Lauren (unsure of last name)

Always ask clarification questions before signing up for a workshop

This was my first retreat so unsure of the way things go but in the contract we are required to send an edited gallery to the host so she can share with who we collaborated with and then had us sign a NDA about what what topics we discussed for our training sessions. This is absolutely for a beginner photographer regarding the education but when it came time to shoot, if you are still a beginner there is no hands on experience and the host didn’t explain in real time. Other attendees were helping each other out while the host hung out with her co host. We were not informed of the amount of miles we would be walking with no water/food/bathroom breaks. This was an Utah lifestyle session where we followed a family around and documented them moving cows from one end of the pasture to the other. If you’re a bigger person this probably is not for you - it was a lot of walking. We were in the middle of no where with no service so obviously no bathrooms out in nature but still. An attendee was volunteered to use her own personal car to drive half of the attendees there this particular attendee asked the host if she would be reimbursed for gas and the wear and tear on her car because at this point in the day, we were basically off-roading and her car was (to be frank) fucked up after the drive. She spent over $200 on gas and the host said she won’t reimburse her and she had to pay for it herself. We were told we would be getting at least 3 home cooked meals. The meals were tacos and pasta and then the third day whatever was left over. Breakfast was the same thing every day and reheated. The host barely hung out with half of the guests and didn’t share her photography knowledge when some attendees were having computer trouble/uploading images help. Overall, I would not attend one of these again instead. We were all supposed to head out Monday morning and at least 4-5 of us left Sunday because of how uncomfortable the last 2 day were. The retreat was a Thursday to Monday.

Spend time with your guests and be more hands on. Have a bus or something where all the attendees can commute together so there isn’t separate “groups” of people.