Focus On: Renie Haiduk

© Nerissa Escanlar

"Renie's my name, and logistics are my game!" This familiar refrain from our dear workshop staff member Renie Haiduk greets many a participant at the Workshops welcome dinner on Sunday evenings. Renie, Nerissa, and Brook (the Operations staff) work hard to create a seamless participant experience. Susan Hayre Thelwell caught up with Renie before the summer season to chat about her time at the Workshops and her love of teaching.

Susan: First off, please tell me about where you are "from", where you grew up?
Renie: I grew up on a farm in the Texas Panhandle in a large, Polish Catholic family. I love being from a large family; they were and continue to be my best friends. I learned about quiet beauty from my daddy; my mama taught me the grace of giving.

S: And what you first wanted to be when you grew up?
R: In my very early years I wanted to be a mother, a teacher, an airline pilot -I thought flying was a miracle- and then a hair stylist. We called them beauty operators! I did become a mother, a very young one, and I was a great snapshotist in capturing special moments of my little darlings. I worked at a university and then moved into the corporate world when I lived in Dallas. It was never a fit for me

S: How did you end up in Santa Fe?
R: After years in Texas, Mama and I took a trip west and spent several nights in Santa Fe. I felt the peace that so many of us living here are drawn to. There was art and energy, but peace too. So I packed up my life into my red Honda and moved. I did the Santa Fe shuffle for several years, and at one point a friend invited me to take a photography class. That class changed my direction straight into the world of photography and Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

S: And can you tell me about your history with the Workshops?
R: I actually met Reid [Callanan, Director,] at a party the first week I moved to Santa Fe, but I knew nothing about him or his visionary Workshops. I modeled for a Workshop participant that first year, so the Workshops was in my destiny. Years later, I boldly made an appointment to meet Reid and Don Werthmann to show my portfolio and volunteer to do whatever I could just to be in that environment. I became an intern in 1995, and worked my way into being Work Study, Course Assistant, Store Manager, Operations Assistant and in 2000, the Director of Operations. I’m still here because it feeds my mind and soul.

S: What is the role photography plays in your life/ career?
R: My job at the Workshops is full time, sometimes more than full time. I do freelance work on the side, photograph for The Heart Gallery, and have many projects – and several that are long term. Layered Voices is one of those long-term projects that began when I was visiting my family farm. The project began as a documentary of how the land was changing before our eyes, and as most projects do, it evolved into a deep examination of the strong, determined people that I come from who have been on our home place for over five generations, and who live there still.

S: So, tell me a bit about the photographers who have had the biggest impact on you or your work.
R: While working as an assistant, I was able to observe perspectives of photography and life. Rodney Smith, Tony O’Brien, Keith Carter, Elizabeth Opalenik, and Debbie Fleming Caffrey are some of the most influential instructors I worked with. In addition to these amazing photographers, I have been greatly inspired by Julia Margaret Cameron, Atget, Disfarmer, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Sean Kernan, Norman Mauskopf, and Machiel Botman. I am also energized by the growth of my many friends made through the Workshops.

S: Tell me about your teaching and how teaching photography fits into your career.
R: After years of being involved with the Workshops, seeing what works inside and outside the classroom, and working with some of the most amazing photographers/ teachers, Reid gave me the great gift of teaching my own workshop. I was thrilled beyond expression. It is so energizing to guide students and fellow photographers to the point of “Oh! I got it! I can’t believe I made that image!” To watch a student light up, having a deeper understanding of light and structure, of themselves - is truly the greatest reward. Teaching is a gift!

© Renie Haiduk

S: I want to take your workshop! So, tell me a bit about the next workshops you will teach.
R: I continue to be devoted to black and white images made with good ole TriX film. This July I will be teaching a workshop called Portraits Wrapped in Silver! It just sounds yummy to say, and the experience will be equally rich. The workshop will be dual-focused; making profound portraits in natural light, and then the delightful next step in the creative process – making silver prints! It is a beautiful, tactile process.

© Renie Haiduk

In December, I co-teach a workshop in Africa with Eddie Soloway called Tanzania: African Digital PhotoAdventure. This is a life-changing experience where one is immersed in the classic romance of old Africa on a photographic expedition to Tanzania and the Serengeti. The Kiswahili word “safari” means “journey,” and this promises to be an epic one for the adventurous traveler in search of an African countryside that is still wild and unspoiled.

S: And finally, speak with me about your inspiration.
R: Beautiful moments are my inspiration - in my photography and my life. Albert Camus, author, philosopher, and journalist, once said, “A person’s life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened.”


Thanks Renie! It is always a pleasure to catch up. Best wishes for a terrific summer season!