The following blog is a lightly edited conversation that I had with Leah about what really happens in a weekend workshop with Leah Gray and Steve Smith: what you can expect to walk away with, and what happens after the workshop.
It’s not your camera—it’s a simple shift in how you work that changes everything, says Leah Gray
Have you ever asked yourself: Why don’t my photos look like what I saw?
Why don’t they seem to carry the same vibrancy—the same feeling—as the scene itself?
There are, of course, many reasons for this.
But one of them may surprise you as much as it surprised me!
It’s not about buying better gear or mastering more settings. In fact, it’s something far simpler: a single, often overlooked (or in my case, disliked) piece of equipment that changes behaviour—how you see, how you pause, and how you make decisions behind the camera. It asks you to slow down and stay with a frame just a little longer… That small shift can make a lasting difference in your images.
I learned this in a recent conversation with Leah Gray—an international award-winning photographer, certified CAPA judge, and former member of the Victoria Camera Club. Along with her teaching partner Steve Smith, she has been guiding photographers for over 20 years.
I initially talked to Leah because Leah and Steve are leading a Weekend Photography Workshop on May 2–3, 2026, in the Greater Victoria area, and I wanted to learn more and pass the information on to members of the VCC.
What stood out to me wasn’t just the workshop itself—it was how Leah thinks about photography, and how contagious her passion for the craft is!!
Moving Beyond “Taking Pictures”
“We want people to start seeing with intention—notice what’s catching their eye and then make decisions around that.”
Kim: What do you hope people experience beyond just taking photos?
Leah: What we really want is for people to start seeing with intention. To notice what’s catching their eye—and then make decisions around that.
We’ll sit down and talk through what they’re looking for, what drew them to something, and how they want to capture that. Then we work with what they have—their equipment, their experience—and give them different options and directions they can go.
They’ll go out, try it, come back, and we’ll look at it together.
A lot of people get stuck at some point—something isn’t working, or they can’t quite move forward. So we work with them right there, on the spot, to help them get past that.
How Quickly Does Change Happen?
Kim: Over the course of a weekend, how much does someone’s photography typically shift?
Leah: It’s highly individual. It really depends on where that person is in their journey.
Some people won’t fully see the shift until Sunday afternoon when we sit down and review what they’ve captured. That’s often when something clicks. They’ll look at their images and say, “Oh—that’s what I was doing.”
But even before that, hopefully they’re looking at the back of the camera and feeling a little happier with what they’re getting. That they’re moving forward. That something is improving.
That’s really what we’re looking for.
Common Habits (and How to Break Them)
"Get low. Look left. Look right. Look straight up. Lie on the ground and see what that looks like.”
Kim: What are some tendencies you see people arrive with?
Leah: Everybody’s a little different, but beginners especially tend to do the same thing—they stand up, hold the camera at eye level, and put everything in the middle.
So we encourage them to break that by trying a new perspective:
- Get low.
- Look left.
- Look right.
- Look straight down.
- Look straight up.
- Lie on your back on the ground and see what that looks like.
It’s about experimenting. Trying different things. Even working with one subject and exploring all the different ways you can capture it—that might be the whole exercise for someone that day.
Why Slowing Down Matters
“We get so fast with photography—we don’t slow down. A tripod makes you stop, look, and really think about what you’re capturing.”
Leah: One of the biggest things people need to do is slow down.
We get fast with photography. We don’t really think about what we’re doing.
That’s where something like a tripod can completely change things. It forces you to stop, look, and really examine the frame.
You start asking: do I want it a little to the left? A little higher? What happens if I adjust this?
It becomes a much more thoughtful process.
And that’s when you start getting stronger images.
Technical vs. Creative
Leah: It’s very easy to get buried in the technical side—settings, exposure, all of that.
But you can’t forget the artistic side.
Because we photograph a wide range of subjects—landscape, macro, black and white, long exposures—we can help people approach things from different angles. You can look at something technically, and then immediately shift and think about it creatively.
That balance is important.
What Surprises People Most
Kim: What do people tend to be surprised by when they attend your workshop?
Leah: They’re always surprised by how much they get out of it.
We hear that all the time—that they didn’t expect to get so much detail or so much information.
And we get a lot of positive feedback. People come back and say they learned more than they thought they would.
We also ask for feedback—what could be better, what could we improve—and honestly, we’ve never had anyone say it wasn’t worth it.
Learning Doesn’t End on Sunday
Leah: One of the things we always offer is ongoing support.
If someone has a question after the workshop, they can email us, call us—we’ll help.
We’ve had people come back with camera issues, computer issues… we just work through it with them.
We do this because we enjoy it. We’re both retired—we’re not doing this as a business. We’re doing it because we love photography and we love teaching.
In the End
Spending time with Leah, one thing became clear: this isn’t just about learning settings or improving technique.
It’s about learning how to see.
And once that begins to shift—even slightly—everything else starts to follow.
Weekend Photography Workshop with Leah Gray & Steve Smith
Dates: May 2–3, 2026
Location: Greater Victoria area
Leah Gray and Steve Smith are offering a small, hands-on weekend workshop designed to help photographers at all levels deepen both their technical understanding and creative approach.
Over the course of the weekend, participants will:
- Visit three different locations
- Receive guidance on composition, previsualization, and creative options
- Learn how to adapt to different lighting conditions and environments
- Wrap up with image review and processing session
What You’ll Gain
- Improve your photographic eye
- Build confidence and strengthen problem-solving skills
- Receive personalized, in-the-field feedback
- Expand your understanding of equipment and technique
Class size is limited to 8 participants, with two instructors, allowing for highly personalized guidance.