Excerpt from the Article:
Workshops have become a popular pastime and an important revenue source for many photographers in recent years. In terms of their goals and design, workshops range from photographic education on one extreme to a specialized form of commercial tourism on the other extreme. Very few workshops fall squarely at the former (educational) end. Most workshop fall at or very close to the latter (photo-tourism) end. Between the two, you may find offerings that attempt to combine educational (classroom-based) content, targeting certain topics and skill levels, with location (field-based) work. If you wish to attend a photographic workshop, your highest priority should be to ensure that the workshop you pick aligns with your goals, skill level, and the degree of effort you are willing to invest.
My goal in teaching workshops is to help already-technically-experienced photographers learn creative and expressive skills: skills they may later employ and continue to evolve independently in pursuing their own photographic work, in other places and circumstances. To that end, my workshops include both classroom sessions and field sessions, and I urge participants to prioritize exercising the skills learned in class over pursuing trophy photographs, while providing them opportunities to do both so they can balance the two to match their comfort level.
