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.

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.

With this workshop i finally felt the urge to pay attention to my work, the way to select a photo for a portfolio and harmony between the series of photos in a portfolio. This is not by force but by the inspiration and motivation that Nikos was emitting. I feel so lucky to work with him and with all the other great photographers who have attended. He gave me the direction, inspiration and motivation that I was in need of, now shooting only 35mm and only colour, I feel excitement and joy and cannot wait for another workshop with Nikos to evaluate the improvement (hopefully) together. Now i see 35mm framelines everywhere i look.

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!

Here is some feedback on the Oaxaca workshop. Simple and short – the workshop was absolutely amazing. Excellence defined.
The feedback sessions in the evenings were transforming with deep inspiration continuing as a growth journey day by day. I highly appreciate the way Nikos gives feedback and shares his amazing vision and way of seeing, it is clear and to the point, with the beauty of the creative process not being jeopardised. A way of life, how to shoot, when not to shoot, and how to discipline your mind loosing the experienced feeling of time. I definitely left Oaxaca with deep and new inspiration.
Excellent workshop. Amazing atmosphere.
Great workshop set up – with a feeling of freedom in the creative process and flow during the day.
Unique feedback sessions in the evenings with firm and clear communication.
Tailored feedback how to improve day by day Again. Just great. Difficult to describe in words!

“The Istanbul workshop was my first one with Nikos and it was undoubtedly a great experience. Nikos’ comments and guidelines during the editing sessions were so much appreciated and eye opening for the never ending search for good photos. The group was very interesting as well and I learned so much not only from the comments of my photos but also from others. Nikos’ feedback was always very constructive and he always pushed everybody a step up trying to make from us better photographers. Thanks Nikos..”

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.

I have been on several workshops with Nikos. I keep coming back because, not only Nikos is an amazing person, but he is also a great teacher. Nikos manages to get the best out of all of us. The transformation of some of the participants is just amazing. I like the simple words he uses to “critique” images, his directness and honesty. He always challenges us to do better every day. He is very engaged in editing our photos whatever the level of the participants. I also love coming to his workshops as I always find the attendees friendly and interesting people. With a lot of them, we have continued to keep in touch and communicate regularly. His workshops are a truly unique experience. 

Why my last workshop with Nikos (in Buenos Aires) was the Sixth and hopefully not the last one ?
-The pleasure of learning and improving from a great photographer and a marvellous teacher
-The pleasure of being part of a high level group where community is more important than competition
-The pleasure of travelling trying to look at the country from inside
-The pleasure of the pleasure.

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!

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 my third workshop with Nikos. It has been very helpfull to me in order to discover what kind of photography I want to do in the near future and to begin to www.ontheroad.grelop my own style. I think Turkey is a great place to take pictures and I have the intention to go back several times and make a solid photographic portfolio of the country. The atmosphere, participants, place…all have been great.

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! 

My feedback is very positive. First of all, the management of the booking and preparation for the workshop is helpfully assisted by your assistant Dimitri. Second, you have been a very nice and empathic person all around, and this means a lot because apart from photography we are all human beings and have human beings’ needs, therefore being around nice people is something that comes before, and really helps, learning and participating. Third, I feel that your editing sessions during the workshop, and all the general interaction with you and the other participants, have helped my understanding of photography. All in all, I have come back after the workshop with lots of new creative energy and ideas, and I believe this is all because of the unique environment of your workshop. Your comments of our work feel objective and are often revealing, and your advice is at once simple and effective. I cannot but very highly recommend your workshop to anybody that has interest in photography.

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!

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.

 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 best aspect of Nikos workshop for me was to realize that a good photo can be best produce by liberating oneself from codes and rules. Seeing everyday each participant become visually freer and freer was revealing. Nikos has a passion for images and this workshop was all about sharing with us this passion. We were all motivated and thrilled by everybody’s images, comments and discussion about what makes an image better than others. Nikos gave us freedom, feedback and love for photography beyond imagination. Thank you. It was truly a unique experience.