I just finished taking a month long photography class. I had been talking to my friend, Tom, about my photography skills. I felt that after I got a high-end DSLR camera, that my photos actually got worse. I had no idea what all the buttons were for. Every time I tried to figure out f-stop and shutter speed, I'd take lousy photos. I really needed a class to get me into shape.
We looked at a few classes in the city. In the end, we took a "Digital Photography Workshop" from NYU. The instructor was Emmanuel Faure (http://www.emmanuelfaure.com/).
The class was invaluable, in that it forced me to understand everything that my camera does and why you would pick particular settings over others. The teacher also gave us a lot of advice on composition, framing, and other artistic ideas.
The latest photos on my site were all done during or after the photography class. I've definitely noticed a night-and-day difference. I would occasionally take a good shot before, but now I can hit it with much more reliability. And when I'm not hitting it, I know what I can do to fix it.
This is a photo of our class, taken by the instructor.