One-on-One Print Review Program

First off, this was the absolute best money I ever spent! Your knowledge and experience AND your true interest in the customer provided me with insights I'm not sure I would have gotten anywhere else. Each of the sessions brought to light areas I hadn't considered and your generous advice was very welcome. I'm doing my first show in about 2 weeks and I can honestly say I feel very prepared, something I don't think I would have said without these sessions. From vendors you recommended to ideas on booth setup to pricing to web site contents, you brought your experience to bear in all the areas that determine how well a photographer succeeds. Thanks again and I look forward to working with you in the future. Angelo Micheletti Bend, Oregon

Frequently asked questions about Alain’s Print Review Program
Here are some of the most often asked questions about Alain’s Print Review Program answered by Natalie Briot:

Click here to download the print review registration form in PDF format

How is the print review conducted?
After signing, Alain will schedule an appointment with you at a convenient time. When your photographs are ready you send your prints, or a CD/DVD with your images on it, to Alain. At the appointed time Alain will calls you. During your one on one call you can discuss any aspect of your work you like, ask Alain specific questions, and get precise answers to your questions. Alain can also make suggestions about which areas you need to focus on, what is working great in your photography and what needs additional work, or changes in your approach.

In one hour over the phone with Alain you can progress further than in months or years working alone. Why? Because you can tap directly into the store of knowledge Alain has acquired over his lifetime creating art and photographs at the highest level.

The print review fee is $375 for a one hour print review.

We encourage you to consider this offer as it is unique in the photography world. Yes, there is a cost, but the benefit to you is huge. This is not quick feedback hastily typed in response to an email. This is a personal one-hour discussion of your work between Alain and yourself

Why can’t you review my photographs for free over email?
For several reasons: first, Alain literally receives hundreds of request per month, from workshop participants and other photographers, for print reviews. If Alain was to conduct these reviews for free, over email, this is all he would be able to do. Alain would not have time to do anything else. Clearly, he cannot afford to do this.

Second, reviewing prints over email is totally different than reviewing prints with you over the phone (or in person if you prefer to conduct the review in Alain’s studio). Alain wants your print review to be a conversation between him and you. He wants it to be an interactive process during which you can make any comment you like and ask all the questions you want. Email just doesn’t work for that because it is not interactive enough in Alain’s opinion. Furthermore Alain tends to respond to emails quickly because of the sheer volume of email he receives. Alain truly believe that your work deserves much closer attention than that.

The price of your print review program is way too expensive for me. Why is it so high?
First, let me say that this is a matter of personal opinion. What is “high” for one person may not be “high” for another person. If we make a comparison with photographic equipment, there are almost no lenses (not to speak of cameras) available for $375. Of course, you can say that camera equipment is hardware while one on one consulting can be considered software, and that software should be priced lower than hardware. Again, I think this depends on whom you talk to.

Let me say two things at this point. First-the print review is priced according to Alain’s hourly consulting fee: $375 per hour.

Second, what we are discussing here is the actual value, for you, of the print review. In my estimate, this one hour review can save you years of trial and error by tapping into the immense pool of knowledge and experience that Alain acquired over his lifetime in art and in just about every aspect of photography. If you doubt it, just read one of Alain’s articles. How long does it take you to read one of them? For most people, it takes less than one hour to read one of Alain’s articles. Yet, you could not have gathered the knowledge you walk away with after reading these article in one hour, on your own. Why? Because it usually takes over a month for Alain to write each of the articles in his current Photography and Aesthetics series.

The print review is just the same. In one hour Alain can literally “write” an article about your work. Furthermore, this article will be unique to you, not published anywhere, just privy to yourself and to Alain. This article will be all the more interesting if you have specific questions to ask Alain, have specific challenges you want Alain to help you overcome, or if you have a desire to reach the “next step” in your photography in the shortest amount of time possible. I say “next step” because exactly what this next step consists of is different for all of us. In one hour Alain can bring to play his lifetime of knowledge about art and photography and get you to reap the rewards of his knowledge.

