NOTE: This post is directed at fellow photographers, but could be beneficial to anyone who is in a professional field that offers workshops/seminars/etc.
A few weeks ago I went to a workshop.
Yes, I know!! Gasp!! I paid good money to go learn from another photographer, even though I am not new at this photography thing!
I had a few people ask me before I went, Why are you going? Do you really need to spend the money to learn stuff you may already know? Doesn’t going to a workshop make you look like a newbie?
Answers…
Why? I don’t ever want to think I’ve arrived. I always want to learn new things and be challenged and pushed to be better at my art and at my business, and going to a workshop is a good way to do that.
Do you need to spend money? Well I guess that depends on how hard you want to work to get good information. For me it was worth the investment because I trusted that I would learn A LOT of invaluable information all in one sitting. And info that would otherwise take me A LOT of time, and/or tears (mistakes) to learn. I also want my business to be rockin! And to get there as quickly as possible, it made sense to me to go straight to someone whose business and art I admire and learn all I could!
Does it make me a newbie? Um… who cares? Yes, I have been shooting for a long time, and we run a growing business; but I think I would be doing myself and my clients a disservice by not continuing to learn, and by not seeking out information/skills that will benifit my business, and in turn benefit the experience my clients will receive with us.
So which workshop did I go to??
Amelia and Justin Lyon are photographers whose work we have always admired. They have such a fresh, fun, artistic, and skilled way of capturing images that we just love!
Here are Amelia and Justin talking about their story… the evolution of their business. Oh yeah, the shop was held in Vegas right before WPPI started and was in the penthouse of the Palms Hotel. Very posh, and a great comfy environment to hang and learn.
Amelia is also a mom of 2 young kids, so I knew I would appreciate hearing how a fellow mom keeps her sanity while juggling work and mommy life.
In addition to that they are a husband and wife team, and since Derek and I shoot most of our weddings together, I knew there would be things for me to glean from watching that dynamic.
They taught very candidly about things like…
Equipment
Finding inspiration
Work flow
Branding/Marketing
Post Processing
Client Meetings
Pricing
Time management
And then we also watched them do 2 shoots… one focused on posing and using natural light, and the other (one of the main reasons I chose this workshop) was focused on off camera lighting.
Here they are in action
Another awesome photographer couple Candice and Mark Brooke were the models.
Overall the experience was very beneficial. At many times it made me feel happy that we were on a good track with the way we were doing things, and then at others it inspired me or challenged me with a fresh perspective on something.
Amelia and Justin, Thank you SO much for being willing to share and teach from your wealth of knowledge and skills! You guys were so fun to learn from and your work just plain rocks!!
So what to look for if/when you decide to invest in a workshop?
Establish specifically what you need/want to learn and then look for that.
Like for me… I wanted to see first hand how a fellow mommy-tog stayed sane. I wanted to be challenged in a technical area (off camera lighting). and I wanted to do sort of a business diagnostic (Were we on a good track with pricing, branding, work flow, etc?)
Have you been to any good workshops, seminars? Share with us your thoughts on the experience. Or your thoughts in general on going or not going….
show hide 4 comments