Nikon Training

John M McDonald 01793 486732

John M McDonald and Nikon Training

John started working for Nikon UK in July 1996. Although initially employed in a sales post as Digital Camera Specialist, his role very quickly segued into training and support after he became aware of the complete lack of knowledge in digital imaging both within the company and in the photo trade in general. John, by training and temperament a natural communicator and teacher, saw a clear need therefore to educate the people he was coming into contact with. He was well placed to take full advantage of the opportunity this requirement for training represented. Having graduated BA (Hons.) in Fine Art Photography in 1981, he went on to teach the subject in mainstream education, doing so for five years until he became frustrated with the “dead mens shoes” syndrome of advancement. When he joined Nikon he had just come out of a ten year stint in the Print Industry where he had learned about scanning and how to work with Apple Macs. This mix of photography, reprographics, computers, digital imaging, sales and teaching skills made him a considerable asset to Nikon.

Within a very short period of time, John developed a groundbreaking hands-on Dealer training course program which he then delivered to the UK’s top high street, regional, Independent and professional photographic retail stores. He did this at a time when the company’s major competitors, through lack of similar resource or inclination, thought only offer large discounts and cash incentives to get their product advantage over to trade employees. Although it meant a slog of constant tours of the UK, humping boxes of cameras and PC’s into make-shift training rooms or Hotel suites, the plan worked and both the Dealer principals and Nikon senior management were delighted with the outcome. The success of this training initiative led to John being promoted to the job of Training Manager in 1998. Two years later, he went on to form Nikon Solutions and expanded the training team, taking on both full-time internal and part-time external staff to deal with the growing demand for Nikon Training.

With the introduction of the D1 in 1999 there was, at last, an affordable - “good-enough” quality - Digital Single Lens Reflex camera that the Press guys especially could adopt in order to move away from film and all it’s limitations. The “Bean Counters” in the Boardrooms of Fleet Street and elsewhere in corporate UK delighted in the prospect of significant cost savings. Subsequently, they bought D1’s by the bucket-load. This did not go down too well with staff photographers, however, the vast majority of whom where not comfortable with computers and not particularly inclined to be forced into learning about new digital technology. This is where Nikon Solutions found it’s second niche. The team could generate bespoke training packages which were pitched at the right level to match the delegates’ often high-order photographic competence. Clients like The Times, the Met Police, The RAF, Knight Frank and many others came back time after time to Nikon to buy their cameras and have their staff trained effectively. As a result, Solutions Corporate training generated considerable profit for the company in more ways than one.

With a popular and highly profitable revenue stream emerging out of the Solutions department, Nikon UK had no hesitation in finding the funds to commission a purpose-designed training suite with ground floor access at their head office in Kingston upon Thames. The new facility provided an opportunity to further expand the training offer to a wider range of Nikon customers and the first “end-user” courses for individuals started in early 2001. To make this happen, John worked on the construction of an e-commerce website for training course bookings, running off the back of the main Nikon UK website. At it’s inaugural launch, the UK trade press were invited to Kingston to hear details of the concepts behind the new training scheme and to sample the first courses which were designed initially for Pro DSLR users. The publicity helped to promote the training to a much wider audience which included Nikon subsidiaries in France and Germany who started similar schemes soon after. Solutions went from strength to strength. At it’s peak, Nikon Solutions provided dealer, corporate and end-user training courses and seminars that were attended by an astounding total of 8287 delegates in a single fiscal year.

In early 2008, John was appointed New Business Development Manager within the then Professional Products department. This new role involved first of all using his in-depth technical knowledge and proven business acumen to actively convert groups of individual professional Canon shooters over to Nikon with the newly launched D3 camera. The second part of his job was to develop relations and manage the collaboration with industry partners and trade associations. To do both of these effectively, John had to relinquish responsibility for training delivery. However, he maintained a strong connection with Nikon’s education program through activity, both in support and with overall responsibility for the Nikon Discovery Awards initiative and the Nikon Academy College scheme. Right up to the time he left Nikon UK in August 2009, John was still very much involved with providing demonstrations of Nikon products and technology at public events. Thousands of Nikon shooters and photographers of all kinds who have visited shows in the UK over the last thirteen years will have seen John. His name and presence became synonymous with the brand. To many in the trade, John was known affectionately as “Mr.Nikon”!

Contact info;

John M McDonald
50 Barrington Close
Swindon, Wilts. SN3 6HF
T: 01793 486732
M: 07850 156607
email: info@fineshot.co.uk