Guys, I have an important communication for all those interested to take the workshop with me in Oaxaca during the Day of the Dead.
Although this proposal for photographers boasts an experience that began in 2015 and has several successful editions, I decided to change the formula a little to put it more in line with my attitude and photographic vision.
Street photography is my thing, guys. And therefore this 8-day photographic journey will also focus on street photography, on an approach that will allow all participants to take different photographs from what we are usually used to seeing by those who are in celebrations of this type. There will therefore be principles of anti-composition inserted into the context of the analysis of the composition and content of images.
We will use our cameras creatively and students will be stimulated to get out of their comfort zone by experimenting with various techniques that allow them to return home as more experienced and complete photographers. We will use the flash for example and I will guide my students in the search for extreme exposure choices to obtain really strong and impactful images. We will create ghosts just like I showed in my project Reality Remade.
This is a real street photography workshop and it lasts 8 days.
I will be with you all the 8 days.
And is the cheapest workshop proposal of Day of the Dead that you can find. Are you ready? OK, here you go:
OAXACA, MEXICO · DÍA DE MUERTOS 2027
More than a decade photographing and leading private photographic experiences during Día de Muertos.
BOOKING DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2027 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED TO OAXACA AS LOCATION
OCTOBER 10 IF YOU AGREE TO MAKE IT IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION
One Photographer. One Mentor. One Experience.
Día de Muertos in Oaxaca is one of the most extraordinary moments of the Mexican year.
For four days, you will photograph Oaxaca during Día de Muertos with Alex Coghe, working exclusively one-to-one and developing your own photographic response to this extraordinary celebration.
This is not a group workshop.
There will be no group of photographers moving through the streets together, no predetermined group itinerary, and no pressure to photograph the same subjects as everyone else.
The experience is built around a simple idea:
Photography is ultimately a personal and solitary act.
We can walk together, photograph together, discuss photographs together, and learn from each other. But the moment of seeing and making the photograph belongs to the individual.
This is why the experience is deliberately private.
You will have Alex's direct attention throughout the four days, allowing the photographic work to develop according to your interests, your approach, and the reality we encounter in Oaxaca.
Oaxaca During Día de Muertos
There are few places in the world where photography, culture, memory, and human emotion intersect as powerfully as they do in Oaxaca during Día de Muertos.
For four days, we will photograph throughout Oaxaca's historic centre, traditional markets, neighbourhoods, cemeteries, public celebrations, and surrounding communities.
We will respond to what is actually happening rather than follow a rigid itinerary.
Día de Muertos is intense, emotional, chaotic, beautiful, and deeply human.
It offers extraordinary possibilities for documentary photography, but it also demands sensitivity, patience, observation, and respect.
The purpose is not simply to collect photographs of Día de Muertos.
The purpose is to experience it, understand what is happening around you, and create photographs that reflect your own way of seeing.
IS THIS EXPERIENCE FOR YOU?
Are you a tourist or a traveler?
There is a difference. And this experience is designed with the latter in mind.
01. Do you want to see Mexico, or do you want to experience it?
Are you looking for the familiar highlights and postcard views, or are you interested in discovering local traditions, everyday life, unexpected encounters and places beyond the usual tourist routes?
02. Are you comfortable with the unexpected?
Not everything can be planned, controlled or anticipated. Local circumstances, changing schedules, long walks and spontaneous encounters are part of the experience. Flexibility and an open mind are essential.
03. Are you coming to collect photographs, or to develop your way of seeing?
This is not a photo tour designed to take you from one iconic spot to another. It is an opportunity to observe, engage, understand and photograph with greater awareness. The emphasis is on seeing, not simply on shooting.
A FEW THINGS WORTH KNOWING
This experience is probably not for you if you expect a conventional guided tour, a fixed schedule with guaranteed photographic opportunities, or a comfortable itinerary designed around sightseeing.
It is for you if you are curious, independent-minded, respectful of local culture and willing to embrace the unpredictable nature of documentary photography and travel.
You don't need to be an experienced photographer. But you do need to be willing to look beyond the obvious.
A Completely Personal Photographic Experience
Everything is adapted to you.
Your photographic interests.
Your way of working.
Your pace.
Your equipment.
Your ideas.
You may want to concentrate on documentary photography, portraits, the urban landscape, human encounters, the rituals themselves, or the quieter moments surrounding the celebrations.
We can follow those interests throughout the experience.
We can spend hours walking and photographing.
We can stop to discuss a photograph.
We can return to a location at a different time.
We can change direction because something unexpected has happened.
We can spend time photographing without interruption and later sit together to look at the work.
