Steadicam Workshops vs. 1 on 1 Training
Both the workshop and one on one training offer different advantages and disadvantages. And I say this as someone who has both been a participant at the SOA workshops as an assistant and instructor for going on about 10 years, as well as having taught quite a few people one on one and being mostly trained that way.
The advantage of being in a one on one personal training scenario is that you do tend to get a little more individual focus. I also agree with others that doing something one on one is not a bad way to find out if you want to do Steadicam before paying the hefty price of a full workshop. I’ve given a ton of people a “demo day”, letting them come down and fly one of my rigs, and giving them some basic pointers. I’ve often said that people really should try Steadicam before they commit to it - it’s a lot harder than it looks, and if you want to do it well and have a successful, long career with it, you’ll need to dedicate a whole lot of your life to it. One on one workshops also offer you a lot more room to grow in your skills as you become an apprentice of the craft - someone who’s been doing it for a while. If you can get a talented enough mentor, having someone who can see you operate, point out your blind spots, correct bad habits, and impart wisdom can be a real lifesaver. (I’ve been gifted to be good friends and neighbors with one of the best to ever pick up a rig, Larry McConkey, so I’ve been able to grow with his wisdom and I really believe it’s been a key to my success).
The upside of a workshop is similarly easy to explain. The workshop’s group setting exposes you to a lot more people. Your fellow students are all people you can watch and grow with. It’s rare we get to watch other people operate in the real world, but watching others operate can be a very informative experience. But I think even more important is the variety of instructors you get at something like the SOA workshop. You’ll have at least 5 instructors, sometimes more, all of whom are well regarded, experienced, incredibly skilled operators. But being that they all have had long careers, they each come to the workshop with their own preferences, skill sets, and aesthetics. So they each will design shots that are different and test different skills of yours, and push you to be a more diverse operators. For example, the shots I’ve designed in past years at the SOA workshops have been shots that focused on what I find important and exciting about Steadicam - slow, elegant movements, unlocking and locking speed with actors, how to hide your body’s movement so the shot appears seamless. Others may do shots that are much more rock-and-roll and Freeform. Others may do shots that are more old-school Steadicam where the camera feels much more operated. Different operators giving you different feedback allows you to see the breadth of operating, and not just get stuck operating like one person, which can lead to an operator having some significant deficiencies. There is also a significant advantage in the multiple day format and the quantity of shots you’ll do. You’ll do 30ish shots over 5 days, with different amounts of actors, different support equipment, and different goals. And every night you’ll go and sleep and come back the next day with a new round of mental connections from your brain doing its recovery overnight. That allows for some huge quick skill growth.
In an ideal world, I’d recommend reaching out to an operator you trust and like to try out Steadicam, then if you’re in love with the tool, go do a Steadicam workshop through the SOA (or a Gold workshop elsewhere, but I still think the SOA is the best), and then as you need refreshing and pointers over the years, find a mentor or someone doing one on one workshops and use them as a resource to grow and fix your rough edges.