About Us


Leaving a tenure-track teaching position at the University of Hawaii, a spot where the climate and culture was most enjoyable was not an easy decision, but one that I made back in 1981 after two years in “paradise.” It made sense to return to Rhode Island, the place of my birth, but this time was not to be Providence the big city. Rather, I decided to move to a small, untapped waterfront town called Bristol because it was a new frontier for me.

I was done, or so I then believed with institutionalized education. I thought – why not set up a workshop studio where people could come and share their pursuits of photography and be free of the high costs, politics, and the BS of academia. I thought that there must be people out there with the interests and passions about photography like myself. I was not surprised and happy to see a small contingent of people come to Bristol and join me in my old loft. Some were former students, and others simply lovers of photography.

And so my studio, doubling also as my home, became a workshop, actually something I decided to formally name, The Bristol Workshops in Photography.  Fortunately, my wife Julie also a photographer, heartedly agreed that this was a good idea. I became the first instructor, but with interests increasing it became clear we could do more and attract others with diverse talented teachers. Bill Parker, Jim Stone, and Darrell Matsumoto, great artists and teachers themselves, joined the loose faculty of workshop leaders. My personal darkroom, and outer studio with its oversized table became our facility. The loft’s living area substituted for a shooting space, as we needed it. And The Bristol Workshops was born.

Exhibitions followed with all members of the Workshop participating at small galleries nearby and even using some of Providence’s restaurants with walls for changing shows. With new blood and funding resources, several of us founded the Photo INsight journal in 1988, a non-profit with a commercial free publication devoted to critical writings on contemporary photography. After eight issues and sponsoring two symposiums, one in Providence at the RISD Museum honoring women in photography, and one in New York at NYU with discussions on Post-Modernism, the Photographic INsight Foundation was no more by 1992 with arts funding drying up. Julie and I began to do commercial work to support the fine art pursuits while I branched out to teach part-time at RISD for a while.

We published two portfolios by Mario Giacomelli, Paesaggio (Landscape) and La Gente (the people). This became the beginnings of Bristol Workshops Editions, at first a default enterprise resulting from the failure of Light Gallery in New York. Additional fine art portfolios were made. Ten Years: Twelve Images, a portfolio of mine was sponsored by a group called August, Inc. to be an edition of 100 portfolios representing my early BW work.

Only twenty copies were made after August’s demise. Similarly, when Palm Press of Massachusetts closed The Bristol Workshops studio became the sole publisher of 8 Angels of Pompeii, my dye-transfer color prints merging with Robert Bly’s poetry. Bly and I were able to arrange a hard copy book by the same title by working with Random House. We were becoming publishers of fine art limited edition portfolios, not out of choice, but necessity in order to make the projects happen.

What followed over the years was a move to a more permanent space of our own along the waterfront of Bristol by 2002 with some employees being added to organize the growing demands of commercial work. The fine art projects complimented much of the commercial work and the studio’ s appeal continued to grow. We were balancing client work with our own personal work and found appeal on both sides.

Today the Bristol Workshops has gone full cycle and is back to its roots – as a mom & pop enterprise involving sub-contractors for projects as they arise. Julie and I continue to churn out the work because its what makes the most sense. And Bristol Workshops Editions will continue to produce the limited artist’s proof runs of my projects. We are pursuing as possible the mainstream publishers to produce mass markets runs as possible but few are willing to take a chance on unproven authors-photographers. The point is to see our vision through in the production of small press products. This remains our priority at this point. Workshop classes have ceased as have the one-on-one tutorials we were offering. My teaching of Aesthetics at Roger Williams University keeps me in touch with eager young minds, which also is important in feeding the soul. The Bristol Workshops in Photography will carry on in being our base of support and the projects will go on. It’s the only way.


© 2017 Stephan Brigidi