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Frequently Asked Questions

Improver Workshops

Training Courses for Individuals

Beginners Workshops

What do I need to bring with me?

Please bring suitable outdoors shoes or walking boots - we won't be walking far, but we will be wander onto unpaved areas such as beaches and moorland
Your camera (obviously!) and any lenses that you have
The following accessories will be needed if you are to fully take part in all of the photo shoots and types of photography that we will be doing: A tripod; A circular polarising filter for at least one of your lenses; A set of Neutral Density (ND) filters, ideally a 3-stop (ND 8), a 6-stop (ND 64) and a 10-stop (ND 1000). These can either be circular to fit at least one of your lenses, or can be square along with a suitable filter holder for your lens. Please get in touch if you need any advice on this.
Please bring your camera manual if you have it - either a paper copy or electronically. If you can't find the original, a quick online search usually finds an electronic version.
It would be helpful to bring a laptop with suitable photo editing software, but this is optional.
Please make sure you have at least one memory card and battery (fully charged!) and do bring a spare battery and your battery charger just in case.
Waterproofs - for both you and for your camera equipment (a waterproof rucksack or camera bag would be ideal) - I won't make you walk around in pouring rain (we will instead do some more indoor work) but there's always the chance of getting caught out.
Drinks and snacks - although we won't be too far off the beaten track and can dive into a shop if necessary, it's useful to have something to keep you going in case we don’t go near a shop when hunger sets in.
Please bring some change in case it's needed for parking

This is a workshop for photographers who know the basics of operating their camera, but either need a refresher or want help developing their photography skills further. Although we will spend 2-3 hours at the start of the weekend ensuring that everyone is at the same level, the majority of the workshop is taken up by taking photos (with me nearby to help), discussing photos, and processing photos. It is therefore important that you have at least a basic understanding of the following:

- Composition rules (rule of thirds, lead-in lines etc)

- How to manage where to focus

- How to shoot on Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority

Optionally, it would be helpful (but NOT essential) if you also have at least a basic understanding of:

- How to shoot on Manual and manage exposure

- How to bracket

- How to use ND filters

In order to ensure that late cancellations do not make courses unviable, we have a robust policy around refunds. It is therefore recommended that you consider taking out insurance to insure you against unforeseen events. Note that you are able to take out insurance to cover financial loss caused by a cancellation, but we cannot.

A deposit of £139 is due at the time of booking. This is not refundable, however it may be transferable in order to secure a place on another course at a later date. Requests to do this will be considered on a case by case basis.

The balance of payment of the course fees must be paid at least 28 days before the course date in order to secure your place. If the balance is not paid by this date, you may lose the place on the course and your deposit may also be forfeited.

Once paid, course fees are not refundable. They may be transferable to secure a place on a later course, however this will only be possible if the spare space can be filled by another student before the course runs (either by us, or by you finding a replacement student).

We can cope with most weather, but persistent rain is a real problem. In five years I've yet to have a weekend rained off completely, but being Devon, it is a real possibility. If this were to happen, I will do my best to find relevant indoor photography activities, and move the timings around to try and miss periods of rain. However, there is still a risk that bad weather may obviously adversely affect the quality of the weekend activities and your enjoyment of them.