Thinking of taking a photo workshop? Then be prepared to share with others your view of the world.

So says Reid Callanan, director of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. "A lot of people come [to the workshop] and take pretty pictures, postcard pictures, pictures of exactly what things look like, but there's nothing of themselves in those pictures; they could be taken by any number of photographers. We try to work on people giving their pictures a personality [so] the pictures show how they look at the world."

Reid started up the Santa Fe Workshops in 1990, and he's seen a lot of changes. First in the locale: Santa Fe was a sleepy art town back then, not the popular international travel destination it is today.

Then in the workshop attendees: In the early days a lot of pro shooters signed up; today the core is the passionate advanced amateur. And, most of all, in the technology: "Digital changed everything," Reid says, especially the image review and critique process. "In the film days, people would drop off the film and they were free for the night. Now they're up 'til 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, downloading, editing and selecting from the maybe 500 pictures they shot that day." There's little editing done in the field. "Most of the instructors don't encourage it. First, it's not fair to judge from a rather small image seen in bright daylight, and second, it's a much better idea to go ahead and make pictures when you're in the midst of that creative process and not take time out to look at the back of the camera. Some instructors even go as far as saying, 'Tape up the back of your camera.' "

Reid says that many people who attend the Santa Fe Workshops these days have specific, relatively narrow goals. "They come for particular skill sets-they want to learn about lighting or perfect their digital workflow. A second group has the technical stuff down and just want their pictures to be better, more insightful. They know they have to become better photographers in order to keep their interest levels up, but they don't quite know how to do it. They take a class having to do with personal vision or the art of seeing or digital storytelling. They want to be with a teacher who can improve the power, the humanity, the compelling nature of their photography. That's a much more nebulous thing than learning about light, but perhaps it's much more rewarding."