"Puzzle Plan 3.0" — Photo Reason Offline (Hangzhou) Photography Workshop Series
Season three of Puzzle Plan breaks a photographer's growth into four "puzzle-piece" modules, drawing on the long-form, project-based teaching traditions of programs like ICP and Magnum Photos, co-taught by mentors Roban and Pan. Refreshed for 3.0: full-program students receive a portfolio review with one of Photo Reason Academy's five academic advisors and may re-enroll in the next Puzzle Plan round for free.
Unlike most "short-term" workshops on the market, Photo Reason values "long-term thinking" and "non-singular narratives" in photography. We break the essential skills and knowledge a photographer needs into four modules, each like a "puzzle piece" — so photographers can find exactly the piece they need to refine their craft, optimize their working methods, and clarify their path forward.
The teaching logic of Puzzle Plan draws on the long-form course traditions of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York and Magnum Photos in Paris, co-taught by two photographers who graduated from these two institutions respectively — Roban and Pan.
Season three of Puzzle Plan runs from May 2026 to September 2026 (with an extra month set aside for creation in July) across four modules, with ample free-creation time between modules. Each module is relatively independent yet interconnected, so students may join the whole program or just one or several modules. New for 3.0 are two full-program perks: after the program concludes, students receive a portfolio review with one of our five academic advisors and may re-enroll in the next Puzzle Plan round — full program or any module — for free.
About the Mentors
Roban and Pan have completely different focuses, shooting methods, and career paths, as well as distinct personalities and styles — a setup that brings students more perspectives and more diverse ways of thinking. At the same time, because ICP and Magnum Photos share almost the same lineage (ICP founder Cornell Capa and Magnum founder Robert Capa were brothers) and course logic, the two mentors remain highly aligned on fundamental technique and artistic ideas, avoiding the "conflicting philosophies" common to multi-mentor setups.
Roban (Ruobang Wang)
Partner & host of the photography podcast brand Photo Reason, winner of the US PDN Photography Award and the fifth RITA K Hillman Photography Foundation grant, and a National Geographic photographer. He graduated from the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York in September 2017, where he received the Wall Street Journal Scholarship.
His work has appeared in National Geographic, PDN, and Chinese Photographers, among others, and has been exhibited at the Lishui Photography Festival, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Taiwan WONDER FOTO DAY, and ICP in New York. In 2020 he published the photobook "Don't Stay." Personal website: www.robanwang.com.
Awards: 2016.04 "Old Smith" won the Silver Award at the 3rd Kuwait International Photography Competition; 2018.05 "Disappearing Forests" won a 2018 PDN PHOTO ANNUAL award; 2018.09 nominated for the Magnum Foundation Abigail Cohen Documentary Photography Award; 2020.03 received ICP's fifth Hillman Foundation Scholarship; 2024.02 shortlisted for the 2023 GOMMA Photography Award; 2024.09 shortlisted for the Pingyao International Photography Festival Kunpeng Award; 2025.03 nominated for the World Press Photo Joop Swart MasterClass.
Exhibitions: 2015.11 "Boli" at the 2015 Lishui Photography Festival; 2016.09 "Transnational Miners" at the Pingyao International Photography Festival; 2017.03 "Kuwait" at Taiwan WONDER FOTO DAY; 2018.06 "The Faith Of Bowne Street" at ICP New York's "Signal Crossings"; 2019.06 the "Large Format in Contemporary Photography" group show at Yingtian International Gallery; 2020.11 "Yellow Dragon" at Zhejiang Exhibition Hall; 2021.04 the "Contemporary Art Large Format 7-Person Show" at Mingzhu Art Center; 2022.06 "No Standing Anytime" at the AIPAD Photo Show, New York; 2022.08 "Fish or Not" at Gongwang Art Museum.
Works are from the projects "Yellow Dragon" and "Myanmar."
©Roban (Ruobang Wang)
Pan (Chaoqun Pan)
Partner & host of the photography podcast brand Photo Reason, graduate of the Creative Documentary and Photojournalism program at Magnum Photos in Paris. He was ZEISS China's first signed photographer, a guest lecturer at several art schools, a columnist for Photoworld magazine, and a curator.
