April 2012 From The Group Publisher & Show Director

April 01, 2012 —

Your time is valuable. Your money is valuable. Education is valuable. If you want to become a better photographer, and you should want to, there are plenty of places to turn to for a proper education. Whether it’s through a trade show, workshop, road show or watching courses online, there are many venues to tap into and find a decent educator. Some photographers out there are great TEACHERS, others not so much.

It seems as though a lot of people are getting burned these days when signing up for workshops that are basically scams in the form of “education.” Unfortunately, there are many people out there who aren’t qualified as photographers, let alone to teach a workshop on photography. Please, do yourself a favor and do your homework when researching the next “teacher” or workshop you’re going to invest your time and money in.

That includes checking to see if someone has spoken at a major conference or road show in the past, since there’s a huge investment on their side to take part in those as well. You can also check out the person’s Web site, view his or her work, and ask other photographers and friends if they are familiar with the person’s work or teaching style. Whatever you do, don’t just sign up for the first workshop or road show that you hear about without doing a thorough investigation. If it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to, well then, you only have yourself to blame. Don’t let it get to that point. Be proactive now!

George Varanakis