Anyone with any experiences? It is a 10 week course and seems pretty good value. I was wondering whether it is worth doing or not.

Oh crap!! Wrong forum. I hate it when people do that 8)

My dad did one with OCA. He enjoyed it as he always took photographs but never had any technical training. The DSLR/photography bit didn’t stick and he’s moved onto video, but despite everyone saying his current project was a daft idea and would never take off, it’s actualy potentialy going somewhere!

Its a bit beginner-centric but if that is what you are looking for i hear it comes highly recommended!

Its a bit beginner-centric but if that is what you are looking for i hear it comes highly recommended!

Do you know someone who has done it?

I’m not exactly a beginner, but it would be good to have a refresher of the basics.

When you say good value, just what do you base that on. Your not likely to earn a living as a photographer, as a hobby you dont need to go on a course.

If you just want to do it to enjoy the course and learn more, fine go for it. You can learn a lot from just reading books on it, all pretty cheap on amazon, plus all the forums.

I work in the photographic industry and could not recommend anyone to become a photographer as a career.

I do a fair few ou courses not for any reason just if its something I fancy they’ve all been good so far

When you say good value, just what do you base that on. Your not likely to earn a living as a photographer, as a hobby you dont need to go on a course.

If you just want to do it to enjoy the course and learn more, fine go for it. You can learn a lot from just reading books on it, all pretty cheap on amazon, plus all the forums.

I work in the photographic industry and could not recommend anyone to become a photographer as a career.

Good points. I was thinking it would give me something to focus on as I have become pretty lazy. My photography these days has been pretty much limited to holiday snaps.

Join local club? Thinking of doing this myself. Was a member many yrs ago but it became a bit expensive when the kids came along. I also worked shifts, played squash, built/maintained rally cars, was getting into biking and became a swimming teacher into the bargain. Someting had to go(I was informed) 🙄
With a few grandkids on the go I would like to get into some basic portrait stuff which I gad a go at in the local college studio which was great fun.
With this guy as tutor; http://www.ed-baxter-photography.co.uk/
Still to take up his offer of a visit to his studio

Another option would be to look out for specific workshops etc offered by working photographers, and other industry individuals (calumet do an interesting range).

Just having a quick look at the curriculum, it doesn’t seem very specific to any one facet of photography, more an overview of the basics. Better to focus on topics that interest you if you are beyond that stage already.

Theres also (still) some very good local photographic clubs about which are often welcoming to newcomers and can be a great place to start for inspiration and guidance. Even the BJP offers similar facilities with online feedback forums etc.

I’m not really a club joining type person.

I might see what Amazon has to offer first. Maybe a book that sets tasks would be useful.

That course does sound better value when you consider you get a version of PS Elements as part of the course (£50-60 value), although not doing the course and buying PSE would be cheaper still

even better, don’t do the course, and buy Adobe Lightroom….

Elements comes free with just about every camera these days, I’m sure you can pick one up from somewhere fairly easily.

If you are looking for workbooks for PS editing / retouching I can highly recommend the Katrin Eismann series.

Asides from that, understanding composition The Photographer’s Eye: by Michael Freeman, while lighting etc is well explained in anything by Bryan Peterson 🙂

I work in the photographic industry and could not recommend anyone to become a photographer as a career

Quite a deafitist attitude?

Solution to the ‘problem’? Be different than others.

You could try this forum for free

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_d90_d40_users_group_/

it has regular challenges and people do real feed back

2 people do MTB photography

most photography forums are horrendous. People often only care about gear and pixel peeping. Or they are so polite know one ever says anything worth while

Actually I completely agree with Trimix, and up until 2 months ago I ran a studio which for 7 years employed 18 people, preceded by 10 years in the industry as a full time professional … so am pretty well versed on its shortcomings.

Its the last career I would be recommending to anyone at the minute, especially if you think that a substantial student loan is going to improve your chances of employment. As a part time hobby, absolutely … but not the best career path to be setting out on.

