For quite a long time, I’ve been thinking about creating a photography school online. And now, despite being absolutely absurdly busy with other projects, I’ve finally found the inspiration to get started.
The photography school will take the form of an email that is sent out every few weeks, with a new topic to learn about, resources for further reading, and an assignment.
Hopefully, you’ll feel inspired to do the assignment, and you’ll upload it to Flickr, and add it to the Photocritic Photography School Flickr group.
I have a lot of really cool ideas about how we can help people learn more about photography over the internet – and I want to test some of them out. The goal of this photography school is to build a better photography school and in the process get you taking better photos.
For now, the idea is this:
- You sign up and are assigned to a stream.
- Classes start for your stream on the first Friday of the month after you sign up (sign up on 2 March and you’ll start on 5 April)
- Every three weeks, you will receive an e-mail with a new ‘module’ in the school.
- Each module will have an exercise of some sort, and will result in you taking some new photos
- Upload the photos to Flickr. I will be at hand to give feedback, but I’m hoping that the other students will pile in as well, and help everybody become better photographers in the process.
Like the sound of it? Awesome – enroll today.
Absolutely nothing… For now.
See it as a free beta test of the school, and the ideas I have about how to make it all come together.
The only thing we’ll ask of you is that you occasionally fill in a survey, so we can figure out how we are doing… But that’s it!
Of course, we may eventually decide to start charging for the course, but for now, it’s completely free (and if you want to help us fund the running of the school, that’s up to you!).
Enjoy – and tell your friends to sign up too; the more testers, the better.
Hi! My name is Haje. Pleased to meet you.
O hai.
I’ve spent quite a few years teaching and writing about photography. I’ve written a load of books about photography. On top of that, I’ve created hundreds of articles that have appeared online, in magazines, and in various other interesting places.
I even did a camera school for Nokia at one point – that was really good fun, and the popularity of that school was what got me thinking…
Perhaps I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m a great photographer, but I’m not half bad. More importantly, I’m not too bad at teaching photography to others, and I have a rather good knack for giving critique on photos – hence the name of the school, I suppose!
That’s me, but I’m ably assisted by Daniela Bowker. She also happens to be a not-half-bad-photographer, has written a few books about photography, and has created hundreds of articles about it, too. Are you sensing a pattern here?
Daniela also happens to have a killer string in her bow: in her dim and distant past, she was a teacher. I couldn’t really ask for a better Senior Mistress.
Welcome aboard,
~ Haje
These are a few of the questions we’re asked most often. If there’s something you’re not sure about, we hope that the answer is here. If it isn’t and you can’t find the answer anywhere else on the website, do drop us an email.
Q: What sort of camera do I need?
A: The majority of our classes are designed for cameras that allow you to control their settings and have either interchangeable or zoom lenses, so something like a Nikon D5200, a Sony NEX-5N, or a Canon G12. That’s not say that you can’t do it with a cameraphone or point-and-shoot, but you might struggle to complete some of the assignments.
Q: When do classes start?
A: Classes start on the first Friday of each month. Sign up in August 2013 and you’ll receive your first email lesson on 7 September 2013.
Q: How often will I receive an email?
A: You should receive one lesson every three weeks, for a year. In addition, we send out special editions, usually once per month.
Q: Do I need a Flickr account?
A: If you just plan on reading the email lesson, then no. But really, to get the most out of the classes you need to sign up so that you can share your assignments, get feedback, and contribute to your class.
Q: You talk about ‘linking your pictures to the Flickr thread’. How do I do this?
A: Every photo you upload to Flickr has a unique URL, so that’s its own page, with its own web address. To link an image in the discussion thread for your lesson, you copy-paste the URL of the photo from the address bar on its page into the thread’s reply box, and then enclose it in square brackets. A bit like this: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_debutante/8673724325/] It then renders as the image!