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!

All along this workshop, I’ve learnt and understood many many things, photographically and personally. My vision of photography has considerably changed. After these eight days, I feel really motivated to carry on learning, practicing and enjoying photography. This experience was very fruitful and positive. Moreover, I appreciated that you give a chance to every person. Thank you for all that !

It was a great trip and although I worked really hard, I still had a lot of fun wandering the streets and trying to hone my eye.
It seemed to me that Nikos explained more in this workshop (as compared to the others I’ve taken with him) and I think that is a good thing. Even when it’s something that we think we know, it is always good to be reminded and guided. I really enjoyed hearing his thoughts on so many aspects of photography and I personally needed a nudge in being reminded to look at the work of the great photographers. I had slacked off in that department over the last few months. I also love how he meets each student at his/her level and encourages them.
And, as usual, what I learned will continue to resonate with, and direct, me for months.

…The workshop in Istanbul has been a great experience for me. Some points I got from it are the following: I trust myself a little bit more and now I think my personal view is as valid as any other to describe a city or a place. I have to work much on this subject: What do objetivity and subjetivity mean in photography? Moreover, Istanbul is a fantastic city to make oneself questions such as: What do contemporaneity mean? I have become more motivated to go through the work of different photographers…

(…) This sounds so cliché (…), but this workshop has changed my life! The 35mm has not left my camera and I am really enjoying composing in a way that is more interesting. (…) A few things that you said about my photography really shocked me but shocked me more to realise that you were right… still amazes me that you have made an observation that was so right from looking at my photos alone. Thanks.. In terms of feedback, I think the workshops in the evening were really enjoyable, especially being to learn from other participants’ work and your comments of them. Your help with interesting things to do prior to the workshop was also very helpful. The only thing that I would ask is for you to be even harder with your critiques and provide perhaps some sort of direction as to where each one of us could go…through each evening discussion as well as at the end of the workshop. I think your guidance to each of us is very valuable and we could do with more of it, well I could at least. (…) Not sure where photography is heading for me, but I have been loving every moment of it so far! I have learnt more in Beirut than I have in the last 2 years!

The Varanasi workshop was clearly the highlight of my India visit. Nikos’ advice after our first editing sessions that I should use only my 50mm lens and shoot only black and white was very valuable. After that I felt more relaxed and focused and could produce more consistent and better images. After coming home I have re-examined the Varanasi photos and I must say that I am pleased with the results. I would also like to thank for the great company during the workshop. During the daytime each student could work individually with her/his own problems. In the evenings we gathered together to discuss the results. This scheme worked out very well: you could see how the students progressed during the week. I felt that Nikos’ comments, even the critical ones, were to the point and always supportive. A specially memorable evening was when Nicos showed and discussed some of his own iconic images. I felt privileged to see and hear his thoughts on style, photography, art and life in general.

I had the chance to participate in one of Nikos Economopoulos’ photographic journeys-workshops. The unique and very particular way that he has in guiding you without giving you recipes, while respecting your personal worldview, turns the whole photographic experience into a broad aesthetic and intellectual experience, as well as pure joy. Within just a few days, I discovered that the chaotic world around me has balance and poetry.

People ask me why I keep attending Nikos’ workshops. Well, I can’t imagine a better way to experience and photograph a new place than through Nikos’ workshop! The regimen and discipline it requires is just impossible to duplicate if you’re otherwise simply traveling on holiday. What’s even better is that you get daily feedback and instruction. We see ourselves improve, whatever skill level we’re at. Our understanding of photography and our own approach thereto is deepened with each session, in every workshop attended. This is probably why this tribe of On The Road travellers has continued to grow into a thriving community of like-minded people. Even after the workshop, we have continued to keep in touch and remain friends, providing each other with insight and feedback on photography. This is why I like being On The Road with Nikos.

To go on a workshop with Nikos is one big learning experience. It means to challenge yourself in ways that at least I don’t do in my everyday life. I really appreciate his strong opinions and straightforwardness. To talk about photography and show your daily work to him is very rewarding because of his profound knowledge and total honesty. I strongly recommend anyone interested in this type of photography to go on a workshop with Nikos. I’m truly grateful for what I have learned from him and of course I will return for another workshop.

This is the third time I participate in a Nikos’s workshop. Everybody comes back! Cuba was amazing. The people, the place, the backgrounds, the light, everything was perfect and of course Nikos’s passion for photography, his sharp vision, his keenness to find great images in our work made us produce and achieve great results. His comments are always truly useful and make us see in a different way. This is not a didactic class, this is an awareness journey, this is a personal search of style and meaning for our images. He does not tell us what to do. We ultimately discover it by ourselves and this is truly amazing. It looks like an impossible task but after a few days every body’s work becomes stronger, more compact and meaningful. Nikos is friendly and affectionate to everybody, he tries to understand the needs of every participant. He is generous with his time and he is always ready to help during the day. If he feels somebody needs extra help he immediately proposes a private meeting in the morning. The evening meetings are a delight. To see so many good images, talented photographers trying to improve their work is incredible motivating. I am planning to come to Iran in May and looking forward to it. Thank you Nikos for organizing the workshops and for your enthusiasm in our work. We do appreciate it, hugely.