What can you really accomplish in an hour? Will it be enough to get me where I want to get?
A lot can be achieved in one hour, because first, during this one hour we are focusing on one single subject: your photography. Second, Alain will be answering the questions of a single person: yourself. And third, because Alain makes sure you will not encounter any distractions during your appointment. Most corporate meetings last an hour or less. Yet, very important decisions, breakthroughs and progress are made during this one hour. Time is not the only variable to consider here. The second variable is focus. The only focus for this one hour is your photography and your photography only.

Often, in Art and in photography, what matters most in order to reach the next step with your work, in order to improve your photography in a significant manner, is getting the right answer to your questions and/or being pointed in the right direction right away. As we all know, mistakes are costly. And making mistakes about your work is what Alain will prevent you from doing.

Think about it that way -- let me ask you a question after answering so many: what would you rather do: save $375 now and go at it alone, as they say, trying to figure out what you have done well so far, what you need to improve on now and what you need to do next? Or would you prefer spending $375 now to have someone tell you exactly where you are at, exactly what you are doing correctly, and exactly what you need to do next (plus answer all your questions)? Which one is it? In my experience the cost of finding the answer to your questions yourself will be much higher than $375. It will also take you much more than one hour (just reading this is time consuming).

Of course, I am bias because I truly believe that Alain can help you in a very powerful manner with your photography. But I am also concerned with you not wasting your time by getting the wrong answers to your questions or being pointed in a direction which is not the right one for you at this time.

How much can you really say about my photography simply by looking at my prints? I am concerned that we won’t have much to talk about after say 15 minutes and that we will spend the rest of the hour discussing “the weather.”
This is a legitimate question but my guess is that if you are asking it you don’t know Alain that well. Not only can Alain talk about your photography for one hour, I actually have to pry him off the phone otherwise he’ll go on for another hour and a third one after that! Alain just knows so much about photography that he is literally unstoppable when it comes to discussing other photographers’ work.

There is another aspect of being an experienced photographer that needs to be mentioned here: when you know as much about photography as Alain does you “see” a lot more in a print than when you are less experienced.

What I am trying to say here is that Alain will see in your work things that you may never have noticed before. Things you are doing intuitively without having given them any thought. Things that if not pointed to you may remain unknown forever.

These things can be assets to your work or they can be detrimental to your progress. In either case it is important they are pointed out to you because once you know what they are, once you “see” them, your work will immediately improve. Why? Because once you know that you are doing something right, although unconsciously until now, you will be able to continue doing it on purpose, not just by accident but precisely when you want and with a perfect degree of accuracy. Things that do not work so well, once pointed out, can be remedied very quickly or taken out all together. Very often it is a combination of both: positive aspects and areas that need improvement. At any rate, once you implement the changes that Alain suggests, you do experience a sudden improvement in your photography.

What we are talking about here is developing an increased awareness towards your work, and through this awareness develop a higher level of control. Art, eventually, is mastery. But mastery can only be gained by working personally with a master. Getting on the road to mastery starts by getting advice from someone who is where you want to be, someone who can honestly tell you not only how to get there, but the shortest route to get there as well. As we all know, time is money. You can spend money and save time or you can save money and spend time. Which would you rather do?

What if I really don’t have enough time in one hour and want to continue working with Alain?
You have the option to sign up for Alain’s 7-sessions one on one consulting program. You also have the option of making the print review part of the 7 sessions. You only need to pay for 6 additional sessions at the same Workshop Participant rate. Payment can be made all at once or in three equal monthly installments. You also qualify for a lower rate of only $375 per session when you sign up for the 7 sessions program. You will receive a $50 credit when you sign up for the program.

In this longer program Alain will design a course of study to meet your needs. You also have the option to focus on a specific subject, such as learning how to sell your work, working on your printing skills, on composition, or study several different areas of your choice.

Why would Alain build his own competition by telling us exactly how to get where he is and how to do what he does? After all, isn’t it in his best interest to keep his advantage and prevent unnecessary competition?
If Alain did not want to “build his own competition” he would simply not teach photography, be it through workshops, one on one consulting or articles. The fact is that Alain does not see his students as competition. He sees them as unique individuals each trying to express themselves in different ways.

