Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
How many students are typically at the workshops?
Our workshops typically cap out at the following amount of students, although we have no set maximum capacity at our workshops:
- Lighting: 20-25 students
- Sports Denver: 25-30 students
- Adventure: 20-25 students
- Nature: 25-30 students
- Sports California: 20-25 students
Our destination and travel workshops are typically capped at 6-8 students. Keep in mind that regardless of the total number of students, we have enough instructors at each workshop to keep the student-to-faculty ratio very low. These workshops are priced for double occupancy, with most there is a single supplement option for an additional cost.
What does my workshop registration get me?
- Your tuition for a Summit Workshop includes full access and instruction by a wide variety of esteemed faculty.
- Depending on the workshop, other various items included in tuition are a welcoming reception, final dinner, transportation to activities, and more.
- Please budget for lodging, car rental and meals, and you will need to reserve your own travel, lodging and car rentals.
- To secure your spot, the deposit is all that is required!
What does a typical workshop day look like?
THE WORKSHOP DAILY SESSION
- Daily sessions for most of our workshops all run in a similar format. Morning sessions with mostly technical and creative instruction occur each day beginning between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. wrapping up between noon and 1 p.m.. After a wide variety of options in the afternoon, we reconvene in the evenings from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. for evening presentations by the faculty, which are also open to the public (and of course your family and friends). Our schedule allows time for photography during the early morning, mid afternoon and evening light, emcompassing a wide variety of lighting conditions for our students to experience.
- Sony provides a variety of equipment for students to use during the week, but we highly recommend bringing whatever equipment you normally shoot with to the workshop, especially if you currently use the Sony system (so you can use your personal lenses with Sony’s mirrorless bodies or vice versa). Attendees must provide their own laptop (or other workstation) on which to download and edit their images. We also recommend an external hard drive to have an onsite backup of images you download during the week.
THE FIRST DAY
- For most programs, the week begins with an optional State of Digital Photography session, getting attendees up to speed on the latest advancements in digital photography, technology and workflow. Following the first afternoon’s session, we have a welcoming reception for all attendees in the workshop. We end the week with a final dinner.
- For both the reception and final dinner casual attire is fine, though most attendees might go as far as business casual for these. The rest of the week is very casual as attendees often come directly from morning shoots or are prepared to leave into the field to photograph after lunch.
THE CLASSROOM
- The morning sessions open with a light continental breakfast and time to review images taken the previous day and earlier that morning. Attendees spend about an hour each morning reviewing images on their own laptops, editing their take down to their top three images to be reviewed during the student critique later in the morning. During this time, instructors and other staff members are roaming the room to assist in the editing process or workflow issues. Once selects have been chosen, images are transferred to our workshop server to be displayed and critiqued before the group later in the morning.
- Following the editing process, we move into morning instruction encompassing technical, creative and business topics – typically consisting of two to three presenters each morning. Some sample topics might be “maximizing the power of RAW format” or “getting your foot in the door with editors”. Between 11am and noon we begin the student critique, where the top three images from each student are displayed before the group and instructors comment on what works, what doesn’t work and what could be done better to strengthen the image.
OPTIONAL SESSIONS
- Once we’ve completed the student critique, the group breaks for lunch and attendees are free to spend the afternoon photographing on their own, following an instructor-led group into the field/on location, returning to the classroom for more specialized instruction or meeting with instructors one-on-one for portfolio reviews or career counseling. The classroom closes each day at 5 p.m. with students reconvening at 8 p.m. in an auditorium style venue.
THE EVENING SESSIONS
- Regardless of the workshop most evenings we have instructor led outings. If we aren’t in the field this is a great time for networking, portfolio reviews or socials for the workshop.
What is Summit Online?
- Summit Online is an online education platform that houses classes and tutorials taught by the best and brightest in the photography industry.
- Educational content will vary in pricing and complexity based on how in-depth the content is and how long the lessons are.
Tell me more about the Sony support of the workshops.
- Sony Professional Services provides a variety of equipment for students to use during the workshop. What they bring are a variety of state-of-the-art bodies and lenses from their newest lines. The rental process is through a 24-hour period so that everyone gets a chance to try different equipment throughout the week.
- B&H and other sponsors are also on site at most workshops. They offer lending services as well so that you can may tryout various products in the field to see if you are willing to purchase. This includes everything from ND filters, camera bags, light kits, tripods and more.
