A few weeks ago I ran across an interesting looking photography seminar series from a guy named Ed Pierce (www.edpierceseminars.com). The seminar turned out to be $50 regular priced and I found a discount code that brought it down to $20. I was a bit unsure of what it would be like, but figured for $20/person, it was worth finding out.

So, last night my wife, brother and I went to the $20 seminar and I have to say, it was well worth the money!

What I Liked

I liked the cost the most – it’s tough to beat a $20 seminar.

I liked Ed’s energy and presentation style. He wasn’t the most engaging instructor I’d ever seen, but he did a nice job of making a 3 hour seminar pass rather quickly. Also, Ed seems to genuinely be a nice guy. Several parts of the seminar really portrayed his love for photography and for life, which was great to see.

A lot of the information was a good overview and would have been GREAT for beginners. I did pick up a few interesting tricks for location lighting, which was nice. Also, he stressed getting it right on the camera on the front end, which I am definately a proponent of.

What Could’ve Been Better

Whenever I attend a conference or seminar, I expect a sales pitch. I’ve actually come to enjoy all the vendor booths and a lot of the other marketing because it exposes me to new products and services. What I could have passed on, though, was the selling during the presentation itself. While most segments were free of any sales pitches, a few were quite blatant and spoiled the mood just a bit.

The other piece was the level of information. I learned a few new things, but for very seasoned photographers, it may have been too routine.

Overall

In the end, the few things that could’ve been better were far outshined by an interesting, very inexpensive night. I would recommend this to almost any photographer. This seminar is traveling to a large number of cities – check it out.