Pixiq

As someone who has taught a considerable number of workshops, and who has taken a few as well I thought I’d offer up my advice on how to prepare for a photography workshop. While teaching workshops I have noticed that some people come in very unprepared to digest the huge amount of information discussed and shown in most workshops, especially workshops that are about digital workflow and software solutions for digital photography workflow. Hence, here are five tips on how you can better prepare yourself for your next photography workshop.

Do your Homework

I see a lot of folks come into a workshop completely unprepared. They signed up for the workshop but they haven’t really done any homework to see what it is really about or prepare themselves to digest the information. Particularly if you are going into a workshop that deals with digital workflow software like Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture or any thing else I would highly suggest that you get familiar with that software before you start the workshop. And when I say familiar, I mean spend some serious time with it. I know folks take workshops like this to learn the software but most instructors have to go through the material so fast that it is hard for the students to keep up if they don’t have at least a rudimentary feel for the software and how it works.

If you are headed into a week long photography workshop I would encourage folks to figure out before the workshop starts what they want to get out of it, set some goals to be achieved during the workshop and also to start a list of questions to ask and get answers to during the workshop. Doing these three things will set you up to get the most you possibly can from any given workshop – and it will also help your instructor to really focus on your needs.

Look for Instructors that Inspire

This may sound obvious, but make sure the instructor you chose to take a workshop from inspires you. By that I mean either their work is something you would like to emulate or they themselves are the type of person that you really connect with. The later might be hard to figure out but most workshop instructors show quite a bit of their personality on their websites, blogs and in books so it isn’t that hard to figure out what people are like. As a side note I have to say that Andy Biggs, Nevada Wier and Joe McNally are three of the best workshop instructors anywhere. If you have a chance to learn from any of these folks sign up for the workshop no matter what the topic they are teaching on – you won’t regret it.

Look for Instructors that are Experts

Of course, it’s a bonus if an instructor is an expert in their genre of photography and most are. If you are taking a portraiture workshop then look for a photographer whose work resonates with you and also look for a photographer that is equally adept at many different styles of portraiture as they will be able to show you a broad range of lighting techniques and how to deal with a variety of subjects. If you are looking to learn a software program like Lightroom or Photoshop, then gravitate to an expert in that software – they may or may not be a full-time working photographer and this may or may not matter. If you are a full-time pro then you might want to seek out a full-time pro photographer to learn about that software as they will know more real-world working techniques that apply to you. If you are an amateur and just want to learn the software better then an expert that isn’t a full-time pro may be a better fit.

Talk with others who have taken Workshops

One of the best and most reliable sources you have for how good a workshop will be are those who have taken it before. Word of mouth is powerful marketing. And the reality is some instructors are better than others. Years, ago I took Joe McNally’s Location Lighting workshop and it was incredible. Joe is one of the best workshop instructor’s I have ever met and he really enjoys teaching workshops. I posted an article in my newsletter several years ago about his workshop and I had a lot of folks email me asking my opinion of that experience. People who tend to take workshops tend to take quite a few of them in general and are great resources when looking for a workshop to fit your needs. On a side note, also talk with the folks putting on the workshop and ask lots of questions up front to make sure you are ready for the workshop and that it will provide what you are looking for.

Take care of yourself before and during the workshop

A photography workshop is exciting – and they can also be very exhausting so I highly recommend getting plenty of rest before you start a workshop and making sure you are healthy. If you aren’t fully exhausted by the end of the workshop you need to ask yourself if you really got what you came for. I know a lot of folks, especially on the week-long photography workshops, have a really emotional week during the course of workshops. It can be a stressful experience because your images are being judged not only by the rest of the class but also by the instructor during image critiques. If you are stressed out and exhausted before the workshop even starts you are going to have a rough week.

My philosophy, and that of many other instructors, is to offer up as much information as possible. I want to give the participants their monies worth. The hope is that the participants can retain what they really wanted to learn about and explore the rest later if that applies to them and their photography. Being well rested and ready to go each day will help to get the most out of the experience.

The last thing I will stress here is that you learn more from failures than you do from successes. Take risks in a photography workshop and push yourself. If you don't, then you won't get the most out of the class. 

As a bonus here are several workshop organizations that I would highly recommend:

Andy Biggs Safaris (www.andybiggs.com) : If you are looking to go on a safari and want to shoot images of wildlife then look no further, Andy’s workshops are the best around. Andy is an exceptional instructor and knows what he is talking about. His workshops aren’t cheap but that is mostly because of the amazing locations you’ll go to - and well, you get what you pay for. Andy is also a first class guy.

The Santa Fe Workshops (www.santafeworkshops.com): I have to say of all the places I have worked with the Santa Fe Workshops does an incredible job of creating a learning environment that is fun and exciting. They usually have five to seven workshops going at one time in the spring, summer and fall and I have taken some amazing workshops from them. My Adventure Photography Workshop that I teach each summer is a very unique and fun experience chalked full of learning experiences and a ton of information. A major bonus is that northern New Mexico is an incredible location for photography and serves as the background for the workshops, not to mention the great food here in Santa Fe.

Maine Media Workshops (www.mainemedia.edu): The Maine Media Workshops are very similar to the Santa Fe Workshops and they put on an amazing number of high quality workshops up in Rockport, Maine. In fact, they may list the largest number of photography and video workshops anywhere on earth.

Mentor Series Photo Treks (www.mentorseries.com): These photo workshops are really photo tours and as such they take you to a wild array of fantastic locations. They are light on the digital workflow side of things and more aimed at folks who just want to get out and shoot – and they are a lot of fun.

And finally, here is a list of my upcoming workshops if you are interested:

Adobe Lightroom 3.0 - Salt Lake City, UT - March 26-27, 2011
Mentor Series Trek in Santa Fe, NM - Mentor Series Photo Treks, Santa Fe, NM - May 13 - 15, 2011 
Adventure Photography - Santa Fe Workshops, Santa Fe, NM - June 19-25, 2011 
Adventure Photography - Maine Media Workshops, Rockport, ME - August 21-27, 2011
Surfing Photography - North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii - Stay Tuned for 2012 Dates

You can see more information about these workshops on my website.