Last week I announced, “Ian’s Studio Photo Academy” (or just “The Academy” for short). If you missed the announcement you can read here. Or if you are a visual learner you might want to watch the announcement on YouTube here:

I mentioned last week that this week I would give more information about “Academy Events”, So here we go…

Academy Events (part 1) – Overview

In addition to critiquing/feedback sessions, there will be two different types of “Academy Events” The two types of event are:

  • Classroom Based Training
  • Practical Workshops

Classroom Based Training Sessions

These sessions will be formal teaching with course notes and training materials.

This training will often take the form of an interactive PowerPoint presentation by an instructor (usually Ian). There will opportunities to ask questions and in many cases the chance to receive feedback on images that you have brought to the session. Printed training notes will be provided.

Other types of classroom-based training will be instruction on how to use certain software packages such as Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or Google Nik Collection. At these sessions you will be encouraged to bring your own laptop and to follow along during the training. Training notes and sometimes screencasts will be available as the course materials for these sessions.

These sessions will replace classroom style courses such as the “Introduction to DSLR Photography” and “Intermediate Photography Course” and classroom based workshops such the “Lightroom Training” days.

Practical Workshops

These sessions will be practical in nature, typically with opportunities for you to shoot and ask questions. The sessions will have printed training notes. The amount of information in the notes will be dependent on the subject being covered. In some cases the notes may be quite extensive, in other cases, the notes may be limited to set-up and lighting diagrams used at the event.

These sessions will replace some of our more formal “Friday Night at the Studio” events, our practical workshops such as “Learn to Use Your Flash” and our practical courses such as “The Comprehensive Studio Course” and the “In-Depth Art Nude Course”

Combined Events

Some subjects require both Classroom Based training and Practical Workshop style training.

Linked Sessions

In some cases, the events may be run as two linked sessions, one covering the practical side and the other covering the classroom elements. Examples of this will be the “Wedding Photography” sessions. There will be classroom based training covering all the preparation and planning involved in photographing a wedding, and a separate practical session with a model bride where we look at the practical issues of shooting a wedding. Similarly, the digital rain workshop will become two sessions one where we shoot with a model and the second where we look at the editing required to add the digital effects to the images.
It is planned that these sessions can be booked individually (for those who may only need one aspect of the training) or together (at a discounted price).

Single Session

A few topics are small enough for us to be able to cover both practical and classroom elements in a single session. One example of this will be the session on “Focus Stacking”

From Old to New

Later this week I will be sending out our “Events prospectus”. In that, along with details of all the events we are able to offer, you will find a list of courses and workshops, as they used to be run at the studio. For each of those courses, there is a list of the new “Academy Events” that replace them and cover the same subject matter.

It is planned to offer discounts to anyone wishing to purchase a group of events which make up an entire course.

This time next week, if all goes to plan, I will be giving some more detailed information about the weekly inspiration sheets.

Until next time, keep MAKING great photographs,
Ian.