Photography Mentorship
Mentorship Program
Focused support for photographers who want to raise the standard of their work over time.
This may be right for you if
You have strong images, but struggle to decide which ones are truly worth developing.
You want more disciplined feedback than occasional likes, comments, or one-off critiques can provide.
You are preparing work for contests, portfolio edits, prints, or future trips and want a clearer standard for your decisions.
You are ready to be selective, revisit your edits, and do the slower work that raises the level of a body of photographs.
Expected outcomes over the year
This mentorship covers the full photographic process — from how you plan and behave in the field, to how you edit, finish, and present your work — not just image review.
- A stronger body of finished work
- Better judgment in selecting frames and recognizing which images are worth pursuing
- More consistency in your editing
- A clearer sense of which images are competition-worthy and why
- A more coherent portfolio rather than isolated strong images
- Better preparation and direction for future trips and photographic projects
- A sharper field instinct. You start anticipating behavior, light, and moments instead of reacting to them.
- A workflow you trust. A consistent way to process and refine images so the final file matches what you saw.
This mentorship is designed for photographers who want more than occasional feedback on individual images. The purpose is to improve the quality, consistency, and direction of the work over time, with focused support in the areas that matter most: image selection, editing, contest strategy, portfolio development, and planning future shoots with stronger intent.
The program is built around the idea that strong work is usually not created in a single pass. It develops over time through repeated review, better selection, more disciplined editing, and a clearer sense of what is worth pursuing. The mentorship is meant to support that process in a structured way across a full year.
Steffen Foerster
I am a wildlife photographer, biologist, and educator. I have spent more than twenty years around wild animals — studying them, teaching about them, and trying to photograph them well. Long before I cared about cameras, I cared about behavior: where an animal goes, why, and what it is about to do next. That habit of watching is still the thing that shapes most of my images.
In this mentorship, I work with you across the whole arc of a photograph. That starts before you travel — thinking through locations, timing, and how to approach the situations you are likely to encounter. After you come back, we look at what you shot together: which decisions worked, what the images reveal about your positioning and timing, and what to carry into the next trip. Then we take the strongest work through editing — choosing the right frames, processing with intent, and finishing to a standard worth printing, exhibiting, or submitting.
My own images have been recognized in several of the leading international nature photography competitions. Through Nature Photo Contests I also follow the contest world closely — results, deadlines, judging tendencies, and the kinds of work that are winning right now — and I bring that perspective into how we look at your portfolio.
Awards & Recognition
Bird Photographer of the Year
Gold Award
2025
Nature Photographer of the Year
Runner-up
2025
National Wildlife Photo Contest
Winner
2025
NANPA Showcase Competition
Best in Category
2025
Share the View Nature Photography Contest
Winner
2023
Bird Photographer of the Year
Bronze Award
2025
Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest
Finalist
2024
Bird Photographer of the Year
Highly Commended
2025
The eye behind the guidance
1 / 8
What we work on
- Trip planning and preparation — researching locations and timing, anticipating animal behavior and conditions, and going into your next shoot with a clearer plan
- Field technique through image review — looking at what you brought back and discussing positioning, timing, and approach decisions: what worked, what to do differently next time
- Selecting the strongest images from a shoot, including choosing the best frame from sequences rather than just reviewing final picks
- Post-processing and editing — developing images with intent across multiple rounds to a standard worth printing, exhibiting, or submitting
- Contest strategy — identifying realistic contenders, reviewing current results, and understanding what judges are responding to
- Portfolio direction and shoot planning — building a more coherent body of work and planning future trips with clearer intent
How the year is structured
Working sessions
8 sessions · ~2 hours each
These are the core of the mentorship, where we work directly on the photographs themselves. A typical working session may include going through sequences in Lightroom to identify the strongest frame, discussing why certain images are stronger than others, refining edits together, revisiting earlier edits after some time has passed, discussing where the work is becoming repetitive and where it is getting stronger, and identifying what should be developed further and what should be set aside.
These sessions are not just image critiques. They are working sessions focused on decision-making and refinement.
Contest strategy sessions
4 sessions · ~90 minutes each
These sessions are scheduled around contest deadlines and focused specifically on submission decisions. They may include reviewing possible submissions for an upcoming contest, narrowing down finalists, discussing category fit and overall submission strategy, reviewing recent winning images and contest trends where relevant, and making final edit and crop decisions before submission.
The purpose is not just to help prepare entries, but to improve your ability to judge your own work against an external standard.
Ongoing feedback between sessions
Up to 2 sets per month · up to 10 images per set
Between sessions, you can send up to two image sets per month, with up to 10 images per set, for concise feedback. This is intended to keep momentum going between meetings, not replace the working sessions. It allows us to continue refining promising images, respond to time-sensitive contest decisions, and keep the process moving.
Planning for upcoming shoots and travel
Integrated throughout the year
Part of the mentorship is looking forward, not just backward. We can use sessions to discuss what kinds of images are missing from your current body of work, how to approach an upcoming trip with clearer priorities, how to avoid repeating familiar patterns, and how to shoot with a stronger sense of purpose rather than simply reacting in the field.
This is important because the best improvements usually come not just from editing better afterward, but from photographing more intentionally in the first place.
Flagship Program
12-month mentorship
This program is inquiry-based and limited to a small number of photographers each year.
Sessions are scheduled flexibly throughout the year based on workflow, travel, and contest timing.
Apply for MentorshipShorter Engagements
For photographers with a specific need rather than a full-year commitment.
Pre-Contest Image Review
For photographers preparing a submission and needing focused help making the right decisions before a deadline.
We go through your candidate images together, narrow down the strongest contenders, discuss category fit and submission strategy, and make final editing and cropping decisions. One session, clear outcome.
Single Working Session
For photographers who want to dig into a specific body of work — a recent trip, an ongoing project, or a set of images that needs a fresh eye and honest assessment.
We review sequences, discuss selection and editing decisions, and identify what is worth developing further.
FAQ
Get in touch
I take on a limited number of mentorship clients each year. Tell me a little about your work and what you are looking for and I will follow up if I think it is a good fit.