“Learning to See” Workshops with Chris Marquardt (2 remaining)

Chris Marquardt from the Tips from the Top Floor audio and video podcasts has put together a 4 city tour of 4-day workshops entitled “Learning to See.” I’ve been listening and watching Tips from the Top Floor since the show started about 2 years ago, and I think Chris is both a fantastic photographer, as well as a great educator. I’ve had an opportunity to meet him on two occasions at the Podcast and New Media Expo over the last two years and I highly recommend you subscribe to his show if you are interested learning more about photography. You can also take a quick listen or look by clicking on one of the play buttons on his home page (selected in red below).

I asked another podcaster and recent attendee to a Learning to See workshop, Tom Wiles (host of the Trucker Tom Podcast), to answer a few questions about the workshops, and here’s what he had to say:

ImagingBuffet: Which of the seminars did you attend and why?
Tom Wiles: I attended the Fort Collins, Colorado seminar. I attended primarily because of Chris’ expertise with photography and from the enthusiasim from previous workshop attendees I knew it would be very beneficial.

IB: What are three of the top things you learned?
TW: (1) The feedback of other people is extremely important. This is especially true in a group circumstance where the other people are physically present. Everyone went through the same process of picking a photo to show to the group for feedback multiple times over the four days, and this proved to be an extremely valuable learning opportunity.

(2) Think about not only the design elements that make a good photo as you are taking it, but also think about what the subject of the photo is and whether or not you can change the angle a bit to eliminate competing elements, eliminate distractions, clutter, etc.

(3) One of the interesting things I noticed after the seminar was over is that now when I see photos I immediately notice if there are problems with them and how they might have been improved just by changing the angle and overall framing a bit.

IB: Do you have any suggestions for people before they take the seminar?
TW: Go into the experience expecting a great time and a very fun overall learning experience. Also, be careful with memory chips — though they may seem indestructible most of the time, they CAN and DO die at the wrong times. The name of the seminar is “Learning To See” and that’s exactly what happens. The technology of photography is not nearly as important in taking good photographs as is the photographer’s eye and ability to concentrate on what he or she wants to communicate with the photo.

Two workshops still remain, and as of today, I believe that there are still openings available. The next workshop is in Minneapolis, MN (Oct/11-14) and the last is in Port St. Lucie, FL (Oct/18-21). For more info or to register, visit this page.

Von Iva at the Red Devil Lounge Sat. 10/6

Last Friday night I attended the Culture Catch Salon at the Podcast and New Media Expo. I also did some photos of the event for the people who organized it. It was a great evening, and the closing act was a three woman band called Von Iva from San Francisco, who absolutely rocked the house.

They are playing on Oct 6 at Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco. I’ve been listening to their CD since the show and you can check them out on their MySpace page (The song LALA is really amazing, and hearing it live is something I will not soon forget). Their song called DO IT! sounds like an instant hit to me. It’s the 10th song on the CD Our Own Island. You can find it and sample a portion on iTunes.

For more info about the show at the Red Devil Lounge, visit the Red Devil Lounge. And for more about Von Iva, visit their site.

Video Interview from the Podcast & New Media Expo

I just returned from the 3rd annual Podcast & New Media Expo held in Ontario, California. It was a fantastic show, with a lot of educational content in the general sessions (held in large ballrooms and other conference rooms) and on the show floor. The “Podango Unconference,” held in Podango’s booth was especially good. I’ll be posting photos and highlights from the show over the next few weeks, but for now, I’d like to post a link to a video for which I was interviewed. I spoke with Kara Ratliff from WebProNews about the presentation I gave during the show on Saturday entitled: How To Make Your Content Easy For “Grandma” to Consume: Simplifying RSS Feeds, Video Formats and Flash Players for Your Audience. Click on the screen shot below to view the video on WebProNews.com.

You can also find more than 15 other interviews on WebProNews.com from the Podcast & New Media Expo here.