Photo workshops are a great way to both learn about photography as well as understand some of the more scenic locations. Not all workshops are created equally however, and there are some things you should understand before you commit your time and money.
The workshop leader should be both a good photographer and a good teacher. There are two corollaries to this: although a bad photographer can be a good teacher, that doesn’t help. How can they evaluate your images if their images are mediocre. Just as importantly, a good photographer can be a bad instructor. This is more commonplace than you might assume. The problem here is that no matter how good a photographer is, if they can’t communicate and teach, you’re wasting your time and money. Worse yet, some who are good also have egos which further exacerbates any good learning experience. I’ve attended some workshops where the leader literally raced the class to the shoot location, grabbed the best location, took his shots and almost ignored the students. What a fun workshop that was. I’ve heard of others where the leader even insults the students abilities. Again, just because someone is a good or even great photographer doesn’t mean that the workshop will be a profitable and enjoyable experience. The best way to determine this is to ask around. Again, check them out, no matter how famous or good they may otherwise be.
The curriculum really pertains to how the workshop is run. There should be some combination of class room instruction and field work. For most location landscape workshops, a little class room with a lot of field exposure works best. Why? Understand that the students or workshop attendees will have various skill backgrounds. The class room is there to get everyone to some base level. For example, we shoot in the morning and evening because the light is better; we use polarizers to minimize the glare and saturate the images, tripods are nice because they allow you sharp exposures in low light. Basic stuff, but you can’t assume everyone knows this. Additionally there are certain safety issues and other expectations which must be communicated. Outside of leader evaluations of student shots, the rest of the shop should be in the field.
The Location refers to the actual knowledge of the area. Some workshop leaders really understand and even specialize in specific areas. If they go to new locations, they need to be skilled in scouting out locations. What you don’t want to do is effectively cover the costs of a workshop leader who would like to visit Ireland for the first time. Some photographers can parachute into any location and come up with excellent images but it takes another skill – scouting – to do so. To this degree, the best workshops are run by those who specialize in certain locations.
Recommendations - I have personally used and can highly recommend Don Smith and Gary Hart whom I list on the side bar. Both are not only excellent photographers but great teachers and genuinely nice guys. Although they each run their own businesses, they often will work together. Additionally they offer individual training for those who are more advanced or want specialized training. Another workshop I highly recommend is Charlie Cramer’s print class. This is usually entirely class room but justifiably so and is also one of my sidebar links. Even the pros go to Charlie’s class – he’s just that good.
Although I’ve attended other workshops, I couldn’t recommend any others without reservations. There’s no quid pro quo here, these guys are worth your consideration.
