Comments and responses…

It’s taken some time, but here are the written comments from the first Photocamp survey; many were borne in mind when we ran Photocamp Leeds {Winter 2009}

Questions in bold, comments in italics,  responses in plain text…

Please comment on the variety and content of the sessions you attended…

• More variety on practical sessions would have been nice. Possibly a few more advanced sessions to progress existing knowledge, rather than all being introductory sessions.
  The second Photocamp probably had less practical sessions, sorry. This will hopefully be remedied in Bradford.

• Variety was good – could quite happily have gone to more sessions than there was time for.
  +
  Variety and content was good, unfortunately for me some of the ones I wanted to attend conflicted so missed some and ended up with a session containing nothing I was interested in.
  +
  I was really happy with the sessions I attended but found it quite difficult to choose between them so missed ones I would have liked to go to as they clashed.
  The old chestnut – ‘why do you give us so much choice?’

• The sessions were all useful.  All session leads came across as very approachable, and knowledgeable. Good variety, covering film and digital, and everything from landscape to studio based photography.

• Good selection, but missed the fact that there was a whole thread of linked sessions
  That’s a shame – I’ll consider this when creating future delegate packs

• Good variety, though some seemed to be under-subscribed (especially if there was a significantly more popular session on at the same time). I particularly enjoyed the Lighting demo and the self-portrait talks.
  I don’t see how that can be avoided – unless we avoid popular workshops Suggestions welcomed…

• Good all-round experience
  
• I mainly attended the photoshop workshops and the talks – I thought the variety of the content available on the day was great.

• Very good

• Generally very good quality. Accidentally didn’t make it to some I wanted to and was pleasantly surprised by those I ended up in instead.

• I liked the mix as it covered some things I already do and some stuff that I’ve never tried.

• I thought the sessions i attended were well planned and the individuals giving the talks had clearly given time and put thought in to the content.

• I was suprised at the range of things on offer, the only issue was i couldn’t attend EVERY session!

• Excellent, good range

• They were wide-ranging and enormous fun. I learned a lot, and was inspired to carry out some of the tricks and skills.

• A nice range of sessions were available.

• Technical stuff over my head, but loved the more cultural stuff.

• Loved every minute of it, especially the pinhole session at the beginning of the day.

• I thought that there would be more practical learning but i was happy with listening and learning

• The sessions were all informative and good. Particularly enjoyed Griff and Lloyd’s, and the off camera flash sessions

• The workshops were interesting and informative. Having read about some afterwards, I wished I’d been able to attend more. It would have been useful to have had a fuller description of content for some of them – obviously not possible using a white board.
  We’re now going to put workshop summaries in future delegate packs

• excellent

• I think there was a really good variety and I was amazed by the amount of work that went into each session. I really do feel I have learnt a lot from it and have even been playing around with some of the techniques shown on the day

• I first went to the landscape seminar, it was interesting but I didn’t feel I learned an awful lot from it. Everything else that day was brilliantly presented & I learned loads! This included advanced(ish) photoshroppery. in which I learned about using various tools to edit a portrait. including making selections and colour changes, getting rid of noise etc. I can remember & have used most of it   The light trail/painting & long exposure session was very good. Great selection of images were presented & the talk was very informative and fun, I even took a couple of light trail shots at the end of the day & was pleased with the results.  Off camera flash with Phil Winterboune was also excellent! It was great to see demonstrations of various set ups and instantly be able to see the varying results. I learned a few handy techniques I could instantly begin to apply with my new flash guns to get me started

• Good range, covered a range of abilities and topics

• Very good range of topics covered. Unfortunately often there was more than one talk/presentation I would have liked to have gone to in a particular slot. So if you run another Photocamp it would be interesting to find out from this year’s participants which session they most wished they had attended but didn’t and ask those running these talks/presentations if they would do them again.
  At the {Winter 2009} event we tried to avoid directly repeating many sessions – but the Bradford event may welcome some repeated sessions from the (near) past.

• Good sessions all round – The order of the photoshop ones seemed a bit strange as a ‘beginners’ one followed an ‘intermediate’ level one.
  This was considered in the general mix; it was assumed you’d do one or the other then move on to another beginner type workshop – thereby aiming for their always to be a mix of levels of workshops throughout the day!

