ever thought of teaching a workshop?

[back alley]

after reading the 'eric kim' thread i started to wonder if any of us have ever given thought to teaching a workshop?

it has been said that to teach you only need to know 10% more than your students.

i have taught at one of the local city 'extension' colleges...night classes. it was years ago and it was a very basic learn your camera sort of class. students were taught to handle their cameras and shown what they might expect their lenses to do. simple sorts of things.

i have often thought about doing 'street' shooting workshops. most folks have a fear of getting close and pointing their camera at someone they don't know...so teaching would be more confidence building along with some simple techniques.

i doubt that i am alone in thinking this...anyone else?

 

[Araakii]

I have plans for it but it won't just be a "workshop".

 

[Araakii]

Also, there are a lot of people with free cash but no time (or will) to figure out photography on their own. So workshops would be helpful for them.

 

[swoop]

I've thought about it. I've applied for a job teaching a walking photography tour workshop but didn't sign the contract. Recently I've applied to a job to teach workshops for a photo group and have an interview this week.

I've thought about going it on my own. Doing photo tours and basic 1 on 1 workshops. But haven't gotten around to actually planning it and getting the word out. But I think it's a good source of freelance income if you have the qualifications to make you a viable instructor. I was a teaching assistant back in college and instructed introductory and advanced photography classes so I have the experience. I also did a weekend photo workshop for children at a summer camp a few years back.

 

[Disaster_Area]

yeah... I teach quite a few workshops here in Ottawa through a local arts center:

- Online Marketing for Artists
- Online Sales for Artists
- Photographing 2D & 3D artwork
- basic photo editing in Photoshop
- camera basics

I'm working on a few more for the coming year as well. I really love teaching... I'm usually really bad at public speaking, but for some reason I have no problem if it's art or photography related 🙂

 

[FrankS]

I've taught adult college courses in basic photography and private small group darkroom courses. I can see doing more of this in the future.

 

[Deniz Merdan]

I teach workshops daily in Montreal.
Different subjects for different photographers. drop in and 10week long classes.
but a street photography workshops are something of a different beast and logistics of it are more painful than you think. It definitely not a weekly occurrence but an every once in a while gathering.

 

[rbsinto]

I taught a "Tabletop Photography on a Budget" workshop two weeks ago at my camera club, and did a presentation last week on "Street Photography" to a camera club outside of Toronto.
I also did the "Basic Camera Operation" workshop at the beginning of each year for a number of years at my camera club, and have been giving private sessions (both in our home, and on the street) on the Basics of Photography for many years.

 

[back alley]

for a street photography workshop i could see a short inside class going over camera basics and some why do you want shoot the streets question & answer stuff.
and then hit the streets, hands on, instruction and practice.

 

[Disaster_Area]

I never understood the purpose of street photography workshops... I can see a classroom type technical skills workshop... but there's got to be nothing worse than a large group of rampaging photographers all pointing their camera at some poor schmuck on the street to ruin the atmosphere of street photography... I can't see a "hands on" class of more than a teacher and one or two students being very effective 🙂

"Ok class... see that guy reading a paper on the parkbench, lets all go over and take his picture"

 

[Steve Bellayr]

I taught photography, film & video on College level for college credits; that was years ago. Most teachers & students want to teach/learn how to use digital imaging with their computers. Sometimes a class is offered to students walking about in the park on how to take pictures of trees and flowers.

 

[back alley]

I never understood the purpose of street photography workshops... I can see a classroom type technical skills workshop... but there's got to be nothing worse than a large group of rampaging photographers all pointing their camera at some poor schmuck on the street to ruin the atmosphere of street photography... I can't see a "hands on" class of more than a teacher and one or two students being very effective 🙂

"Ok class... see that guy reading a paper on the parkbench, lets all go over and take his picture"

i would not allow any rampaging of any sort!

:angel:

 

[Roger Hicks]

Yes, I've thought about it. But I don't think I know enough about it. I'm not sure how many people do.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Disaster_Area]

i would not allow any rampaging of any sort!

:angel:

Hahahaha... working with a group of photographers outside is like herding cats! I definitely could see workshops on the technical skills like shooting from the hip, hyperfocal distance and composition... but I just can't wrap my head around a field trip with 20 or so students unless the only thing you're photographing is buildings and graffiti. I would think it would be extremely hard to get in nice and close and natural with crowds if they're staring down the barrels of a dozen odd cameras.

 

[back alley]

Hahahaha... working with a group of photographers outside is like herding cats! I definitely could see workshops on the technical skills like shooting from the hip, hyperfocal distance and composition... but I just can't wrap my head around a field trip with 20 or so students unless the only thing you're photographing is buildings and graffiti. I would think it would be extremely hard to get in nice and close and natural with crowds if they're staring down the barrels of a dozen odd cameras.

i agree...but 20 would be a big class for this sort of thing...maybe 10, at the most but more likely 5.

when i head out with the local flickr group we often number up to a dozen...but we walk about in smaller goups.

btw, i work with a team of 10...9 are women...i am the 10th...THAT is like herding cats...

 

[Araakii]

Yes, I've thought about it. But I don't think I know enough about it. I'm not sure how many people do.

Cheers,

R.

The thing is how much is enough? For someone paying $400, they wouldn't expect to become a Magnum photographer overnight either.

 

[back alley]

5 students at $100 per...for a 2 day workshop...cheap like borsht...

 

[Roger Hicks]

The thing is how much is enough? For someone paying $400, they wouldn't expect to become a Magnum photographer overnight either.

Fair point, but how many could deliver even $400 worth?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Disaster_Area]

Fair point, but how many could deliver even $400 worth?

Cheers,

R.

I think it really depends on the student... I teach an online marketing workshop for artists, and a lot of the material I cover many here would concider extremely rudimentary (how to use flickr, how facebook works, how to resize a photo for the web etc) but I was asked to design the course for an arts organization whos member base is mostly in the 50+ and computer illiterate category. Most of my students come out thinking my course would be a bargain at twice the price as it tries to make simple, concepts which they thought where extremely scary and impossible to learn at their age/skill level.

It's all relative 🙂

By that same token, someone who'd never even attempted street photography will probably expect a lot less for that $100 than many people on this forum

 

[Araakii]

Fair point, but how many could deliver even $400 worth?

Cheers,

R.

Say you make $50 an hour. If I can deliver you materials that would take you 8 hours to read/learn on your own, then you already break even.