What makes a good photo educator?

Question

Steve Brazill · Answer

What makes a good photo educator? Wow, this is such a great question. And I think it's multifaceted. Number one, you obviously have to understand the subject. And I mean, really understand the subject. You can't just know it a little bit in passing. You have to be able to think of this subject matter that you're teaching without thought, right? Mindlessness. You have to be able to talk about that subject like it's an extension of your body. Number two would be understand the audience that you're talking to. You need to understand the goals of that audience. I had a time one time when I was teaching computers and I was working for a company and we were teaching these high-end IT people, these Fortune 500 IT staff. And I was teaching Microsoft certification courses. And I looked at the owner, I said, I'm really nervous because these guys have high-end IT jobs. I mean, they have real jobs and I'm teaching the content. And his response to me was, but they don't know what's in the book. They don't know what's in the manual. And that matters. You have to kind of have an understanding of what your audience baseline is so that you can find the middle of that audience and kind of teach to the middle. But most important, I would say is good communication. And I don't just mean a good voice or a good patter or a good timing or anything like that. I mean, you have to be able to take possibly complex concepts and terms and translate them into real world English. That is absolutely critical. When somebody asks a question and I answer it, sometimes they'll say, yeah, I still don't get it. You have to have three, four, whatever analogies until you can find the terminology that helps them understand.

Rick Sammon · Answer

So, the question is this, what makes a good photo educator? Well, I've written 43 books, I have more than 40, Kelby, one classes online classes. I give seminars, I give workshops so. So I think I could answer this question. I think, you know, a couple of things, one respecting the subject when I write a book when I'm thinking, right, in the sentence or a paragraph. I'm respecting the subject, you know? I don't want to, you know, be condescending. I don't want to take anything for granted. So respecting, the subject is really important. Also understanding that no question is too basic. No question is too simple. And I think, you know, trying to communicate with the person, you know, there's a lot of a photo Educators out there, you know, basically know the same thing. So if you want to be a photo educator, remember this that someone's going to come to you for your personality and a speaking of that, you know, one of the best things I ever did in my life was take the Dale Carnegie course on public, speaking and human relations. This is an amazing course. It's a changed my life. My son was growing up. I told him this is key. You have to learn how to communicate. So, being aware and I'm what you're doing, and what you're saying, and how you communicating all? This stuff is so important to being a good photo educator. And my friend, Scott Kelby amazing photo educator because you know, he understands what people want to know, whether it's Photoshop or like music, we started out teaching Photoshop and Lightroom, and he's become an excellent photographer. So anyway, it's also a ton of fun being a photo. So if you're thinking about doing this, I would definitely recommend jumping in.

Tony Sweet · Answer

The question is, what makes a good photo educator? Well, a lot of knowledge doesn't hurt but you care about your clients outside of Photography care about their work. What they're trying to accomplish, how they're trying to do it their process. It's been considerable time with them in the field and behind the computer during class, you know, what they're paying you for it, paying for your time. I'm and your knowledge, but your time, spend time with people, you know, and don't smother them, you don't give an idea and then come back. Every five seconds. People need time to assimilate earliest, I do to assimilate what's been taught and then find your own way to use it that takes time. So give people an idea because the next client, the next one and then come back around and by that time they've they would have had enough time to have some questions. Maybe, you know, And bottom line is just caring. No one cares what? You know to the know that you care, they're going to live by that. You know and and photography and in life, it's about caring.

Mike James · Answer

What makes a good photo educator? I've got to answer this in 2 minutes. I could spend a day talking about this because I'm really passionate about it. I think you need to be an educator first. You need to be an adult education expert. You only need to be slightly ahead of the person you're teaching in their photography skills but if you can deliver it in a way that gives them a transformation, not just an experience like a lot of workshops out there, deliver it in a way that appeals to their learning style which a good educator will pick up on straight away. This is where I used to run group workshops. Now I do small groups or one-on-one online because I get to know the people. I get to know their goals, their transitions, where they've been, where they are now, where they want to go and deliver the content in a way that is relevant to them, makes sense to them. I'll give you an example, feedback. I've spent months with my course just on feedback and delivering feedback because feedback needs to be personal. It needs to be delivered in a way that makes sense to the person, not just how you would do something. You need to coach them. You need to draw out of them their intention, what they were doing, why they were doing it. Then you can try to go in there and just do little subtle things that just changes their mindset. So you can tell they are passionate about this. Education first. You don't have to have a massive – go with someone that has a massive following, somebody who's famous, has worked for famous publications. Although many of them are great educators but I think, yes, find somebody who's qualified or at least understands adult education and first and foremost, I think that's the best way to go.

Jasin Boland · Answer

Okay, what makes a good photo educator? Well to be honest, I think someone that doesn't push their style down your throat. I think it's someone that's going to look at your style and nurture that and help you refine that. You know, you don't want to be like your teacher because, you know, sometimes teachers are good at teaching but they're not great at photography. But there's others that are brilliant. Look at someone like Moose Peterson. Oh my gosh. He's right here. Go and ask Moosey some questions. He's a great educator and an incredible lover of the planet and the critters. And he's got a heart the size of Texas or Montana because of, I better not say where he lives. So yeah, I think it's someone that nurtures you and doesn't try and make you shoot their way. Because when I'm doing workshops and that, I don't want people to shoot the way I do because I want to see how they approach the same thing that I do and it gives me some ideas. Like quite often I'll pick up stuff and I'll be like, oh, I can't believe I never thought about that. So yeah, you know, keep your eyes open and keep everything open to change and new ways of doing things. Don't get set in stuff and there's no rules in photography. So don't let anyone tell you that there are rules. Break them.

Moose Peterson · Answer

What makes a good photo educator. That's a really good question. I think there's a lot of variables being able to listen, is definitely part of it. Being able to make terms seem a little more friendly as part of it. But I think a big part of it is a lifetime of experiences, whatever that lifetime is that you can relate to and share with others. Probably, the biggest thing that makes a good photo. Released. And my opinion is one. Who can say, hey, yeah, I've been there. I've screwed up and you will live through that process, the sun will come up, no matter how bad that photograph might be today. But there is a lot of different styles for lack of better terms when it comes to being a photo educator and some of them really work, some of them don't and that has to do a lot with the personalities, both of the instructor and the student, this structure can only be as good or as efficient as the the student is listening and applying it's a partnership and sometimes they work and sometimes they just don't

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"What makes a good photo educator?"