- We also suggest that you bring as much of your own equipment as you can, so that you’re comfortable with what you have and not feeling lacking. On-site staff and faculty are also knowledgeable on all popular camera brands so that we may assist you with technical questions to elevate your photography.
When do you select the various workshop faculty?
- Selecting a Summit faculty member is an extensive and ongoing process that we take much pride in. There have been over 75 faculty members over the years that include many of the industry’s best photographers, editors and more.
- Every workshop has many regular faculty members who continue to return to educate the group, but there are always new faces that we throw into the mix for a different perspective.
- Faculty is continuously updated on the website and can be seen on the faculty page.
I'm not ready to signup for a workshop yet. But how else can I get involved with the Summit?
- If you are still interested in the Summit Workshops, please subscribe to our mailing list so that you may get our newsletter to update you on expanding offerings that continue to change.
- Also, Summit Online and other Summit products give you more affordable ways to get involved and learn from the best in the business.
Workshop Policies
When are final workshop payments due?
- Final workshop payments are due 120 days before the start of the workshop.
What if I my travel plans to the workshop are interrupted?
- Summit Workshops is not responsible for airline and travel cancellations due to inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
- Summit Workshops will assist you with travel plans to connect with the workshop but you are ultimately responsible for any costs incurred during travel.
- Summit Workshops is not fiscally responsible for any missed time out of the workshop due to travel delays or any other delays.
What if weather or other circumstances interrupt my workshop?
- Weather and other circumstances cannot always be predicted and therefor Summit Workshops is not responsible for loss of any workshop time or photography instruction.
- In the event of weather or an unforeseen circumstance that disrupts, delays and/or inhibits the workshop, Summit Workshops will do their diligence to provide alternative learning opportunities.
What if my workshop is cancelled?
- Although rare, Summit Workshops reserves the right to cancel a workshop when attendance does not meet the minimum attendance requirement upon the cutoff date (typically 3 months before the workshop).
- In the event of workshop cancellation, workshop deposit and tuition will be fully refunded unless you choose to put them toward a future workshop.
- In the event of a destination workshop cancellation due to global travel disruptions, deposit payments and final payments are nonrefundable if the workshop is canceled for reasons outside of Summit Workshop’s control.
What if the instructor I attended the workshop to see is unavailable?
- Instructors at Summit Workshops are leaders and experts in their own fields and careers and can be called away on assignments and jobs with very little warning.
- In the event that an instructor cannot attend the workshop, Summit Workshops will fill the open faculty spot with an instructor of the same caliber.
- No refunds will be given based on the attendance of Summit Workshops instructors.
Should I get travel insurance?
- We recommend that you purchase travel insurance for destination workshops, as weather can sometimes be an unpredictable factor.
Cancellation Policy
We sincerely appreciate your interest in Summit Workshops. We make every effort to improve our service and ensure the utmost satisfaction of our valued customers. If a reservation has to be canceled, please see the following policies to determine your refund.
Deposit refund
- Your workshop deposit is fully refundable within 30 days of purchase.
- If the original workshop cannot be attended and the deposit is not refunded within 30 days of purchase, it can be applied towards any Summit Workshop within one calendar year of the deposit purchase date.
Tuition refund
- Workshop tuition is fully refundable, minus the deposit, up to 120 days before the workshop start date.
- If you need to cancel or postpone between 120 and 60 days prior to your workshop, the tuition may be applied to a future workshop within one calendar year of the original workshop purchase. If not applied to another workshop, Summit Workshops has the right to retain the total balance paid.
Late Cancellation
- Canceling or postponing within 60 days of the workshop start date may result in Summit Workshops retaining the total balance paid if the spot cannot be filled.
- If a participant cancels within 60 days of the workshop start date, it is the participant’s responsibility to find another person to fill their spot. If the participant fails to do so, Summit Workshops will retain the total balance paid.
*Photo tours require an enormous amount of work, advertising, and prepaying expenses that are not refundable which occurs long before the start date of the trip. It is difficult to fill a spot within a few months of the start date of the trip. We have a waitlist, but the closer we get to the trip it becomes more difficult to fill the spot.
Online workshops refund
- All online workshops are non-refundable.
Destination workshops refund
- Deposits for destination workshops are non-refundable unless the workshop is canceled. However, certain deposits may be refundable if the cancellation is due to reasons beyond Summit Workshop’s control. Refer to “What if my workshop is canceled?” for details.
Admin fee refund
- A non-refundable $150 administrative fee applies to all deposits and tuition payments.