The workshop with Nikos was a great experience and a wonderful event. The evening reviews were inspiring as Nikos proved to be not only a gifted photographer but also a patient teacher and reviewer. He truly possesses the didactical skills to explain what elements are required in building up a good photograph. Naturally the workshop was frustrating at the same time as one comes to realize what skills are required in order to perform photography at this level. Nonetheless, it is definitely learning process that I want to experience again, so I’m studying my agenda and Nikos’ website to try to decide when I can sign up again.

To have a workshop in my own country, so dear to me, was a big challenge, yet a wonderful experience…. To have Nikos there… was the cherry to the cake. It was great to see how the other participants, who I knew from other trips, viewed my people, my land. Nikos’ usual coolness, good sense of humour and positive attitude towards everything and everybody is just perfect. The daily meetings keep being the highlight of my trips, the most expected moment, after a long day, rushed editing and great expectations to see nice surprises. Nikos’ vision and contagious emotion towards a beautiful picture is moving… the atmosphere he creates, magical. Counting the days to next one. Gracias, Niko!

“Just walking, seeing and saying nothing and seeing the result at the end of the day. Giving myself to the road and being on the road. Hearing the honest comments Seeing throw a window that dear Nikos opens to my eyes, and exploring my country Even myself more than it. My second workshop. I wait for the next chance”

“It’s a unique opportunity to push yourself a step further in photography. Challenge yourself! Leave all you know (or might know) about photography behind you. Face the reviews in the evenings and go out the next morning and try to do better than the day before. Thats what I did and since then I know that good photography is more then just colors, lines, structures and shapes. I look forward going to the next workshop with Nikos and to try to push myself once again a step further.”

Honestly Nikos – your workshops are really amazing. Again, I’m so taken with your warmth and generosity, it’s something that is not all that common in people and really a gift to your “students”. You are really inspiring with how you speak about photography, not only in terms of composition, framing, being careful about the light, but also in terms of having feelings for the people or things that you’re photographing. It has really made me think a little differently about how and what I would photograph.
I also wanted to mention how much I enjoy meeting the other participants and that so many of the participants are such talented photographers, it makes the editing sessions so informative and enjoyable. Watching you edit, process and discuss the photos are really a good learning experience for me.

I would like to express my gratitude to Nikos for being not only an attentive and demanding photography mentor, but also for being a humble, caring and infinitely friendly person. It was always a pleasure for us to share with him not only ideas about photography, but also numerous stories about his life and adventures. I feel that in that week my photographic skills moved to a completely new level. The first few days have been a bit of a strugle as I tried to implement Nikos’ technical suggestions and made sure I really followed his advice, but at the end the magic happened and I felt like my vision had changed once and forever.

My experience in Beirut, participating in a photography workshop with Nikos was not only BRILLIANT and AMAZING, it was something more! The daily editing sessions were key to learning more not just about my own work and what direction it might take, but I learn’t so much from everyone else too and what you taught us in those sessions. I now look at a photograph with critical eyes and less emotion, I want the photo to tell me a story, in and of itself. I compose differently, I use my camera more effectively (I think &amp hope) everywhere I look I am trying to compose a photograph, not just when I feel it intuitively but when it might not be the ideal situation photographically. I am more patient with myself and the elements around me. But something that I took away from the workshop in Beirut, you said it a number of times but especially towards the end of the week. You said “Take pleasure in what you photograph” and that is exactly what I am doing more so than ever and I am loving every moment of this new enlighten journey I am embarking on with my camera!

I’ve participated in Nikos’ workshops 7 times. It’s never enough. The experience is so enriching that as soon as it is done you find yourself planing for the next one! The Ghana workshop was incredibly fulfilling. Every participant was talented, lots of very good images emerged during the 11 day workshop. Nikos always challenges everybody at many levels. It is very personal. Nikos’ workshop is a journey that gives you the inspiration and direction to find and deepen your personal vision. Nikos is a mentor, an amazing human being who always celebrates good images made during his workshop with joy and passion. He is genuine and sincere. He has a sharp eye for editing. He does not tell you what to do, he does not impose his own style. It’s a common effort. It’s like a visual catharsis. This is why it is so fulfilling to participate in his workshops. It’s all about growing visually in a collaborative and friendly environment. Once you are on the road with Nikos you stay on the road with Nikos because the journey never ends.

