Category — Workshops and Seminars

The Strobist - David Hobby

I had the great fortune to get a seat last Sunday for David Hobby’s Strobist lighting seminar in Los Angeles. [If you're a student of lighting and just said "Stro-who?", then let me be the first to welcome you to our planet. Check out the Strobist site and we'll see you back here in a couple days.]

To say that a ticket to the Stobist workshop is a hot item is an understatement. Two days x 50 seats = 100 happy photogs. 24 hours = more time than it took for both seminars to sell out. If you’re among the legions who wished they could attend a Strobist workshop, then let me ease your pain (or pour salt on your wounds) by sharing some of the highlights of the day. [Read on, I promise you'll also find links to sources of info on virtually every concept presented during the seminar.] [Read more →]

If you heard a persistent buzz coming from Las Vegas last week, it was the excitement in the Photoshop World Tech Expo. I’ve never seen a more energetic expo hall. Virtually every vendor offered non-stop presentations. In the past, you’d walk up to a counter, grab the latest catalog and move on. Now, you use your elbows to find a seat.

The breadth of topics presented in the Tech Expo rivaled the Photoshop World curriculum. When I closed my eyes, the number of voices booming from all directions was surreal. In my opinion, the Tech Expo took Photoshop World to a whole new level. [Tip for locals, if you can't afford a ticket to Photoshop World, definitely attend the Tech Expo.] Here’s a peek at a few of the Expo highlights.

Peter Reed Miller, legendary Sports Illustrated photographer, gave daily presentations in the Microsoft Expo Theater. I was fascinated with his stories from the Beijing Olympics. [Read more →]

The dates for the upcoming 2008/09 tour of the Epson Print Academy are now online. The 16-city tour starts in Atlanta on November 8. No specifics about pricing or curriculum have been released. Click here for the event calendar. I expect that more details will be released by the end of the month.

The last tour, held in 2006, offered two tracks at each venue –- one for amateurs and one for professionals. I attended the pro track in San Francisco and met Bruce Fraser, JP Caponigro, Greg Gorman, Jeff Schewe and Mac Holbert. I expect that the instructors on the new tour will be equally stellar.

I always look forward to the Epson Print Academy as a way to catch up the latest techniques. Even though I drive my Epson 3800 with a high-degree of confidence, I’m looking forward to attending the pro track in San Francisco next February. With the recent release of Lightroom 2 and the upcoming announcement of Photoshop CS4, I highly recommend the event regardless of your printer make and skill level.

Paso Robles, California | September 1, 2008
For Immediate Release

Syl Arena officially pulled the covers off his newest project - a workshop program that will offer courses in and around Paso Robles on photography, food and wine. “Thanks to the national attention that our wineries have earned, Paso Robles has become a popular destination for wine enthusiasts. Likewise, we have so many amazing restaurants and charming places to stay.” Syl said. “It’s only natural that there’s a growing interest in educational-tourism on the central coast.”

The Paso Robles Workshops will begin offering programs in early 2009. Classes will range from 1-day excursions to week-long intensives. Topics will run the gamut and appeal to all skill levels - from complete novice to working professionals…

Click here to read the complete announcement.

So you’re heading to Vegas for your first Photoshop World. Don’t quite know what to expect? Here are 10 tips to help you make the most of your first Photoshop World.

1. Rest up before you go - Seriously. Even if PW was held in El Paso rather than Las Vegas, you wouldn’t get much sleep. PW crams an amazing number of classes and fun events into a handful of days. (The schedule is here.) On Friday, for example, classes start at 8:15am and run into the early evening. Then, from 7:15-9:15pm, consider the panel discussion ‘The Art of Digital Photography‘ to be a can’t-miss session. And… if you’re really a night owl, get one of the coveted 200 tickets to Midnight Madness, which follows the panel discussion. [Read more →]

Santa Fe Photographic Workshops has just posted their schedule for Spring 2009. This is the schedule only; individual course descriptions should be available by the end of September. I’ve taken a number of workshops at Santa Fe and have always had a great experience. If you are looking to take a workshop with guys like Joe McNally or Jay Maisel, register today. Their classes always fill up quickly. If you wait for the actual catalog to be published, your favorite course may be filled already. Santa Fe has a stable of great instructors that return every year to teach. They’ve also added a flock of new, yet equally great, names to their faculty (Michael Britt is a personal favorite as his High-Volume Digital Workflow seminars always speak to my inner-geek), To stay in touch with SFPW, subscribe to their e-newsletter and their blog.

Jay Maisel has announced three new workshop dates for 2008. Definitely not for the feint of heart - emotionally or financially. The nine attendees at each session “should expect five solid days (from 9:00am to 10:00pm) of shooting, discussing, eating, and breathing photography with Jay at this home”. The cost $5,000. To go to Jay’s site, click here. To download the PDF brochure, click here.

Need more Maisel?

Here’s the ASMP interview with Jay.

Get the “colorful” podcast of Jay with Greg Gorman, Seth Resnick and George Jardine.

Here’s an interview at Photo Insider.

I met Atlanta-based / editorial / music / headshot photographer Zack Arias yesterday… not face-to-face, but through the digital matchmaker, David Hobby over at Strobist. David posted a handful of blurbs - one linked to my other blog, PixSylated, and one linked to Zack’s incredible 5-part white seamless tutorial.

I’ve now spent the better part of, well let’s say, way more time than I really have cruising Zack’s websites. I was totally sucked in and tangled up (is that why it’s called the “internet”?). My conclusion, Zack is a guy that up-and-coming photographers (and open-minded, old-dogs, like me) need to study.

Zack’s story is typical of many (”will probably be recognized as great someday”) photographers. He shoots not because there’s tons of money in it (which is a becoming a universal truth). Rather, he shoots because it’s who he is. You can tell by looking at his photographs. You can tell by reading his websites. [Read more →]

In the world of fine art photography, it’s often hard to figure out where the image capture ends and the printmaking begins. Many photographers begin visualizing the final print before their finger hits the shutter button. Others won’t begin to see the potential of their images until they’ve spent several hours in front of a computer monitor. The important point here is to understand that the process of creating a well-crafted, fine art photograph is a continuum and not a series of disconnected steps.

I attended The Fine Art of Digital Printing workshop in Santa Barbara last fall. So, I can personally attest to the fact that investing a week in FADP is an amazing way to catapult your printmaking skills forward. It’s a total immersion program — like Berlitz for photographers. [Read more →]

Photography Book Now confirms the suspicion that on-demand printing of photo books may be considered as a future Olympic sport. There’s the Competition (deadline July 14) with a great list of awards and an equally impressive roster of jurors. After the winners are selected, Photography Book Now then turns into a social and educational roadshow with stops scheduled in San Francisco, London and New York.

Photography Book Now is presented by Blurb with a laundry list of other sponsors: Canon, Livebooks, American Photo, SmugMug, Flickr…