I am pleased to say that the overwhelming response to the workshop was very positive. I had prepared new and different content in the Keynote presentation compared to the workshops I have delivered in the past for Nikon UK and most recently for Nikonians Academy. My emphasis on this occasion was to maximise the time spent doing practical work and to cut out much of the Workflow and Colour Management elements from previous workshops. I think this really helped with the “pitch” and “pace” of the day with everyone without exception reporting the workshop content to be “Excellent” in their feedback. Also nice to see was a unanimous contention that the presentation was well thought out and organised. It definitely helps when everyone in the group knows each other and can relax into the training knowing that they can ask questions freely without being overly self-conscious. I enjoyed the banter and general good humour which made the day fly by for all who participated.

Big thanks must go to Andrew Hewson and Adrian Cochrane for organising the event and ensuring that everything ran smoothly on the day. I will most definitely take up their invitation to come back for one of their meetings hopefully in the not-too-distant future. Next time I must stop over or share a car with someone who does not drink in order to sample those lovely Real Ales!

Irelands No.1 Professional camera store, Bermingham Cameras, today announced the first of a series of training workshops for DSLR users and anyone looking to improve their knowledge of photography and camera technology. I am very pleased to have been invited to present at the Clarion Hotel, International Financial Services Centre, Dublin, on Saturday 1st of October.

People who sign up for these three hour, €49 sessions can be assured that they will get the highest quality training from one of the most experienced and highly-regarded instructors in the industry.

Unlike some of the current crop of quick-fix training courses that have appeared on the scene recently, we do not make false promises to provide a “magic wand workshop” were you will emerge a professional photographer producing professional results. Instead, you will be introduced to the things that make a real difference when trying to achieve successful images. You will be presented with crucial knowledge – knowledge distilled from over 30 years of practical photography and teaching experience in digital imaging which started in 1996 when the industry didn’t know the difference between a clothes peg and a jpeg!

Although there is no doubt that my expertise is biased towards the Nikon brand, so much of what is important about using digital cameras is pretty much universal. In my final years at Nikon UK, I spent a lot of time working with pro Canon shooters trying to convert them over to the D3. To do this meant learning about how this brand of equipment works and how the design differences impact on how the controls and settings are accessed and configured. It came as no surprise to me that there are more similarities than differences in how the two main brands – and, as it happens, all of the other marques – operate and perform.

I have always enjoyed my time in Ireland and have fond memories of working with Brian senior and Brian Og over a thirteen year period. It might have something to do with the fact that both of my grandfathers came from Dublin and that I was born in the second capital of Ireland; Liverpool! I am very much looking forward to delivering these workshops and interacting with the irish customers of Bermingham cameras.

Following an email blast to the EU database, four new weekend workshops have just been advertised on the Nikonians Academy website.

After the positive response to the “Master Digital Portraiture Techniques” workshop in Manchester in May, I have been looking forward to hosting a London version and re-visiting Manchester with this course. I have again chosen the Novotel venue for London but have booked a larger room than usual in anticipation of a potential group size of 10 Nikonian delegates. In Manchester we will still go with the Premier Inn, Trafford Centre West because of access to the shopping mall itself – this worked very well for us last time.

Despite the fact that the workshop took place on 16th and 17th July, the London Street Photography Experience thread on the Nikonians Forum is still very much active, with posts as recent as two days ago being made by participants. I am hoping to match or even exceed the successful outcome of that workshop with a similar event in October; this time in my home town of Liverpool. I have picked a particularly interesting weekend for this event which includes a Liverpool FC home match against Manchester and the Liverpool Irish Festival at the Albert Dock.

Finally, whilst looking for an activity that gives Nikonians an outstanding opportunity to exploit the Hi ISO capabilities of the current top of the range Nikon DSLR’s, I came across the Tenby Blues festival. I made contact with Declan Connolly and Chris Osborne of the Tenby Blues Festival Committee and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse! Over the course of the three nights/two days of the festival, the workshop group – a Nikonians team of photographers – will have access both in front and behind the scenes at all the venues. Based at the Fourcroft Hotel, we will photograph the gigs and have a series of meetings afterwards to review the images and pick out the best to give to the organisers as a document of the event. This has to be the training event of the year!

Details of all these workshop can be found on the Nikonians Academy website here.

