When I've looked at Creative Live I got the impression that it was beginner/intermediate level. Whatever I looked at wasn't all that impressive to me, but then again, I'd only looked at so much of it and have been a photographer for 30+ years so it didn't seem that interesting or challenging to me. But I did look at that 2 minute video preview on Annie Leibovitz and got at least one enlightening moment out of it already (when she talked about editing for the light in a photo).
Spell check doesn't seem to like any way you spell her name...
Maybe master class is a misnomer; it seems to be more 'classes by masters' in their fields rather than teaching mastery of a subject. I don't know that they've all taught classes before or how good the courses would be, but I did see some on writing that looked interesting so I'm thinking about it. If nothing else you'd probably never otherwise have the opportunity to learn from them.
And - it's a real business with an actual office and actual board members etc. and actually exists on planet earth. That's more than I can say about some of what's out there that wants your money/credit card info.
Wow....so,so well-written. This was/is my experience as well. I've been involved in photography since the mid-1970's. I've read the entire Time-Life series of Photography books. I own a 20-some volume Encyclopedia of Photography. I've read 20 or so of the 32 Hedgecoe how-to books. I've studied photography at the junior high and university levels, as well as in community college. I've worked as a studio shooter 5 days a week, eight hours a day. I've shot for multiple newspapers, from junior high, to high school, to the University of Oregon's Daily Emerald, to community weekly newspapers in my region. I've shot some commercial photos and editorial pics that have appeared in national magazines. To me, the Creative Live classes are,in the main, aimed at beginners or intermediates, but there are some neat things in that CL has a lot of new equipment (Canon radio-triggered speedlights, inexpensive made in China light modifiers, inexpensive triggering systems, Lightroom post work,etc) and products that are very,very current and "new" as far as the photo world goes. I think there's a lot of great how-to stuff on Creative Live. A lot of wonderful material, for sure.
But the way I look at it, one would not pay money to see Annie Liebovitz tell one how to place a main light; that's Studio Photo 101. That's Creative Live's beginner-level stuff. If one wants insight
into the thinking of a 20th century master rgarding portraiture and editorial assignment shooting, that's not a Creative Live session, and it sure as heck is NOT aYouTube "tips and tricks" blurb, nor is it an F/stoppers blog post. I think the idea that this is a class taught by a master is the hook.
I love helping people learn about photo-related stuff, but there's only so much nuts-and-bolts stuff one needs to know,and it's fairly easy to get the basics learned, but it takes decades to learn some of the more-intangible, philosophical things about high-end shooting.
If one wants to learn the nuts and bolts stuff, there are plenty of resources; books, blogs, forums, commercial web sites, YouTube,camera clubs,etc.,etc..
