Landscape photography course recommendation

[gordon g]

I'd like to share my experiences of my first photography course, which I did in October with a company called The Digital Dawn. This was the first course I have ever been on - in terms of technique, I am entirely self-taught. I wanted a course to stimulate my creativity rather than learn how to use a camera, and also wanted to return to landscape photography - which is what attracted me to the game 20+ years ago.
After a bit of web research, I opted for the advanced landscape course run by Garry Brannigan, under the name The Digital Dawn. Two things attracted me to his course - firstly the small group format, and secondly his images, which are all of a style that I find appealing.
The course looked a bit expensive on paper, but in fact was excellent value. We had long days of location-based photography, with a lot of 1:1 discussion about our intended shots, as well as a constant stream of informal but very informative conversation about wider aspects of landscape photography, for example how to choose a location and when to visit it, both in season and time of day.
It has had a big impact on my photography, both improving my composition and giving me a new direction to develop.
Has anyone else any good (or bad!) experiences of courses/ tours etc?

[tifosikrishna]

Hello Gordon,

I myself have been mulling over the idea of attending such workshop and your experience is really encouraging.

Can you be more specific in terms of value addition that you had.

thanks & regards
tifosi.

[gordon g]

The course was for 3 and a half days, full board in a very pleasant hotel - in Swaledale for my course in the Yorkshire Dales. Cost £695, which sounds expensive until you figure in the long hours of small group and 1:1 attention - the group size is limited to 5 people, and Garry's style is to allow you to explore each locatoin to find an image that appeals to you. He will then go round the group and discuss with each person their intended image. There was plenty of time spent at each location - we might only visit 2 or three in the course of the day, but would be on location for most of the day; a good eight or ten hours. On my course we had two pre-dawn starts to catch sunrise, on others at other times of year, it might be sunset instead.
The benefits for me were many, but in particular, the oppurtunity to work intensively on composition in company of other photographers, and the 'off camera' aspects of landscape photography such as location choice, timing of visits to particular locations and how to plan ahead and develop a 'hit list' of locations and images to maximise your oppurtunities for really special images.
I enjoyed it so much that I'm going on another course with Garry this year to a different location.
Have a look at his website www.thedigitaldawn.com- he gives full course details there, and has galleries of images made by his students, which give a good flavour of the locations.

[tifosikrishna]

The benefits for me were many, but in particular, the oppurtunity to work intensively on composition in company of other photographers, and the 'off camera' aspects of landscape photography such as location choice, timing of visits to particular locations and how to plan ahead and develop a 'hit list' of locations and images to maximise your oppurtunities for really special images.

Looks like you had a very good experience there. Points that you have mentioned above like timing of visits and hit list are often overlooked by many ordinary photographers.

It is nice that you got know the approach and insight of a professional photographer.

If my memory serves right, Bryan Peterson in one of his books lays huge emphasis on being at the right place at the right time.

I think the effort that one puts in on peripheral/preparatory work around a photo shoot is as important as the shoot itself.

regards
tifosi.

[gordon g]

being at the right place at the right time.

Abolutely - and it doesnt happen by accident. It was fascinating to understand the level of planning needed prior to even setting out. I have started applying this approach to my local area - I live just on the edge of the Peak District national park, but rather to my shock when I looked through my portfolio, only have a few good images of the area. I have begun to visit likely spots and try to work out which times of day and which season to visit them, and even to think about what weather conditions would suit which location best, to get the best chances of being there when all the elements are in place.
The next step is to keep a written list for future reference, and possibly some sample shots or sketches of compositional ideas too.

[John Hallas]

The Digital Dawn site is a good one and some of the student photogaphs are exceptionally good. I have ahd the site in my favourites for quite a while now

[Derekb]

I started digital photography in June, taking pictures of cycling events because I could no longer compete myself. In my spare time I started taking the odd landscape shot, but was pretty unhappy with them.

I booked myself onto a three day landscape course (two days in the field, one day in the classroom learning digital PP techniques) at The Peak District Photography Centre (link below) a couple of months ago to see if this would both encourage me and improve the technical aspect of my landscape photography. It was a real eye opener and changed the way I approached my subjects completely. We had a very small group of 8 and two tutors (Simon and Fran) so lot's of one-to-one tuition and help, but you were still left to find your own way of looking at a shot - something I particuarly liked because although the eight of us would have the same subject matter to photograph, we had our own takes on how best to do this.

By the end of the course I came away with a desire to push this side of my photography much more and honestly believe my landscapes have improved dramatically. I have not only realised the importance of arriving and catching the best light, but how important it can be to return to the same spot in different conditions - something you will see in my gallery if we ever get any snow!!

I intend returning to take the advanced landscape course, as I am truly inspired by both Fran Hansall's and Karen Frenkel's work and this is the standard I would like to aspire to.

Details:

http://www.peakphotocentre.com

http://www.peakphotocentre.com/tutors2.asp

[gordon g]

I used to live in the Peaks, not far from where they are based. Their courses look excellent, but for me, the fact that I knew the area very well put me off a bit. I had very few preconceived ideas about Swaledale, and so got the most out of the experience on the course.
Like you, I found just spending time dedicated to photography, in the company of other enthusiastic photographers a real spur, and it was great to get some insight into a professional's approach to their subject.
I think finding your own image is tremendously important, and for me is the basis of my approach to photography - I want to try to communicate what I saw to others. As you suggest, two photgraphers stood next to each other should, in my mind at least, produce different images. It was certainly true on the course I attended!