Nicki Callahan Photography

I attended Nicki’s hobby to profession workshop and I have to say, she’s fantastic. I learned a lot and the insights she showed me, definitely have lead up to a lot of great marketing techniques for my business. The workshop had about 15 – 20 participants and all of us where given equal opportunity to interact and question. We were provided with excellent responses. Nicky’s friend Jason Tanaka, a professional wedding photographer also helped a lot in giving us valuable tips.
Thank you Nicki for being so awesome and delivering as promised!

I definitely do not recommend taking the Beginner’s Manual Workshop. It was a great waste of $ 50. I was excited to take the class as it mentioned that it would focus on Children’s Photography, unfortunately, very very little was mentioned about Children’s Photography. The first hour Nikki didn’t teach the course, it was a local intern that didn’t know the answer to half the questions I asked. I admit that I am not a complete beginner, but if I was, I would have been really upset. Other attendees were upset because the only thing really educational about the workshop was a PowerPoint that an intern mostly went through. The first hour was a waste, as well as the last. Most people left early. So really, I paid $ 50 for one of hour of a PowerPoint. A PowerPoint which they gave us a copy of, BUT with only half the slides they presented! Spend your money on a better workshop for sure.
I don’t want to discredit Nicki’s photography as it is very professional and beautiful. Her workshop on the other hand was definitely was not as advertised and was not very educational.

Nicki,
I thank you for a professional and thoughtful response.
Regarding the issue of whether my expectations about the workshop content were wrong, I would like to point out that the email I received was through a mom’s listserve, with the headline reading: «Pay $ 50 for a Children’s Photography workshop or DSLR Camera Basics for Children’s Photography workshop. A $ 200 value! «. You can see how «DSLR Camera Basics for Children’s Photography» made me think that the class would focus on manual mode for, in fact, children’s photography. This is also stated THREE other times in the marketing email text.
Regarding the issue of whether half of an advertised 3-​hour workshop being devoted to unstructured time in a crowded room, in my opinion, you may have over-​corrected here. I can understand that people want to to be able to use what they have theoretically learned, but I and others in the class didn’t learn enough in the first 1.5 hours to merit 1.5 hours of practice. I consciously made the effort to give the practicum session a chance by staying for the first 30 minutes, but it was not useful for me, and I’m sorry to say that others leaving with me had the same experience, including apparently one other reviewer on this page.
You and your assistants all seem like very nice people, and your website leaves no doubt that you are an excellent photographer. I genuinely appreciate your effort to address my disappointment. I thank you for offering to let me take the other workshop, but I will have to politely decline.
Jennifer

We bought an Amazon deal for a family photo session with Nicki. She was very prompt in sending me scheduling options, and offered a variety of natural settings and backgrounds to choose from, based on location. We chose to have our pictures taken in Pioneer Square, since we live nearby.
We had our 8 month old with us, and although the baby was not particularly smiley, Nicki was able to capture her personality in the photos. Plus, she did it quickly, which is much appreciated with a squirmy baby. The backgrounds she used looked great in the final images – creative backgrounds I never would have noticed on my own. The final proofs were beautifully touched-​up, my husband and I certainly look more rested in the final proofs than we really felt that day!
Even with a small miscommunication regarding which images we picked for our Amazon deal, we are very happy with the final product. Nicki was so gracious in making sure we had the prints we wanted. We are thrilled to have beautiful family portraits to hang on the wall to admire for years to come.