FIND Review from Gert Huygearts - FIND Ibiza (um, he has not even attended yet)

The following review is from an attendee who has YET to attend the workshop. How the hell is that even possible you ask? Well, a lot of it, no, all of it is because the workshop begins the second you sign up. There is an online community you gain access to on FB and a private forum as well. And this allows the workshop also to go much further than the last 3rd day. So, without any adieu...

Where do I begin? Well, about 12 years ago, I had took photography-school to get my "official" degree in photography… wow, that sounded good! I started out my first year of this school with my good old Nikon F4 film-camera. During the next 2 years, digital photography entered the lessons and my world in a high speed. We were told the digital offered way much more possibilities, higher quality, less costs…to get it short: nothing but advantages.

Digital had entered my photography life and I got used to it… it seemed to work for me and my clients. Up until a few months ago, when I started thinking about what I had been doing the past years with my great passion, photography. That was the moment that I realized that the great moments of taking time for a photo and the fantastic darkroom adventures had disappeared out of my life. They had been replaced by high-paced digital work and a lot of time behind a screen. Was that my great passion? Don't think so…

I started browsing the net to find my way back into film photography and darkroom stuff. One beautiful day, a great catch-phrase blew my mind: Film Is Not Dead!

The man behind this phrase, Jonathan Canlas, seemed to be quite a hell of a photographer who worked 100% film. 100% film???? I couldn't even imagine myself working 1% film again for my clients! I started reading about the FIND and Jonathan and I came across loads of great testimonials about his workshops, which was very intriguing to me. To be honest, the photographers who were these great testimonials, they had all stunning portfolios themselves! It was just like they all had seen the same awesome light to get the images they love. That's when I decided to dig into FIND. I bought the Find-guide and read it 2 to 3 times the same evening I bought it. It was all so plain and simple… almost everything on film photography was in it, but it was all explained in a passionate and fun way! No boring theories… just BAM…spot on!

After reading the find guide, getting into more reviews, portfolios of FIND-attendees, etc… the next step was there very soon: I wanted to join a FIND workshop! Oops… Jon was located in the States… that would cost me an arm AND a leg to get there…
Not this time! This year Jon would be coming to Ibiza with his FIND crew and a bunch of great film-devoted photographers, so my decision was made pretty quick! Booked my seat in the classroom, booked my seat on the plane and now i between shooting new rolls of film, I'm counting days until september!

The counting of the days will be a lot more bearable thanks to Jon, as he provides a great way to interact with all the FIND-members. And believe me, a whole new world opened up to me! Even before I even attended the real workshop! The people of FIND really amazed me with their work and the way of sharing knowledge and experiences… something what is very hard to find these days! In the short while that I got to know Jon and Find, I already met some of the FIND-ers in real life and it really is great to see the passion of these people for their job… it gives you the energy and inspiration to keep on going for your own goals! Something I really missed the last few years.

So was FIND an eye-opener to me? Yes! And I am quite sure that it will even bring me more in the future. I can't wait to get on the plane to Ibiza in september!

Gert Huygaerts