Has anyone taken a John Shaw workshop recently?

I am considering a John Shaw workshop but have seen conflicting

reviews of his classes. Has anyone taken one recently who would share

their experiences? Thanks.

I have taken two workshops with John Shaw. First one was several years ago when he was teaching with Larry West in Mich. The second was in the Smokies with Great American Photography Weekend.I wouldn't hesitate to take a third one if he was the instructor.

John Shaw's workshops are very well done. In the last few years he is very much into digital photography and has added a lot of digital material into his workshops recently. Otherwise, it is a repeat of the material in his books. Therefore, if you have read his books, you might not find that much new material information in his workshops, except for the digital part.

His books are great for learning how to choose and use equipment, but his landscape photographs don't impress me at all. Compared to other professionals he is more a craftsman than an artist IMHO.

Paul

I believe He is 100% digital now. He is computer and Photoshop-fluent. He has published a digital-workflow e-Book, available from his website. I believe he will talk much about digital in his upcoming workshops.

I don't know what you consider recent, but I was at one of his workshops two years ago (Austin, TX), and will attend again next weekend (Dallas, TX). I could probably give a better report in two weeks, but I don't expect to be disappointed. At the last workshop he was 100% film, but I know he is into digital to some degree (maybe totally) now. Day one on the schedule this year looks about like the last workshop I attended (nature photography talk). Day two, after an overview of digital camera setup, is slated to be all about the digital darkroom and advanced Photoshop techniques. I would highly recommend his workshops, but I just get one vote.

I did his 2-day weekend workshop through Rocky Mountain School of Photography last spring. I think his current 2-day workshops are a similar format: Saturday devoted to photographic technique and equipment in a slide-show format, Sunday mostly devoted to digital optimization.

 

I found the workshop to be excellent. If you own all his books like I do, the Saturday component offers nothing earthshaking, other than the great opportunity to listen to him talk about details of the familiar images in his books as well as lots of new ones. His gear preferences have changed since his last book publications, and it's interesting to discuss his though processes on gear selection.

 

The Sunday digital sessions were predominently Photoshop image optimization techniques, and I found them to be very helpful. It was a live walk-though demo using a laptop and projector to optimize several images in different ways. I have found the handout from this session to be invaluable, and he said it's covers much similar ground as his recent eBook.

 

As of April 2004, when I did this workshop, John claimed to be approximately 50/50 film/digital. It was clear from his remarks that he was heavily involved in testing the D2x, though he didn't state this directly (NDA, of course). Even though that was 9 months ago, I don't think he's completely digital yet: if you look at his "current gear" list on his website, which he updates frequently, he still lists 2x F5 and a D1x as his daily gear.

 

John was a very engaging speaker, welcomed questions, and graciously lingered during breaks at at the end of both days as long as people wanted to hang around and ask individual questions. Based on my experience, I don't hesitate to recommend his workshop.

 

Hope this helps,

Mark

Just back from the John Shaw workshop. And, John does state he is now 100% digital.

 

I really enjoyed the seminar. I think what you are anyone will get out of the Sunday session depends on how much you already know about or use Photoshop. I don't know everything there is to know about Photoshop, but I do know just enough to be dangerous. So, it was perfect for me. But a few people from my photo club left at noon, as they felt the material was over their head.

 

So, I would say if you are into Photoshop but still have some questions and are not sure of how to use some of the techniques, then the Sunday session would be of benefit. If you are not into Photoshop, and don't plan to get into Photoshop, then skip it. The Sunday session is not a lecture on how to operate a digital camera.

Here is a link to information on

<A HREF="http://www.johnshawphoto.com/programs.htm">

some up-coming John Shaw workshops</A>. (Sorry to people elsewhere, they are all in the US.) Apparently Larry went to the one in Dallas last weekend.

I just got home from John Shaw's Sunday seminar at Berkeley, Calfornia. The Sunday session is all on digital photography and PhotoShop techniques. Overall it is deisnged for beginner to intermediate digital nature photographers. I consider myself an intermediate-level PhotoShop user and I found the morning topics too basic. In the afternoon, John Shaw covered some more advanced PhotoShop topics and IMO it got a lot more interesting.

 

For people who are new to digital (nature) photography, I would imagine that the Sunday topics should be very interesting.

Just to add some info. I did both days for the Berkeley workshop. The first day is basic nature photography - suitable for a beginner. If you've read his books and understand them, the first day won't advance your knowledge very much. If you're just starting out, then it's a good introduction, though, you could get as much information from his books.

2007 UPDATE.....I attended his seminar in Atlanta this past weekend and it was really good. He was very entertaining as a speaker, allowed audience questions throughout his seminar and seemed to enjoy speaking to his audience. He signed any of our books, prints and answered questions privately at every break. I would say it was well worth the money. There were over 400 in attendance and everyone I spoke to enjoyed it and learned alot. He is geared for the advanced amatuer or beginning professional and made the techniques sound very simple. OVERALL GREAT SEMINAR. He is 100% digital now, the 1st day was technique in photography explained to make it simple and the second day was post processing, cataloging and digital workflow.

 

I live in Palm Beach and have taken a few classes at Palm Beach Photographic Studio along with attending Fotofusion and felt this was one of the best seminars I have attend so far.