Maine Photographic Workshops

[Bill_1856]

Whatever happened to the crabby old guy who built up the Rockport Workshops? Last I heard he was losing everything to the banks, which is too bad as it was a valuable resourse (I once took a very helpful one-week course there from George Tice on B&W printing). Very "homey" although expensive.

[Keith Pitman]

He (David Lyman) got out of it. I don't know whether he was able to salvage anything for himself or not, but he was pretty cagey when it came to his money. They are not operating as a non-profit under new management with a new name: http://theworkshops.com . A lot of the same instructors and staff.

[Brian Ellis]

Some of the tales told by staff members about him are real horror stories. He apparently treated the big name guests like Arnold Newman and John Sexton like royalty and treated the staff like slaves. But I enjoyed the two workshops I took there, nice atmosphere, good instructors, good facilities.

[Michael Alpert]

I don't think the forum is a good place to discuss anyone's private finances. Usually such matters are more complex than they seem. In any case, the school is now a nonprofit, renamed Maine Media Workshops to indicate a wider scope of interest. There are many lovely people associated with the school, including many fine faculty who have taught there for many years. My first formal lessons in photography were received from Rene Psiakis at the Workshops. Rene is a terrifically fine teacher and artist. Subsequently, I have taken other classes in Rockport which have benefitted me greatly.

[John Powers]

He brought in good instructors. I took an excellent landscape workshop from Chip Forelli. They have a wonderful location which we went off everyday to photograph. There were wonderful lectures after class and Tim Whelan’s photographic bookstore. And that all important ingrediant when the conditions are a little rough and the work is hard, the food was great.

John

[mandoman7]

I don't think the forum is a good place to discuss anyone's private finances. Usually such matters are more complex than they seem. In any case, the school is now a nonprofit, renamed Maine Media Workshops to indicate a wider scope of interest. There are many lovely people associated with the school, including many fine faculty who have taught there for many years. My first formal lessons in photography were received from Rene Psiakis at the Workshops. Rene is a terrifically fine teacher and artist. Subsequently, I have taken other classes in Rockport which have benefitted me greatly.

I would agree that private finances should remain a private matter. A public business, however, where people might be paying several hundred dollars in advance, seems to be a very fair subject of discussion.
The large format world has had a number of businesses that were taking in money while not honoring or fulfilling prior orders. I would guess that there are people that saved money by reading those forum threads.
Accountability is what's missing in the general business climate today...

[jp]

I live about 20 minutes away from Rockport.

This organization is still going strong. There have been changes and exciting new things, but they retain a very high quality selection of instructors and have a capable team overseeing everything.