How Important is the Workshop Leader?

What You Should Expect From The Workshop Leader

When you book a photography workshop, it is very easy to be seduced by the location.

The Isle of Skye. Harris & Lewis. Assynt. Torridon. Glencoe.

You look at photographs of mountains, beaches and dramatic coastlines and imagine yourself standing there with your camera. Understandably, the destination often becomes one of the biggest reasons for choosing one workshop over another.

But there is another part of the decision that I think is every bit as important.

Who is actually leading it?

A beautiful location does not necessarily make a great workshop. The person leading the workshop has an enormous influence on what you photograph, how much you learn and, perhaps most importantly, how you feel about your photography when you go home.

More Than Knowing Where To Go

From a client’s point of view, one of the obvious reasons for joining a workshop is local knowledge.

You are paying someone to know where to go, when to go there and, equally importantly, when not to go there.

But good local knowledge is about much more than knowing a collection of impressive viewpoints.

A workshop leader should understand how locations respond to different weather conditions, tides, wind directions and changing light. Somewhere that works beautifully on a calm evening may offer little in heavy rain, while another location that initially appears less promising might come alive in exactly those conditions.

That knowledge becomes particularly important somewhere like the Scottish Highlands, where rigid itineraries and landscape photography rarely make comfortable companions.

As a client, you shouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

You should be able to concentrate on your photography while somebody else is quietly thinking about what the weather is doing, where the light might be better, what time the tide turns and whether changing location is really going to improve the photographic opportunities.

But That Isn't Teaching

Knowing where to stand with a camera and being able to help somebody become a better photographer are two very different things.

For me, this is where a workshop leader becomes particularly important.

Different photographers arrive with completely different levels of experience. One person may need help understanding aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Somebody standing ten metres away may have been photographing for thirty years and want to explore composition, simplicity or how to develop a more personal style.

Neither is more deserving of attention than the other.

A good workshop leader needs to recognise those differences and adapt.

Teaching shouldn’t simply mean telling everybody which settings to use or pointing towards a composition and saying, “There’s the photograph.”

In fact, I think that can sometimes achieve the opposite of what a workshop should be about.

You might go home with the photograph, but have you learned how to find the next one for yourself?

You Shouldn't Have To Photograph Like The Leader

This is something I think is particularly important when choosing a workshop.

Look at the workshop leader’s photography. You should certainly respect their work and hopefully find something within it that resonates with you.

But look beyond their photographs too. Read what they write, watch them speak if videos are available and look at how they describe their approach to teaching. You are not simply choosing a photographer whose work you admire; you are choosing someone you may spend several days or a week learning from.

But you shouldn’t be expected to imitate them.

If six photographers are standing on a beach, I don’t particularly want six versions of my photograph coming back with us.

One photographer might be fascinated by the wider landscape. Another may notice the relationship between two rocks. Someone else might be watching patterns in the water or discovering that the photograph they really want is behind them.

The workshop leader’s job isn’t to manufacture copies of their own photography.

It is to help you recognise the possibilities in yours.

That may mean discussing focal length, camera height, shutter speed or filtration. But it can equally mean asking questions.

What attracted you to this?

What are you trying to say?

What happens if you simplify it?

Do you actually need everything that is currently inside the frame?

Those conversations can ultimately be far more valuable than being shown where to put the tripod.

Personality Matters Too

There is another consideration that perhaps doesn’t receive enough attention when people choose workshops.

You are going to spend quite a lot of time with this person.

On a residential workshop, that can mean several days travelling together, eating together, discussing photographs and standing around in some fairly questionable weather together.

Personality matters.

You need to feel comfortable asking questions. You should never feel embarrassed because you don’t understand something. Nor should you feel that the workshop revolves around the leader demonstrating how much they know.

Photography already gives us plenty of opportunities to doubt ourselves without somebody adding to them.

A good workshop environment should give you the confidence to experiment, make mistakes and ask questions that you may have been reluctant to ask elsewhere.

And occasionally you need somebody to recognise when you don’t need any help at all.

There are times when the best thing a workshop leader can do is simply leave you alone to photograph.

The Workshop You Don't See

Some of the most important work a workshop leader does is probably the work the client never sees.

Plans change constantly.

Weather forecasts change. Roads close. Ferries are delayed or cancelled. A location is busier than expected. Somebody is tired. Another person needs more time. The light suddenly begins doing something somewhere interesting completely different.

There is always a decision to be made.

Do we stay?

Do we move?

Do we abandon this afternoon’s plan completely?

The client shouldn’t have to carry that mental load. Part of what you are paying for is somebody else takes responsibility for those decisions so that you can concentrate on being a photographer.

From My Side Of The Workshop

Having led photography workshops for many years, I’ve gradually come to believe that my responsibility isn’t simply to deliver people to beautiful places.

That’s actually the easy bit.

The harder—and much more interesting part is understanding the photographers who have come with me.

What are they struggling with?

What are they already doing well?

What are they not seeing?

When should I intervene and when should I keep quiet?

Sometimes somebody needs technical help. Sometimes they need encouragement to move away from the obvious composition. Occasionally they simply need permission to stop photographing something that isn’t working.

For me, success isn’t everybody returning home with versions of photographs I would have taken.

It is somebody beginning to recognise photographs that I might never have seen at all.

That’s when teaching becomes particularly rewarding.

So, How Important Is The Workshop Leader?

Very.

Perhaps more important than the destination itself.

When choosing a photography workshop, look beyond the itinerary and the photographs of spectacular locations. Look at the person who will actually be standing beside you.

Do you like their approach to photography?

Do they teach, or simply take people to locations?

Will they help you understand why a photograph works rather than simply show you where to make one?

And perhaps just as importantly, do you think you would enjoy spending several days or a week learning from them?

Because long after you’ve forgotten exactly where you stood or what shutter speed you used, the real value of a good photography workshop should still be with you.