Seminar/short course for beginners in Sydney

[garf]

Hey guys,
I'm sure there are several talks/seminars or short 1-day courses for beginners out there (Sydney). Do you have any to recommend, please?

-John

[Photogenic]

You could try The Photographers Creative www.photocreative.com.au their news section takes a while to load but it mentions courses they are currently running.

I am going to a course of theirs in Brisbane next weekend - High Impact Portraiture, Studio Night Workshop and Classic Nude Workshop so will let you know what they are like if you are interested.

They are based in NSW - they cover courses from beginner to advanced so you should find something for you.

This is the first course that I am doing through them but if you see a course of theirs that you like I am more than happy to let you know what I think of them at the end of next weekend.

Linda

[garf]

Thanks Linda. Have fun in Brisbane!

[together]

imho courses for beginners are bs. If you don't know why to go manual or Automatic, effects of shutter speed and apertures, etc, a 3hr course won't help you master that. That stuff you need to absorb and experiment and reflect over time.

otoh, if you know "effects of shutter speed and apertures" then the course would be boring. ya need to have questions to learn, and beginner courses will be filled with dumb Q's and they may not take more intermed. Q's. Worse is they may teach you 'rules of thumb' which often turn out wrong.

When my friends get a new DSLR, I take them thru the basics in 1hr and send them off to try stuff. Then they work out what they know/don't know and have intelligent things to ask me the next week. I tell them all not to pay for a course unless they go for int./adv ones for specific types of photography, eg Portraiture

[garf]

That is why it is important to know the "syllabus" of the course and see if it's suitable. Otherwise, I agree it can be a total waste of time.

[Photogenic]

I have just attended the course through Photo Creative. I must say that it was not the most organised course I have ever attended. I am really angry actually.

The course I was doing was Saturday - High Impact Portraiture; Saturday evening: Studio Night Workshop; Sunday: Classic Nude.

From the information you would think the Saturday day and Sunday day courses would be instructive - models would be there, they would instruct on lighting and you could test out these settings, come up with some ideas and see how they work with guidance. In fact these courses you really needed to know your stuff, when their models eventually arrived (not sure what happened, I think their actual models cancelled for Saturday) they said there's the model there's the lights go for it - then they kind of disappeared so you couldn't ask them questions (we did get instruction on high key lighting but nothing really for the classic nude which is what I really wanted, really directional lighting). Sunday we had a pregnant model with a black background and dark hair - clearly a hairlight was needed, the guy tried something with a light because he didn't have a snoot, that didn't work and then he disappeared - no attempt to try to get the hair light working to get the separation from the background.

Then onto the classic nude after lunch again no guidance just "what do you think you should do with the lights" then go for it. I am annoyed because I could have used the money I paid for the course and practiced this with a model on my own. I must say that the model for the classic nude was great, really comfortable in front of the camera and fun to work with.

The Studio night workshop got cancelled (which I found out about by asking one of the people in the course on Saturday - again no notification by the people running the course that it was cancelled). So now I have to rush there after work tomorrow to do the studio workshop.

They also had another workshop running on Wednesday (I'm not going to this) that they decided to tell the people who were also attending this at about 1pm today that they can't do it on Wednesday now it has to be Tuesday or Thursday and I hope this isn't a problem.

On the plus side I did like that it was hands on, I feel this has been missing a lot from other courses on lighting I have done but I really wanted the direction - I am planning to introduce classic nude and I really wanted some great instruction on lighting for this but it was lacking.

Working with the models was great and I think I have some great shots out of it for my folio I am just disappointed in the way it was run it could have been so much better.

There are people who have attended lots of courses through them so they must know their stuff, maybe I just got a time that everything just seemed to go wrong for them - which can't always be helped.

Linda

[Mike]

How about "A day in the Blue Mountains" covering photography basics for landscapes and outdoor portraits, informal, casual but fun with a short but off the tourist tracks walk and follow ups via this forum

Interested?

[unnamed soldier]

Sounds pretty good to me!! I have also been looking for someone to point me in the right direction but unfortunatly I don't know anyone into photography as much as me.

I'd be interested if its on when I can make it!!

[MDSimpson]

Mike, I would go to that too... As long as its not end of Nov, myself and some other talented toggers from here will be away up the Hunter Valley...

[garf]

Hi Linda,
Thanks for the info. It's such a shame that all those unpleasant stuff happened. Would you be showing us some of the photos you took at that event?

Hi Mike,
I'm keen! Was hoping to join some of those Blue Mountain shoots that you have "organized" before, but the timing is always not good. Would love to join the next one!

[Photogenic]

Hi John

I just came back from the studio night workshop and I must say I am impressed with tonight. I was angry last night as I didn't feel we got as much out of it as we should have but we were all partly to blame - we really could have moved lights here and there, used reflectors and the black side of the reflector to take away light.

I think if I had gone in with that attitude instead of waiting for direction I would have been more impressed with the Saturday and Sunday course.

And of course the models canceling at the last minute wasn't their fault - I'm sure every photographer (or aspiring photographer) will come across a model who doesn't show or cancels at the last minute and there's not a lot you can do about it.

I will put some examples up in the portrait section from the weekend tonight and later this week will put some up from tonight.

I think being in Sydney where they are based would be more ideal. They are really lovely people and know their stuff the bloke does get distracted a bit. I am thinking I might have been a bit harsh last night due to my frustration - I think if you have specific questions and pin them down to answer them without letting him go off on a tangent you will really get a lot out of the course.

Linda

[garf]

Hi Linda,
Thanks again for the update. At this moment I feel they're a bit advanced for my competency level, so perhaps I'd have another good look at their courses later.