• Thought it was well balanced, sometimes hard to decide which to attend!
  I went to all sessions as I was taking photos – and I often struggled to leave many!

• The practical hands on sessions run were *fantastic*, the folk that ran them knew plenty about what they were speaking about. The discussion sessions were also very informative.

• All the sessions were of interest and the people delivering them were very keen and enthusiastic. I felt particularly inspired to do the 365 days project and to experiment more with lighting in my general photography.

• I enjoyed all the sessions favourite was 365 as I am now on day 45 myself. Also very inspired by landscapes, macro, studio lighting.

• I really enjoyed learning about off camera flash

• Lots of variety for the day but had to miss some to attend others. ( missed the Toot talk, can he do it again?)
  Maybe we can run another 365 session in Bradford; I wonder if Mike will volunteer?

• Each session I attended was different and I learned new things in most of them. Only one session disappointed me and that was the last one (composition) but it was the afternoon and it wasn’t bad, just not what I expected.
  Hopefully the session descriptions will avoid this in the future.

• Great range of topics covered, just a shame some of them overlapped.

• I saw sessions covering areas that I didn’t think I was that interested in, but proved to be fascinating.

• Even though I’m mostly interested in lighting, there was plenty of interesting talks all day. I wish i could have been to them all.

• Great mix of sessions on offer, wish I’d been able to be in three places at once!

• The variety couldn’t have been better, the content was very informative.

• I particularly enjoyed the practical, hands on workshops. It was nice that there were things happening simultaneously with the option to drift between talks / workshops happening at the same time. This casual approach is important for a ‘camp’ style event

• Great variety – testafied to by the fact that I found it difficult to choose and am in contact with Kino to do some portrait learning that I wish I had done on the day- but then I wanted to do other things too. Workshops were friendly and informative and even the informal , between workshop times, were useful for discussing ideas / looking at portfolios and networking. I was amzed how many sessions were fitted in and how many of them were relevant to me – need a longer conference next time to fit them all in. Only wish that domestic arrangements had allowed me to take part in the big shoot.

• good variety and some excellent sessions

• Very good, there were too many sessions of interest to myself running at the same time.  Not an issue BUT my issue in needing(want) to understand more things.

• good selection, some better than others. the open area not ideal for some talks due to acoustics.
  Thanks for this – it helped us to re-plan the layout for the 2009 event

• Good variety.  It was hard to choose what to go to.  If you ran the same thing on 2 days I would still have been spoilt for choice.

• All excellent

• From building a pin-hole camera to debating the legality of taking pictures in public/private to listening to a couple of guys talk about their night photography project, they were all amazing.    I think you get so much more in the way of content and enjoyment from an un-conference than an actual conference because its by anyone that feels like talking/showing something off.

• I loved all of them. I just wish I could have attended some more.

• enjoyed all the sessions I took part in – but left me wanting more

• Brilliant content.  I managed to go to sessions that have really sparked a renewed enthusiasm for photography.  I have already noticed that my shots are getting better.  Particularly like the strobist session in the morning.

• Considering I had trouble choosing – and had to attend one for moral support – I’d say it was again excellent

• Bit varied. Think those that didn’t really plan anything sessions suffered as a consequence (I think), but they weren’t pro talkers, we weren’t paying, and for most it was a new thing for then to do.

• Overall the sessions were good…people willing to give their time for free.  however, I would like to see sessions slightly longer.
  We may be trying this in Bradford – ‘watch this space’…

• too many interesting sessions, clashing with each other… maybe letting people vote their 4 preferred sessions on a website before the event, would enable the allotting of sessions to slots so that popular ones don’t clash (i realise this is probably an impossibility as you can’t please everyone all of the time… but extra info might help)
  In that case you’ll now get extra info

• an interesting set of sessions, would have liked to attend more of them

• very diverse.  In fact, it was a shame there were so many options for each slot, which meant having to choose not to go to seminars that I was interested in

• excellent variety and very high standard…  some speakers could just have been assisted (reminded) to project their voices a bit

Do you have any further comments of suggestions? (We welcome all feedback, it’s only through this we can improve future events)

• I thoroughly enjoyed the day and can’t complement you highly enough on the organisation and venue. A real success.

