p.3 #1 · Best photography workshop for first timer?
runamuck wrote:
Local extension colleges used to offer non credit photography courses. It was in one such course I learned to love night photography. Now they seem to have suffered the same fate as the Dodo bird.
UC Extension in the SF Bay Area long offered an important night photography program taught by Tim Baskerville, who founded a group known as "The Nocturnes." A whole community of night photography. and night photography arose around Tim and his group. Thinking about this, a few things occurred to me:
1. Tim also taught a popular course at the College of Marin, a North Bay community college. Community colleges are another source of photography courses of all types, ranging from basic techniques through photography history and on to more specialized subjects.
2. I earlier mentioned the value of becoming part of a community of photographers. I certainly had this experience with The Nocturnes and Tim. My first real night photography experience came via a free workshop offered by The Nocturnes in conjunction with the Pacific Flyway Festival. I went on a whim back in the very early 2000s, got hooked, and ended up coming part of that community — participating in a bunch of shows and, eventually, becoming part of a small group of photographers, "Studio Nocturne," that took up the mantle of The Nocturnes. Becoming part of that community was perhaps the most important outcome.
My point is less about night photography specifically and more about connecting with the community of photographers. There's no one "right" path into this medium, but by forming relationships with other photographers there is a better chance that you'll eventually find a path that works for you.
p.3 #2 · Best photography workshop for first timer?
When I first started out I found a local group through a website called meetup
There are groups dedicated to regional photography on that site.
I found a group for Night Photography in the Boston area and attended their events to shoot in the field.
I learned many techniques, there were online photo reviews, the group had a very minimal membership fee (I think $20 per year).
I stopped attending only because I found it was too costly to spend gas on places I either didn't have personal interest in photographing or on nights when the conditions were not good for photography. Like any workshop, the group leader(s) has to pick dates and locations well in advance before weather is known.
Anyway it was very valuable for me and hardly cost anything other than my time.
I am sure I would find most any workshop helpful and learn something from it but not sure I could justify the expense. With a limited budget I can likely take 3-4 self trips to different areas rather than 1 workshop to 1 area so that is my thought process.
If I had unlimited budget it might be nice to let someone else do the planning work / driving, etc.. though and connect with other like minded folks.
Having never done it I am not sure as the planning aspect is something I do really enjoy and gets me more invested.
I could also see myself trying out a workshop someday to reach a place that is otherwise not easy/possible without a group.
p.3 #3 · Best photography workshop for first timer?
Oh,just remembered a little tidbit. The cost of the workshops here, unless you drive, does get expensive between gas, rental car, and plane ticket. For me, it has run about an extra $1500 or so, excluding the cost of the workshop(1200-1500). When I do the math, I am not that far off from taking a workshop in another country. I took one in the Dolomites and it cost me about $3500(flight,workshop,lodging,food,and transportation was provided)
p.3 #4 · Best photography workshop for first timer?
gdanmitchell wrote:
UC Extension in the SF Bay Area long offered an important night photography program taught by Tim Baskerville, who founded a group known as "The Nocturnes." A whole community of night photography. and night photography arose around Tim and his group. Thinking about this, a few things occurred to me:
1. Tim also taught a popular course at the College of Marin, a North Bay community college. Community colleges are another source of photography courses of all types, ranging from basic techniques through photography history and on to more specialized subjects.
2. I earlier mentioned the value of becoming part of a community of photographers. I certainly had this experience with The Nocturnes and Tim. My first real night photography experience came via a free workshop offered by The Nocturnes in conjunction with the Pacific Flyway Festival. I went on a whim back in the very early 2000s, got hooked, and ended up coming part of that community — participating in a bunch of shows and, eventually, becoming part of a small group of photographers, "Studio Nocturne," that took up the mantle of The Nocturnes. Becoming part of that community was perhaps the most important outcome.
My point is less about night photography specifically and more about connecting with the community of photographers. There's no one "right" path into this medium, but by forming relationships with other photographers there is a better chance that you'll eventually find a path that works for you.
One of the things that has made a tremendous difference to my photography is developing a rudimentary understanding of the creative drawing process. Books like "Pictorial composition in art", "How pictures work" and "Landscape Beyond" have been invaluable. So have watching a bunch of Bob Ross videos - they are a treasure trove for landscape photographers in terms of understanding light, proportions, balanced composition, object placement within the frame, conveying depth in a 2D medium, etc. If I were to take a course at a community college it would not be a photography one, but a drawing course. The technical aspects of photography are trivial to learn, and it feels like a photo course would spend at least 50% of the time on the technical aspects.
p.3 #5 · Best photography workshop for first timer?
I showed some night photos to a friend. When she asked how I got the lights in the windows, I said the photo wss taken at 10 PM. She looked at me like I was nucking futs. Here is Chicago's Buckingham Fountain.
