I write this on the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway for another Photography Workshop on the Isles of Harris & Lewis. It has been a busy start to 2023 having spent the best part of the last 3 weeks in Assynt & Glencoe running a number of workshops and this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to reflect on those workshops.
I try to assess how each workshop has gone as each one finishes – how I’ve done, what I could have done better, how I could have improved things and what I have learnt to help me make the next one better. I guess I’m always trying to learn and to improve my own levels so that I can improve the quality and standard of my own performance to the benefit of my clients for each forthcoming workshop.
Three key ideals underpin my thoughts each time at the start of each workshop. Can I offer value for money? Will my clients learn from their experiences? And have they enjoyed themselves? If, I can achieve all three then I can drive home feeling it has been successful. I also want them to great photographs.
Within these 3 aims or hopes, if you will, are factors I can control and there are variables I have little or no control over.
On reflection, I can only control me. I can only offer so much – enthusiasm, experience, knowledge, motivation, guidance, but this will only go so far. The participants also have a responsibility, not only to themselves, but to the rest of the group and to me. It helps if they have a positive mindset, are responsive to ideas and share similar ideals as the rest. To be open-minded, keen to learn, to take on new ideas and make a positive contribution to the workshop experience.
There are, of course, variables. The main one being the weather. I used to pour over weather forecasts until I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. I ended up confused and unsure with what to expect. I put untold stress on my mental health, I took full responsibility if it was raining, or if it was too windy, too cold, too hot, too miserable, too bloody everything. I took it personally and hoped the rain would stop, or the sun would go in or the wind would relent. Sometimes, it felt as though I should refund my guests some money for their disappointment in the weather conditions. How crazy! This had to stop, I was making myself unwell. I was so desperate, too keen to provide them with fantastic value for money that I had lost all sense of something I had no control over.
Thankfully, over time and with far more experience in running these workshops, sense has prevailed. I’m a lot more relaxed about it now. I accept the weather is out of my control and rather than fret about it, I use it as a positive. A great opportunity to test your skills in the most unfavourable conditions. Anyone can take a decent photograph when the conditions are all in your favour. But, can my guests do it “on a rainy Tuesday night in Stoke” to quote a well known footballing phrase. This is not to say I don’t care, because I do, deeply. Maybe too much sometimes, but over time I have learnt there is no point in worrying about something I cannot control. There is definitely no chance of me taking any responsibility for the weather.
It comes back to my first of 3 mantras in running workshops. To offer value for money. I regularly, during the week ask my guests if everything is ok, is there anything they’d like help with – composition, focus points, filters, editing etc. I learnt very early on that it is so important to keep all lines of communication open with one another, to be open and to not be shy in asking questions, no matter how silly you feel they are. By doing this I am providing them every opportunity to thrive in an open and honest environment.
At the start of each workshop, I always ask my guests what they want from the week. What would make them feel that they have had fantastic value for money whilst away with me. 80-90% of them will reply that if they can return home with 4 or 5 photographs which they would feel happy to print and have hanging on their wall at home – then they would be happy. The balance of the rest is usually a combination of help with composition, workflow, focussing, filters and editing. These then becomes my responsibility to help them individually or collectively to not only achieve this but to exceed it. There’s an awful lot of competition out there with other photographers leading workshops, but this is my opportunity, with a captured audience to provide exactly what my guests want. If I succeed, then it answers what it is that I want from the week – a returning guest on another workshop.
Therefore, I always keep all lines of communication open at all times with my guests. In doing so, I will be fullfilling the 2nd of my 3 mantras. For the guests to learn something. All of my workshop guests are on a photographic journey. A journey of exploration, enjoyment and education. I too, am on the same journey. We are all at different stages of the journey. A journey with no final destination, nobody ever arrives, but the fun is trying to get there. We are all on the same train, some get off, some stay on and those of us that stay on want to enjoy the ride. We are all travelling in the same direction, we have similar goals, let’s all try and get along. This is the positive environment I try to and with experience mostly achieve with my workshops. By creating and nurturing this positive mood, I believe my guests will thrive, they will learn within this supportive and appreciative atmosphere. I aim to inspire them to return home and continue their love affair with landscape photography. And so by offering great value for money and creating an environment where they can thrive and learn, I believe my guests would have also experienced the third of my 3 mantras………to enjoy themselves.
Landscape Photography is a very small genre of the great and wonderful art of photography. But whether it is done as a hobby or a profession, we must never lose sight of the fact, that is supposed to be fun. I will always try to convey this message to my guests on a daily, hourly basis. Photographing for yourself gives you a great sense of freedom, so please enjoy yourself. Try not to get bogged down with what other people think or say. Don’t worry whether this shot will do well in next month’s Camera Club competition. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is you! Do it for yourself. In general, photography as a hobby can be a source of great comfort , especially if you do it on your own. For example, going for a walk to take landscape photos will expose you to fresh air and help you connect with nature. Going out to take photos with friends will let you socialise and be creative at the same time.
At the start of my journey running residential Photography Workshops throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, I felt a whole mixture of emotions ranging from excitement to fear. Those emotions are as valid today as they were on Day 1. The difference now, is I know how to harness those emotions into a Workshop which I now feel offers great value for money, provides a supportive and positive environment for people to thrive and enjoy themselves.
So, now as the ferry reaches my destination of the Outer Hebrides, I feel confident that this week will deliver on all 3 of my mantras……even if it does rain for the week.