Eric C Gould Photography

This class was everything I had hoped for. Eric is certainly an expert and he has a great way about him… explaining things to us in a very understandable way. He has a depth of knowledge and a wonderful sense of humor. Great examples as well.

Eric’s courses are creative, fun, and easy to understand. I really like the realtime feedback regarding composing and photo settings before taking that special photo. I highly recommend taking courses from Eric!
Joey

Great classes! Can’t wait to attend another! He was nice, informative, and fun. He gave great feedback on my work.
T

I got the Amazon deal for Eric’ s basic and night time photography work shops. I had a great time at both, learned a lot, and took some great shots. Eric is easy going and generous with his knowledge.

I bought the $ 130 Groupon to do the fundamentals and night photography class. The only reason I bought the package was because the fundamentals class was a prerequisite for the night class.
The daytime class was organized and well taught. However, I don’t think this class should be considered a pre-​requisite for the nigh class. If you don’t know anything about aperture or exposure then this day class may be a good start. However, you should be able to figure that out with a few youtube videos and a few mornings with your camera. Several students had zero experience and they go much more out of the class than I did. Eric’s tips for portraits were useful, and I’ll reiterate that he does teach the class well.
The night time class was less organized. I felt like the structure of the class was only based around moving from location to location, and that I basically paid for a photo walk more than a photography lesson. There didn’t seem to be any underlying lessons when we moved around. Overall the night class, the main class I was interested in, was a disappointment.
Lastly, I give the review 2 stars instead of 3 because I asked Eric if I could do another class because I didn’t learn much in the fundamentals and he never responded.

I HIGHLY recommend this class. My dad and I took Eric’s nightime photography class in San Francisco this past Sunday. There were about 15 people in the class. He spent the first 10 – 15 minutes making sure our cameras were set up correctly and talked about using the tripods. In the few minutes he set my camera up, I learned more about some of the settings than I did in another 3 hour fundamentals class with anothet teacher. While the 15:1 ratio wasn’t ideal, Eric made sure he answered our questions and kept us all moving. This class focused on using the Manual mode and working with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO to «shoot to the right» for quality pictures. We got some fantastic photos and can’t wait to do more nightime photography. One of the students had taken Eric’s fundamentals class and highly recommended that class as well. I’m signing up for that one next! Thanks Eric for a wonderful experience. You are a great teacher.

I took the Golden Gate Bridge night time photography class a few days ago, I thought it was great! We had a great night, some light clouds but no fog, small group and Eric gave us lots of great tips for getting great shots.
It’s a very casual class in style, he will show you how to do some funs things with your camera. I’m going to be heading out more at night, playing with my camera anputting his ideas to practice. You can tell that he really enjoys photography and teaching, and makes the class fun.

This class was just as many people have said. too many people, not enough time, no real devotion to learning or understanding camera basics as the website says. You get to try a few things out on the camera and there is discussion about photography basics, but there are too many people to understand if you are learning anything after he sends you to take pictures. you must be aggressive. See below what the website says… you touch on only a few of these things and most arent even discussed. fortunately this was a groupon. but still i paid for 2… if I had paid the $ 150 for this class i may have lost it. Im so mad i wasted money on this class to learn that the best way to use my camera is in auto mode.
the website says:
just some of the things you’ll learn:
* All the functions of your camera and how to shoot better pictures (NOPE)
* Everything you need to know about the dials and knobs on your camera (NOPE)
* Proficiency in exposure settings, metering, focusing, ISO, aperture, ISO and shutter speeds (NOPE)
* The best ways to post, store and display your photos online (NOPE)
* How to get perfect exposures anytime day or night (NOPE)
* Selecting the proper lens for the images you want (NOPE)
* Correct procedures to make your subjects’ eyes sparkle with brilliant catch lights (NOPE)
* Posing techniques for individuals and groups that flatter
* Understanding the best time of day to take photos and how to turn anytime into the right time (NOPE)
* Framing compositions with the magic of the Rule of Two Thirds
* Tactics for mastering natural, available, and artificial lighting sources (NOPE)
* Five ways to eliminate distracting elements (NOPE)
* Correct skin tones and white balancing (NOPE)
* Blurring backgrounds for artistic and dramatic effect (NOPE)
* Freezing an action scene — speeding cars or just fast kids (NOPE)
* And, a little tiny bit about HDR images

took both his fundamentals and nighttime photography workshops. Highly recommended! My picture quality has dramatically improved after his workshops. He is very nice, friendly, answers all my questions, and very responsive to emails. Very professional and I would highly recommend him.

I attended the fundamentals workshop in San Ramon. We met at the Central Park which was a good local sport for people living around here. I used the Groupon so the price I paid was worth the class. I wouldn’t want to pay more given there were over 10 people in the class and only one of Eric. Trying to get a moment with him to review your shots was like what Mary P said. For a Sunday, I want to be more chill not hoping we all take turns and those that don’t get ahead.
In all, it was a good fundamental class where he taught you what he knew. Like why people are posed certain ways to take a shot or you move for you shot or positioning yourself.
The most helpful thing I learned were how he taught us how to use the programs in our cameras — manual, «P» program, TV mode, apertures, shutter speed and using tools to help you with light (shades).
He was very willing to answer any questions you had. It was a good primer class. I would like to take another class with someone to teach me more about my camera’s functions — I have the Canon Rebel. He does give you the class notes, but you can’t print them out.

There is no organization to his class. A crowd of people gathered around him in a park. He is extremely rude and inconsiderate with people’s time and money. We interrupted our weekend class because of this workshop, drove all the way there and he just did not let my son attend because he was 16. We bought a groupon, and it does not state anywhere what the minimum age for the workshop is. I do not think a person that teaches should be so ruthless with others people’s time. He made my son feel really bad because he had his hopes high of learning a new hobby and humiliating him in front of the group because of his age.

