have answered some of the big questions they have about their work, navigating the photographic landscape and with a plan for next steps.
Tuesday February 4th 2025
Online Lecture by Kalpesh Lathigra about his work followed by an in conversation with Emma Bowkett. This ticketed lecture will be open to the public and proceeds will go directly to support our free educational programming. This is included in the ticket price and for the scholarship place. The public can buy a ticket to this talk here
Friday February 7th 2025
3pm Arrival and settle into accommodation
4pm Welcome and Introductions
7pm Special Welcome Dinner
Star Gazing and Fireside Chats
Saturday February 8th 2025
7:30am Yoga (optional)
8:30am Breakfast
9:30am Group review of ambitions for the retreat, including current challenges and ambitions for your work
12:30pm Lunch (Group visit to Fish Hut)
1:30pm Walk to Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage and talk by Lynda Laird about her residency. Please note that the cottage will not be open at this time of year.
3pm Self Directed Time or smaller break out groups/1-1’s with Emma/Kalpesh/Shannon
6:30pm Dinner
8pm Talk by Emma Bowkett about her work
Free time and drinks
Sunday February 9th 2025
8am Yoga (optional)
9am Breakfast
10am Self Directed Time or smaller break out groups/1-1’s with Emma/Kalpesh/Shannon identifying intentions for next steps.
12:30 Lunch
1:30pm Group regroup - Reflections on time in Dungeness and sharing intentions
4pm Sunset Walk
6pm Final Dinner and Drinks
(Some people may want to leave after dinner or depart in the morning)
Monday February 10th 2025
8:30am Breakfast
Free time/Swim pending weather
Goodbyes and Departure!
We hope participants will leave feeling like they have expanded their network of peers and industry contacts and that they have answered some of the big questions they have about their work, navigating the photographic landscape and with a plan for next steps.
One scholarship place on this retreat will be offered free of charge and include accommodation. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are guiding principles at PMF and we actively encourage scholarship applications from communities including, but not limited to, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, Traveller, disabled, neurodiverse, people with mental health issues, care experienced, LGBTQ+, NEETs, unemployed and/or the low waged. Travel is not included and applicants should be over 18 and from the UK.
You can apply for the scholarship place here until 11:59pm January 5th here
To be considered for the paid places please apply here
£850
Deadline 11:59pm January 5th, 2025
We will review submissions with a view to creating a mix of experiences and interests across the group. The retreat is subject to a minimum number of applicants and will be confirmed January 10th at the latest, when the successful and scholarship places will also be announced.
Applicants will be charged when their place has been confirmed.
You can apply for the scholarship place here until 11:59pm January 5th here
To be considered for the paid places please apply here
£850
Deadline 11:59pm January 5th, 2025
We will review submissions with a view to creating a mix of experiences and interests across the group. The retreat is subject to a minimum number of applicants and will be confirmed January 10th at the latest, when the successful and scholarship places will also be announced.
Applicants will be charged when their place has been confirmed.
Speaker Biographies
Emma Bowkett
Emma is Director of Photography at the Financial Times Weekend Magazine and a curator focussed on lens-based arts and contemporary visual culture. She is Associate Lecturer at UAL: University of the Arts London, and a mentor who regularly participates in international workshops, portfolio reviews, festivals and awards. Emma is co-director for Peckham 24, the annual UK festival celebrating established and early career artists working with an expanded photographic practice.
Kalpesh Lathigra
Kalpesh was born in London, England in 1971 and studied photography at the London College of Printing. After leaving the course in 1994, he was awarded The Independent Newspaper Photographer Traineeship. Kalpesh worked for The Independent as a staff photographer for one year before freelancing for the national newspapers in the UK for 6 years covering news and features. In 2000 , he gave up working for newspapers and made the decision to work on long term projects and magazine and commercial assignments. In the same year he was awarded a 1st Arts prize in the World Press Photo. In 2003, he embarked on a project documenting the lives of Widows in India, receiving The W.Eugene Smith Fellowship and Churchill Fellowship. His first book “ Lost in the Wilderness” , a body of photographs on the Oglala Sioux and Pine Ridge Reservation was published in 2015. Noted by Sean O Hagan - The Guardian critic as one of the photo books of the year. In 2022, He published Memoire Temporelle, the first of a trilogy series exploring his South Asian heritage. Kalpesh continues to work for the leading international magazines on documentary and portraiture assignments alongside personal projects. He is a Senior Lecturer at the London College of Communication, University of Arts.
