WildShots

Top 10 mistakes to avoid during a photography workshop

Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by Paul Burwell in Everything, Top Ten Lists, Workshops, Tours and Courses

Before any of my students get worried that I’m writing about them, my recollection of these mistakes come from years ago when I was attending workshops instead of conducting them. I guess I’ve been lucky so far because I always seem to get a great bunch of folks anxious to learn and have fun.  So the items in the list presented below come from personal experience and the whisperings of a little bird in a dream.

Most of this stuff is just basic sandbox stuff.  You know, the stuff you learned as a kid so that you wouldn’t have to play alone?  Well the same “rules” apply to social events like photography workshops.

If you plan on attending a photography workshop in the foreseeable future, here are the top 10 mistakes, presented in traditional descending order, to avoid:

10. Evangelizing.

• Some people seem to view the gathering of any group of individuals as an opportunity to market their financial services, multi-level-marketing organization, or even their political or religious views. Unless the workshop was organized by one of those groups, you can be pretty darn sure that no one signed up so that you could try to sell them on something. Even if people listen politely, they are just hoping against hope that you’ll stop; so please do.

9. “Look at me” syndrome.

• You’ve probably met people who need to be the center of attention.  In the case of a workshop, they don’t understand why they weren’t asked to lead the workshop and make a constant effort to proffer unsolicited advice or demonstrate their expertise. If you’ve paid the money to attend a workshop, you’re there to learn along with everyone else. My philosophy is that it is better to demonstrate your expertise through your results than by lecturing the group or trying to upstage the instructor.

8. “Pat me on the back” syndrome.

• Most workshops have an opportunity where individuals can bring some of their previous work for the instructor to critique. While there is nothing wrong with bringing a few of your better images to show off a little, I see little value in only bringing images that you already know are good images. Some individuals seem to bring only their best work to workshops just to get pats on the back. Assuming you’re there to learn, why not bring some images that are a bit more risky or those where you’re wondering how they might be improved?

7. New equipment.

• The worst possible place to try to learn your new camera is at a workshop. At most workshops you have an opportunity to make images that you probably wouldn’t be able to make on your own. Bringing new equipment that you haven’t mastered is a recipe for disaster and frustration. Discovering that you’ve missed or improperly exposed some memorable images just because you are unfamiliar with your equipment isn’t a great use of your workshop dollars. If you just got a new camera, bring both and use the old one and get the shots, and then if you have time, swap over to the new gear and experiment and learn.

6. Tardiness.

• Often there are one or two individuals who insist on inconveniencing the group by being late. When it’s a sunrise shoot and their lateness causes us to miss the most spectacular sunrise in a hundred years, I guarantee their name will be mud.  A thousand poxes on them!
• Nothing is more frustrating to those who bothered to be on time than to have the beautiful light of the day, strangely enough that’s when most photo sessions are scheduled during a workshop, wasting away. If you’re chronically late, please check your selfishness at the door and make every effort to be on time.  And what does “on time” mean?  It means you are there are ready to go with at least 10 minutes to spare.

The little bird that helped me with this list

5. Nikon vs. Canon vs. etc.

• Yeah, we get it! The camera brand you’ve chosen is the best and anyone who chose a different brand is a freakin’ idiot. Please leave the fanatic mentality at home and let people wallow in the ignorance you’re presuming they posess. All modern cameras can make great images and great photographs come from photographers, not from cameras.

4. I.T.B. (I’m the best) Syndrome.

• Some folks seem to go to workshops just to show off and natter on and on about how they’ve sold a bazillion photos or won a bunch of contests but for some inexplicable reason haven’t turned pro yet. Why are you even there? What’s enjoyable to me is when this person is shown up by the quiet unassuming person whose work just knocks everybody’s socks off.

3. Not my car Syndrome.

• Most workshops encourage individuals to carpool to various locations in order to minimize the group’s parking and environmental footprint. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who just won’t/can’t/don’t car pool. They aren’t interested in having others ride along with them and they don’t want to travel with others. I understand that it’s nice to have all your gear in your vehicle, but it won’t earn you the adoration of the group or mother nature. And if you do car share with someone else, make sure you don’t “forget” to make a contribution towards fuel costs.

2. Not showing your work.

• In my experience, photographers are very critical of their own work. We can always find something we wish was different in even our very best images. And this, unfortunately, discourages some workshop participants from sharing their images with the group. In my opinion, one of the great ways of learning and gaining confidence in your work is to show it and hear what others, who aren’t family and friends, have to say about your images. Just remember that opinions about your pictures are just like bellybuttons. Everyone has one. Each opinion is just another piece of information to add to your data bank.

1. Inconsiderate jerk.

• Nothing brings the group down quicker than when one or more individuals are inconsiderate. What does inconsiderate mean? Walking into other people’s shots; rearranging the scenery oblivious to what others might be doing; making footprints in snow or sand that other folks are trying to photograph; hogging a great spot, destroying some feature (ice structure, sand ripples, etc.) just so that no one else can make a similar photograph; or just about anything that would have got you kicked out of the sandbox as a kid.

Avoid making these 10 mistakes and you, and the rest of your group, will have a more enlightening and fulfilling time together.

Run into people making mistakes similar to these? Have some to share that I missed? Here’s the place…

Bookmark this article

Tags: avoid, during, mistakes, Photography, top 10 list, workshop