Nikon School: The high school photography class you never took
A few weekends ago I did something that I have been dying to do for a long time. I took a photography class. Since last year when I very responsibly spent my entire tax return on my first DSLR camera, I have been looking into take a class or course or meeting someone that can show me how to actually use it. In high school I filled all of my free blocks with science classes and fulfilled my art requirements with ceramics because I loved having an excuse to get messy for an hour and half, and never joined the band wagon on the photo classes. College was much of the same, and considering you can actually major in art I stayed as far away as possible. Then along came Nikon School. A little research on my part and I made the plunge to take that photography class that I have been avoiding all my life.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME- When I registered my Nikon D3300 last April, I was automatically signed up for emails from Nikon. And while normally I keep pretty on top of unsubscribing to annoying promotional emails, Nikon made the cut. It may be one of my better decisions. I purchased one of my lenses refurbished through them as well when I got the email about a 10% off sale and these same emails are how I found out about the Nikon School. The email said that they would be in the area, and while I live close to Philadelphia, when large companies say they are "in my area" it usually means DC or NYC or Boston or somewhere that isn't exactly a day trip.
But! Nikon heard my cries and delivered (Patagonia I'm still waiting on you!). Nikon School is a weekend long event, offering three different classes over two days, with two 3 hour classes on Saturday on different topics and one 6 hour class on Sunday. I chose to attend their Basics of Exposure and Camera Controls class and was super tempted to also stay for their Landscape and Travel Photography class being held right after, but I figured baby steps. Plus, a class ending at noon left plenty of opportunity to spend the rest of the afternoon in the city with some good friends.
HAD ME AT HELLO- The class was being held in a swanky hotel right next to City Hall. My dad is a construction worker and has spent a lot of time building some of the sky scrappers and large structures in the city. So I always swell a little with pride whenever I drive into the city and get a glimpse at all of his hard work. On top of City Hall being such a historic and stunning building, I was on Cloud Nine. Parking was a bit of a struggle seeing as I wasn't going to leave my car with the hotel valet (is that even allowed as a non-guest?) and I am also not a huge fan of leaving my car with valet services in parking garages. But parked my little jelly bean car and made my way to the hotel with a little detour through the courtyard of City Hall of course.
Willie P atop city hall from a previous trip- there were no blue skies to be seen on Saturday
Check in was a breeze and Nikon School encouraged you to use an electronic version of your ticket, which gave them a big gold star in my book keeping 100+ pieces of paper out of the garbage. The conference room was set up so nicely with ice water and coffee available. There was a big screen that was playing a slide show of photographs to some elevator music. This is where they won me over. And while it is not completely related to the actual content of the class, it was still the best part. All of the photos and videos, broken down by country, were of all of my dream destinations. South African safaris, Peruvian trips to Machu Picchu, Ecuador and the Galapagos... My day dreams were put to shame with the amazing content. Right off the bat I was feeling inspired by this class and I hadn't even learned anything.
COMEDY HOUR- The first half of the class was presented by Reed Hoffmann. A former photo journalist and current funny man and instructor. After a bit of an intro (that admittedly sounded a little salesy but not pushy), he got right down to business. After finding out that all the pictures I had been just drooling over were his, I spent the next hour and a half scribbling every single word that came out of his mouth down with the newly acquired Nikon School pen/stylus and notepad they give you at check in. A few days before the class, I was sent an email that had links to an outline of the presentation to download and bring. It was certainly helpful to keep up when I got distracted by some of his photographs again.
Photo fail- slow shutter speed gave this cutie some blurry wings. Thankfully this problem will hopefully never happen again
The catch phrase for the course was "it depends." While he was teaching you the tools you needed to understand the camera, he wasn't necessarily telling you that you had to use the tools in a certain way. Like with shutter speed. While using a high shutter speed is perfect for capturing the right moment and making sure your photo isn't blurry, he reminded you that maybe blurry is part of the look you're going for. Just because it is "technically" the right way to capture a photo, it doesn't necessarily mean it is the "right" way. Which for a self-described non-creative person, it is exactly the reminder I need.
While reading reviews for the class online, a few people had felt that the entire class was focused on selling you more products and not teaching you skills, I can confidently dispute that claim. They focused much more on the functions of the camera, any camera, and not on the features of Nikon cameras. Several times they mentioned different types of lenses that would work well for a shot, but didn't focus on the fact that the "perfect" shot required any specific piece of equipment.
After a break for light refreshments- fruit, granola bars, coffee, juice- the second half was lead by Carey Wagner, another former photojournalist that now focuses on women's and human rights in her work. While informative and talented, she didn't quite have the personality that Reed did and her jokes didn't always land. This part of class was more camera based. They hooked up the camera to the screen and took you through the steps showing you what would appear on the screen of your camera. While helpful, I fell behind quickly trying to locate the buttons she was using and at some point just gave up and did my best to write some of it down.
Photo fail- switching up some settings, had I known, would have brightened up this photo of The Sun Voyager in Reykavik, Iceland
MAKING A PHOTO- For me, this class was exactly what I needed. I feel like I have a solid base to start taking photos and not be stuck in "AUTO." It did give me a little anxiety thinking about all the really great pictures that I have missed in the passed from not knowing how to properly use the camera. All well! That means I will just have to go back to all the places I have been and redo all of the fun things and take the photos again! It gave me some good inspiration and encouragement to take on some harder shots.
Photo fail- Flash gone wrong
I can see this class being a little dumbed down for someone with more experience than I have but I can also see it being a great review for someone who has been away from their camera for a while. I did not feel pressured to purchase anything at the event. I would jump at the chance to take one of their other classes in the future, but I would like to get a little more experience under my belt first.
My favorite thing about it was the content in the presentations. Reed used photos that he had taken the night before in city. The fact that he took the time to take photos in Philadelphia on a Friday night and put them in the presentation that he gave on Saturday morning was a really unique touch and fed right into my Philly pride. Extra bonus: they email you deals from their partners- SanDisks and Mylio photo organizing software-a few days later. Hello new microSD card!
Have you ever taken a photography class? Do you think it helped or is it best to just find your own way around a camera?
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