His work is currently represented by The Muisca Gallery in the Marais district of Paris, and his photobook "mind the gap" is in production. Personal website: chaoqunpan.com.
Solo exhibitions: "it doesn't have to rhyme" at OWSPACE, Beijing — 2025.08; "it doesn't have to rhyme" at Photo Reason in Space, Hangzhou — 2025.06; "ECHOS of SILENCE" at The Muisca gallery, Le Marais, Paris — 2024.10. Group exhibitions: The Muisca gallery (Paris) 2025.07 "SOUS LES VILLES, LA LUMIÈRE," 2025.05 "PARIS UNIVERSEL," 2025.02 "SOUVENIRS LATENTES," 2024.12 "UN INSTANT DE CLARTE"; Magnum Gallery (Paris) 2024.06; PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai 2024.04; Modern Art Museum Shanghai 2021.11. Awards: Artexpo New York 2025 Photo Contest — Finalist.
Recent curation: "The Rest is Silence," Mark Power, at X-SPACE, Shanghai, 2026.05–2026.06, and 798 Art District, Beijing, 2025.10; "Intimate Distance," the 2025 Xiaomi-Leica Photography Award Special Exhibition, at PR in Space, Hangzhou, 2025.12–2026.01; "Fluid Homeland," Ziyi Le, at OWSPACE, Beijing / Hangzhou / Foshan, 2025.05–2026.01.
Other: columnist for Photoworld magazine since 2024.01; lecturer at Zhejiang College of Special Education since 2025.11; lecturer for FUJI X-SPACE since 2025.03; lecturer for l'ECV / EAC since 2021.05. Works are from the projects "it doesn't have to rhyme," "kyoto harmony," "mind the gap," and "Growing in the Shadow."
©Pan (Chaoqun Pan)
Program Structure
Season three of Puzzle Plan runs from May 2026 to September 2026 (with an extra month set aside for creation in July). Each module takes one full weekend (Saturday + Sunday), with ample free-creation time left between modules, balancing theory and practice. The modules are interconnected yet relatively independent, so students may join the whole program or any one or several modules.
May (23 / 24) · Personal Projects & Building a Workflow
- Day 1 morning: Mentors' project introductions + student introductions
- Day 1 afternoon: Topic discussion + sharing inspiration
- Day 1 evening: Outstanding-student sharing from past Puzzle Plan cohorts 01
- Day 2 morning: Image management & workflow theory
- Day 2 afternoon: Image management & workflow practice
June (19 / 20) · Equipment & Expression
- Day 1 morning: Equipment & expression workshop (Roban)
- Day 1 afternoon: Photographic language & expression workshop (Pan) + student sharing + discussion
- Day 1 evening: Outstanding-student sharing from past Puzzle Plan cohorts 02
- Day 2 morning: Large-format (technical) camera theory + Polaroid camera theory
- Day 2 afternoon: Large-format (technical) camera shooting experience (using an instant back)
- June 21 (full-program students only · optional): a full-day typology workshop or a co-creation outing near Hangzhou
August (15 / 16) · Editing & Sequencing
- Day 1 morning: Fundamentals of editing & sequencing
- Day 1 afternoon: The Magnum Photos sequencing exercise (2 rounds)
- Day 1 evening: Photobook co-reading 01
- Day 2 morning: Sequencing practice with students' work
- Day 2 afternoon: Sequencing practice with students' work + presentation
September (12 / 13) · Visual Narrative & Photobook Demo
- Day 1 morning: Fundamentals of visual narrative + photobook case studies
- Day 1 afternoon: Discussion of photobook form and content
- Day 1 evening: Photobook co-reading 02
- Day 2 morning: Print-output workflow & settings + bookmaking basics in LR / InDesign
- Day 2 afternoon: Handmade photobook demo
Registration
- Program Fee
Single "puzzle" module: ¥3,280 per person (RMB); full Puzzle Plan program: ¥13,120 per person (RMB).