I took Eric’s fundamentals workshop as well as the postcard workshop, I highly recommend both! Eric does a good job explaining everything you need to know to take great shots. There was about 15 people in both workshops and Eric made sure everyone had their cameras/​tripods set up correctly, as well as some helpful critiques of our photos such as our compositions and exposures.
The first hour of the postcard workshop was spent on going over our camera settings, inspecting our tripods, and tips on how to take great night photos. The rest of the time was driving to all the sites in SF taking photos. This was my first ever attempt at night photography, and I was blown away by the results to say the least! If you ever want to find out what your camera is capable of, definitely test it out at night! I don’t think we could have asked for a better night to take pictures with the super moon out, except for trying to find parking at the hot spots.
I HIGHLY advise you eat and go to the bathroom before hand, since it was «setup, shoot, and go» the entire time. For lenses, I brought a 55 – 300 mm, 50 mm prime, and a 35 mm prime, and I’m glad I did because I used all of them. Don’t worry about bringing a flash, but extra batteries for your camera is a good idea — I had to change mine once.
Everyone that has seen my photos were impressed, so much so that our HR department wants four of them framed and displayed on the walls… and they’re paying for the print and frame! :)

I highly recommend the SF Postcard Workshop! I’m a novice with a DSLR and I took gorgeous shots at several locations — the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Transamerica building.
I originally purchased an online deal for the 3 hour Fundamentals class. There were 20+ people in the class, but Eric had an assistant to help out. The class teaches you how to use your camera and does focus on photographing people. And I had purchased the 3 hour night photography workshop also and decided to upgrade to the 6 hour class instead. I’m very happy with that decision!
There were about a dozen other students in the SF Night Postcard class. The van is a little cramped and not luxurious, but it is rather nice to be driven all around San Francisco without having to deal with traffic and parking yourself. At the beginning of class, Eric teaches the basics for night photography. Then on the approach to each location, he gives pointers to shooting at that specific location. It was a fun night and I went home with amazing pictures!

Attended the night workshop last time we visited my cousins in San Francisco. It was an amazing experience and I got to take home the gorgeous pics as my souvenir. Would highly recommend this workshop.

I must say I was a little weary about using this photography workshop after reading the reviews on Unilocal,but by that point I had already paid for my class. I got a deal on groupon so I figured at least it wouldn’t be a huge loss financially so going into it I had very low expectations. Any questions I had via email Eric responded within a day and was very helpful. He even accommodated my last minute request to get a tripod when I realized mine wouldn’t be heavy enough for the winds.
I was genuinely surprised. I had an amazing time. I got to our site at the Golden Gate bridge a little early so I got to take some daytime shots before the evening workshop started. Eric and the class showed up right at 4:30 and he began walking us through the basics of how to read a histogram on the camera so we would know what we were trying to achieve for optimal photo and colors at night. Even told us what settings we should have ahead of time. I’ll admit you don’t get alot of one on one time with him but the class was only 12 people and he is very good about walking around and stopping by every 5 minutes to ask «how are we doing? any questions» and he’s very helpful. If you are not used to speaking up or asking questions then yes you probably wont have the best experience as the more vocal students will probably get more out of the class. It will also probably help to have some basic knowledge of the camera as he will not be teaching every aspect of your camera during the workshop, the workshop I went to was just to show you how to get amazing night time shots. He will encourage you to bring your camera manual and use it. Also don’t be afraid to talk with other students you could learn something from them while the teacher is busy helping someone else.
Eric didn’t just take us to one site we actually got to visit four different angles of the bridge to get good shots and if you aren’t afraid to walk away from the group a bit you can also go to try out other locations. I had to do this a bit (more out of curiosity) just because it seemed like everyone was crowding for the same shot in the same spot. I told the teacher I was walking down the way a bit to try for another shot. He’s also good about keeping count and track of the students so if you do happen to walk off you wont get left behind. I would highly recommend this class/​workshop again and any other services Eric has to offer. He’s very knowledgeable and was very good with helping others in the class
Tips: Bring snacks and a drink in case you get hungry or thirsty, you will be gone for three hours. There are no facilities up by golden gate bridge site so go to the bathroom before you leave. Bring plenty of warm clothes, it gets alot colder and windier than you think it will up there. Use the heavy tripod, if you don’t have one you can rent one from Eric. I thought I wouldn’t need one and the wind was shaking my camera like crazy.

Very poor service. I have paid for my class in advance almost 6 weeks ago and till date i have sent him 3 emails and 2 phone calls asking for confirmation and procedure to register. No response whatsoever. Now getting tired of chasing him.

Eric has two locations listed on his website SF and Menlo Park but I found a Unilocal review for him in Redwood City. The Redwood City review also has one star.
However this is a review of his Photography workshops. I signed up to take a beginning Hands on Basic Photography course. I took the class in September 2012.
During the course he seemed a little on edge and really why not? He had students swarming around him like ants on sugar. He would lecture for a bit then the students would break out to practice what they were taught. Because of the large size of the class he was only able to assist the most aggressive of the students. Can I be aggressive, yes. Do I want to run over and push down my fellow humans to have my crappy photos evaluate on a lovely weekend afternoon, not so much. A few days later I explained my disappointment of the course and he was very gracious offering to refund my money or give me a short private lesson which I thought was really nice.
So basically one star for poorly managing the class, overselling the class, and wasting my time. Three stars for him trying to remedy the situation.
So Unilocalers if your idea of a nice weekend is getting pushed around harder than a shopper at Berkeley Bowl then having to write the owner to remedy the situations, man do I have a workshop for you.