Nigel Barker's Workshop in KL

If you have noticed my posts lately, I haven't been for any photography workshops for a while already and not because I have stopped learning but I am a little more selective in what I want to learn and also pursue a new area in photography as well. When I received an email via WPPM that Nigel Barker was having a workshop here in Malaysia, the very first thought that came to my mind was, "Who in the world is Nigel Barker".

Of course, thanks to Munz who was next to me at that time, she told me who he was!

Anyway, for those of you who still don't know who he is, Nigel is a judge on Tyra Bank's reality show called "America's Next Top Model" which he does on top of other stuff as well. But most importantly, he was a photographer. A good portrait and landscape photographer as well, stronger in the field of portraiture in my opinion.

And the next thing I noticed was that it was not his workshop but more like a 1-day seminar. He had a workshop in Langkawi but it was held during the weekday and it fell during the same time I was away in Chicago hence it didn't really suit me (ok, the price was the main deterring factor as I knew I couldn't afford if :P).

Held at the Ritz Carlton in KL, I left my apartment late as it was a Sunday morning and I knew that traffic would be clear. I was right, I reached there within 15 minutes. Making my way to the conference room, I bumped into familiar faces at the conference such as Johann Sopiee, Patrick Low, Jim Liaw, Ning Liaw, Matt Marzuki, Eric Ooi, Fiona Lim and many more. Of course I made new friends such as Chen WS and Darren Chang as well.

Due to my super efficient "just in time" manner in which I arrived at the location just 10 minutes before the start time and I was seated all the way behind together with Fiona. What was shared wasn't the usual technical mumbo jumbo which you might have heard from workshops. It was about Nigel's life, his experiences and what he does now that inspires us all to be better photographers and to also see that there are things to life that are a lot more worth it than just money alone.

Overall, this conference had one of the best food served! Ritz Carlton provided yummy and delicious food while lunch was at Shook! at Starhill. The amount of food there was amazing and I definitely overate especially on the soft shelled crabs and risotto.

My only feedback to the organizers is that I did wish that the project screen on which Nigel shared his photos and presentation were projected to the back and not just on the TV at the front. Also it would be good that the photos which Nigel shot during the conference could be projected up as well.

On a last note, I managed to help Fiona win one of the three lucky draw prizes by calling out her number. Talk about freaky.