Well, escape from lockdown was brief whilst it lasted but I managed to run photography courses in Chelmsford, Cambridge and Maidstone, Kent before Boris called time. It was wonderful to be out and about teaching new photographers how to get the most from the cameras. The format changed to ensure that everyone was safe and I would say that it worked great. Numbers were reduced to only five delegates and all courses were run outside.
Many of the delegates were delighted to be be out and about, we were spoilt with the weather on most days and it was a huge pleasure to see the joy in the delegates faces as they learnt new skills. Photography is a great distraction from the awful distractions of 2020 – it sure has been a year to forget, and yet having spoken to the delegates on my courses they were all so grateful to have learnt new skills and get something really productive out of the year.
It has been frustrating not to be able to run more courses for delegates, it has become obvious to me this year that the photography courses offer great relief and a sense of achievement for the attendees which I hadn’t previously appreciated. That in itself has given me a great deal of satisfaction and I can’t wait to be out and about delivering more courses.
what do we learn on our courses?
I started running my courses in 2009 out of frustration at how difficult some people were making photography out to be. Photography is simple and easy to understand if taught well. Unfortunately we do use some rather crazy jargon and if you have tried to learn about apertures by yourself you would be right to be confused. If the subject is taught well you can get your head around all the concepts. When I run beginner photography courses I like to start with the basics – we look at fully automatic to start with and explain why it is such a limited tool before moving onto the ket topics of ISO, apertures and shutter speeds. With small groups of five delegates we have been able to fly through these concepts and spend plenty of time practicing.
I look forward to being released from lock down so that courses can be reinstated and I can get back to helping attendees learn new skills. I will be running beginners photography courses in Chelmsford, Cambridge, Maidstone and St Albans so if you fancy coming along or know someone who would like to come along why not buy a gift voucher for Christmas, its the perfect lockdown antidote.