Lynda Laird
Lynda is a photographic artist, her research-based practice merges archive, photography, video and sound. Employing techniques, methods and materials that are sympathetic and relevant to the subject. She focuses on long-term bodies of work: primarily looking at landscape and the traces of memory in these spaces. She is interested in exploring ways of showing what is invisible to the naked eye, often employing camera-less techniques and working with the materiality of specific landscapes in an attempt to bring an element or trace of its history into the work. Lynda recently worked as the photographic artist in residence at the Royal Astronomical Society, where she focused her research on the celestial discoveries of the 18th century astronomer Caroline Herschel, she was awarded an arts council project grant to turn her research in to a touring installation which was shown at the Royal Astronomical Society, Jodrell Bank First Light Pavilion, The Herschel Museum, Solaris Gallery and the Orkney Science Festival. She is currently working on a project that stemmed from an artist residency at Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, where she is focusing on the endangered Sussex Emerald Moth which has created its habitat around the shingle of the nuclear power station and working with the local plants to create developers to process the images. Lynda also works as an Associate Lecturer on the MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at London College of Communication, and as a picture editor at the New Statesman and New Scientist.
Emma Bowkett
Emma is Director of Photography at the Financial Times Weekend Magazine and a curator focussed on lens-based arts and contemporary visual culture. She is Associate Lecturer at UAL: University of the Arts London, and a mentor who regularly participates in international workshops, portfolio reviews, festivals and awards. Emma is co-director for Peckham 24, the annual UK festival celebrating established and early career artists working with an expanded photographic practice.
Kalpesh Lathigra
Kalpesh was born in London, England in 1971 and studied photography at the London College of Printing. After leaving the course in 1994, he was awarded The Independent Newspaper Photographer Traineeship. Kalpesh worked for The Independent as a staff photographer for one year before freelancing for the national newspapers in the UK for 6 years covering news and features. In 2000 , he gave up working for newspapers and made the decision to work on long term projects and magazine and commercial assignments. In the same year he was awarded a 1st Arts prize in the World Press Photo. In 2003, he embarked on a project documenting the lives of Widows in India, receiving The W.Eugene Smith Fellowship and Churchill Fellowship. His first book “ Lost in the Wilderness” , a body of photographs on the Oglala Sioux and Pine Ridge Reservation was published in 2015. Noted by Sean O Hagan - The Guardian critic as one of the photo books of the year. In 2022, He published Memoire Temporelle, the first of a trilogy series exploring his South Asian heritage. Kalpesh continues to work for the leading international magazines on documentary and portraiture assignments alongside personal projects. He is a Senior Lecturer at the London College of Communication, University of Arts.
Lynda Laird
Lynda is a photographic artist, her research-based practice merges archive, photography, video and sound. Employing techniques, methods and materials that are sympathetic and relevant to the subject. She focuses on long-term bodies of work: primarily looking at landscape and the traces of memory in these spaces. She is interested in exploring ways of showing what is invisible to the naked eye, often employing camera-less techniques and working with the materiality of specific landscapes in an attempt to bring an element or trace of its history into the work. Lynda recently worked as the photographic artist in residence at the Royal Astronomical Society, where she focused her research on the celestial discoveries of the 18th century astronomer Caroline Herschel, she was awarded an arts council project grant to turn her research in to a touring installation which was shown at the Royal Astronomical Society, Jodrell Bank First Light Pavilion, The Herschel Museum, Solaris Gallery and the Orkney Science Festival. She is currently working on a project that stemmed from an artist residency at Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, where she is focusing on the endangered Sussex Emerald Moth which has created its habitat around the shingle of the nuclear power station and working with the local plants to create developers to process the images. Lynda also works as an Associate Lecturer on the MA in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at London College of Communication, and as a picture editor at the New Statesman and New Scientist.
Shannon Ghannam
Shannon has been working since 2023 to develop the Peter Marlow Foundation based in Dungeness, Kent. During this time she was also seconded to the Magnum Photos Foundation, developing and fundraising for their educational programming. Prior to these roles, Shannon was the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos for six years, working with the team responsible for the agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia journalism projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app and website Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Australian Photojournalist Journal (APJ), The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year-long socially engaged photography project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon has participated in mentoring programmes and lectured at various universities and organisations internationally. Shannon sits on the Royal Photographic Society’s Education Committee. She is part of the Barbican's first Community Impact Collective, a group of artists and organisations local to the Barbican collaborating with their Communities and Neighbourhoods team on how to better reflect and serve the community. Shannon proudly comes from a working class background. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
Shannon has been working since 2023 to develop the Peter Marlow Foundation based in Dungeness, Kent. During this time she was also seconded to the Magnum Photos Foundation, developing and fundraising for their educational programming. Prior to these roles, Shannon was the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos for six years, working with the team responsible for the agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia journalism projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app and website Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Australian Photojournalist Journal (APJ), The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year-long socially engaged photography project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon has participated in mentoring programmes and lectured at various universities and organisations internationally. Shannon sits on the Royal Photographic Society’s Education Committee. She is part of the Barbican's first Community Impact Collective, a group of artists and organisations local to the Barbican collaborating with their Communities and Neighbourhoods team on how to better reflect and serve the community. Shannon proudly comes from a working class background. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