Videography, animation, film making … yes, but not photography which is an ever decreasing field these days, with an influx of cheap is right participants that have unsustainable business models.

There will always be success stories, so not all doom and gloom.

mightymarmite – Member
Actually I completely agree with Trimix, and up until 2 months ago I ran a studio which for 7 years employed 18 people, preceded by 10 years in the industry as a full time professional … so am pretty well versed on its shortcomings

So, waht is happening to cause all the gloom?
The advent of the DSLR?
Downturn in advertising etc?
I know my works are seeing a downturn in film used for large dislpay posters

Colleague at work did this course. As a beginner SLR user he enjoyed it. Waiting for his results now.
Think he paid with Tesco vouchers!

I think clients perception has changed dramatically, and a lot of the skill set of the individual has been replaced with technology (certainly not the only field).

Its a lot easier now to see you’ve got it wrong, and correct accordingly as opposed to having to get it right or taking the consequence as it was in days of old.

The typical private client (i.e. wedding / portraiture) is getting more (as in images) but not necessarily more in terms of quality, when I look over some of the old wedding albums, shot on medium format, probably 4 rolls in total for the day and you would still get 40 album standard images. Modern day equivalent would be to shoot upwards of 1500 images, with the same end result (and a lot of filler).

The workload is now greater, in past those 4 rolls of film would be sent to the printers, subsequently forwarded to the album manufacturer and then delivered to the client. Modern equivalent is several hours in front of a terminal processing, editing and proofing with the client then either outsourcing or printing in house, assembly and distribution. Theres a lot more requirement on marketing, and administration which equals labour, which equals cost while incomes are reducing.

Technology also makes it easier to polish a mediocre initial image into something much more presentable … many glory shots have been used to build a reputation!

My personal feeling is that individuals purchase the gear (or know someone who has) then claim to have all the skill set they need and market themselves accordingly and compete purely on price point to get business, and the end results disappoint the client whose perception of the value of good photography is dampened further meanwhile the full time / professional photographer with the associated overheads is being priced out of the market, which is ever decreasing with its own “economy crisis” path.

Guess the analogy is that I’m fairly handy with a hammer, but I’m not going to carve the Venus de milo any time soon no matter how many chunks of marble I buy, so wouldn’t sell myself otherwise.

At the heart of the industry though is the prevalence of CGI to replace a lot of what was previously done in camera, this has removed a lot of the more lucrative commissions, stock imagery etc has also done similar for those in the lifestyle market. Its seems the only earnings left are to pap people. There are certainly people making a living out of the industry currently, but they tend to be well established, with the required assets and contacts already in place.

On the upside, their are some incredible images being captured that would have been neigh on impossible even 5 years ago, so the art is certainly alive and well and always will be. I just think the days of making a comfortable living out of it are drawing to a close hence the advice to avoid the industry, and specialise in your hobby.

I’ve had a couple of books i’d recommend. The best one being “understanding exposure”, written for film photography but just as applicable for digital. I’m a purist, though, and i’d say (at least initially) avoid books on photoshop, lightroom etc – learn howto take a good shot before you starty looking at how to edit bad ones.

Heres Stanford University’s phography course – try that and save a bob or two…

Its seems the only earnings left are to pap people. There are certainly people making a living out of the industry currently, but they tend to be well established, with the required assets and contacts already in place.

On the upside, their are some incredible images being captured that would have been neigh on impossible even 5 years ago, so the art is certainly alive and well and always will be. I just think the days of making a comfortable living out of it are drawing to a close hence the advice to avoid the industry, and specialise in your hobby.

I imagine you could say the same about many industries at the moment though. I certainly know people who make an ok living out of it, they aren’t rich, but they are doing something they love.

I’m just setting up a photography business at the moment. We will see how it goes. I have a few wedding bookings for next summer, despite not advertising yet. I think if you are talented/dedicated enough it’s still possible to make money, hope so anyway. 🙂