Photo Tour to Steinbeck Country

Help me understand this purported offer:

Ken Rockwell and Dave Wyman, will visually explore areas written about by noted American author John Steinbeck, including California's central coast and coastal mountains, and the beautiful Salinas Valley. Those interested can join the group to the tune of $350 which does not accomodations. What do you get for your $350?

Trip leaders
Group dinner, picnic lunch
A variety of field sessions
Photographic instruction
Help with accommodations in (participants are invited to stay at the same motel as the instructors, contact Dave)
Entry to the Monterey Aquarium and Steinbeck Center

Are these types of photograhic trips worth the cost of admission?

Not sure if it is worth it. You get little or a lot depending on the attitude I guess. But I used to live in Salinas and I can give some tips.
Its quite beautiful in some areas. You get to walk around the same areas as AA himself.
Carmel Valley, Carmel, and Monterey have great sceneries
Have a passion for Mexican food, quite good there
Fried artichokes are to die for
Bring a sweater or 2 even in summer
Camerawest store is worth the visit
Do not tresspass any farms to take pictures or you'll get shot
Hotels/Motels are cheap, they cater to a lot of migrant workers and other farm workers
There's a fish restaurant in Moss Landing to die for. You need to drive over a small little rickety bridge to get there.
Be careful driving up/down the 1 around Big Sur. The scenery will blow you away so keep you eye on the road.

I'm not sure if it's worth it to you, but I had fun wandering around Monterey yesterday and didn't feel like a tour guide would have helped. On the other hand, it might be nice to have a guide for the other spots, as wandering aimlessly around the central coast/mountains is a little more time-consuming than meandering through Monterey.

I guess you're mostly paying for the instruction, though I've never been on one of these trips so I can't say whether it's worth it. Also note that it is almost certainly digi-centric, so I don't even know how much of the instruction will apply to film users. Individual aquarium admission costs around $30 IIRC so you can tick that off the $350 tag, though I'm not really sure how the aquarium relates to Steinbeck (other than being at the end of Cannery Row).

I can echo Eric's suggestion to bring a sweater or two. It's always cold!

Scruff McGruff said:

didn't feel like a tour guide would have helped. On the other hand, it might be nice to have a guide for the other spots, as wandering aimlessly around the central coast/mountains is a little more time-consuming than meandering through Monterey.

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That's the point ...if you get a couple of maps of the region you're interested in seeing, why pay someone $350 to give you a guided tour. Yes, this is a digital-centric outting. I've lived in southern and northern california I've only paid for two tours: Winchester Mystery House and Hearst Castle.

I'm not sure that there will be instruction worthy of $350.

You can drive up to Yosemite and get DSLR instruction for $95 if that floats your boat -- but $350 for the Salinas Valley? C'mon. For that matter, you can arrange day trips on your days off/vacation and accomplish the same thing.

Why are workshops created? Most of these workshop providers are in it for business -- make a few bucks. Some providers use it as a means to travel to a place that their budget might otherwise not allow (although this is hardly the case for this one), but face it -- they are doing this as work and expect to get paid for their time. (I am betting you have a job? You do want to get paid for your time?).

And with any venture there are costs that have to be recovered -- publicity, printing brochures, administrative costs (if hosted by a place like Anderson Ranch, Ansel Adams,Gallery, Santa Fe, etc etc). Recently a friend taught a class at one of these places -- enrollment was down, but he ran the workshop anyway at pro bono rates. The attendees still paid top dollar, but the expenses probably weren't fully covered by the hosting location.

The cost of that Steinbeck workshop actually isn't too far off the digi-snapper weekend workshops that are given by a local group here in Portland -- (http://www.newspacephoto.org/classes/ghosttown.php) For $295 you can spend two days up the Columbia River Gorge... (I'm not associated with this group - I know the area and can find my own way). Again, a not-well-known name, but he fills his workshops at this price. (I've never been, just using this as a comparison point).

Like any other opportunity -- workshop attendees will vote with their cash whether a workshop is worthwhile or not. Will the workshop fill (even in this economic recession?). Some workshops fill instantly and have long waiting lists (John Sexton's used to be this way - filling within days of his workshop brochure. Not sure about today's economic climate and shift towards digi-snapping).

Yet what may seem absurd to you (and me) may be just the ticket for some other person who may be
* looking for other photographers with similar interests
* wanting to be chauferred to the photo spots at just the right times. Heck, maybe they'll even setup the tripod and camera, make the picture, while you sit in the car?
* a workshop junkie --someone that attends at least one workshop every year, usually with a different instructor, for reasons of either wanting to rub shoulders with them, or perhaps receive some positive strokes from the instructors (who rarely say anything negative in my experience).
*from outside of the area, and unsure of good photo locations, but wanting to make a quantity of good images. Having knowledgable instructors setup a sure-fire itinerary would be useful for them

So, maybe its best just to let the potential attendees vote with their cash in cases like this Steinback workshop....

Don12x20 said:

So, maybe its best just to let the potential attendees vote with their cash in cases like this Steinback workshop....

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You're most likey correct on this point. Especially considering that many people probably arrange their vacation time around one or more of these events. I'd like to attend one of John Sexton's workshops. I've attended one of his lectures and I'm on his mailing list. Another attractive feature is that John's workshops are geographically speaking close. I'd realy like to attend John's "Southwest Landscape - A Sense of Place" workshop. Because of the cost ($1100) I'd have to plan for it like a mini vacation of sorts.

