Star Photographer Petra Collins Is Taking Her Talents to MasterClass

Petra Collins was a teenager when she first picked up a 35 mm camera, not knowing much about the device or the industry that revolves around it. According to the 29-year-old native of Toronto, Canada, she “never learned the basics,” leaving her to explore the medium as her own teacher — a journey that has now blossomed into a celebrated editorial and commercial career (she’s shot for Gucci, Adidas, Vogue, The New York Times, CR Fashion Book and many more) and made her known for a defining photography style of the 2010s.

“When I took a photography class as a young person, I never felt that anything penetrated; it felt like I was not learning how to take a photo,” Collins says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “When I found alternative ways of learning, it really helped with my practice.”

Today, educational streaming platform MasterClass has announced Collins as one of its newest instructors in their “Sessions” curriculum; the 30-day curriculum, which is pre-recorded and divided up into five sections of three to four 10-minute lessons, is available to all MasterClass members to access at any time. Students will learn about lighting techniques and the process of creating a series, and receive feedback on assignments after each session. Enrollment for Collins’ session is available starting today; the class goes live July 1.

“I’ve been wanting to teach this different way of approaching photography that I actually think is easier to learn and helps the student understand photography more. I think the way that I was taught was so mechanical. And that really actually isn’t how photography works,” Collins says.

“Petra’s aesthetic has help defined film photography for this generation,” David Rogier, founder and CEO of MasterClass, said in a statement. “In her session, she provides an exclusive look into her style, approach and expertise, helping members learn how they can express themselves creatively through film photography.”

She teaches the technical basics — like shutter speed — of shooting with a 35 mm SLR camera, and also shares creative approaches to developing concepts and bringing the self into imagery. “I guess the thing that I really teach is just to deeply learn and look inside yourself,” Collins explains. “Because that’s the endless pit of information — you’re not going to find it anywhere else.”

Collins first became acquainted with MasterClass when she signed up to take a class from David Lynch, who she describes as “an idol of mine” and thought it was unique that the “artist is dictating the conversation.” Though she’s lectured at universities since she was 17 years old (read: instructed her peers), this is the first time she’s taught a photography course “on a massive scale where more people can access it,” she says.

Collins’ MasterClass students can also expect to gain insight into the process of working with some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names; in one section, the photographer — who’s captured Solange Knowles, Frank Ocean and Kim Kardashian, to name a few — and focuses on how to build intimacy with subjects, especially ones who glitter with visibility.

“The way that I learned everything in art was through collaboration. So whenever I have a subject, I approach it as a really exciting collaboration…I’m like, ‘What do you want to feel like? Or what do you want to possess? What image do you want to put out?’” she says, adding: “I think the whole thing with shooting subjects, celebrities, talent is that you really want their input. And then you also want to bring something new to them too.”

Most recently, Collins has collaborated with breakout teen pop star Olivia Rodrigo on two music videos (“I got to express what I want to do in feature films,” she says) and released a book, Fairy Tales, with Euphoria star Alexa Demie that is published by Rizzoli. “With my book Fairy Tales, my subject Alexa and I were looking back on childhood traumas. And what we were looking at to help us get through this young stage of our lives.”

Aesthetically, Collins’ images have been variously but consistently described as dream-like and feminine, making her fixation on fantasy — and the fever dream that is girlhood — fitting. But in a bit of a plot twist, she says she’s long been inspired by coming-of-age, body horror movies, like The Exorcist and Carrie. She loves the work of fellow Canadian David Cronenberg.

Collins now lives in Los Angeles, where she’s exploring a different type of film: movies. “Moving to L.A. was really exciting because I am experiencing — as an outsider — this city that’s basically built on fame, which is very unlike any city in the world. All the billboards, and also the historic buildings — it’s haunted in a really beautiful way,” she says. “Now that I’m in this environment, it’s going to infuse itself into my photos.”