Alain believes that what makes us unique is not just knowing how to do any specific thing. What makes us unique is us: who we are and how much of who we are is present in our work. What makes us successful is being ourselves and sharing our knowledge with each other. It is certainly not guarding knowledge until we die. Knowledge today is being created at an ever increasing pace, making what was valuable knowledge yesterday outdated knowledge today. In this situation why keep anything for yourself? It makes a lot more sense to share it, get as far as we can with it, and then look for something new. Sharing knowledge, for Alain, is key to being successful.

I don’t see why I couldn’t figure what works and what doesn’t work in my photographs on my own. It probably will take me longer than if Alain told me but eventually I’ll figure it out.
This is one of the most often asked questions. And in a way this question shows that many photographers look at photographs as being very simple to analyze. Unfortunately, they are not. Photographs are complex and challenging to analyze. Only an expert can truly see through the work onto the underlying problems beneath the surface of each image. In many ways analyzing photographs is just as difficult and time consuming as analyzing literature, music or other works of art.

If this assumption was true –that time will make us all great photographers- then I suppose that all photographers who reach a certain age would have similar skills. It would also mean that if you spend a specific amount of time working at your photography then you would reach a specific level with your photography. Specifically, it would mean that we can actually make a chart, with “time” on the left side and “photography quality” at the top, and then match the quality we seek to the number of hours we need to work at it.

Unfortunately things do not work this way with art. You can work for years without experiencing significant changes in your work. Why? Because art is not only difficult, it is also a medium in which only an accomplished artist who understands your work can help you progress. As Alain often says during workshops “If this was easy we wouldn’t be gathered here today.”

We certainly encourage you to work as much as you can on your work. But we don’t want you to fool yourself thinking that given enough time you will figure it all out on your own. Why? Because you can’t find what you don’t know exists. You first have to know what to look for. What makes the difference between an accomplished photographer and a less-accomplished photographer is what each of them knows. The accomplished photographer knows more. More importantly, the accomplished photographer gathered the knowledge needed to be where he is at now, probably by working with another, more experienced photographer. Why reinvent the wheel when you can work with someone who is willing to help you right now? As you know all great photographers studied under other great photographers. John Sexton was assistant to Ansel Adams, Marc Muench learned from his father David who learned from his father Josef, Alain studied with Scott McLeay and Al Weber who was also assistant to Ansel Adams. You cannot learn something you don’t know from someone who doesn’t know it himself. Its one of the basic truths about photography, and we have to humbly accept it.

P.S.
I know that making a decision can sometimes be difficult. So, to make things easier for you we offer a unique warranty to all one-on-one students, be it for a single session or multiple sessions: if at any time during our one-on-one call you decide this is not for you, for any reason whatsoever, just tell Alain and you will owe nothing. Alain will simply end the call and part in good terms (no hard feelings). The only thing Alain asks is that you let him know this during your phone conversation. I know you will love your one-on-one print review, but I wanted to add this last little “tidbit” to ease your mind. There is really no risk as you can see. You either love it, find it helpful and benefit from it, or you tell Alain “I’m sorry, this is not for me” and we will refund your money.

My unique No Pressure Money Back Warranty
You are free to stop the print review session at any time if you are not satisfied for any reason and get a refund. If at any time during the print review you decide this program is not working for you, just tell me and we will stop the program right away. You will receive a refund for the session. No pressure. This is a one on one program, and if it is not working for you it clearly cannot continue with me alone. I completely understand.

Call or email now to schedule your print review
Click here to download your print review registration form in PDF format

You can also call us now at 800-949-7983 or email us at alain@beautiful-landscape.com to schedule your print review. I look forward to working with you.

Do keep in mind that participation to Alain's one on one print review is very limited and in high demand. A wait list is available and is often the only way of being able to participate in this unique program. There is no charge and no obligation for asking to be added to the waitlist.