Selecting photo workshops?
Revised (yet again) August 26, 2016
From comments we hear from people who join us, it appears that this post I wrote several years ago warrants republishing.
A lot of photo enthusiasts enjoy going to workshops. Why? For one thing, one can photograph without the distractions of family, business, and other commitments.
For another, there is a great synergy when a lot of photographers get together and share their work. Synergy, by the way, according to The American Heritage Dictionary, is “The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” Merriam-Webster notes that it comes from from the New Latin synergia, cooperation, from sunergos (συνεργός) — sun = together, ergos = working — or working together.
And work together is what you do in a photo workshop. You shoot together; you critique together; you often edit together; you share information; you get up early together and burn the midnight oil together; you often eat together; you … I could go on!
In a workshop setting, you gain inspiration from fellow participants, something you can never truly fathom until you have been in this setting. You can, after all, put 100 photographers (perish the thought) lined up to photograph a particular view; and more than likely, you will get 100 different renditions of that view. The point is that we all see differently, and we all choose to interpret a subject in different ways.
You will learn to see differently, and you will improve your sense of composition and sense of what does and does not make an effective photograph. You may also learn about digital workflow and some of the programs that can help you. You may spend a lot of time in the classroom, or most of your hours may be spent outdoors.
To select photo workshops this year, I used my trusty Google and found 9,900,000 results for “photo workshop” and 1,290,000,000 for “photo tour”. That’s considerably up from “about 234,000” results when I first wrote this blog in April of 2008. For me, that would be reason enough to just stop looking. How can I possibly wade through all that? Next I tried +“photo workshops” +a destination. Great! That narrowed it down. Add a specific month, and there are fewer to contemplate, but there’s still a lot to sift through!
This is not to say that you won’t find a workshop this way, especially if you refine your search parameters as I illustrated above. There are other, easier ways to find workshops. Sites such as Apogee Photo, and Outdoor Photographer, among others, that help you pare the list down and offer regional, seasonal, and/or date breakdowns. Check out the NANPA site, if you are a member, and see if any discounts are offered. Pick up a hard copy of Outdoor Photographer and peruse the ads there. Companies that place ads in magazines are usually established firms.
Now, you’ve narrowed down the field at least a little bit, and you’ve bookmarked the sites in a special folder called Workshops. (Remember, you can also later delete those entries that do not end up suiting you.) Some questions you might consider asking:
- Are they interested in improving your skills, or are they looking for a way to get their trip paid for to some location?
- Are they giving you lots of in-the-field instruction, or are you tagging along watching their technique?
- Are they with the group nearly 24/7 (time off for bed and the loo) or do they send you off on your own to do the current assignment?
- Will you spend a lot of time in the classroom, or will it be mostly outdoors?
- What is the ratio of students to instructor(s)?
- Do you like the work you see of a particular instructor compared to other potential workshops on your list?
- Are you impressed with the caliber of the work their students produce?
- Do you like the “feel” of the website (it often reflects the personalities of the instructor)?
- Does what a particular workshop offers match what you are seeking?
A quick word about the difference, as we see it, between a photo workshop and a photo tour. There is a place for both. A photo workshop hopefully has in-depth instruction and one-on-one work in the field. Some involve post-processing; some do not. And a good photo workshop wants to see you improve both during the workshop and after the workshop is over.
A photo tour, on the other hand, hopefully gets you to great locations at the optimum hours. While there may be a pro with you, instruction is minimal.
There are no right or wrong answers here.
Sometimes instructors keep their workshop and photo websites separate. In that case, look for the link, probably in the About Me or Bio section, to the regular photography website. Again, do you like the work you see? If you want to see credentials, you’ll probably find more than you need either under the Bio or Clients listing.
It should be noted here that anyone giving workshops is most likely an award-winning photographer, so don’t be automatically swayed by that credential. The questions here are, “What is the quality of work their alumni produce? Do their alumni win awards or gain entry into juried shows with photographs made during or after a workshop?”
Now that you have narrowed it down a bit further, call the companies that spark your interest. You can tell a lot more from a phone conversation than you can from an e-mail. Are you speaking to someone who comes from the “I done it” crowd or someone that is really interested in your questions? Is the person friendly or formal. Does his/her personality appeal to you? Does he/she have time to talk to you or offer to call you back if in the middle of a project? Again, there are no “right” answers here, only your reactions, favorable or unfavorable.
Another great resource are your photographer friends. Whose work has recently markedly improved? Was it after she/he had taken a photo workshop? Ask of them the same questions noted above in the bulleted list. Also ask what was good and bad about the workshop.
A couple of stories that may illustrate what you may want to avoid (then again, this may be your idea of nirvana).
A friend of ours went to a workshop run by a “big name” photographer in an exotic location that involved traveling by canoe. Every day, the instructor got into the lead canoe and, naturally, got the best opportunities for (guess what) the best shots.
“When do we get to go in the lead canoe?” asked one of the participants.
“Oh no, I always am in the lead canoe,” was the gist of the response.
As our friend said later, that was OK if the instructor had made that clear when people signed up. After all, the location was exotic and may still have been well worth the trip.
Years ago, I was photographing out west in one of our magnificent National Parks. I ran into a workshop, again run by a “big name.” It was not a small group, and they were basically shoulder to shoulder, cheek to jowl, as space was quite limited. Yes, they were photographing wildlife, and yes, the instructor had placed the group in a fertile location for same, but that leader had also taken the prime position.
My latest example was at a workshop we ran several falls ago. I was stopping, per my usual custom, to check in with the owner of the property on which we were going to photograph. I introduced our group to him, and we were chatting and catching up. Bit by bit, people wandered off to find their own subjects. Meanwhile, we saw two vans pass us and head up the hill. Again, another well-known name.
The doors opened and belched forth two groups who immediately set up their tripods in a row at the edge of the road up like dock pilings, all lenses aimed more-or-less in the same direction. I heard a voice yelling down to us.
“Get out of the way! We’re a holding a photography workshop.”
And we’re not? Excuse you? Where are your manners? Instead, I shook my head in disbelief and quietly suggested to our group that they move to a different part of the property after they had finished their current shot to the best of their abilities. Our host indicated that the two vans were part of an annual group that never asked permission to photograph their property.
One final thought. Excellent photographers are not necessarily good instructors, and there are excellent instructors who are not particularly strong photographers. Hopefully, you can find a combination of the two! That said, it may be worth it to you to compromise to get to the location of your dreams.
As noted above, you have to find what works for you. Hopefully this article will help you narrow down the myriad of choices.
For more information on our workshops, go to Barefoot Contessa Photo Adventures.
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So true – I still remember my first email correspondence and chats with you at a time when I was just getting back to photography. I had emailed both you and a “big name” workshop asking if there were alternative options for a fall workshop (I could not attend the regularly scheduled workshop because of a religious holiday). The “big name” workshop emailed back, “No”. You replied with an immediate personal understanding of the scheduling issue and delightful offer of help, including recommendations about alternatives. Having already reviewed your website and identified with your philosophy, and being quite impressed with the images made during the workshops, I knew I had found “my photography people”. SN
Lauren, alias SN for us,
How well I remember that conversation. Arnie and I are so glad it worked out. And thank you for the lovely comment.
Lauren, for those of you reading this, has attended a number of our workshops since that first one in New England in the fall.
Take care,
TBC
Great article, and so true. Some workshops are photo ops, not educational or skill building. I think this should be made known in the advertising of the workshop.
Pamela,
Thanks for your comment. There are photo tours that often bill themselves as photo workshops. There is a place for both, but many people wish that there was more up-front information on that.
Take care,
TBC