Looking for a high quality workshop with references. I only want references because I took a workshop (2 weeks) at the Maine Workshops this past summer, studio lighting and portraiture. I wasted (15 other people wasted their money as well) about $3000. At this point I want feedback from others who have taken workshops across the US. I'm interested in advanced darkroom. For example, I know John Sexton offers workshops. There must be others, too. Thanks for input carol

-- carol maurin (cbmaurin@earthlink.net), October 26, 2000

Answers

Check out http://www.photo.net/neighbor/one-subcategory.tcl?category_id=0&id=8 for reviews of some workshops, including printing workshops by Bruce Barnbaum and John Sexton, and a few other B&W workshops. I took Sexton's "Expressive Print" workshop this year, and it was excellent.

-- Chris Patti (cmpatti@aol.com), October 27, 2000.

There are many workshops around the country that will give you your monies worth. It depends on what you want. Color, B&W, Alternative processes, or digital. A very good one for B&W is John Sexton's expressive print workshop. It is not a hands on workshop and isn't meant to be. But if you are willing to ask questions he will show you everything there is to printing B&W fine art. Bruce has an even better program in that he has a more hands on approach. You actually go from the exposure through the printing of your neg. I have heard nothing but praise about the program. And there are many others. Most of the time I am convinced that the bad experiences you hear about are more the fault of the attendee than the program. This ain't hand feedin time. You should know your way around a darkroom before spending that kind of money on a workshop. Most jr and 4 year colleges offer some type of intermediate darkroom study. I'd call ahead of time and talk to the instructors before sending money. There are also many books that explain darkroom proceedures and printing for the fine art print that are well worth the money. But the best experience is plain old printing. Get into the darkroom and print something everyday. Lots of practice is what it takes to create fine art prints. You can have John Sexton, Bruce Barnbaum, Henry Gilpin, or John Paul Caponigro show you all they know but until you spend the time in the darkroom making prints, it's just a waste of time. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), October 27, 2000.

Check out Howard Bond's workshops:

http://www.apogeephoto.com/howard_bond.html

He is an expert printer, excellent teacher, and a nice person.

-- Chris Ellinger (ellinger@umich.edu), October 30, 2000.