I liked very much not only the editing process but the general discussions we had about photography, and the way you challenged everyone and frankly shared your opinions. In my opinion, the more opinionated, the better. (…) I liked the way you emphasized the idea of creating the portfolio from pictures with a similar approach. I feel I am on the way to www.ontheroad.greloping a style.

As always, a great workshop, good people and rewarding discussions. First, I will say I really enjoyed Porto as a city. Its’ size was just right, and there were enough interesting areas to get around to – the old town, art museum, food market, the other side of the river and town Gaia, the beaches and the riverside walks. And it was easy to get around with buses and trams – and walking.
Second, I really enjoy to experience and to watch how good you are pedagogically. One little step at a time, go easy, you manage to lift us all a little bit – also the not so experienced. Thank you so much for that!
You do it so well, and discreetly – I think we hardly notice that we learn something, a little at a time. And also always interesting to listen when you tell of your experiences, travels, of the history of photography and the great photographers in the past.
I come home happy, having learned a lot. Now looking at my photos with more critical eyes, knowing maybe how to do it better next time.

Every evening, after a busy day of wandering the streets and shooting, I was rewarded with the pleasure of looking at the interesting and beautiful pictures of my fellow students in the workshop. In doing so and by Nikos‘ wonderful and empathetic teaching and the ensuing discussions, I learned so much in terms of visual perception and the transformation into a good picture that I can see more clearly now than ever before the direction, in which I want to move and on what I need to focus on. Thank you, Nikos for yet another enriching experience and thanks to all of you for the pleasant time we shared during the week in Istanbul. It was marvelous!

I have previously attended a photography workshop with Nikos Economopoulos (Karpathos-Greece, Easter 2008) and it was the most beautiful ten consecutive days of my life. I asked to participate at the Varanasi workshop because I admire Nikos as a photographer and completely trust him as a person. I regretted it immediately after I signed up, because my fear of the unknown took over and I was about to call and cancel, despite all the shame that I would feel. Fortunately I did not do it. I got a whole lot out of this workshop. The daytime was dedicated to shooting, and during the evenings we were showing our day’s work. Niko’s observations and criticism were made in such a way that made us feel pushed forward, he has a way of encouraging you and making you put yourself in every image you make and feel confident about it. We never felt put down by a comment or a remark. There was an atmosphere of affection and solidarity all the way through. (He even helped me with my laptop..) Varanasi is magical..

I’ve been thinking the past two weeks, trying to re-evaluate my photos with a better, more critical eye. Seeing how you evaluate each photo, examining each element, their relation to each other, and how they come together to make a photograph changed the way I look at photographs now. And I think this is what I gained most from the workshop: I can already see that your comments were pretty much spot on about the portfolio I presented, but I’m still a long ways from being a decent editor. I’ve already started heavily studying the works of other photographers and I’ll probably do a re-edit of that portfolio in six months to see how much I’ve progressed. The other benefit from the workshop was that I’m more focused in shooting. You saw this change during the course of the week, so I don’t think I need to elaborate more. Now I just need to work harder to make good photos. (…) Completely changing my photography in a week is almost impossible, but I think you’ve pointed me in the right direction. The real benefits of the workshop will come months from now if I follow through on two things:

learn to recognize a good photo and
put what makes those good photos good into my photos (but not in a way that I’m copying).

It was a fun and helpful week. I’ll work to make better photos now!

It worked — or as Nikos said “It always works”. I needed three days to throw everything over board I thought to know about photography. How to select backgrounds, how to use the 35mm lens, how to lead the eye of the beholder, how to avoid clichees, how to get closer, how to recognize a good photograph and how to find my own style. Nikos has something like a built-in compass for good photography which always functions. It was a pleasure to learn from him, to talk with him about his philosophy and to see his passion for beautiful visual events. Even when he felt sick and his face looked as grey as some of my worse photographs he got excited and touched by every great picture he saw at our group meetings in the evenings. He is such a nice and open guy and it seems he has also a talent to attract like-minded people to his workshops. I felt very welcome from the first moment. The Thailand workshop was my first one with him. But for sure not the last..

