[Review] Nikon School of Photography: Introduction to Digital SLR Photography

Saturday, March 10, 2007. I bold myself to attend this workshop alone at New York's Hotel Pennsylvania which is across from Madison Square Garden. Although NYC ain't that far from my place plus it was going to start at 9:30 am, I decided to leave a little early - around 8 am. And I thought the good fortunes to arrive early were that I could get the best seat, be relaxed and comfortable. However, when I arrived at the Penntop South Ballroom...whoa, I found out that almost half of the seats have been filled! Apparently, I wasn't the only one who wanted the best seat. Never mind. Just kept on looking for an empty spot in the middle row...and smile! finally, I found it.

I could see participants of different ages; but most of them from middle-aged people and very few teenagers. Furthermore, I found out from three women I chatted with, some of them were sent by their companies and some of them attended this workshop because of deep interest in photography. Also I noticed that most of them brought together their SLR digital camera except me, who brought a Nikon Coolpix S1...haha, at the moment I felt sO ashamed that I reluctant to bring it out =P. I was wrong when I thought I could also use it for this workshop despite I knew it wasn't a SLR camera.

Personally, I think I was pretty lucky to receive a free ticket from Nikon Inc. because the fee for this one-day-school is quite expensive for a college student like me, which is cost 119 bucks. If I were given a choice, I don't think I would want to spend my money on this workshop unless I am really into photography or going crazy with myself. You might be wondering why or how could I possibly get a free ticket to this school don't you? =D

Honestly, this was not really a free ticket - nothing in life comes for free or easy unless there is an "excuse."

I believe it wasn't until end of 2006 - i guess around late September or early November, i got a letter from Nikon Inc. I was kinda surprised to receive the letter since it has "return receipt requested" and "important" on it, which I knew there must be something important here. As I went through the letter, I was thrown again when it says, "We are writing to you in regard to a recent security incident at Nikon Inc. on September 12, 2006. The personal information you provided to us...has been made available to unauthorized persons." Astaghfirullahalazim! What's going on here? It wasn't long before I received a letter from PNC Bank saying that they detected a fraud case in my account! Sigh~

It made me pretty mad, but luckily, they said that they has remedied the security incident. They recommended me to contact the credit card issuer to discuss more about it and call the Nikon Consumer Relations Department if I need their assistance. Well, because of the incident, Nikon gave me a compensation; an automatic one year extension of "Nikon World" subscription and also a free ticket to the Nikon School of Photography. They also let me choose whether to attend "The Introduction to Digital SLR Photography" or "Streamlined Workflow Techniques".

Overall, the workshop was interesting even though it didn't meet my expectations. I guess I put too high expectations. Never had an any experience with photography workshop before so I think that's the reason why. What I'd expected was an active workshop - going outside to snap some pictures, breaking into groups and teaching us on group on how to use the SLR camera and so forth. But, when I think back, actually, "going outside to snap pictures" really doesn't sound right because where the heck are we going to take the pictures? In the middle of NYC with, I believe nearly three hundreds participants? lol...what a funny! =D

Just to give you some idea of what the workshop looks like - this workshop covers many things from technical insight and experience, sensitivity (ISO), Aperture - aperture vs f. number (sorry, I forgot what "f" stands for), program mode, shutter speed, image editors, RAW file, NEF file, EPSON printing, and color adjustment. There are also videos presentations, Q & A session, small booths located just beside the stage, and you can even meet the professional photographers personally during the break! Also, not forget to mention, your lunch is provided! So, basically you don't have to worry about getting hungry because they provide us with sandwich, fruits, snacks, yogurt, juices and sodas.

What I like most about this workshop is you don't leave empty-handed. They gave each of us two books, which are "Nikon School: Guide to Digital Photography", "Nikon School: Guide to SLR photography" and, also one Nikon notepad and a certificate of participation :). Besides, they gave us a CD of CaptureNX software but in trial edition - this software is only valid for 30 days from the moment you install it; just like other trials you find in the internet. In comparison to Adobe Photoshop, I like this software a lot more in many aspects such as it provides a user-friendly interface, you can make a quick adjustment at the point/area you want, and you can change the picture from normal view to "bird eyes" view or vice versa. You can also edit your picture from image histogram. (*disclaimer: this is just my petty sum. I am not a professional nor am I an expert in photography. Also, this is just based on my experience using Adobe Photoshop in year 2002-2003. I believe right now, there is a major upgrade of Photoshop.)

In short, I would highly recommend this workshop for those who are newly interested in SLR digital photography, thinking of getting or just bought a SLR digital camera, and has a strong financial support.

p/s: here are two websites I got from the workshop: http://www.billdurrence.com/ and http://www.nickdidlick.com/index.html
- and I still remember what Bill Durrence (one of the instructors) said about photography, "good photos combine ART and CLICHE" and "you're the one who treasure your photos...people can say anything about it, but only you know what your picture means"

Wallahualam~ (only God knows best) (^-^)y