Photography Tuition

I have been providing photography tuition for more than a decade, both online for people remote to me and in person for those local or willing to travel from elsewhere in the country. Although regularly updating how I offer tuition, I ensure I am still using the same general style and focus that I've found so effective in gaining rapid improvement in those I've helped.

Style
I work in a relaxed fashion, observing the people I'm tutoring to ensure I understand how they work so that I can focus my advice on their particular skill level. I find this to be preferable to having a set agenda as it means no one is left feeling behind. This allows me to work with someone who has picked up a camera for the first time only a few days beforehand or at any level up to someone with good quality equipment and several years experience who simply wants to improve in certain areas. There is no pressure to improve as I find people find their natural talent with some guidance and become more confident in their own abilities.

My focus is predominantly on the process of taking the photograph, paying careful attention to composition and explaining why a change in composition might improve the end result. I will typically begin a session by covering some very basic technical language and use, then move swiftly on to actually taking the photograph. There's no point leaving you feeling out of your depth before we've even begun, and the technical side will slowly make more sense as you become more used to working with your camera.

What you need
Not a great deal, to be perfectly honest! You need a camera and comfortable clothing, ideally with waterproofs just in case, and supportive footwear as there may be a considerable amount of walking involved depending on the specific nature of the session. I recommend having some spare change with you in case there's a need to make use of public transport to get from one location to another quickly and to buy any food and drink you might want through the session. Don't underestimate the importance of sitting in a cafe and drying off or warming up for 15 minutes to maintain morale!

For the camera, I am placing no specific requirement on the style or quality of camera you need to own. If you have a DSLR, fantastic, they provide great control and image quality. If you don't know what a DSLR is, you probably don't have one, in which case any modestly decent compact camera is absolutely fine. If all you have is the camera function of your phone, I will be honest that it's not ideal, but I can still help you get more from it using the same techniques I do with anyone else and it may lead to you having more confidence and purchasing a better camera once you see the results you can achieve. NOTE: There are some styles of photography where the type of camera used does matter. These are few and I will state clearly where it matters.

What and Where
One thing I started very early on was to change the location and nature for the tuition session regularly. This has a number of advantages, not least of which is that it prevents me from becoming bored! It allows me to match the location with the interests of the people taking part in the session - to alter the location by the time of day, time of year or current weather - and to provide a good range of options for those of you who choose to return to me for multiple sessions, ensuring you don't just repeat the same thing over and over.

Some of the interests, but far from all, I can cater for include urban, architecture, landscapes, natural history, aviation and waterways. For these I will make use of a city centre, areas of interst around a city or town, tourist attractions where photography is permitted such as museums, country parks, natural areas with good access to public transport, airshows and canals or rivers.

A small selection of the locations I have used for tuition in the past have included Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, North Berwick, Culross, Ayr, Culzean Castle grounds, Pollok Park, Mugdock Country Park, Palacerigg Country Park, Oban, Glen Coe, Isle of Mull, Isle of Skye, Ullapool and so many others I couldn't possibly recall them. As you can see, I can find an area to match almost any interest and many of them are within easy travelling distance of Central Scotland, by car, bus or train.

Structure
A session will typically consist of up to six people and last from three to nine hours. This is a quantity that allows me to give individual tuition through the session as well as group advice where appropriate. I have considered managing sessions with up to fifteen people per session, but do not believe that many people would be suitable for this style of tuition. I do however run master clases with an emphasis on teaching specific aspects of photography where a larger number of people is ideal.

Costs and booking information
The cost for a 3 hour session is £60 per person. In order to book a session that lasts either 6 hours or 9 hours, you would simply buy either two or three 3 hour sessions as required. In general I only offer discounts for multi-day sessions or where a larger quantity of 3 hour sessions are required in one purchase. Please contact me to discuss your specific requirements.

Photography tuition mailing list
All booking of tuition is handled via the mailing list. The process is simple: sign up to the mailing list using the link below and enter as much information as you can as it helps me plan what tuition to offer. Every few weeks I will send an email containing full details of the upcoming tuition sessions. To book a place, reply to the email (quickly!) and tell me which session you would like a place on. If you have already purchased blocks of tuition, I will update your file - if you do not have any pre-purchased blocks, I will contact you to arrange payment while holding your place on the session.

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