Rick Thompson
If you are a new photographer or if you want to give your photography a dose of energy, you might ask yourself, “How do I find a good photography instructor?”
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to get you to where you want to go. But herein lies the best first question, “Where do you want to go with your photography?” You would never hire an underwater instructor to help you photograph birds or bears. My best advice is to shoot what you love.
If you love classic automobiles, go to classic car shows and attend classic car photo workshops. If you love fashion design, find a photo workshop that lets you photograph men’s and women’s fashion.
Photo workshops abound in today’s world. There are hundreds to choose from, but finding the right one can be tricky and expensive. My experience with photo workshops range from superb to awful to even scary; but all of them turned out to be instructive. Here are some thoughts for choosing a photo workshop that meets your needs:
First, find out if the workshop is a photography workshop with leisure travel as a subset or is the workshop really leisure travel and photography is the side dish. Stay clear of workshops whose descriptions are weak, vague, or non-descriptive.
Second, find out something about the instructor’s background. Look at the instructor’s work and see if there are dominant styles you can see. For example, if you like to shoot landscapes and in the description of the workshop they highlight portrait photography or “street shooting”—not architecture, or landscapes, or what interests you—then it’s probably a bad match. Do your homework and save your money.
Third, ask about workshop attendee interaction. Without fail in every photo workshop I have attended, I learned something I didn’t know from other attendees. Some of my favorites included a new kind of heavy duty quick-release camera strap, an attachment for your camera that accommodates an Apple Air Tag, or if you lose your lens cap, there is a wonderful after-market rubber lens cap that fits over the end of your lens and is superb protection against water and weather. Many instructors may not be familiar with items like these but other attendees are.
And finally, stay away from instructors with extreme photo styles who demand that you adopt their shooting style because it worked for them and made them lots of money. The best instructors cultivate creativity. At the end of the day, the person writing the check for your photos doesn’t care how you “got there.” If they like your photo, they write the check. If they don’t like your photo, they don’t write the check. It’s as simple as that. Find your own style and keep shooting!
Rick Thompson is a Saddlebrooke Ranch resident and is a credentialed photographer for U.S. Air Force Media. Rick is based at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.