Well, hello there!
Hi, I'm Ania - Photography for Parents founder and Chief clicker and Autumn Expert. I will be your main guide into this Clickstarter course! I will be helped by one of our Instructors - Lisa Friday
At Photography for Parents and we specialise in helping parents learn how to use their own cameras better, to capture their families beautifully. You know, the big moments but also all the little ones, the things that truly matter.
New to our courses?
Apart from our full sized, 4 or 6 week Photography for Parents courses, we occasionally run mini introductory courses like this Clickstarter - which are completely designed to focus on simple, achievable strategies to start improving your images each day, even if you know nothing about your camera or your photography in general. Everything we will be covering this week can be applied to instantly improve your kids photos. Sounds good? But there is a twist!
the twist is ; you have to actually do it!
I have personally 'done' enough online courses to know exactly what DOESN'T help you learn. And that's getting a course, downloading all the materials, patting yourself on the back for being proactive, reading the first half a page and NEVER EVER coming back to it ( until it's time to clean up your hard drive because you've run out of space)
Not here. You have to get stuck in. You have to have a go. Read the lesson, try it out, and post your results in our FB group. That is, unless you prefer a forgettable PDF with pretty pictures?
Do I have to post to Facebook?
Yes. Yes you do. Every day over the next 5 days will come with a mini lesson and a challenge. I want you to have a go at the challenge and post your result - whether it be good or not quite there - to our Facebook group. All you need to post for is at least 3 out of 5 topics. Totally manageable.
Here is why : our brains like closure and having a multi step task with a tangible final step ( post to group) helps us stick with our plans.
If you have privacy concerns - I hear you. Crop tight so that your kids faces are not visible, focus on their hands or feet, shoot from behind, put smiley face stickers on their faces , photograph your dog or a handsome pumpkin - I don't mind! I just want you to learn something, take a photo and post a photo. That's it!
Big juicy carrot
I want to help you stick with your resolutions because I know that ultimately this helps with your learning so here's a big juicy carrot :
Everyone who joins in and post a photo for at least 3 out of 5 topics ( so, we're talking 3 paltry photos - totally manageable! ) - however good they are! - will be entered into our GRAND PRIZE DRAW and the winner, chosen at random, will receive one of our amazing prizes: a space on one of our full, proper course of their choosing!
Easy : learn, shoot, post - WIN!
THINGS WE WILL COVER IN THIS COURSE
5 days with a big, diverse group of parents at all levels of photo proficiency is both very little time, and also plenty of time to learn something new.
What we will focus on is skills that can be applied to any camera - it's all about seeing, composing, storytelling and seeing how small adjustments and simple strategies make a big difference.
We will be learning how to get better at storytelling, at seeing and using light, at capturing some fun shots and getting more mindful with capturing photographs rather than just snapping.
Things we will NOT cover in this course
Nothing technical. No camera knowledge.
Don't get me wrong - I'm a big believer in that if you have a camera, you should absolutely learn how to use it. We provide a really robust camera skills training in our full courses so that people who come out of them, actually know how to get the most out of them and use them like pros!
But we don't have the time to do it well in these 5 days, so we simply focus our attention elsewhere. And trust me, you can still make a big difference.
SO HOW DOES THIS WORK AGAIN?
1. First you have the daily lesson where we cover the information and instructions and give you some fab images (taken mostly by our past and current students!) as inspiration. This is the 'theory bit' if you will.
2. Your daily challenge. You need to post it to the Facebook group to be in with a chance of winning the free course! This is the Practice!
3. Your support - if you need help, tag your photo with #pfphelp - we scan for those daily so you will get help. There is also a dedicated Photo surgery thread