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..

I didn’t know what to expect when I sign up for this workshop. As this was a highly recommended workshop by a friend of mine I went for with the hope that it will change my style of photography and help me photograph better and understand the dynamics of what makes a picture different. I got more than I bargained for as each day was challenging to say the least. There were days when I struggled with my preconception of what makes a good photos and this prevented me from doing my best. It was when I was told by Nikos to “take photos like a child” did it liberate me and improved my style and brought me up to a different level. For this I am very grateful as it was a very important lesson for me. To be brought to a different level of understanding and photography and I leave the workshop in appreciation to my fellow photographers who have taught me a few things just by looking at their pictures and to Nikos for his invaluable advice.

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 would like to say how very much I valued Nikos’ perceptive, insightful and supportive comments. While just starting out in photography the workshop was a really valuable guide on how I should be thinking about it. I really liked the emphasis on looking for the humanity in the image, the unusual, the abnormal, the avoidance of the simply descriptive, the banal, the obvious and cliché. Not to mention the need to be very selective, paying attention to backgrounds, the value of geometry in composition, finding interesting elements and locations, the need to concentrate on simple forms and shapes and avoid clutter. The workshop was a genuinely supportive and helpful experience.
So thank you Nikos for lots of really helpful advice and I hope to see you on future workshops.

The workshop and Nikos in particular have transformed my outlook as a photographer and will hopefully have a long-lasting impact in my work. I have genuinely appreciated Nikos’ insight and approach. During the workshop he managed to shed valuable light to the next steps needed ahead, in a practical, tangible, results-oriented and implementable manner, yet customised to each participant’s needs. Nikos has a unique way of guiding and helping the participants improve. He can be, at the same time, encouraging and motivating, while remaining ruthlessly honest when pointing mistakes and areas that need further work. Perhaps even more importantly, I am particularly grateful for his generosity in sharing and mentoring. Nikos has been remarkably open and welcoming and succeeded in reaffirming my enthusiasm, not only for photography but especially for documentary photography. I am looking forward to the next workshop and to new explorations.

I participated in the workshop in Athens and I was so thrilled about that.
Nikos Economopoulos is a unique and authentic photographer and an inspired teacher.
He doesn’t only speak about the importance of the background, the proper light in photography, and the way to make a good composition, he puts his views of life across in meetings, and speaks about the importance of freedom in everyday life.
He guides you along the photography to your inner self, and tries to reveal the most important elements of your personality.
In simple words it’s not only a workshop in photography, it is a workshop how to make your life more inspired by keeping the most important things and put them onto your frame.

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!

The workshops of Nikos Economopoulos are a great teaching experience. For him there is no “must” or “don’t”. I was suddenly confronted with all my past choices in a way that forced me to go backwards and look for all those things that I had previously discarded in order to re-assess them. At least I now feel closer to the truth. And I thank him for this and for everything else.

The workshop in Istanbul with Nikos has been very challenging and enriching experience as I am quite new at photography. When we have to leave our comfort-zone, to see different around us, we struggle to improve and it is never easy. The precious advice of such talented and experienced photographer as Nikos opens up new horizons to work on and sharing comments and time with other partecipants turned out to be very productive and pleasant. I have appreciated so much the method, editing is crucial for any photographer and Nikos helped us understand how to proceed or try it better. I love your attitude and personal approach Nikos, so true … if we’ll be a better a person, we’ll be a better photographer.

Nikos teaches the real thing – learning to shoot excellent photos that capture the eye and interest. Stopping fashionable habits like” storytelling”, “streetphotography” – avoiding clichés, mannerism and boredom instead pure clarity and mastership in creating compelling visuals. A group of excellent photographers with very special talents meets – surprising in expertise and dedication.
Nikos himself – an open-minded and well-balanced teacher: straightforward, clear and offering individual ways of learning to everyone.
You will shoot on your own during the day those topics that give you most pleasure. In the long evenings there is a very intense time for moving forward by editing the shots taken and studying examples from the history of photography: you start to see like your camera does and to discover the beauty of the unknown. 
Nikos acts with attentive care for the thoughts and ideas of the participants, offering a new step every day on how to continue. Efcharisto poli.

Working with Nikos in Istanbul was personally an eye-opener for me. His insight and way of seeing changed my entire approach to photography. If you want to take your photography to the next level and make meaningful images I highly recommend his workshops for you. This was my first workshop with Nikos and he impressed me so much that I’m hoping to repeat someday soon if time and work permits. Thank you, Nikos, for your patience and sharing your vision with me!