Thank you so much for the incredible opportunity to participate in your Istanbul workshop. After the first day, I realized everything I thought I knew about photography was crap. I appreciate your patience and kindness with me during the entire time, especially as a novice. I felt that I really limited myself in the workshop because of my current level.
I wanted so badly to learn, and want to continue to learn, how to create and compose a good photograph and this workshop provided me with a starting point. Your critiques were invaluable. The conversations we all shared and the insight given from the other photographers helped me immensely. It was inspiring to be immersed in an environment with such passionate people. Having Jason Eskenazi share his work with us was also a great highlight from the workshop.
I already miss our group meetings, staying up until 1 a.m. discussing photography. I wish it could have lasted longer. I will continue to work on improving my skills and I cherish the foundation you have been able to provide. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I participated in 5 workshops with Nikos Economopoulos. He keeps guiding me so that I can keep defining my photographic style. Always pointing out and reminding to avoid cliches, déjà vu, mannerism, easy formulas, tricks, boring images and the list goes on. Always making sure we prioritize content and form to make strong images that are genuine and not pure repetitions of cheap art or just images describing a scene. He guides each participants at his/her own level and needs. He never imposes a style, he works with each participant’s own style. He is great at telling what is good and what is not good. He is not commercial. He is direct and really frank. In my opinion the most important is that he is fully engaged when editing and commenting on our work. When he sees a good image, it makes his day. It is evident that he loves to teach. Every one keeps improving. Once you are On the Road with Nikos you keep coming back. It’s just the way it is.

I have as complicated a relationship with street photography as I do with my streets. I am passionate about other people’s street photography but find it very hard to do it myself. I don’t want to poke my camera into the face of someone having a bad day, but I do want to show my family and friends the intensity of life here, and why I often have my heart broken during a short trip for groceries. Recently some of my Istanbul photography friends did a workshop (or two!) with legendary Magnum photographer Nikos Economopoulos, and I was really interested in the work they produced. When we heard he was coming to Istanbul Ville persuaded me that I should sign up.
For three days I spent a few hours shooting alone and then met up with Nikos and the other participants to go through all the pictures. This took four or five hours each day. I learnt so much by listening to Nikos critique us all. He is truly a person with great generosity and a big, open heart (as well as being an incredible photographer). He removed the terror of showing my attempts (however unsuccessful) and helped me find a new way of thinking about photographing on the street.

I guess the first thing I would like to say is that I really enjoyed the whole experience. I liked the relaxed structure of the workshop, it was flexible and we were free to make our own plans for the day and to shoot pretty much whatever we chose. (…) In terms of the effect it had on my work, I feel I learned a lot and I feel more confident in my photography as a result. I don’t show many people my work, but all my friends and family have seen my Istanbul folio.

It was a huge learning experience for me attending your workshop. The feedback and the criticism you gave, pushed me and challenged me to see better and improve myself. Although Sicily wasn’t very interesting for me photographically, I learned that no matter where you are, there are always good photos to be taken. I really enjoyed the company of the other participants, and also learned a lot from their work. Sharing your knowledge and insights with us was priceless. Thank you so much, and hopefully will join you soon on another photography adventure!!

Nikos is a wayfaring man. He takes you on a journey which is neither comfy nor sluggish, but encourages you to witness the foreign and encounter your own limits. This way of traveling with the camera forces you to participate with the world around you and in the evenings during the workshop your participation will be putted to the test, if you have sweated enough. On some days life gifts you with one or two good photographs, but on some not a single one. So the next morning you’ll head out again and demand your luck. And at the end of a week or two with Nikos you make your way home safe in the knowledge that you have achieved and experienced something unique.

The workshop of Nikos changed my photographic vision and belief. In something I always though was photography but nobody had told me before. He changed my way of photographing, he make me understand the importance of the frame edges, what to think when you shoot, he brought my photography to a new level, and it took me one year to digest what I’ve learned in those days. Nikos is the old hard core street photographer, and one of the finest in the Magnum group (is not only me to say it, but other Magnum photographers), I say this because what you can learn from this kind of photographers, nobody else is able to teach you. I have learned to compose better, to have more attention to what is in my frame, to slow down and think and shoot, I have learned to edit pictures in a more selective way choosing only the great pictures not the good ones, to be ruthless in editing..

Two words about something I don’t understand. About something that has been in me for over a decade. A tale that I had made up in my mind (…) In September 2009, I packed two changes of clothes dress and two cameras and came to Istanbul. Expectations? Countless. Reservations? Even more. ‘Fairy-tales do not exist’ I said to myself. But what I experienced in a week was more than I ever expected or even imagined. (…) I have been in a photographic frenzy ever since. I carry my camera with me all the time, everywhere. (…) Can no longer do otherwise.