Why I teach workshops……….

I was thinking sitting in the Bangor airport Sunday, reviewing my images, why do I teach workshops?  I was dog tired and glad to  be heading home, but also still filled with the exhilaration that came from being with our group.  So why do something that takes so much out of you?  Because of what it puts back into you!  Teaching is both exhausting and exciting.  After some thought I think I have the answer, at least for me.  Let’s start with the obvious; it’s profitable.   While  I’ve never met anyone that got wealthy teaching photography workshops, some money can be made, and none of us has an endless supply of finances.  It’s profitable though in a much more important way than financial.  It’s profitable in the great friendships that develop.  I think that most of my best friends are people I met through teaching workshops, from fellow instructors, to participants and their families.  I say families because the kinds of relationships that come out of teaching often introduce you to entire families.

Many of my most treasured friends have grown out of relationships that started at a photography workshop.   For me teaching photography is a great joy, because of the great joy photography has brought into my life.  I love the process of seeing, the process of capturing an image, and the joy of sharing the images I’ve captured.  I also love to see the images others have captured!  I learn more from looking at others images than all the books I’ve studied about photography.   My wife has often joked that if I were a burglar, I would be arrested on my first break in sitting in someone’s bedroom floor looking through their shoe box full of family and travel images, I’m so captured by seeing others work!   I love teaching photography because of the incredibly diverse people it places me with.

I’ve met, doctors, lawyers and indian chiefs, really I actually had an indian chief in one of my classes!  I’ve met astronauts, rocket scientists, financial wizards, military, and law enforcement people, fishermen, engineers, artists, and entertainers.  The simple fact is that people from all walks of life get interested in photography, and I’ve had the rare pleasure of helping them.  Some of my former students are now well known and respected photographers in their own right.  I’m not suggesting that is because they studied with me, but it does give me great pleasure to rejoice in their successes. One of the great things I’ve learned over years of teaching is that you can find as much pleasure in the success of others as in your own success.  It takes some time and maturity to come to that place, but when it comes it makes the joy of photography all the sweeter.

When I was a young photographers I wanted desperately to be better than everyone else.  I soon learned that was not very healthy and a real set-up for constant disappointment!!   Once you start comparing yourself to others, you will always find those that do photography better than you do, if you can’t accept it and just try harder, it’s an impossible emotion to deal with.  I found that just trying to be better than myself each day was enough of a challenge and one I could at least win!   Photography is one hobby that can actually affect the happiness in the rest of your life.  The way you learn to see and observe what so many miss can make every day a “visual” adventure.  Photography has opened up so many wonderful adventures for me, I couldn’t help but share it!

The joy that comes from seeing others learn how to make great images and share them is equal to, if not greater, than the joy of capturing a great image yourself.   At the workshop that just ended in New England we has a exceptional group of people.  The skill level was very  high and the cordial nature of the group made the entire experience fantastic.  So once I rest up and get my feet back under me, I’ll be excited to start planning the next few workshops.

God has richly blessed me to be able to support my family (along with a lot of help from Sherelene!), doing something I would do on my days off from work!  How much better could it be than that…….

Thank you Father for enriching my life with such great people and such a great hobby/profession!   Amen  

the pilgrim

Images from the workshop last week!