Nikon School

[SecurityTheatre]

Hey, I apologize to those of you who went to my site www.michaelschwarz.com and got a security alert. Apparently the alert only shows up in Windows computers, something I rarely use, so I was not aware of it. I was alerted to it a few days and flushed out my Wordpress install and that should have cleared it up. Not sure what it was, but pretty certain it had something to do with a Wordpress photo gallery plug-in. Certainly nothing malicious on my part and I don't think it was anything serious.

I don't normally look at this site, but it showed up in a Google Alerts I do for Nikon School and I was dismayed that we were being called "fraudsters", so I felt I needed to defend the School, something I have been very proud of since my initial involvement with it more than 10 years ago.

JR-- sorry you were unable to attend the school this year. I look forward to meeting you next year.

Syborg-- if you are able to attend the Baltimore school, please take a moment to say hello.

Cheers,
Michael

Michael, this Gintaras guy is generally regarded as somewhat insane and tends to crap all over threads with useless commentary and blathering about his opinions of photography as an art and various other things.

Don't take too much heed. Good luck with your course. Photography is a tough business these days. I got out of it in to IT a number of years ago and I'm certainly glad I did. It was getting pretty cut-throat and I'm not enough of a sadist to cut it doing mass-produced craptastic photography (reference: LifeTouch) and not enough of an artist to cut it on the other side of the business.

I might have the technical knowledge to teach the course you are putting on in my sleep, but don't have the artistic talent to really make it as a top-tier photographer, nor the cut-throat business drive to cut it in the mass-produced side.

More power to ya.

ST

 

[drabguy]

Thanks ST

 

[Gintaras]

I might have the technical knowledge to teach the course you are putting on in my sleep, but don't have the artistic talent to really make it as a top-tier photographer, nor the cut-throat business drive to cut it in the mass-produced side.

I'd rather to stay insane.

Normal People Worry Me...

 

[radhak]

Hey, I apologize to those of you who went to my site www.michaelschwarz.com and got a security alert. Apparently the alert only shows up in Windows computers, something I rarely use, so I was not aware of it. I was alerted to it a few days and flushed out my Wordpress install and that should have cleared it up. Not sure what it was, but pretty certain it had something to do with a Wordpress photo gallery plug-in. Certainly nothing malicious on my part and I don't think it was anything serious.

I don't normally look at this site, but it showed up in a Google Alerts I do for Nikon School and I was dismayed that we were being called "fraudsters", so I felt I needed to defend the School, something I have been very proud of since my initial involvement with it more than 10 years ago.

JR-- sorry you were unable to attend the school this year. I look forward to meeting you next year.

Syborg-- if you are able to attend the Baltimore school, please take a moment to say hello.

Cheers,
Michael

Michael, your site prompted me to sign up for the school's offering here in Miami (next week), so your posting here was fruitful for me! I hope to be both entertained and enlightened.

Thanks for your effort.

 

[drabguy]

Thanks radhak. I hope you will enjoy the school. I will not be teaching that particular school, but you will be in capable hands with our teachers there. Be happy to answer any questions you might have about what to expect.

-Michael

 

[Shinta]

Michael, I'm tempted to check out the Color, Light, Technology workshop coming up in L.A. in a few weeks. Can you let me know roughly how much of the class is devoted to shooting technique (i.e., out-in-the-field stuff) vs. post-processing? I ask because I only see View/Capture NX 2 mentioned in the class description, but I'm already rather ingrained with my Lightroom/Photoshop workflow, so I probably wouldn't get too much out of that part of the class. Thanks!

 

[drabguy]

Hey Shinta,
If the teachers stick to our past schedule, there will be about 20-30 minutes of time devoted to ViewNX2/CaptureNX2 in the last section of the day. Nikon, with the help of NIK Software, has done a really good job of evolving both of those programs. They can be quite useful, even in a Lightroom/Photoshop based workflow. If you're not interested in that, that time would be a great opportunity for you to go outside the classroom and visit with the Nikon rep who will have a table full of gear to play with. During the breaks he or she will be pretty slammed, but if you go during the class, they will have lots of time for one-on-one attention.

The rest of the class will be shooting, lighting, gear, etc. Lots of time devoted to Nikon's CLS wireless flash system. That's my favorite part.

Hope you go, hope you enjoy it. The teachers will be Bob and Nick.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Shinta]

The rest of the class will be shooting, lighting, gear, etc. Lots of time devoted to Nikon's CLS wireless flash system. That's my favorite part.

lol, how did you know the one place where I still need to spend money?

 

[drabguy]

lol, how did you know the one place where I still need to spend money?

Cause it never ends. There's always something else you "need."
-m

 

[bigi]

It's up to you, but I myself would not even consider this.
I think, most of this can be learned for free - online, e-books online.
And practice, practice, practice...



I would call these professional fraudsters, not photographers.

Any honest and real photographer would tell you, that in 2 days NO WAY you can learn nothing...nothing at all. You might get some little basic knowledge, but real learning will come with PRACTICE - months, years of practice, not 2 days...
I wonder, how much would cost all this for you and your wife? Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy camera - with kit lenses, start shooting and to post on the net for C&C?
Lot of people start this way, incl. myself. "Fire By Trial" is good way to learn something.
You get leads, advices, then start making better pictures on your own.

You sound like a newbie/novice...just like me - since you want to take these classes.
First thing I would suggest: never buy in beginning a professional camera. Professional camera requires a lot of knowledge, how to handle it, etc.... Newbies buying professional cameras will learn nothing.
Newbies, who like to learn something, should buy Entry-Level cameras, and when you're good at photography and able to "squeeze" everything out of that camera - then you go to next level - get mid-level or professional camera, depending on what you need, what can you handle and how you fare.....

I don't ask you to believe me "word a word" what I say, but, I think, there are more people, who can suggest something good or better...

It's just my opinion about that "school" and photography...

+1. Read what he said, twice!