ENVISION PROJECT 9
A SPECIAL FREE COURSE FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEENS!
A 2026 FOTOFOCUS BIENNIAL PARTICIPATING VENUE PROJECT
Instructor: Shannon Eggleston
with support by Michael Wilson
Lab Technicians: Manifest Drawing Center’s Darkroom Moderators
Application Deadline: Monday, February 9, 2026
Find link to application below.
CLASS RUNS: March 7 - May 9, 2026
Saturdays, noon - 4pm
—[ APPLY HERE ]—
The above link will open a fillable PDF that can be downloaded, filled, saved, and then emailed to us.
Manifest Drawing Center is proud to announce the 9th annual Envision Project, supported in part by FotoFocus, the Joseph A Stoner Memorial Fund, and the Manifest Annual Fund.
The Manifest Drawing Center is seeking 14 middle- and high-school students to participate in a FREE 12-week intensive darkroom photography course at our community darkroom in Cincinnati, Ohio. Masterful artist educators and professional photographers will teach you the fundamentals of analog film photography while demonstrating how the photograph can reveal the world around us and our connections to it.
This course will introduce you to the tools, materials, and processes of black-and-white film photography in a supportive, hands-on environment. You’ll learn to use an analog camera in manual mode, understand available light, properly expose your film, process your own negatives, and create prints using beginning and intermediate darkroom techniques. By creating work and sharing it with others, you’ll be encouraged to explore your individual interests and develop your own strengths and creative voice as a photographer. And you will ultimately have the opportunity to show your work publicly as a participating photographer in Cincinnati’s FotoFocus 2026 Biennial!
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- How cameras work and how professional-looking images are made.
- Technical and artistic aspects of photography: light, exposure, composition, and more.
- Visual Storytelling: tell your own personal stories through YOUR photographs.
- Darkroom Access: black and white film and print developing.
- Frame and mount your photographs for a professional presentation.
- How to interpret and critique photos: Study historic and contemporary photographers/images and the elements that make their work important.
- How to produce a series of photographs with a sustained theme or concept.
Project Activities include:
- Hands-on and immersive demonstration of photographic processes
- In-class activities
- Field trips and on-location shooting
- Guest visits by local and professional photographers
- One-on-one and group instruction
Applications are open to any middle- and high-school student from the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region.
No camera? No problem! No experience required to apply for Envision Project 9. As long as you’re curious about learning photography, you should apply!
When applying, students are asked to answer seven questions with short responses, submit a small online portfolio, and obtain a letter of recommendation/reference form from a teacher or educational mentor. Students will be chosen based on their application quality and willingness to commit to the 12-week project. Applications are due February 9, 2026.
OPPORTUNITIES
Envision students will have their photographs included in a culminating month-long showcase at the Manifest Center for the Visual Arts in Clifton as part of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial. In addition, students will have the option to sell their work directly to the community.
TIMEFRAME
March 7-May 9, 2026, and additional FREE Darkroom Lab Sessions throughout the summer (times to be determined through discussions with the students)
The Envision Project will meet once a week at Manifest Drawing Center on Saturdays from noon to 4 pm. Class meetings will be devoted to skill building, hands-on demonstrations, guest speakers, and creative exploration.
LEVEL OF STUDY
No prior film-based photographic experience is required. All materials will be provided, but students are welcome to use their own film camera.
—[ APPLY HERE ]—
The above link will open a fillable PDF that can be downloaded, filled, saved, and then emailed to us.
Application Deadline: Monday, February 9, 2026
Questions? Email us at envision@manifestdrawingcenter.org
photo: Ryleigh Sanborn, Grade 11 Walnut Hills High School (from Envision Project 4)
LOCATION: Unless otherwise specified, all courses are hosted at Manifest's new facility at 'M1' in Clifton at 3464 Central Parkway (see map and directions below). Manifest's new facility provides multiple studio classrooms, private lesson space, a darkroom, a film processing room, and a multi-purpose lecture and class meeting space as well as on-site parking, grounds, and exterior spaces in which to relax, discuss, and make art. The studios are outfitted with professional equipment, furniture, and study aids.
Map to Manifest's M1 Studios | Studio Calendar | Darkroom Calendar
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photo: Maggie Harkins (from Envision Project 6)
photo: Jessica Lasita (from Envision Project 6)
photo: Anushka Mukherjee, Grade 9 William Mason High School (Envision 1)
photos: Rafaela Schomburgk, Grade 12 Roger Bacon High School (Envision 4)
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About the Instructor:
Shannon Eggleston is an educator and photographer whose work centers on youth learning, visual literacy, and creative development. She brings to Manifest extensive experience designing and teaching photography-based programs that help young people build confidence, technical skill, and personal voice.
Before joining Manifest as an instructor, Shannon founded and served as Executive Director of i.imagine, a photography-focused nonprofit that reached more than 1,500 teens through after-school programs, summer camps, and partnerships with regional cultural institutions, including the Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and Cincinnati’s FotoFocus Biennial. That experience now informs her teaching at Manifest, where she leads this course as part of the organization’s expanding commitment to youth and emerging-artist education.
A former high school graphic design and digital photography teacher, Shannon brings an educator’s approach grounded in structure, encouragement, and rigor. Her connection to photography is deeply personal, shaped by a family history that traces back to relatives who worked at Eastman Kodak after immigrating from the Abruzzo Mountains of southern Italy to Rochester, New York, in the early 1900s.
Shannon lives in Union, Kentucky, with her husband, Brian, and enjoys spending time with their adult children, Emily and Jack. Outside the classroom, she enjoys off-the-beaten-path travel with her camera, playing guitar, downhill skiing, and time with friends and family.
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