 Everybody was just kind of milling around not really knowing kind of what to do And then the photography was leading that workshop turned to me and he said, okay, what you're gonna do now? And in that moment, I felt like I was back at school Being stood up in front of the class and asked to give an impromptu speech How's it? How's it photography workshops are such a wonderful way to progress as a photographer? I mean, what could be better you get to spend a you know day or a weekend or a week with somebody who's work you admire Learning from you know getting some insight into how they create their photographs Now you can travel a long distance for this you can spend a lot of money Doing this and you have a choice when you get to one of these workshops either You can mill around in a crowd just slavishly copying the settings that the photographer is giving you and and not really getting much in terms of practical benefit from the from the workshop or You can learn to ask the right questions to use the workshop for its full potential Standing there on that windswept beach where not much was going on and there was a Gaggle of photographers kind of just milling about The reason why the photographers leading the workshop would turn to me is because we'd known each other for some time And he kind of knew that you know with all the people who were there. I had probably more experience than most of them and I'd been sort of saying look, they're not really doing it Why do they just stand there and he threw me in at the deep end and it It sent me back to that moment in high school where the teacher had asked me to stand up in front of the crowd and Not the crowd that the class felt like a crowd and just give a speech and I was totally Sideswiped by this. I'd my my feet were like lead my palms became sweaty. It was it was a horrible Experience and and it affected me later because I never wanted to be the center of attention like that again So when I was at photography school when I used to go to workshops as a younger photographer I would I would stand in that crowd not wanting to to be noticed not wanting to ask the silly question to be the Possible objective of ridicule from other people and this held me back for so long When going to to workshops or trying to improve as a photographer I desperately wanted to improve what I got from these workshops and This is what I've discovered over time from from attending a lot of them are from running workshops is that you need to ask the right questions you need to Be involved. It's not enough to just sit in the crowd and say hey, mr. X, you know what settings are you using on your camera there and and just Follow the settings completely to just really kind of try and recreate the shot that they've taken No, no, what what you what you want to do is listen to the photographer and See what they're doing not just the technical aspects, but why are they here? Ask questions say why are you shooting here and not over there? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? What's your thought process when you start asking these questions? You're going to get a far better insight into how that photographer Actually creates their images. What makes their images unique as opposed to just a set of numbers and a set of you know figures that you can write down in a book and then copy later on Haven't been thrown the torch to kind of sort of get this workshops You know rolling in a fashion. I was now under a lot of pressure self-imposed pressure to create Well what I considered to be amazing photographs I would okay I need to do something quite like full-on here because you know everybody's now watching me and and so I started over-egging the pudding as it were So what I mean by over-egging the pudding is thinking too hard about the picture. What can I do? What can I you know photograph that's going to blow all these people out of the water like they're going to go? Wow like Alex is just such like you know some sort of Jesus We should go to his workshops The ones right it's it and so what was happening is I was thinking too much about You know taking photographs rather than actually just taking them Just saying to myself right. Okay. Take a picture five four three two one take it when you Decide not to overthink your photographs when you're at a workshop listening to the photographer and you know They're saying okay. You can do this. You can do that and They often will say okay. It's your turn now, right? There is a tendency To either do one of two things Recreate what everybody else is doing and we've all seen those pictures of all the photographers Clustered around the model from the same vantage point taking the same picture all of them going up to you know The person is running the the workshop saying look oh look at this picture. You know, what do you think? I've used f8 and water water water never like what can I do to move this forward and What happens is you they're not thinking about the photograph at all then there's people like me Standing on the sides going on and I'm not going to be like everybody I need to have something kind of crazy here and Or out of you know, just wow out of you know out of left field and Constantly and don't take any pictures. So you need to be somewhere in the middle You can't be like me just standing going over. I'm gonna just create juniors pictures because I'm letting my ego write checks my butt can't cash So Sit for a minute see where everybody else is going take ten steps to the right take ten steps to the left Eventually of course that photographer he you know took over this session and carried on I think he was using me as a bit of a distraction while he was inundated with other People asking him advice about you know What lens to use or what settings and stuff and of course that leads us on to a very important thing with Workshops and and how to get the best from these photography workshops is that you know It's not about just slavishly copying the work that the photographer is doing It's about using access to them as a way to getting feedback on your Images at the time. There's it. I don't think it's really worthwhile if you go to an event and you Stand in a group of photographers like so many people do and just take the same picture That everybody else is doing how can the person's leading the workshop give you kind of really good feedback when you're just kind of Essentially doing a paint by numbers Take the lead that that person is giving you and in this particular case The photographers leading this workshop likes sort of dramatic environmental portraits card often with with off-camera flash You know that kind of stuff and so take those ideas and run with it This is the perfect opportunity to try something new because you've got somebody there to give you instant feedback right trying what they do is Okay, it's it's useful, but why not take the ideas they give a new and twist them into your own output and then The beauty of course of digital is right now you can go look Jeff How is this? What did what do you think and they'll go ah, okay? Yeah, but you can do this with that And if you have a technical problem Then they can at least help you with it, but just you know Stop asking them basic questions about how to replicate their image Don't be afraid to ask What you might think is this actually scratch all that I'm talking nonsense ask questions There's many questions as you can because I'm making an assumption. I'm terribly sorry. Obviously, you know, I have Experienced you may have less than me. You may have more than me. We're all at different levels Don't be afraid To ask questions, especially if you think they're silly look at the other man who was up there who wasted so much time I me by hiding in the back of groups of people of never asking questions of Not wanting to stand out you must be the person Who is going to get the most from these workshops? Don't just be like the person in the crowd is milling around Use the time wisely The next time you go to a workshop next time you are within a bunch of photographers listening to somebody pass on some advice Take a moment think okay. That's something I haven't considered before that's useful. I never realized that and Then think about how you can employ that in your own Photography much like all the videos on this channel. These are all suggestions The photographer who's leading the workshop for you is giving you suggestions opening doors opening corridors opening avenues for you to explore Don't think of workshops as simply a way of copying a specific photographer, but as a week a day a weekend of Being in an environment with other photographers where you are actually playing ideas off of each other start to Realize that it's not just the tips and the tricks That are being passed on by the person leading the workshop, but all the other photographers who are around you You may find that You know on that beach there in Cardiff There were some people who come to me and ask me advice about things and that's helpful because I'm Reworking over the basics relearning the basics and what it is that we do we take photographs Passing on knowledge is a great way of improving to other people. It's not just there at the workshop you there at the workshop Looking to just get from the person who's leading it Offer to the people who are around you and they will offer things back to you I would love to have you join me at a workshop and we're in the early stages of planning one And I put a link in the description box below Which is a little survey just to get an idea when you want to go where you'd like to go all that sort of stuff If you could take five minutes just to give me your feedback some input It would be really helpful in planning an event that is going to be beneficial for the most people who watch this Now that you know how to get the most from a photographic workshop It's time to click on the video on screen now so you can start training your eyes to see the Opportunities in front of you when you are there Thanks ever so much for watching and I'll see you again soon