You know already that you can win one of our courses in Sunday's prize draw. If you're new to us, you also hopefully got a gist of what we are about and what a learning experience might look like with us. But if you're not sure, let me just give you the lowdown on our upcoming Fundamentals of Photography for Parents course which is coming up shortly.
1. What is the Fundamentals of Photography for Parents course?
The Fundamentals of Photography for Parents is a 6 week course designed to help you learn how to work with your camera and how to capture your families in a natural environment.
We built it up to cover not just the camera skills ( knowing what the buttons do, without understanding why and how you might use them is pointless) but also all the other elements that come together to help you capture a beautiful moment skilfully - understanding composition, understanding visual storytelling and understanding light. Between these 4, you have the fundamentals of photography covered.
2. Who is if for?
Any parent out there who wants to learn to take better photos of their kids! But specifically, level wise, it's suitable for levels from complete beginner ( 'I've never used a camera other than on auto' or 'I only just got my first camera') to intermediate ('I've dabbled a bit and self taught myself stuff but it seems patchy' or 'I've done a short course that taught me the camera basics but don't feel confident when capturing my kids).
And yes, we do have courses that cater for those that are more advanced, and if you're not sure which level you are, here is a handy questionnaire that can help. Just so you know, at the moment we're fully booked for all the spring/summer Advanced courses and if you're interested, you can get onto the waiting list for September.
3. How does it work?
The reasons our courses work so well is a combination of well designed instruction materials ( you may have got a glimpse of that through this bootcamp ) and a ton of support available for you. Here is how the course works:
The course consists of 5 core modules, plus a bonus, idea-bank module. It's spread over 6 weeks, including a break week after the first 3 weeks. And here are the key components:
- The core materials:
Each week, on Monday morning we open a new module which focuses on a specific building block in your photography education. We start with camera know how, followed by composition and light. You don't have to be online when your module opens, you can simply access the materials at the most convenient time for you, either directly on our site, or in the form of a downloadable pdf.
- The live class
Each week, we run a live webinar class in which we go over the week's materials, answer your questions, show additional examples, explain techniques and chat to you. These are held on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings - typically from 8.0 pm and are recorded so that if you can't access them live, you can always re-watch them
- The home assignments and personal feedback
Each week you get given a home assignment to help you practice what we cover in that particular week. You submit your images to your instructor and receive a personal, video feedback in which your instructor goes image by image to provide you in depth feedback. This means the advice is fully tailored to you and your progress.
- The support group
Each individual course run gets a dedicated support Facebook group which is where you can connect with your course-mates, communicate with your instructor and get additional help and support. Our courses are limited in numbers per group to ensure that you get the right amount of support and instructor time.
After you complete your course, you are invited to our long standing Alumni group where we run weekly and monthly themes and where you will find lost of likeminded parents sharing their love for photography.
Between those 4 support elements, you are guaranteed to progress and get better week on week. We know, we have a roughly 90% course completion rates and everyone who joins in progresses, and progresses well! And that's a promise!
4. What do you need?
A camera. It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy, but you do need to be able to use manual and semi manual modes - usually marked with letter such as A or AV, S or TV, M and P. If in doubt, ask us!
5. Who are our Instructors?
We have some amazing instructors waiting for you! Michaela Strivens, Alannah Hebbert, Alex Tandy, Lisa Friday - they are all seasoned pros specialising in photographing children and families with years of experience under their belt. They are very skilled at capturing children in their natural environment, being their authentic selves, showing their true personalities. There is a wealth of knowledge gained both in their professional lives and as photo parents themselves! But as well as being amazing photographers, they are also fabulous teachers - understanding, patient, encouraging and able to make complex concepts easy to understand.
When? How?
Next Fundamentals course starts on Monday 25th April . We have a small handful of spaces available for that course date
3 more reasons why:
You will surprise yourself at how much you’ll pick up in a few short weeks.
Here are just some of the skills you’ll have learned by the end of the Fundamentals course:
- how to take lovely, flattering portraits
- creating meaningful, candid photos that truly tell the story of your kids
- highlighting your kids little details – toes, eyelashes..
- capturing your kids in action – hops, jumps, sprints, fun on the swings and more
- creative techniques such as photographing fireworks, water play, silhuettes and a lot more
- rules of composition to apply even to your phone snaps – those will improve too!
- making the most of your home light and finding beautiful light outside
- plus a lot more!