Back in March when we were discussing potential workshop ideas, I came up with a concept for a workshop entitled “The Industrial Revolution” that touched on the Railway but only as one part of the many other British achievements of that time. It was Bo Stahlbrand and Hayo Baan that suggested that Steam Trains would be more appealing to Nikonians both in the UK and overseas. I have to confess that from the outset, the idea of photographing trains did not appeal – too close to “trainspotting” for my taste. I suspect that many people would have similarly dismissed the subject but perhaps begrudgingly acknowledged that others do find the subject very interesting for a variety of reasons. Well, having done my research ahead of delivering the workshop and having experienced it for myself, I can now say I am a convert – this is a fascinating subject and the enthusiasts I met and had on my workshop were the most delightful people I have come across in years.

It was an added bonus to also discover that everyone in our party combined a love of Photography with a fondness for Real Ale along with their obvious interest in Steam Trains. And Bridgnorth turned out to be a super place to (in my case anyway) re-discover good british beer. From a photographic perspective, the delegates each came with a high level of existing competence and this showed in the quality of the images they produced. For my part, I enjoyed trying to produce some images but as I was there to work, I could not really engage myself. The image accompanying this blog is one of only two or three half-decent shots that are worth keeping. I take pleasure of course from knowing that the guys on the workshop made some pretty stunning images and if you are interested in seeing some of them, they have been posting a selection on the Nikonians website here.

As seems to be the case from our recent workshops, the people who come on them are keen to do the follow-up and keep in touch which is nice. I am now looking at preparing for the next workshop on Street Photography in London in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully I will have one or two more images to blog with from that workshop!

So far, there have been 13 workshops in the UK covering a range of subjects including D80/D90, D300, D700 & D3 and the Nikon Speedlight i-TTL CLS system.

Having started off with workshop material provided by Mike Hagen and the guys of Nikonians Academy in the USA, NAE quickly found that changes were needed to better meet the needs of UK and European audiences. The starting point for these changes was to re-draft the descriptions used on the NAE website. Then, the training material itself was adjusted in order to build-in a lot more structured practical exercises – especially in the i-TTL workshop.

Inevitably, any Trainer administering a workshop is going to want to become comfortable with the material they are delivering and this often means making changes to the running order and sometimes the content. NAE were very keen to listen to the feedback from the people who attended and their suggestions have been quickly incorporated into the workshops.

NAE are using the downtime between the end of November and the start of the New Year to look at the workshops on offer and add further titles to the range. An all-new workshop – “Nikon DSLR Essentials” was added recently, together with Nikon Capture NX2 which has run very successfully in the USA for some time. Suggestions from delegates who have attended so far has provided a wide range of possible subjects and these are currently being looked at and their feasibility assessed.

Nikonians.org, the worldwide Home for Nikon Photographers, where more that 150000 passionate registered Nikonians help and support each other, has today posted details of the forthcoming Nikonians Academy Europe training programme which will commence October 2nd 2010. I am pleased to announce that I will be heading up the first workshops from the new organisation which will kick-off in London. Details of all the workshops can be found here. The Nikonians Academy was formed in 2005 in the USA and the organisation has gained an outstanding reputation for employing the best instructors and delivering the highest quality training to Nikon shooters. Having personally delivered Nikon product training to many hundreds of people over my 13 years at Nikon UK, I can say with my hand on my heart that I have never come across more comprehensive, well-executed and utterly top-notch value-for-money training anywhere else before. What really sets the Nikonians Academy apart from the many other training providers on the market though is the Nikonians Community itself – a massive asset that allows it’s members to learn and share their knowledge and enthusiasm for all things Nikon and Photography. With a vast wealth of articles, forum postings and links, Nikonian members who come on the workshops can continue to expand their horizons. Unlike attending other courses, delegates truly feel that they have somewhere to go to follow-up on their training – whether that be to have something explained that they missed in the workshop or simply to extend their knowledge of a particular feature or setting. As the Nikonians Academy Europe grows, the number and breadth of the course titles and subjects covered will grow. In the USA, there is vast range of one-day, weekend, pro and beginner workshops including many that are “on location” in some of the most beautiful areas of the world. Look out for further postings on this blog as Nikonians Academy Europe expands it’s range of workshops into 2011.

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Thank you for attending the training. I enjoyed your company very much and I hope you left feeling inspired to take your photography further in the future.