I can hardly believe that it has been 19 weeks since the last workshop. If you had told me then, what I know now, there is no way I would have believed you. Yes, I was aware of Covid 19 and we were all watching the news carefully but back on the 6th March there was no real concern that the course should be cancelled. 2 weeks later, I was making the long trip up to the Isle of Skye to hopefully create timelapse footage of the Aurora for a BBC documentary. That certainly was an interesting trip, arriving on Skye at midday on the Sunday, listening to Borris's announcement at 8pm on the Monday and this setting off at 6am on Tuesday, driving 9 hours non stop back to Yorkshire. All those miles for 3 photos. Well at least one of them was a portfolio worthy image which is now on my wall.
However this weekend I am up in my beloved Northumberland running a workshop and I can't wait. Thankfully, I curtail the amount of workshops I do during May, June and July so lockdown didnt impact that much. Couple with that fact that sunrise is really early, sunset is very late and we never get out of twilight for dark skies. That changes from the 2nd August and I did manage to shoot the Milky Way in the early hours of last weekend too.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been testing out social distancing when teaching a friend. I have also had to rewrite my safety briefing that I always give at the start of every course and the photography bag has PPE in it along with more supplies in the car.
What I am really pleased about though, is the size of the groups that I teach. If you have been on one of my courses before or are indeed booked on one, you will know that I limited them to a maximum of 4 people. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly and most importantly, I want everyone to have a great time, receive all of the tuition and support that they need. I want everyone to receive expectational value for money. Where possible I want us all to be able to travel together which adds to the bond that we have as a group and lessens the impact on the Enviroment. I also want to ensure that every client can be helped to find a great compositions without battling for space with other photographers. I have seen too make examples of groups where it is 1 instructor for 8 - 10 clients, I can only image what this must be like and the frustrations it must cause. This was a conscious decision that I made when I first started running weekend and week long workshops. I have to say it is probably the best decision I have ever made, which feedback attests too and is the main reason why I have so many returning clients who I am proud to now call my friends.
Between now and Christmas, I have 3 weekends where I will not be out with clients. I am so excited to be back out teaching and if you are booked onto a course between now and then, I can't wait to see you soon.
Steve