• Happy to lead another session!
  Good! Did you?

• I think the people presenting could be better briefed, quite a few seemed surprised by the format on the day, didn’t have time to set up, that kind of thing.  Would also help cut down over lap between sessions.
  We try our best to minimise issues like this – without finding funding to pay support technicians it is difficult; and the overlap was mainly caused by over-runs. We addressed this at the 2009 event.

• I  think maybe limiting the amount of people attending practical sessions, so that everyone who attends can participate
  I am planning to discuss this with speakers at the bradford event – maybe bringing in a second (or third) ‘helper’ in some cases to get most opportunity.

• I can’t wait till the next one!
  Did you enjoy it? Bradford will be better still!

• A very enjoyable and worthwhile event.

• Was a fantastic event, really great job. Liked the portrait project, made people bond a bit!
  In retrospect I wish I’d tried harder to do this at the 2009 event. Will bring it, or something similar, back in Bradford…

• More practical learning, something hands on
  Got any suggestions/ideas?

• Keep it diverse. Inspiration and practical advice.

• Could any student accommodation be offered to those who want to take part in the evening sessions, but live too far away?
  Never thought of this… will try and find out for the future!

• I liked browsing through peoples books. Perhaps a table with a sign to show them off a bit more? The taking other peoples portraits was a great way of mixing and getting to know other people

• Photocamp was tremendous fun as well as educational, I would go every week if I could!
  How about every month? He he

• Opportunities to collaborate and generate ideas for new projects
  Like a projects group, maybe?

• It would be good to get one of the major photography magazine involved as it would be good to see this concept spread.
  Brilliant idea – we’ll see what we can do in Bradford…

• Flickr is a great way of distributing photos and sharing things, but isn’t the only site available
  No, it’s not – we’re trying to find a way to expand across digital boundaries… Facebook was a starting point and Ephotozine weren’t up for supporting the ‘paid-for’ event… any other suggestions? The link with NMeM should also help broaden the appeal.

• Some sessions could have done with being a bit longer…especially those requiring hands on / practical use of equipment.
  Maybe, just maybe…

• I would have liked a basic skills course, general, lighting, photoshop but most other people were much more expert than me so I might have been alone.
  Sorry to hear that – Photocamp is aimed at people with some skills and lots of enthusiasm; a basics course would be difficult. But maybe we can think of a help desk way of accommodating this in the future…

• Next time, different topics would be welcome (and different presenters/demonstraters). Perhaps more practical sessions would be good?
  All these requests for practical sessions… [makes note]

• More please!!!!……..soon
  Was February soon enough? And September..?

• The overall feel of the event was great, it was a day of involvement, participation and learning…what more do you need….more time for the post event booze up maybe!!
  Was ‘all night’ enough for you? Now you’ll complain there was no free beer…

• It was a great day. I got a lot out of it and I’m sure everyone else who went did too.

• Enormous fun and a very interesting day out.

• Flickr’s support of the event was really good too.
  Yeah – thanks a lot to Fiona and her colleagues!

• The portrait game was great fun

• Possibly have a schedule of events decided beforehand I realise this can be hard) but gives a chance to deliberate over before the day
  No schedule, but we will now publish the options beforehand… keeps it exciting!

• Would like to see a PC2009. Would be willing to present a topic now that I’ve seen what its all about.
  …and, did you?

• Please do off camera flash and 365 portraits again next time cos I missed them.
  Hope you’re happy!

• I would really really want less parallel sessions and more time. I think 3 parallel sessions should be way enough – maybe even only 2. It’s such a pity that I missed MOST of the sessions.
  I think you’ll guess by now that this falls on deaf ears… sorry! We’re just into offering lots.

• More than one a year
  As you wish!

• Maybe ask all presenters to prepare their presentations in a google doc format, so that attendees can revisit the info for ALL sessions after the event as there was so much to take in.
  We tried… did we do better in February?

• I think a small (even a token £5) would make a big difference to attendance levels.  It was a big shame that 20 people booked seats then didn’t sit on them.
  Correct – attendence at the second event was 88% rather than 80%!

• Drop all phoney sign-ups to new accounts, email etc.
  Ok. Oh, actually – would you mind joining this blog..?