I've been to five of John's workshops -- a total of 7 weeks. Worth every penny. There's nothing like rafting a Utah river with John/Ann (and now both deceased Philip Hyde and his wife Ardis) or spending two weeks at the Anderson Ranch fine printing workshop John used to lead**.... John is one of the gifted fine art photographers that also can truly teach and not just lead a workshop. You'll learn a lot.

The Southwest Landscape has always filled quickly -- if you wanted to do this one next year, make sure you decide quickly. Ray usually coteaches, and he's another good instructor.

Best to you.
Don

** neither of these is offered any longer nor seem likely to be. Anderson John's friends at Anderson Rach have moved back east, and John's knees preclude any more rough river landings.

Don12x20 said:

The Southwest Landscape has always filled quickly -- if you wanted to do this one next year, make sure you decide quickly. Ray usually coteaches, and he's another good instructor.

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The Southwest Lanscape workshop won't be offered in 2010. Maybe again in 2011.

Jerry

I've looked at Rockwell's gallery. Not my cup of tea. So, for me, any amount would be too much.

I guess this means everyone's dead set on Salinas

How about this as an option:

Instead of spending the $350 on a trip to Salinas, we travel down the coast to Monte Sereno, California
I can attest to the beauty in the region. I use to live in Santa Clara county. In fact, I drove a inner-city bus for Santa Clara Co. Transit. Oh my God - has it been that long !

For me anyway, that would be a sweet workshop. Where else but where Steinbeck was when he wrote The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Beautiful farmland and coastal settings that are just as close as Monterey.

Now for that, I wouldn't object to investing $350 in broadening my photographic skills.

A Mean Spirited Post

Wow - this mean spirited post by the same person is the third that Google Alerts has brought to my attention. The OP seems like an impecunious recluse with an axe to grind.

He doesn't like Salinas, doesn't think the instruction is worth the cost, and posts about what he thinks will be a digi-centric trip on a forum about film (just as he posted the exact same comments on a large format photo forum). Hmmm........guess he won't be joining the same instructors when they conduct a workshop to Barstow, California, either.

By the way, one of the instructors has spent the past several months publicly extolling the virtues of and his reconversion to analog photography. The other instructor - me - no longer has much interest in film, although I did bring along a couple of my ancient Rolleiflex cameras.

Our trip did fill, and I think everyone enjoyed the camaraderie that came from being with other people who like photography. I think we all learned not only about photography, but perhaps about ourselves, too.

For a look at what I came back with after a few days in Steinbeck country, click here.

Save your money.

Book your own reservations and travel at the speed that is comfortable for you. Staying longer when you want; moving on if you have little interest in in others.

In Yosemite, there is a free tour showing you a few of Ansel's locations for his photographs.

The Monterrey aquarium is great.

Hire a local guide to help with more background on Steinbeck than you can easily assimilate from a guide book.

Glean information posted in this thread.

Bring lots of film.

Have a glass of wine, enjoy life, go at your own speed.

Steve

Scruff McGruff wrote: >I'm not really sure how the aquarium relates to Steinbeck (other than being at the end of Cannery Row).

Scruff, John Steinbeck was keenly interested in marine biology, in part because of the influence of his good friend and mentor, Ed Ricketts. If he were around today, he'd be a lifetime member of the aquarium's support group, and would have been one of the founding fathers.

Surely Steinbeck's writings encompassed more than just the specific places he wrote about. The "Steinbeck Country" our group of photographers explored exists just as much within the mind as as it without it. Steinbeck wrote about the human condition as much or more than he did about places on the map. So a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium was, if not a de regeur stop, definitely within the scope of our weekend of photography.

davewyman said:

Wow - this mean spirited post by the same person is the third that Google Alerts has brought to my attention. The OP seems like an impecunious recluse with an axe to grind.

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If this response is indicative of a purported professional photographer, then photography is in a sad state of affairs.

I just got back from a similar trip that I organized for myself and friends and family. Had a great time. Cannot imagine much better area, photographically, to go and explore. But I'd do it at my own pace. And I'd frankly be disinclined to seek instruction from those whose advice is so freely available on the internet. I mean, if I am going to pay somebody for instruction, then that instruction had better not be something I can google on my own time. Maybe I am wrong about this particular one, I am just saying...

Incidentally, we stayed partly in Pacific Grove, right near Monterey, and that was an excellent (and shockingly inexpensive) place to stay for offshoots to Big Sur, Point Lobos, Monterey, and more. Perhaps it's the economy but the beachside place in pacific grove were very low in cost- $150 got a 3 bedroom efficiency with a full kitchen, with breakfast, afternoon wine and cheese, and hot tub included, about a one block walk from a really gorgeous long beach. Point Lobos was a ~5-10 min drive away, Carmel also. Given that, my recommendation would be to run... not walk... to your nearest phone and book a week in that area, and explore at your own pace.

Oh and in case anybody hasn't noticed, airfares are unbelievably low now. It's a real gift to traveling photographers. I can remember when it'd cost $600-800 roundtrip to go from the east to the west coast; my airfare on this trip was ~$200.