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! 

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.

I did not know what to expect from a Greek maestro who lives and travels half the year in his cool VW T3. From the first hour of meeting Nikos in Pristina, my perspective on human relations and photography changed. His no-nonsense approach, opinions and advice delivered always with respect, kindness and often times, humour plus his wealth of life and photographic experience taught me to be free, take risks, challenge the norm and focus on making a compelling and difficult photo instead of fiddling with technical issues. What is also priceless, is his personal interest in the places and people we visited. Without his thoughtful commentary on the historical and cultural background to frame the environment we were in and his interesting friends who joined us during the week, it would have been a totally superficial tourist visit to Kosovo. I can’t wait to join him again.

As a passionate photographer I was looking for a workshop that was not about pixels, gear and academic lectures.
Coincidentally, I discovered Nikos’ on the road workshops. The participants’ work immediately caught my eyes – and shortly after I found myself at the Istanbul workshop. It exceeded by far my expectations: Nikos’ joviality, patience, his guidance and incitement to try new ways and discover what might be dormant in oneself was incredible! It was manifest everyday in the pictures we “brought home” after long and exhausting walks in this staggering city. The vespertine meetings were fun as well. Thank you, Nikos, for your effort and thanks to all participants for the great atmosphere!

I think for me the best things about the workshop were to hear opinions for my own work (and for others in the group) from a master photographer, to learn better how to distinguish between bad, good and great photographs, to pay importance to details which can make a big difference (either in the good or bad way), to avoid some bad practices or approaches when taking photos, to raise my expectations for my own work and be more selective. When taking photos I remember the critique words from Nikos which help me take decisions to get the best results out of a scene, and at the end of the day I have confidence to delete the photos that are definitely not good and keep only those which are potentially good.During the evening meetings when the participants presented their work to the group, there were always surprises when I would think a photograph was good but Nikos wouldn’t select it or the other way around.But when a photo was chosen even though I didn’t consider it a strong one, that’s when I was mostly surprised and happy. That was I think a moment when I realized I learned something new. I’m glad I attended to the workshops with Nikos. I’m definitely a better photographer than I was before meeting him.

I came to the workshop feeling dissatisified with what I was doing with my photography and hoped that the workshop would help me find a more definite direction. I was particularly impressed with your ability to look at the work of the members of the workshop group, assess where we were up to photographically and individually give us feedback and suggestions based on this and on the work we did progressively throughout the workshop. The practical information you gave us (eg about ‘visual impact’, about taking care with all elements that fill the frame of a photograph – not just the main subject, etc), I also found useful. As well, I enjoyed the ‘journey’ of the workshop itself – seeing everyone’s work each evening and hearing about our different explorations of Istanbul (particularly those to areas away from the tourist hordes). However, the main overall impact of the workshop for me was that it made me realise and accept that, if I am to continue seriously with my photography, I do need to change my focus. Doing things the same old way is no longer an option. It will take me some time to properly work out what this should be, but the workshop has given me the impetus to make a start, as well as some constructive ideas. I am very grateful for that.

I have previously attended a photography workshop with Nikos Economopoulos (Karpathos-Greece, Easter 2008) and it was the most beautiful ten consecutive days of my life. I asked to participate at the Varanasi workshop because I admire Nikos as a photographer and completely trust him as a person. I regretted it immediately after I signed up, because my fear of the unknown took over and I was about to call and cancel, despite all the shame that I would feel. Fortunately I did not do it. I got a whole lot out of this workshop. The daytime was dedicated to shooting, and during the evenings we were showing our day’s work. Niko’s observations and criticism were made in such a way that made us feel pushed forward, he has a way of encouraging you and making you put yourself in every image you make and feel confident about it. We never felt put down by a comment or a remark. There was an atmosphere of affection and solidarity all the way through. (He even helped me with my laptop..) Varanasi is magical..

