My workshop with Tony Sweet has come and gone. Overtime I will show many of the images from the workshop here in my blog. What did I learn? I think mostly a lot of small things that will come out in my images over time. For now here are my thoughts on workshops after going to this one (big sample so take this for what is worth):
- Know what you want to get out of the workshop. Tony noted that it was really up to each of us decide what that is. For me it was the opportunity to be taught directly by Tony and hopefully take my skills just another notch up.
- Workshops can be exhausting. Getting up for sunrise and shooting past sunset can disrupt your sleep a bit. If you are like me and can’t easily nap in the afternoon (or get anxious about not being able to sleep) it can start to take a toll. Meal times get moved around as well (if you get one) – bring lots of snacks. Good thing workshops are typically just a few days.
- A good chance to meet and hang out with other photographers. Getting to hang out with others who are obsessed like you can be interesting. Like myself they may stop mid sentence and say something like “look at the light over on that tree” and pick up where the left off without skipping a beat. You also get a chance to see how others see and shoot the same subject. This can broaden your vision.
- Workshops are like a photographic marathon. A chance to exercise all your photographic skills and techniques. Or maybe like doing calisthenics were you exercise each muscle group. We went on 8-9 shoots so lots of opportunity to work (I am sure this varies workshop to workshop).
- As I have noted before, In order to see images when you are away from home you need to be practicing where you live. I think this applies to workshops as well.
I am sure there is a lot more I could write, but that will do for now. One difference from shooting around your area, at a workshop you need to stay out of the other photographer images;-) That is another story…
Blog images: An HDR image from the picnic area at Deception Pass State Park. We had a spectacular sunset shoot there. Next is an image from the Coupeville Pier – note this is not HDR just well balanced lighting.
