Monday, December 18, 2006



Okuru is a wonderful place to do a photography workshop. It may have rained all week, but we still got out there and there were plenty of things to shoot even with the weather. In fact, the weather probably made for more dramatic shots. And Collyer House is a FANTASTIC place to stay!

Having a nice, small group was great. This made for more opportunities for personal feedback and consultation. It allowed for the schedule to be quite flexible, which was especially good given the weather.

We had an opportunity each evening to show a few slides. We could say what our intention was… what we were feeling when we took the shot and trying to capture. Both Tony and the group would then provide feedback.Each photographer in the group had a good eye, but of course, different points of view. Getting feedback with such different points of view is invaluable. You learn not just from the professional in the group, but from each person as well.

Sometimes you just need to learn to trust yourself more. I found that the experience of the week helped me further into this. You get to a point where it’s time to dig in a little further and the experience of the week helped push me down that path. They say that being your own coach can be a disservice. Immersing yourself into a group of people all of whom are also passionate about photography really helps take you to the next level. And this works for every person in the class.

Tony has a really great eye. He is really good at breaking a photo into pieces and providing feedback in the most constructive manner. And his teaching philosophy is superb – that he doesn’t have a class of ‘X’, but ‘X’ classes of one. What a refreshing approach! Another thing that I really find great about working with Tony is that he remembers where you are in your photography. So even in a class, he remembers that for each person and moves forward from that point for each person. What a gift! I’ve been to other classes and often the teacher is mostly interested in just showing his/her work, but you don’t really learn that much.


Tony is truly interested in each person learning and growing in their photography. Now that’s passionate!




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