Overview
Explore Berlin through your lens in this four-week hands-on documentary and street photography course. With the city as your classroom, you’ll develop your technical and storytelling skills while capturing Berlin’s vibrant energy, diverse communities and hidden corners.
This course is all about learning by doing – walking the streets, engaging with people and creating authentic photographic stories. Whether you're interested in local culture, nightlife, architecture or everyday street life, you'll build real-world experience in shooting, editing and presenting documentary projects. Guided by experienced tutors, you'll build your confidence behind the camera, develop a creative perspective and produce a portfolio of meaningful visual work.
By the end of the course, you’ll showcase your work in a group mini-exhibition and take home your own printed zine.
Upon successful completion you will be able to:
Shoot confidently in streets, markets and public spaces, capturing people, places and everyday moments with creativity and authenticity. You’ll recognise and develop visual stories in both obvious and overlooked corners of the city, gaining confidence working with people and communities ethically.
You’ll learn to edit, sequence and curate your images for maximum narrative impact, shaping them into compelling visual storytelling for both digital and physical formats.
Throughout the course, you’ll collaborate with peers, build feedback-driven creative skills, and expand your artistic network. By the end, you’ll produce a printed zine, showcase your work in a group mini-exhibition at the Funkhaus, and leave Berlin with a portfolio of vibrant, real-world documentary photography.
Course structure
Topics covered
The course content will focus on the following subject areas:
- Street and Documentary Photography Techniques – capturing authentic moments in public spaces
- Working with People and Communities – approaching subjects confidently and ethically
- Urban Exploration & Hidden Stories – finding and photographing overlooked corners of the city
- Editing, Sequencing & Visual Storytelling – shaping images into compelling narratives
- Creating & Presenting Work – producing a zine and curating a mini-exhibition
Weekly breakdown
Week 1 – First Impressions
Hit the streets with your camera. Capture fast, instinctive series of Berlin life and learn the essentials of street-based documentary photography.
Week 2 – People and Place
Focus on community. Photograph Berlin’s neighbourhoods, markets and cultural spaces while learning how to work confidently and ethically with people.
Week 3 – Hidden Berlin & Urban Stories
Explore the city’s secret corners, alleyways, and vibrant local culture. Capture graffiti, street art, hidden markets, and everyday moments that reveal the unseen layers of Berlin. Learn to spot compelling stories in unexpected places and bring them to life through your photography.
Week 4 – Showcase Your Story
Bring it all together. Sequence your images, design and print a zine, and present your final project in a group mini-exhibition.
Skills gained
Upon successful completion you will be able to:
- Shoot confidently in streets, markets and public spaces.
- Capture people, places and everyday moments with creativity and authenticity.
- Recognise, find and develop visual stories in both obvious and overlooked corners of the city.
- Work with people and communities ethically and with confidence.
- Edit, sequence and curate images for maximum narrative and emotional impact.
- Craft compelling visual stories for both digital and physical formats.
- Collaborate with peers, give and receive constructive feedback, and build your creative network.
- Produce and take home a printed zine.
- Showcase your work in a group mini-exhibition at the Funkhaus.
- Leave Berlin with a portfolio of vibrant, real-world documentary photography.
Progression
Whether you want to spend four weeks immersed in the vibrant streets and communities of Berlin, shooting real-life stories and connecting with like-minded creatives, or you’re preparing to advance to our BA Documentary Photography programme and need hands-on, practical documentary photography experience, this short course will equip you with the skills, confidence, and creative approach to capture and tell compelling visual stories.
The course will also provide you with practical photography and storytelling skills that are in demand in the creative and media industries. You will develop and receive feedback on projects relevant for those looking to work as: documentary photographers, photojournalists, visual storytellers, content creators and editorial photographers.
Your technological playground
Get hands-on access to professional facilities and tons of bookable gear.
Industry experts supporting your journey
Our tutors are industry-acclaimed experts in their field, with a passion for passing on their knowledge to others. Here are some of the tutors that will be supporting you throughout your learning process.
Jonathan Purcell
Jonathan is a documentary photographer based between Berlin and Manchester. His work explores urban life, subcultures, and marginal spaces, often focusing on public environments, human interaction, and the politics of space. He combines practice and teaching, working as both a creative practitioner and tutor. His approach blends street photography, long-form documentary projects, and socially engaged storytelling.
Essential information
Tuition fees
Enrolment fee*: €495
Course fee: €1,755
Total: €2,250
Early Bird Discount: Enrol in a Summer Short Course before the end of March 31 2026 and receive a discount of €150 off the tuition fee.
Multi Course Discount: Enrol in both a Summer Short Course and a degree course with us in the same year, and receive a discount of €500 off the total tuition fee.
*Enrolment fee is non-refundable.
Timetable
We can’t provide an exact timetable until we know how many students will attend the course. However, you will have an average of 16 hours per week of workshops. Alongside this, you will have some technical inductions and timetabled opportunities for collaboration with students from other programmes. We will spend a lot of time in various areas of Berlin as well as more traditional classes at The iconic Funkhaus.
Our campus facilities are open for the students to use beyond the timetabled workshop hours. Fabriks and edit suites for editing are bookable from 10:00 until 19:45 during the Short Course term.
Entry requirements
The most important prerequisite for attending this course is that you must be passionate about building and developing your skills within electronic music production.
Our Short Courses are designed to be accessible to anyone, so we do not require any level of academic certification to apply. Generally, applicants must be 18 or over when the course begins. If you're coming from outside the EU, a holiday/travel visa will usually suffice.
For more information, please contact a member of the Admissions team. We love to chat! You can reach out to us at:
Email: admissions@catalyst-berlin.com
Phone: book a call
Application deadlines
Early bird deadline: 31 March 2026
Final application deadline: 29 May 2026
Spots fill up fast. Once a course is full, you'll be placed on the waiting list.
Save €150 with the Early Bird Discount
Apply to any Summer Short Course before 31 March 2026 to secure your spot early and receive €150 off your tuition fee.
Student work
In these photos you'll glimpse the powerful and deeply personal vision of Catalyst alum Ian Margio. Ian is a documentary photographer who chronicles the lives of queer artists within the electronic music scene. More recently he turning his attention and camera homeward, documenting the physical turmoil and aftermath of the 2024 flooding of Valencia, his hometown and continued place of practice.