Full-program perks: two additional 1–1.5 hour 1-on-1 sessions (with Roban or Pan); an offline opportunity to exhibit work individually or in a group (after completing all modules and shooting for another 5–6 months); and one optional free exclusive offline module (June 21, tentative).
- Capacity per module
- No more than 12 people (6 full-program seats + 6 single-module seats, first come first served)
- Location
- "Photo Reason / in Space." 2F, OneWay Space (Raffles City Hangzhou store), Building B, Ocean Raffles City, 58 Lishui Road, Gongshu District, Hangzhou
New for 3.0: Portfolio Review & Free Re-enrollment
Students who complete the full "Puzzle Plan 3.0" program will, after it concludes, receive a portfolio review with a Photo Reason Academy academic advisor. Photo Reason Academy currently has five academic advisors: Bieke Depoorter, Mark Power, Jérôme Sessini, and Emin Özmen are all Magnum photographers, and Ziyi Le is an Oscar Barnack Newcomer Award winner.
Students may choose any one of them for a 1–1.5 hour online portfolio review; free translation is provided for students who are not comfortable communicating in English.
In addition, all students who complete the full Puzzle Plan program may, afterward, apply to join the next Puzzle Plan round — the full program or any module — for free, in order to keep strengthening their photographic project.
Other Perks
- Whether joining a single "puzzle" module or the full Puzzle Plan program, students can join the Photo Reason Pro community for exclusive photography news and resource sharing, plus free borrowing privileges for Photo Reason's photobooks and equipment.
- Photo Reason offers all students free laptop-screen calibration at its offline space (calibration devices can also be borrowed).
- Photo Reason provides all students with a free online portfolio page (e.g. a domain like roban.photoreason.art), with update guidance from our technical specialist CC (Chengchen Wang).
- All students get priority access to Photo Reason's limited-capacity special photography activities in the future (master workshops, overseas special photography study tours, Magnum office visit lectures, and more).
Please note: Puzzle Plan runs on a recurring basis, 2–3 sessions per year. Students already enrolled in a session or module who are temporarily unable to attend may defer to the same module in the next session or switch to another module; please inquire for other refund and change terms.
How to Register
- 1.Click the registration link below and complete the form as prompted.
- 2.For inquiries and registration, add WeChat: bonbondepan.
Why Puzzle Plan?
- Two seasons of Puzzle Plan have delivered clear results. Across both seasons, 30+ students took part, 10 of them for the full program; we saw everyone make substantial progress, and we recently held a joint exhibition, "A Long Song Heard Afar," for the full-program students of Puzzle Plan 1.0 — the results were stunning.
- A genuinely field-tested photographic logic and teaching model. The two mentors graduated from the course programs of the International Center of Photography (ICP) and Magnum Photos respectively, and both have long teaching experience: Roban has long led online and offline workshop courses and is frequently invited to give photography lectures; Pan ran the "ZEISS Academy" courses for ZEISS, has long offered online workshops and bootcamps, currently teaches photographic art at several art schools, and is a guest photography-culture lecturer for FUJI X-SPACE.
- A course genuinely designed by working photographers. We believe the premise of teaching photography is that you are truly creating work yourself, not theorizing on paper. Both Roban and Pan are committed long-term photographers with ongoing projects, so they understand the real pain points of creation and students' actual needs, and can exchange ideas and grow together with everyone.
- The advantage of a physical offline space. The course is held at the "Photo Reason / in Space." offline space — convenient to reach and comfortable. The space is equipped with professional visualization gear and holds nearly a thousand photobooks to read (during class we can even pull a fitting example straight off the shelf as reference), and it also offers an exhibition space to genuinely realize everyone's project work.
- Photo Reason's consistently professional and sincere attitude. Photo Reason is a photography podcast with a point of view; since launching in February 2023 it has published more than a hundred episodes, and listeners can attest to both its update frequency and content consistency. Photo Reason's output has always striven to be "refined and beautiful," and this workshop series is no exception.
Other Information
- Language of Instruction
- Chinese
- Inquiries & Registration
- WeChat: bonbondepan