642LAB offers a year-round constellation of foundation courses, advanced seminars, and individual mentorships designed to support photographers and visual artists at all stages of their development.
All 642LAB programs integrate personal 1:1 live online interaction, supported by structured archived materials and asynchronous learning resources. The program is organized as a progressive learning ecosystem — supporting artists from technical foundations through practice sustainability and long-form project creation.
In addition to group programs, 642LAB offers limited one-to-one Studio Mentorships and Private Consultations for artists seeking individualized guidance, critique, and long-term project support.
PRIVATE STUDIO MENTORSHIP
A private, individualized mentorship developed entirely around your current work, questions, and creative goals.
Throughout art history and into the present day, working directly with an established artist has offered something no classroom can replicate — sustained, honest engagement with someone genuinely inside the field. Private Studio Mentorship at 642LAB operates in that tradition.
Over multiple sessions, you will work directly with Dr. Craig Havens to establish direction, deepen your practice, and build the kind of continuity that serious creative work requires. Each mentorship is developed from scratch around your needs — integrating technical, conceptual, and project-based development in whatever proportion your work demands.
This is a chance to chart your own course – not just take a course. There is no fixed syllabus, no cohort, no predetermined limits. It is a working relationship built around what you are actually making — and where you want to take it.
• Rolling admission
• Limited availability
• Online sessions scheduled individually
Learn more about Studio Mentorships →
CONSULTATION
A focused, one-to-one session built around where you are right now in your practice.
Consultations are designed for photographers and artists who have specific questions, a body of work they want honest feedback on, or a creative or technical challenge they haven’t been able to resolve on their own. Sessions are diagnostic by nature — Dr. Havens will look closely at what you’re making, how you’re working, and where the friction is, and give you a clear, direct assessment of what’s working, what isn’t, and what to do next.
A consultation may address work review and editing, archive organization and workflow structure, sequencing and presentation across portfolios, social platforms, or exhibition materials, or broader questions of creative direction and practice development. No two sessions are the same because no two practices are the same.
A consultation is also a natural entry point into Private Studio Mentorship for those ready to go deeper.
• Single session
• Online, scheduled individually
• Available on a rolling basis
Learn more about Consultation →
These in-depth courses form the backbone of the 642LAB learning cycle, each focusing on a key stage of photographic and artistic development.
Adobe Lightroom Classic offers photographers a powerful creative workspace in the great traditions of the analog darkroom — a place where technical decisions serve artistic vision. This course teaches Lightroom Classic, the professional tool for photographers who want complete creative control over their work.
This is a one to one, guided, hands-on program built around your actual practice. Over the course of this live online masterclass you’ll develop an intuitive workflow that lets you spend less time struggling with software and more time making powerful images. Each week includes a live Zoom session with Dr. Havens — direct instruction, individual feedback, and real conversations about your work.
Live Masterclass / July 11 – 25, 2026
Includes extended study access for continued development
A comprehensive course guiding participants through concept development, editing, sequencing, design, and publication strategies for artist books and monographs. The course supports participants in bringing a cohesive book project from idea to finished form.
Extended Masterclass / October 3 – November 12, 2026
Live seminar series with guided independent development between sessions.
Includes extended study access following the final session.
Composition is the subtle art of establishing a photographic style. Photographers must make deliberate, artful decisions about what to include in the frame and how it is placed to define a personal visual voice. This course introduces participants to concepts in composition, including depth and perspective, visual hierarchy, the golden ratio, figure and ground, lens choice, visual flow and revealing creative intent through compositional choices.
Live Masterclass
Includes extended study access for continued development
Drawing from contemporary photographic practice and long-standing traditions of visual storytelling, the course helps participants articulate what they are making, why it matters, and how to move their work forward with greater coherence and confidence. Emphasis is placed on authorship, continuity, and the development of a practice that can adapt across projects, contexts, in both personal and professional settings.
This course supports photographers and artists in developing a clear, authentic visual voice grounded in personal experience, sustained inquiry, and intentional practice. Through guided lectures, discussions, and structured creative prompts, participants examine how narrative, research, and lived experience shape artistic work over time.
Live Masterclass / May 2 – May 23, 2027
Includes extended study access for continued development
Sessions offering accessible skill-building designed to support the wider photography community and introduce key tools, ideas, and creative approaches. These short events offer practical insights while giving participants a feel for the deeper learning experiences available within 642LAB programs.
A short, practical introduction to organizing and editing photographs in Lightroom Classic. Designed for photographers seeking clarity and efficiency in their digital workflow.
June 27, 2027 / 10amPST (30min)
View Details + Reserve Early Access →
642LAB is an artist-run learning platform offering focused courses and one-to-one study for visual creators seeking clarity, conceptual development, technique refinement and meaningful continuity in their work. The program is organized as a progressive learning ecosystem — participants may enter at any stage with each step building toward a deeper, more sustainable creative practice.
Most of the work here happens one-on-one — long-form study built entirely around what you are actually making. Whether individual or collective, the focus is the same — your work, taken seriously, over time. For those looking to work within a community of learners, 642LAB also offers structured group formats: critique sessions, project workshops, and collaborative research programs where participants develop their practice alongside others at a similar level of commitment.
Dr. Craig Havens is a working photographer and artist with an international exhibition practice spanning two decades. His work — in photography, moving image, sound, and installation — has been shown at the Nanjing Biennale, the Brugge Triennial, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg, and Galerie Andreas Schmidt in Berlin, among others. Dr. Havens has published monographs and artist editions, held residencies across Europe, and received two US State Department International Artists Grants. His commercial practice has included editorial work for Rolling Stone, Huck, and Wired, and institutional commissions for the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Akademie der Künste.
Studio642 grew out of something Dr. Havens noticed across all of those contexts: that serious photographers — working artists, committed practitioners, people mid-career — rarely need more academic instruction. What they need is sustained, honest engagement with someone who is genuinely inside the field. For this reason 642LAB was founded and built on the experience of over twenty years of professional practice and teaching in art and photography – both privately and at the university level — at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), at the Écoles de Recherche Graphique in Brussels (ERG), and at Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles (ACCD). He holds a PhD in Art and Art Sciences from ERG Brussels and UCL Louvain, where his doctoral research focused on Countermonumental Strategies in Lens-Based Art, as well as two master’s degrees from Sint Lukas in Antwerp and Brussels, and a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.
642LAB is always evolving. We regularly develop new content based on your interests and the emerging needs of contemporary photographers and artists. If there’s a topic you’d like to explore, we’d love to hear from you!
To share suggestions, ask questions or for help structuring a program
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Top Image: Craig Havens. Game No. 1, Sofia, Bulgaria. Pigment Print on Paper
Edition of 5 / AP 1 / EP 1. 110 x 148 centimeters