Oregon Photography School, Eugene

At the Oregon Photography School, a duo of skilled shutterbugs with a combined 27 years of experience imparts the secrets of snapping and manipulating artistic images to pupils of all stripes. Vernon T. Williams has conveyed the dignity of famous subjects, including two presidential candidates and a Nobel Prize winner, and his work has appeared in The Economist and other national magazines. Jon Christopher Meyers boasts an eclectic commercial-work portfolio, with recent work including the Eugene Ballet Company's midair athleticism and hawks flying midair from the Cascades Raptor Center.

The school draws on Williams's and Meyers's rich backgrounds to inform intensive workshops on everything from the basics of film- and digital-camera manipulation to portrait photography's finer techniques, such as hypnotizing a subject with nothing but a piece of string tied to a lens cap. After an in-studio or on-location class, an online student/instructor-review tool continues the relationship, letting students post their shots for ongoing feedback and for inspirational haikus from their instructor and fellow photographers.