Ok, here is my take on NYIP.
Their course content as it stands now is very outdated. There are many sections that deal with film, developing, etc. That is not what I thought I would be dealing with when I joined. Not that it is bad to know, but heck, I will most likely never be handling a film camera again. I like the fact that many sections are geared towards the basics of photography. These things will most likely never change. I have learned alot from them. They have made me think in different ways about my photographs that I would have never picked up on my own. I am very pleased with my pattern of thinking when I compose a shot nowadays. That being said, I am still not all that good at it. I am practicing hard, but am in a bit of a slump lately I guess.
As Jen said, their customer service is poor. I paid for the course in full (not making payments) and received all of the course already. Now I just have to work on it. Then Jen tells me that they are re-doing alot of the sections and putting their audio portion onto CD's and not cassette tapes. Well, I have the old versions of the texts and tapes. That stinks. When I contacted them about this, I was told that I could BUY the texts and tapes for a total cost of something like $80-100. That is not exactly good customer service as I am only on Unit 2 of 6 so far. It's not like I have completed most of the course. So I guess I will never have either the new texts or the CD's. I certainly am not going to buy them.
Another thing to keep in mind is that they sort of expect you to go out and buy some sort of studio lighting to do portraiture. They say it can be done without it, but I can't exactly figure out how. That was another $189 out of my pocket for 3 floodlight setups. Glad I have them, but I didn't expect to have to get them, ya know?
One thing that confuses me is that they send you a white umbrella for studio lighting but no way to attach it to anything. I haven't gotten to that section yet so I don't know what their explaination is on that one.
The whole thing just seems to be REALLY REALLY disorganized right now. This is probably due to them changing the course, but they should have thought about it quite a bit more then they have. They routinely talk about "Shirley". This is a manequin head that they used to send to the students to help with portrait shooting. Well, Shirley doesn't exist anymore. The texts talk about her, the audio tape talks about her, but you get a piece of paper telling you that they no longer send her to the students. Again I say:
When I say that the material is dated, I mean really dated. They mention how I can go to Woolworth's to buy lenses and stuff. Another
! Woolworth's hasn't been around since the early 90's. Even then it was not widespread. Old.
So, my 2 cents on this topic is this: Wait. Wait until they get their act together. Sign up to get "more information". They will send it to you in the mail and by e-mail. Then wait. And wait. And wait. The price will drop with each thing you get in the mail. The total course cost is $1000. I got in at $650. I didnt want to wait anymore. I should have waited.
You WILL get alot out of the course. I have no doubt about that. Are there better courses out there? I would guess so, but I have no idea what they are. I haven't looked into the New England Institute of Photography yet. I should have looked there first. I wanted something much more digitally focused. I am making good use of the general information though, such as composition, different rules, etc. Just wish they were focused on digital and not film.
Does that answer your questions?
I hope so, but if you have any more specific questions be sure to either ask them here or PM me.
It is a nice umbrella anyways. It just seems like the NYIP people are a little screwy sometimes like that.
Kids grow up way to fast (and not fast enough sometimes).
