The now forcibly retired blog about: Photography, Life and the occasional UFO...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Workshop Du Jour...
Travel Photographer has an informative and useful take on photo workshops. And Duckrabbit highlights one in which David White (in the comments section) reflects on what may very well be the highlight- if not the overall theme.
I can see the use of some technical workshops, such as how to use a large format camera effectively, but those that claim to increase one's creativity are complete nonsense. But then they are usually peopled by rich, middle-aged, white women who want to take their photography to 'the next level' and have more money than talent. Easy pickings for the business-minded 'Pros'.
I took a workshop round about 20 yrs ago from a name photographer (a former head of The New School Photo Dept if memory serves)- he skipped halfway through the course never to be seen or heard by us again. But I digress...
I don't think it's fair to paint workshops with too broad a brush- way too many variables. And I'm certainly not familiar wth the general gender make up- although if it's like anything else in photography, I would assume predominantly male.
Anyway, as The Travel Photographer suggests- best to do the research beforehand. And as you alluded to, I'd only take one today for techinal info, eg- my computer/digital skills are lacking deluxe. Twenty year olds would have vastly different needs, especially if they're aspiring to be pros or artistes. All said, know exactly what you want, and how much of that, said workshop will provide for the cash you're laying down.
4 comments:
I can see the use of some technical workshops, such as how to use a large format camera effectively, but those that claim to increase one's creativity are complete nonsense. But then they are usually peopled by rich, middle-aged, white women who want to take their photography to 'the next level' and have more money than talent. Easy pickings for the business-minded 'Pros'.
I took a workshop round about 20 yrs ago from a name photographer (a former head of The New School Photo Dept if memory serves)- he skipped halfway through the course never to be seen or heard by us again. But I digress...
I don't think it's fair to paint workshops with too broad a brush- way too many variables. And I'm certainly not familiar wth the general gender make up- although if it's like anything else in photography, I would assume predominantly male.
Anyway, as The Travel Photographer suggests- best to do the research beforehand. And as you alluded to, I'd only take one today for techinal info, eg- my computer/digital skills are lacking deluxe. Twenty year olds would have vastly different needs, especially if they're aspiring to be pros or artistes. All said, know exactly what you want, and how much of that, said workshop will provide for the cash you're laying down.
Workshops are just like self-help books. The women eat them up - trust me.
That may well be the case, Gerald- I've just seen way too many instances of my own gender acting like unthinking lemmings.
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