You may think of me as a professional photographer and perhaps a writer but I think of myself as a teacher who uses photography and words to reach a wide audience. I do up to 10 workshops a year now for nationally known photography workshop companies. These workshops are for photographers of every ability. I teach at an intermediate level making sure the more novice photographers are keeping up and the more advanced photographers have plenty to chew on. The sites of my workshops are at scenic locations around the US and Canada and are planned so that the photography will be as varied as it is wonderful.

The emphasis of every workshop is on helping the participants to become better photographers in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. My workshops are not subsidized photography trips for me. In fact, my workshops are never about me, the emphasis is always on the student. I take my teaching very seriously and will take whatever time is necessary to help someone. I seldom take photographs during a workshop and on many days I don’t even bring camera gear with me out into the field unless I want to demonstrate something.

Most workshop days includes some classroom time and some shooting time out in the field. Time in the classroom is for instructional slide presentation, demonstrations, critiques and questions. My style is informal but instructional – we have fun and laugh a lot but we learn a lot as well. Presentation are not generic, they are geared to the group I am with at the time. If there are specific topics that only a few students would like to know about I will schedule a time for them and not take time away from the entire class.

Time in the field is spent at locations that I would go to myself – no secret instructor only locations. All the locations are pretty close to the car and whenever there is any walking it is always easy and not strenuous. If participants want to go for a hike they are welcome to but hiking is never required to get to shooting locations. On site, students can get individual, personalized instruction from me or they can wander and photograph whatever they desire. I treat my students like adults, letting them decide what is best for them.

The workshops I do myself are for 16 or fewer participants. Those I do with other teachers usually have a student to teacher ratio of ten to one or less. While this may seem like a high ratio is has been my experience that I can quite effectively teach and interact with up to 16 participants. There is also a nice dynamic within the class with this size class.