There is no group schedule to follow and no need to wait for other photographers.
The experience belongs to you.
Your Photographer and Mentor
The experience is led by Alex Coghe, an Italian photographer, photojournalist, educator, and writer based in Mexico City since 2009.
Alex has worked professionally in Mexico and internationally for more than fifteen years, photographing documentary stories, portraits, editorial assignments, urban environments, and everyday life.
His work has been published internationally, including by L'Équipe and France Football, and his professional experience has also included projects for Leica and Burberry.
Since 2011, Alex has worked with photographers from different countries and at very different stages of their development.
His approach to teaching is based on observation, intuition, visual awareness, editing, and the development of a personal photographic language.
Technical perfection is never the primary objective.
The goal is to become more conscious of what you are seeing, why you are photographing it, and what you want your photographs to communicate.
During the experience, Alex will work directly with you in the field, discussing your photographs, your decisions, your approach to people and places, and the development of your own visual narrative.
Photography Before Technique
You do not need a particular camera.
You do not need a particular lens.
You do not need to follow a particular photographic style.
What matters is your curiosity and your willingness to look.
Photography is not primarily about having the perfect equipment or applying the correct technique.
It is about seeing.
The technical aspects matter, but they should support your vision rather than replace it.
The experience is designed to help you become more aware of your own photographic decisions and gradually develop a more personal way of working.
Field Work
The four days will be spent photographing across Oaxaca and responding to the constantly changing environment of Día de Muertos.
Depending on your interests and on what is happening during your stay, our work may include:
Historic Oaxaca and its streets
Traditional markets and neighbourhoods
Cemeteries and Día de Muertos rituals
Public celebrations and processions
Family and community traditions
Portraits and human encounters
Night photography
The quieter moments surrounding the celebrations
The human and urban landscape of Oaxaca
Nothing is guaranteed or staged.
The strongest photographs often appear when you stop looking for the expected image.
Editing and Sequencing
Photography does not end when we stop shooting.
Time will also be dedicated to reviewing and editing your work.
We will look at what you photographed, identify the strongest images, discuss sequencing and visual consistency, and consider how individual photographs can become part of a larger body of work.
Editing is an essential part of photography.
A strong photograph is important, but understanding how photographs work together is what can transform a collection of images into a coherent body of work.
You will leave Oaxaca not simply with a large number of photographs, but with a clearer understanding of what you are trying to say through them.
Who Is This For?
The experience is suitable for photographers at different levels.
You may be relatively new to documentary or street photography, or you may already have years of experience and want to work more deeply on your vision.
Previous experience is not required.
What matters most is curiosity, openness, and a genuine desire to photograph.
You do not need to photograph like Alex.
You do not need to photograph like anyone else.
The purpose of the experience is to help you photograph more like yourself.
Gear
Travel light.
One camera and one lens are often more than enough.
A 28mm, 35mm, 40mm, or 50mm lens can work extremely well in Oaxaca, depending on your approach.
Bring spare batteries and memory cards.
A laptop can be useful if you would like to work on editing during the experience.
Comfortable walking shoes are essential.
Most importantly, bring the camera you know and trust.
What the Tuition Includes
The $3,500 USD tuition fee covers:
Four days of private, one-to-one photographic tuition with Alex Coghe
Individual photographic coaching throughout the experience
Direct field guidance and photographic discussion
Practical work across Oaxaca during Día de Muertos
Individual image review, editing, and sequencing
Discussion of your photographic approach and personal development
Pre-experience photographic preparation and planning
The experience is exclusively for one participating photographer.
There are no group sessions or additional paying participants.
Travel and Other Expenses
The tuition fee covers photographic instruction only. Travel and accommodation expenses are not included.
The participant is responsible for all expenses required to make the experience possible, including:
International or domestic flights
Accommodation in Oaxaca
Meals and personal expenses
Airport transfers
Local transportation during the experience
Travel insurance
Any other expenses not explicitly included in the photographic tuition
This also applies to the to the expenses required for Alex Coghe to travel to and work in Oaxaca.
The participant is responsible for covering Alex's necessary travel, accommodation, meals, and local transportation expenses for the duration of the experience.
All travel arrangements and estimated expenses will be discussed and agreed upon in advance, before the booking is confirmed.
The participant's travel arrangements and Alex's necessary travel arrangements must be coordinated to ensure that the experience can take place as planned.
Investment
Private One-to-One Día de Muertos Photographic Experience
$3,500 USD
Four days of private photographic tuition. One photographer. One mentor.
The fee covers photographic tuition only.
