HIRE A GUIDE, TAKE A WORKSHOP

I have written previously (on the Wanderlux Photography website) about the advantage of taking photography workshops. This is a revision to that article that includes more details on your options to learn landscape photography and other photography genres. 

Here are the ways you can learn photography:

1. Take a class. Many are offered by local camera shops, community colleges and photography clubs. These classes are a great way to learn to be comfortable with your camera settings, explore composition, and try out different genres to see what excites you the most.
2. Read a book. This is a slow way to learn, but if it’s the way you learn best, go for it! Your camera manual is an exception. Keep it handy!
3. Watch YouTube videos. This is a great way to both learn and get motivated. It’s also the cheapest way to learn. The challenge is to find the most learning with the least amount of fluff. I steer away from long winded hosts and subscribe to just a few photography channels.
4. Go to a conference. Conferences are great for inspiration and to get to meet some successful photographers who are making a living in photography. You are sure to come away with some new ideas, encouragement and friends.
5. Take private lessons. This is the best way to learn a lot in a hurry. Your instructor can tailor the learning to your current knowledge, equipment and physical abilities.
6. Hire a photography guide. A guide will take you to places you might not find on your own. Oftentimes, a guide will carry a camera and photograph alongside you. 
7. Combine #5 and #6. Hire a private guide who will take you (and a friend or two, perhaps) to special locations and teach you how to get more out of your photography at the same time. 
8. Take a photo workshop. There are literally thousands out there and this can be a wonderful experience. You are likely to return home with improved skills and some outstanding images.

I have utilized all of the above and they all work. This balance of this article is going to focus on the last few items: location guides, photography guides and workshops.

Location Guides

Guides get you to spots you might not otherwise get to. This may be because they live in the area and know it intimately or it may be they have the necessary off road vehicle to navigate sand, rocks and rivers. Guides may not even know much about photography, but will know where other photographers have taken great images in those locations. If you go to Antelope Canyon in Arizona, you will essentially be led through by a location guide who will tell you to take a picture at each of a number of popular spots. In less tight quarters most guides take you to the location and let you do your own wandering. 

Advantages of using location guides

1. They have the right equipment to get you to a location.
2. They should know the area extremely well.
3. Because they know the area well, you may also learn a considerable amount of geologic or historical information about the area.
4. You will be paying by the day (or half day), thus controlling expenses and allowing you to plan around your own travel and lodging.
5. You can ask to go to specific places you want to see rather than places the leader has scheduled to take you.
6. You will usually be traveling in the guide’s vehicle.

Disadvantages of using a guide

1. Not all guides have a regular established business with insurance and may or may not be trained in first aid, including CPR.
2. Guides may not be able to help you out if you have camera troubles.

Who should use a location guide?

1. Since these guides do not teach photography, they are best for intermediate to advanced photographers who are self sufficient with their equipment.
2. If you have your own established travel schedule, you may want to look up a guide for a specific area.
3. There are times when photography workshops hire guides for one day of a trip, either because the guide knows the area very well or because a licensed guide is the only way you can get access to the location.
4. If you are in a boat (think Lake Powell, The Galapagos, or cypress swamps), the guide can control the boat while you photograph.

Typical costs

A guide may cost anywhere from $250 to $1000 dollars a day, but mostly toward the lower end unless a large group is transported additional benefits are included. 

To find a location guide, search on “guide + ‘the location’”.

Photography Guides

Photography guides usually have been to the areas you are going to, have photographed those areas themselves and can teach you much about photography. 

Advantages

1. Your guide will already have an idea of great compositions for the location 
2. Your photography guide may suggest camera settings and sometimes bail you out when things aren’t working right.
3. If you are wanting individual attention and rapid learning, the guide can help you with that. This is a big benefit if you have one photographer who does not need any help, but another who is just learning.
4. You may hire some guides for as little as a few hours. This may fit your own schedule and budget better than a workshop.
5. Some (not all) photography guides offer post processing instruction during non-shooting hours. If this is important to you, be sure to arrange this ahead of time.
6. A small group of two or three may be able to get into locations without a permit, or may be able to obtain a permit, more easily than a large group.
7. You can set your own pace hiking, moving around, etc. If you are comfortable being active, you can get to more locations than a workshop. If you like to move slowly, you may feel less guilty about holding others up.

