I attended my first photography workshop in the fall of 1993. It was a four day class in Yosemite. It rained almost the whole time and I still had a blast. Photography workshops are a lot of fun and I recommend anyone serious about photography enroll in one. 

Mark Citret

If you live on the west coast, and particularly in CA, I can recommend a serious of workshops taught by Mark Citret. Mark works with the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz with their adult continuing education extension programs. If you send him an email, he'll send you info about his upcoming workshops. I've lost track of the number of workshops that I've attended with him, but I've had a great time on every one.

The workshops I've taken have been very informal  - mostly a bunch of folks that share a common interest going to a great photographic destination. Many of the people that attend Mark's workshops go again and again. Mark is always there to provide guidance, as much or as little as you want, but there is little formal instruction.  

Ralph Paonessa

I took the Sierra Mountains workshop with Ralph Paonessa in the fall of 2000. I also had the opportunity to visit Bodie, CA on my return home. Ralph's workshops are a little more hard-core than Mark's. We got up most mornings well before sunrise so that we could catch the best light. At Mono Lake, this was well worth it. At our other locations, I would just as soon have slept a little later since the skies were not particularly dramatic.

  Ralph will run his workshops even if only one person signs up. In my case, there was one other gentleman that signed up, so we had a lot of flexibility to go where we wanted to and move on when we got bored.

Ralph's specialty is bird photography and he runs workshops in exotic locations such as the Falkland

Islands, Nome Alaska, and Midway Island. But the eastern Sierras are in his backyard so he knows the area quite well.

Ralph is very knowledgeable and pleasant to be with. I would definitely consider another one of his workshops, and hope to go on one in the next year.