Travel, accommodation, meals, local transportation, and all other logistical expenses are additional and are the responsibility of the participant, including the expenses required for Alex Coghe to conduct the experience in Oaxaca.
Dates are arranged privately according to your travel plans and Alex's availability around Día de Muertos.
Because Oaxaca becomes exceptionally busy during this period, early planning is strongly recommended.
Booking deadline: March 31, 2027.
Why This Experience Is Different
Most photography workshops bring photographers together and ask them to follow the same itinerary.
That model can work.
It is simply not how I want to teach photography.
I believe that photography is ultimately an individual act.
We may walk together, talk, look, photograph, and edit together, but the photograph itself is yours.
There is something important about giving a photographer enough space to see without constantly being influenced by what several other photographers are photographing beside them.
This experience is therefore intentionally private.
No group.
No predetermined photographic style.
No race to make the same photograph.
No pressure to produce a particular kind of image.
Just you, your camera, Oaxaca, Día de Muertos, and the opportunity to work closely with an experienced photographer who can help you look more carefully.
More Than a Photography Workshop
Día de Muertos disappears quickly.
The streets change.
The celebrations move.
People return home.
What remains are the photographs.
The purpose of these four days is not simply to document one of Mexico's most famous celebrations.
It is to use Oaxaca as an environment in which to look, photograph, edit, question, and develop your own way of seeing.
You will have the opportunity to work in the field, discuss your photographs, edit your work, and think more deeply about your photographic practice.
This is not a photography tour.
It is not a group workshop.
It is a private photographic experience built around you and your way of seeing.
One photographer. One mentor. One experience.
OUR TESTIMONIALS SAID
Alex,
What a wonderful experience. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from you. As I review my work, I see a definite change in the way I approach photography.
As I mentioned a few times while we walked, this was a top-ten experience of my lifetime. Exploring new landscapes, new cultures, and new food, and allowing myself to sink into someone else's way of life, made me a better photographer. In Puebla, Cholula, Atlixco, and Huaquechula, I felt to a certain extent part of another's way of life. We laughed, we learned, and we met wonderful people. It was absolutely amazing.
I know the group dynamic changed our plans in Huaquechula. I think we made the right call, but I hope on a future trip to experience the cemetery and capture those visuals.
During my travel home, I had time to reflect and make a quick pass through over 1,000 photos, not counting a few burst-mode moments.
I would highly recommend your workshop to other photographers, but only if they are willing to soak into the culture. There is no other way to properly document a holiday like Día de Muertos.
I am already looking forward to our next adventure.
Thank you again, my friend.
Warm regards,
John Matthews - PUEBLA 2026
It was an incredible experience. Life changing in fact. Alex Coghe is an exceptional photo coach. If you truly wish to have a fully culitrally emmersed street photography expedition look no further.
Brad Zipursky - OAXACA 2023
I took Alex's workshop in Oaxaca some years ago and it was one of the best I did. Perfect combination of photography and magic that Oaxaca brings. Widely recommended!
Gabriel Velasco Robles. - OAXACA 2016
There is a special atmosphere in Oaxaca, the "hermosa" Oaxaca, during the Dia de Muertos. It's not just a traditional party. It can change your perception of life and death. How it happened to me.For this reason I don't want my photographers to take pictures that anyone will do there. We need to get into a particular state of mind, in order to get a portrait that is not just a portrait or a photo that captures a certain energy, because we have entered in depth, respecting the celebrations and the people of Mexico let's photograph the magic The photographic expedition of the Day of the Dead with Alex Coghe offers the exciting opportunity to be guided through the colorful, mystical and frantic celebrations of the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca with Alex's relaxed photographic advice.
Héctor Muñoz Huerta. - OAXACA 2017
We had an in-depth, culturally immersive, rich opportunity to experience and photograph the Day of the Dead Celebration and the active markets, archaeological history, and artistic creations of the Oaxaca region. I was able to reflect on what, why, and how I photograph. This trip was not a superficial tourist view of the Day of the Dead celebration. We were able to share the experience with the residents and participants of the Oaxaca region.
Stephen Cysewski - OAXACA 2019
ABOUT THIS PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE YOU CAN READ:
https://fstoppers.com/opinion/dia-de-muertos-cannot-be-photographed-hurry-902337
https://www.fiof.it/dia-de-muertos-racconto-di-alex-coghe/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXa_sKfj34x/
Terms & Conditions
This photocoaching service is a cultural and educational experience, reserved exclusively for you on an agreed date.
No refunds. Payments are non-refundable for any reason.
Rescheduling. Date changes are possible only at the photographer’s availability.
By booking and paying, you accept these terms.