Disadvantages

1. You will have to do your own travel and accommodation planning.
2. You will not have the camaraderie available with a workshop.
3. If you are just hiring a photography guide for a day or so, your best laid plans may be torpedoed by the weather. 
4. If the guide is going to be more into his/her own photography and less helpful to you this should be stated up front.

Who should hire a photography guide?

1. Individuals who want to advance skills as rapidly as possible.
2. Individuals who feel intimidated in group situations.
3. Photographers who want to do their own travel planning and want a guide for just one or two specific areas.
4. Those on a budget that makes a workshop prohibitive.
5. Two or three friends who are planning their own itinerary and don’t particularly want to go with a larger group or don’t want to drive themselves to all locations.
6. When that workshop location was one that you really dreamed about, but the workshops offered are full, you can still consider a private photography guide.

Typical Costs: $500-$1500 per day depending on the reputation of photography guide and the size of the group.

You can find a photography guide the same way you find a non-photography guide by using search terms. You may find a guide by researching images you like from a particular location. For example, a group I am taking out this month found me by seeing images of the location on the 500px.com website. They then looked up my website and saw that I offer guide services. I used this same strategy when I first visited the Colorado Rockies for fall color, but that time I was the one hiring the guide.

Photography Workshops

I strongly advocate photography workshops, especially for those who have not been on one. I have been a student in half a dozen workshops and have become a better photographer from each of them. I have always had new instructors involved with each workshop as I believe it is best to learn from a wide variety of skillsets and personalities. Most photography workshops have 4-6 participants per instructor.

Advantages of Workshops

1. You can research most instructors ahead of time, assuring that you will be learning from instructors that have teaching talent as well as photography talent.
2. You can go with a larger group of friends. Workshops are often booked by groups of photographers who travel together.
3. If you are going by yourself or with just one or two friends, you will be sure to meet some new folks. Through workshops, I have developed many new photography friends who I continue to photograph with and others who I continue to follow.
4. All the planning is done for you. Hotels, guides, travel between locations. Pack your bags and gear and you will be set. Most workshops provide a list of necessary gear for you. 
5. You can depend on workshops having insurance (I think)
6. Post processing instruction is almost always included. 
7. If the weather is too bad (or too good) for photography, workshops almost always have a backup plan. You won’t feel like the whole workshop was a waste due to one or two bad weather days.
8. You will be forced to get up early in the morning to be with the group. This is an advantage for those of you who would miss a great shoot by sleeping in.
9. You can usually count on the instructors spending full time assisting the students. The one exception to this may be when there is epic light. Research the experience of others with the instructors to see what they say in this regard.

Disadvantages of Workshops

1. They might not fit into your schedule…planning ahead is essential.
2. More photographers means slower progress as the leaders attend to the needs of the each attendee. Some participants always seem to take up more of the leader’s time than others.
3. They are generally more costly, sometimes more costly than private mentoring. But please realize that the leaders go through considerable planning and expense to develop their workshops and may even have a staff and vehicles to maintain as part of their expenses.
4. You will be standing shoulder to shoulder with other photographers for many of your shots, especially the iconic shots that got everyone to sign up. If this is not your bag, you might not enjoy that part of the workshop very much.

Before signing up for a workshop be sure to understand whether you will be driving your own vehicle or if transportation is provided. If transportation is provided, will there be an additional fuel charge? Are any hotels or meals included? 

You may see workshops advertised in photography magazines or on photography websites. Or you may be on an email list and you get promotions sent to you. You can find workshops by instructor (or organization), location, or subject matter. For example, your goal may be to learn from someone whose photography you admire. Simply find that individuals website and look for the possible offerings. 

If you want to storm chase in the Texas Panhandle and surroundings this May, do a search for “tornado photography workshop”. If you only find workshops that are full, sign up for next year or look for a private storm chasing guide.

If your desire is just to shoot wildlife and you don’t care where, search on “wildlife photography workshop”. 

Typical Workshop Costs:

Workshops begin at about $2000 for a four day workshop and may cost up to $10,000 or more for 7-10 day workshops to exotic locations. The average cost for a five day workshop is about $3500.

I am sure all of that make sense. I made a list of workshops a couple of years ago, but there are many new ones cropping up. If you want advice before you sign up, just contact me and I will share as much as I know about the workshops and instructors or I may make suggestions on who you might contact. 

RS