This workshop provided me with a new prism at taking photographs including more sentiment and injecting more thought and content to my work. As a newcomer to “Street photography”, the workshop allowed me to quickly get into a pace and experiment with this new to me approach, producing some fair results quite quickly. Invaluable was the fact that I gained a lot from the positive evaluation by Nikos of my other coworkers’ work. This evaluation demonstrated to me things to avoid once I get further down in my own journey and also experience paradigms of good quality work that I could try and experiment with. Things that take ages to discover, are presented to you during one week’s teamwork. Absolutely a positive experience with a lot of new friends that I really enjoyed!

This week was, by far, my best spent time concerning photography over these last few years.
I was trying to clear my mind, to find the right approach to photography, and this workshop was a stepping stone, taking me to another level of understanding.
Staying late each night, patiently going through other participants’ work, as well as my own, answering our questions, explaining choices we did not understand in the beginning, helping us to see the good and the bad elements in a photo, pointing out good content and good intention.
All these things and more, Nikos did in a very honest way, sharing his thoughts and his knowledge with each of us. A great photographer, and a really inspiring mentor.

4th time on Nikos’ workshop – be careful, it can become addictive! Seriously, like most people who have followed him on his workshops, I keep being impressed with how effective these workshops are for bringing the best out of everyone : I am thinking how difficult it would be in my job to deal with apprentices at such different levels of skills, from completely amateur to accomplished professional: Nikos manages to pull the trick every time – his natural humbleness and humanity and interest in people make it seem effortless. And the interactions between the team and Nikos is always one of the best things about the course – how you always end up meeting interesting people and getting close to them.

There is a british saying – “those who can, do and those who can’t, teach” – and indeed, judging from my profession the best surgeons are usually unable to transmit their knowledge insofar as their talent and ingenuity is what drives them, and this cannot be easily transferred. So, I I did not know what to expect from a Magnum workshop.. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised ! Nikos kept proving , again and again, how someone who is a (generally accepted) master in his work and has acquired a place as one of the main photographers of the 20th century, can also be a simple and down to earth person: His immense patience kept surprising me, day after day: When I thought that he would have had enough going through another bunch of amateur’s photos, he manifested kindness coupled with insight while critiquing our photos. He constantly managed to stay acutely interested, after hours of looking into photos, to adjust his level of critique to different photographer levels, without appearing either patronising or bored. Every photo would appear to be an opportunity to delve deep into the nature of photography this is not a course about flashes and lenses and f-stops indeed, it presupposes you have reached an appropriate technical level, going beyond that, trying to understand the nature of photography, why some photos move us and confuse and grasp us in such a way an academic level teaching from someone who at the same time is a real photographer. Someone who can gravitate at the same time between being the artist and the critic, the producer of art and the academic (a combination that would be normally unthinkable!). The course is not for the faint hearted it is intensive and demanding , not because of Nikos’ demands or attitude (on the contrary , he is relaxed as can be) but because you will be surrounded by talented, motivated photographers , everyone of which will be doing his/her best. This is not a course on sunsets and cute babies – but you will hear intelligent and thought provoking quotes on photography, that most people would have to spend years reading to finding from the non-descriptive power of photography to the importance of light and to the language and balance of images.. One could keep on talking about the course what was most interesting was that half of the participants Addis course have followed his previous workshops. Probably this is the greatest compliment to the workshop. I am looking forward to my next session with Nikos..

I recently returned from Nikos “Balkan Expedition”, although I have been back for three months, I don’t feel like I am anywhere near to returning to “normal life”. My experience during Nikos workshop was spectacular. Visited locations I would never have travelled to and energized to photograph there. I learned so much and experienced so much that I am sure it will take quite a while to fully assimilate. The symposium experience was truly flawless, from discussions and critiques with an honest opinion about your photography. And lets not forget the participants themselves, an amazing diverse and talented group who were a joy to be around and learned much from each other. If you are serious about wanting to become a better street photographer you can not go wrong with Nikos “Balkan Expedition” workshop. For myself, I am already thinking about my next Economopoulos experience.