First I think anyone who wants to travel and learn to be a better photographer should take at least one of Niko’s workshops. When I came back from Cuba I felt that I really knew Havana and interacted with so many people (even with my non-existent Spanish) and it was so amazing to feel part of the city, not just a tourist. I have the travel bug now and I would never travel any other way again.
Nikos, In your workshop, the messages that you have about photography are so important for anyone who is interested in taking better photos. They are in my head constantly. Visually valid is such a hard thing to put into words but I am striving to find that more and more in my photos. You really push people to dig deeper and find something more in their photography (but in the nicest way).
And also I want to say how much I appreciated your generosity. It’s not very often that I come across people as kind and giving as you are, from your knowledge with photography – taking photos, editing, post processing, you shared as much as you could. You even shared your sandwich with me on the first day!
And also I am really interested in doing a master class but I have to save up more before I can. And hopefully I can do another workshop in the future but this time I will be much more prepared for the adventures!
Thanks again 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.

My first On the Road workshop was almost a year ago in Oaxaca, Mexico, from which I learned an immense amount. In this one (this time in Ghana), I learned plenty too, not only from Nikos, but also from very good and talented photographers, many of whom have attended several workshops in other places. Nikos is not only a great photographer, he’s also an open, direct, and natural mentor.

My third on the road workshop and again another amazing experience. New goals set not only for the workshop but to consider and start tackling when you return home. Nikos simply does not give you a break! Looking at your work, he sets personal goals for each participant and demands to see more in every critique. That is one of Nikos’s major strong points as a teacher along with his contagious passion for photography. With such motivation and challenge, I find myself driven to accept the challenge and push for more. He simply keeps me marching to make the best out of his workshops. Most important I see it better. Having your work compared against other photographers help you see what you need to work on next. You see your points of strength and weakness against theirs and helps to learn and set goals. It was a nice experience to run into other participants that you met in earlier workshops and see how they grew as photographers since the last time you met them. This workshop was the best of the three for the reasons above and for the fact that it was held in Mumbai. For me it was a portrait heaven and almost everywhere we went was a great shooting location. We were also blessed with a group of participants from all over the world that were extremely dedicated to photography and committed to making the best out of this workshop. The most special thing about these workshops is that for a week you get to switch off and escape from everything and think nothing but doing the photography that you want and love. It is just you with your camera on the road. I look forward to join other future workshops with Nikos and highly recommend it as a great learning and fun experience!

I have enjoyed so much the workshop in Athens. My photography has become more compact and coherent and I have been able to focus on something more specific in photographic terms -there are even some good portraits in my portfolio! New questions arise such as the contradiction between reflecting the misery of the people and have pleasure of taking pictures of it. I can see a background in my photos of emptiness, artificial spaces, simulation, loneliness, people with strange feelings…Everybody reflect their own personality in their pictures.

Thank you for the workshop, overall it was great and I look forward to joining you somewhere else in the future. In terms of feedback, particularly at my beginner level, I was often seeking more and more direction and information from you and as you probably realise, I would continually ask for more and more information as the days went on. Apart from that however, it was a great experience and an overall (apart from the food) good trip.

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 sincere thanks for the exciting workshop in Istanbul. I really enjoyed the time with you and the other participants. It opened my eyes for things I have been looking for (getting away from boring pictures). I certainly have lots to think about and practicing to do for some months now and I am sure I will produce better pictures in the end.

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.

 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.

Nikos workshop was by far the event with the most intense and strongest impact on my photographic view. It was an amazing pleasure to see everyone flourishing under Nikos relaxed and still disciplined guidance. Initially you might experience some confusion. You might still carry the diffuse anxious anticipation you built up before the workshop. Or You might feel even jammed seeing your former photographic concepts going to pieces. But then: Boooooom – comes the creative explosion within the steep part of the learning curve. You´ll very soon get more selective, more focused, more careful, more personal and more playful when working with your camera. Powerful stuff, hard work, lovely people and lots of fun. Nikos teaches a wonderfully concentrated no-frills approach to photography. One camera, one fixed focal. It´s all about the picture, the visual event in the frame and within that rigorous selection of what is interesting and what is not.