“I travel to photograph”, Nikos says. This statement made me rethink my purpose for travel. Not only do I want to see and be in the moment, I now strive to capture those feelings in a still image as well, so that I may later find pleasure in viewing it. This is my takeaway from Nikos’ workshop. He has given me a new perspective on travel and a new way to photograph and derive pleasure from it. It’s been some time since our group parted ways in Iran, and yet my thoughts are still suffused with notes from discussions with Nikos. The challenge now, it seems, is how to get into workshop mode and produce quality images without Nikos around. It’s tough. Whether it’s your first workshop or your fourth, Nikos’ methods will challenge you to level-up. Accept his teaching with an open mind, plus a dose of humility, and you will be rewarded with discernment of what is a good photograph, and what is mediocre. I look forward to being On The Road again.

In Cuba I had the pleasure of meeting lovely new participants and others that I had seen before. 70% of the participants had already attended other workshops with Nikos. There must be a reason why we come back! After three workshops that I attended I discovered that Nikos is still able to guide me without telling me much but with slight hints that help me realize the direction to follow. I consider that’s the great ability of a good “mentor”, without showing me the way but by focussing me back in track. It’s always a pleasure to see in every meeting how our work gets transformed and how we all manage at the end to have a good body of work. Thank you, Niko, always looking forward to a new adventure with you.

The more workshops I do with Nikos the more I want to come back. Every place is different as the challenges to encounter. The good thing about coming back, is that he already knows how much we can achieve so he pressures us accordingly, and I think we most agree that our results get a bit better every time.
Like each new workshop is like starting from scratch, each day of it is also starting from scratch. In every meeting he would choose a few photos but the next morning we start again from blank. The days are long and intense, but for me it’s just pure joy. We have some good days but others we hit the wall. It’s inexplicable the pleasure we have when we manage to go over that wall. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. But as Nikos well said: “We can have good days and bad days. But that is not important. What really matters is that we never lose the great feeling of wanting to go out and take photos. That, it is very important.” And I do hope, to never lose that feeling.
Niko, thank you again, and I am already looking forward to Argentina next month.

Cuba was my third workshop with Nikos. Not only is he inspiring, patient, and always awakens joy in taking and discussing pictures, but Nikos is also a great companion and friend! Nikos to me is like a lighthouse showing the right path when being lost on the high seas – both in www.ontheroad.greloping my photographic intuition and most importantly in approaching and interacting with people. I am looking forward to be again on the road with Nikos!

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.

Reflecting on the workshop in Varanasi I can first of all say that I am happy that I joined the workshop and that I am satisfied with the whole experience. The structure really suited my way of going about things. Being free during the day to go and photograph wherever an whatever I wanted and not necessarily going out in groups is something I could appreciate and enjoy. It forced me to look around me, find my subjects and focus on how I would translate what I saw and felt into a photograph. Keeping in mind that an editing session followed added that extra bit of positive pressure. And those editing sessions in the evening were of course crucial for the learning process ! The setting with the terrace, some food and beer was great. Your projection setup is really great. Listening to your comments was most enriching. I found it particularly interesting when you analysed all the elements that make up an image. I learned a lot from those remarks about form, content, balance and trying to go beyond whether it concerned my images or those of the other students. That is why it was very important and interesting that we did the editing and image evaluation as a group, these were moments of sharing and contribution (sometimes also moments of confrontation with oneself). We all benefited from the image critiques, guidelines to improve our skills and image quality. About the stay I can say that I liked the fact that we stayed enough days in Varanasi so we could really get in touch with this very special Indian city. But maybe one day less in Varanasi and one more day in Delhi might be a suggestion … (I also did find photographing in Delhi a lot more difficult and tiring). The total workshop duration of 9/10 days is perfect. As far as I am concerned I found the choices for accommodation really fine. The hotel in Varanasi did not only have a great terrace but it also matched the Indian scene we found outside the hotel. Personally I don’t like to find myself in “golden cages” in these countries, it does not correspond with how I see traveling and experiencing those parts of the world. I enjoyed the company of the group too (about the right size). For communication it is never obvious when a nationality or language group is in the majority even if all know that the workshop language is English however towards the end when we all got to know each other better it worked out alright. Anyway, I was really happy to be able to combine my interest in India with my interest in photography.

Being part of the On The Road Workshop was a unique experience for me. Spent 7 days in Istanbul dedicated to photography, shooting during the day and editing at night with your opinion making my thoughts about photography and what I was doing move to another level. I have learned a lot by listening many times what makes a good picture (and what was missing in ours!), seeing and talking about great pictures and photographers. It was also great to hear your vision of modern photography, social media and always have in mind why we are making photos. I definitely will be part in another one!