Photo workshops around the world are all the same. Big-name photographer gets a following because their images are super cool. People pay big money and travel to attend big-name photographer’s workshops. 40 photographers stand around watching the big-name take photos. They also get to sit and look at big-name’s photos and hear about how many cool things they have done. Then everyone goes home and can’t remember how the big-name photographer did what they did. They are no better than they were before they spent all that money on the workshop. And that is because of the way they were “taught.”

My workshops are different because of the way I teach. I have taught professional and amateur photographers for over 25 years beginning as a college professor. I employ the Socratic method because it is the best way for knowledge to sink in and make a lasting impression on my students. My students make images on their own. I consult them as they make those images. I ask questions and push my students to answer their own questions. When I teach a workshop or a lecture, I am not interested in people watching me work, or stroking my ego.

I test my students’ capabilities while they are in my workshops, and I force them to stretch and think and grow until they are equipped to think through complex situations precisely. This is not because they were shown how to do something, but because they learned how to reason through problems. I teach my students how to think as photographers. It’s not as sexy. It isn’t as flashy. It’s even a little uncomfortable! But that is why my students recommend my lectures and workshops as the best they have ever attended.