What is Workshop?
Workshop is a living gallery and creative network built around independent work. It is a place to discover what people are making, read the stories behind it, find open…
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 31, 2026
Blog
Notes from Workshop
Process notes, essays, and stories connected to independent Work, the people who make it, and the communities around it.
What is double exposure photography? A how-to guide
Double exposure photography places two exposures on one frame. “Multiple exposure” is the broader technical term for combining two or more; a double exposure is its simplest form…
Tutorial · Alternative Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is pinhole photography? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Analog Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is cross-processing film? A how-to guide
Film processing normally follows matched systems. Color negative film uses C-41 chemistry; transparency, or slide, film uses E-6. Cross processing deliberately breaks that…
Tutorial · Experimental Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
Independent journalism and the one person business
Independent media once implied separation. You left the newspaper, television network or magazine and operated somewhere outside it. That distinction is becoming much less useful…
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 29, 2026
Gatekeeping and the underground
Gatekeeping is usually discussed as though it belongs to large institutions. A publisher rejects a manuscript. A record label declines to sign an artist. A gallery decides whose…
Essay · Gatekeeping
Michael Cygan · Aug 28, 2026
What is Workshop?
Workshop is a living gallery and creative network built around independent work. It is a place to discover what people are making, read the stories behind it, find open…
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 31, 2026
What is Workshop?
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 31, 2026
What is double exposure photography? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Alternative Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is pinhole photography? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Analog Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is cross-processing film? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Experimental Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
Independent journalism and the one person business
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 29, 2026
Gatekeeping and the underground
Essay · Gatekeeping
Michael Cygan · Aug 28, 2026
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What is Workshop?
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 31, 2026
What is double exposure photography? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Alternative Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is pinhole photography? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Analog Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
What is cross-processing film? A how-to guide
Tutorial · Experimental Photography
Michael Cygan · Aug 30, 2026
Independent journalism and the one person business
Essay · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 29, 2026
Gatekeeping and the underground
Essay · Gatekeeping
Michael Cygan · Aug 28, 2026
Adapting oil paint for various function and effect
Tutorial · Oil Painting
Michael Cygan · Aug 27, 2026
Self-publishing and careers built beyond gatekeepers
Tutorial · Self Publishing
Michael Cygan · Aug 26, 2026
Not being precious in the edit
Essay · Film & Video
Michael Cygan · Aug 20, 2026
Trailer editing and a bag of tricks
Essay · Film & Video
Michael Cygan · Aug 17, 2026
My thinking behind “King of the Lake,” a goofy music video about serious things
Process Note · Film & Video
Michael Cygan · Aug 13, 2026
Why I’m making Jesus Christ, Diva
Essay · Film & Video
Michael Cygan · Aug 12, 2026
What self-publishing makes possible
Essay · General
Michael Cygan · Aug 10, 2026
The internet changed where creative work can happen
Essay · General
Michael Cygan · Aug 10, 2026
What public funding does for culture
Essay · General
Michael Cygan · Aug 10, 2026
The value of open source thinking
Software & AI
Michael Cygan · Aug 9, 2026
A case for universal access to artificial intelligence
Software & AI
Michael Cygan · Aug 7, 2026
What is a plugin?
Michael Cygan · Aug 3, 2026
Archive
Every story
- How to use plugins in GarageBandMichael Cygan · Aug 3, 2026
- Tyler, The Creator is the blueprint for the modern independent artistMichael Cygan · Sep 7, 2025
- Beyoncé’s Formation video and the inequality of climate impactsMichael Cygan · May 22, 2025
- Brockhampton, semiotics and the music industryMichael Cygan · Jul 6, 2024
- AI generated music democratizes artistic expressionMichael Cygan · Mar 13, 2024
- Creativity is democracyMichael Cygan · Mar 13, 2024
- Your favorite art and culture wouldn’t exist under authoritarianismMichael Cygan · Mar 10, 2024
- In music, the gatekeepers are almost goneMichael Cygan · Mar 9, 2024
- Culture is larger than any single governmentMichael Cygan · Dec 16, 2023
- It takes a village: creating a music sceneMichael Cygan · Dec 16, 2023
- Finding your creative processMichael Cygan · Dec 16, 2023
- Underground music as a metaphor for human emergenceMichael Cygan · Dec 16, 2023
- How to communicate a political idea through artMichael Cygan · Dec 10, 2023
- Small changes can reverberate through an entire systemMichael Cygan · Dec 10, 2023
- Decentralization as a path to human liberationMichael Cygan · Dec 10, 2023
- Unlocking human potential in the age of automationMichael Cygan · Dec 8, 2023
- McNuggets at the grocery store? Advertising retail fast food with CPGsMichael Cygan · Dec 7, 2023
- Information rhymes: the infinite echo of poetryMichael Cygan · Dec 4, 2023
- Quantum computing as a metaphor for modern discourseMichael Cygan · Dec 4, 2023
- From film noir to Facebook: the camera’s gaze throughout timeMichael Cygan · Dec 3, 2023
- Art and culture as a force of deescalation during wartimeMichael Cygan · Dec 3, 2023
- To feel is to be humanMichael Cygan · Dec 3, 2023
- From t-shirts to GPUs: a historical lens of lithographyMichael Cygan · Dec 2, 2023
- Artistic process: a vessel to transmit information throughout timeMichael Cygan · Dec 2, 2023
- Was symbolism humanity's first artistic language?Michael Cygan · Dec 2, 2023
- How independent business supports a vibrant communityMichael Cygan · Dec 1, 2023
- How music, food, and art speak a universal languageMichael Cygan · Nov 30, 2023
- Can housing and hunger be solved with online marketplaces?Michael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- Modernizing human services with online marketplacesMichael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- War is over. Have we tried ideas?Michael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- Self-expression within the framework of democracyMichael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- What is a concept?: The essence of Homestead CreativeMichael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- Interdependence as mutual respect and equalityMichael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- What is Boiler Room?Michael Cygan · Nov 28, 2023
- Arca ushers humanity into electronic music performanceMichael Cygan · Nov 26, 2023
- The 4/4 time signature as a pop standardMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- The simplicity of pop music as a carrier for ideasMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- Oracle and Salesforce: examining ideological evolution through techMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- Generative AI: the means to start todayMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- The democratization of production: AI as equitable changeMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- Artificial intelligence is accessibility techMichael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
- Is there a throughline from glassblowing to fiber optics?Michael Cygan · Nov 25, 2023
