Spring ’24 Photography courses announced

I’m pleased to announce that the latest series of photography courses have dates;

• Digital Photography for Beginners – 17th April start date
• Digital Photography for the Serious Amateur – 5th June start date
• Birds of Prey at Muncaster – a workshop running on 8th June
• Getting to grips with your Smartphone – a workshop at Muncaster on 8th June

They’ll be available to book from April. Click here to book online, or click here for more information about the courses.

Beginners Digital Photography Course starts 1st Nov 2023

A new date for your diary…

– Digital Photography for Beginners (WHI23C034) – Starts 1st November 2023

You can book using this page here (search “Photography” at the top).

These courses are run in a safe group environment and are ideal for you to learn more about photography, use your camera with more confidence and improve your pictures.

A good start to 2023 with the photography courses

The courses started successfully in 2023.  We have just completed a Beginners course and we’re starting the Intermediate course at the beginning of March.

• 1st March 2023 – Intermediate Photography course
• 1st April 2023 – Birds of Prey at Muncaster Castle
  
• 1st April 2023 – Smartphone photography at Muncaster Castle

To book a place or for more information please book online.
– To enquire you can click to email or Telephone; 01946-506416

2021 Photography courses continue…

We’re now going strong in 2021 with a block of courses being completed already!

My next Photography courses running in Whitehaven during 2021
– Industrial Heritage Photography – Starts 21st August 2021
– Digital Photography for Beginners – Starts 22nd September 2021
– Digital Photography for the Serious Amateur – Starts 3rd November 2021

Full details are on this page here (please click).

These courses are run in safe environments and are ideal for you to learn more about photography, use your camera with more confidence and improve your pictures.

Spring 2021 Photography courses!

I’m happy to announce there are dates for three courses before summer.

– Digital Photography for Beginners – Starts Wednesday 21st April. BOOK ONLINE
– Digital Photography for the Serious Amateur – Starts Wednesday 9th June. BOOK ONLINE
– Photographing Landscapes of the Lakes – Starts Sunday 27th June. BOOK ONLINE

Full details are on this page here (please click).

These courses are run in safe environments and are ideal for you to learn more about photography, use your camera with more confidence and improve your pictures.

We’re back! Late 2020 Photography Course dates announced

I’m happy to announce the dates for the next series of courses are; Beginners course will start on the 23rd September 2020 and the Serious Amateur course will start on 4th November 2020.

You can see more details on the page here (please click) which includes pricing and details on how to book.

These courses give you an ideal opportunity in a safe environment to learn more about photography, use your camera with more confidence and improve your pictures.

New course – Lightroom and Photoshop for Photographers

I’m excited to let you know that I’m working with the Copeland Community Learning and Skills Centre to bring a new course to the local area.  This new course will concentrate on getting to grips with Adobe’s Lightroom Classic and Photoshop CC to get the best from your photography. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned photographer you’ll pick up tips and improve your complete photographic workflow.

News will be released nearer the time.

Online course booking and payments are live!

I’ve been working hard behind the scenes to bring my first online course to you and include online booking and payment.  It’s going to offer huge scope to deliver more or less any course online.  So going forward from this initial Introduction to Lightroom and Photoshop course I’ll be able to cover more or less any other photographic subject and cater for large or small groups and even run one-to-one sessions for those needing to brush up on their skills.  Please click the link a the top of the page.

Please get in touch if you have any suggestions or would like to ask for a course.

Big shout out to my good friend Lee Caller who was a huge help getting this off the ground.

Beginners photography course 19th September

I’m happy to announce the date of the next beginners course; Wednesday 19th September!

An ideal opportunity to learn more about photography, use your camera with more confidence and improve your pictures.

Full detials here (click here)

– Telephone; 01946-506416
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit

‘Serious Amateur’ photography course in June ’18

Wednesday 6th June is the date set to start the Serious Amateur photography course.
To book please telephone; 01946-595476 or email; Click to email

Digital Photography for Serious Amateurs is aimed towards those who may know a little about their D-SLR camera already and we show you some greater possibilities; we go deeper into some more advanced techniques including HDR, off-camera flash, star trails and multiplicity.
– A total of 11 sessions over 6 weeks (6 classroom based and 5 field trips)
– Runs on Mondays 6-9pm, the field trips are usually at weekends.
– Full price; £110  (£55 concessions)

First Photography courses of 2018!

I’m happy to announce that the Beginners course starts 10th January, the Serious Amateur course starts 21st February.
For more information on these or any of my courses please click here.

If you’d like to book a place please use;
– Telephone; 01946-506416
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit

New Beginners & Serious Amateur dates in June 2017

A quick update that there are two new dates for your diary;

– Digital Photography for beginners – starts Thursday 8th June 2017
– Digital Photography in the studio introduction – starts Wednesday 7th June 2017
For more information on these or any of my courses please click here.

If you’d like to book a place please use;
– Telephone; 01946-506416
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit

Beginners and Studio Photography courses in 2016

A quick update that there are two new dates for your diary;

– Digital Photography for beginners – starts Monday 23rd January 2017
– Digital Photography in the studio introduction – over two Thursdays; 9th & 16th February 2016
For more information on these or any of my courses please click here.

If you’d like to book a place please use;
– Telephone; 01946-506416
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit

Beginners photography course to start

Monday September 19th is the date we’ll start the next beginners photography course.

Its your opportunity to find out how to improve your photos, discover common mistakes to avoid, pick up loads of tips and generally get more from your camera.

The course is delivered in a friendly and informal environment and is a great way to help you enjoy your photography.  The group will be small and there’s no need to worry if you’re an absolute beginner because others will be too.

If you’d like to come along please call 01947-595476 (leave a message with your contact details if you need to) or email your details to jbarrett@whitehavenacademy.org.uk

More detail including prices can be found by clicking here.

Spring 2016 course dates

Great news for photography lovers – new dates have been announced for my courses!

– Digital Photography for beginners – starts Monday 11th April 2016
– Digital Photography for the serious amateur – starts Monday 6th June 2016
– Digital Photography in the studio introduction – starts Saturday 14th May 2016

If you’d like to find out more please click this link, you can also contact me to get more info.

Date announced for Serious Amateur photography course

Wednesday 3rd June is the date set to start the Serious Amateur photography course.
To book please telephone; 01946-595476 or email; Click to email

Digital Photography for Serious Amateurs is aimed towards those who may know a little about their D-SLR camera already and we show you some greater possibilities; we go deeper into some more advanced techniques including HDR, off-camera flash and multiplicity with more use of software such as use of layers in Photoshop and Photomatix.
– A total of 11 sessions over 6 weeks (6 classroom based and 5 field trips)
– Runs on Mondays 6-9pm, the field trips are usually at weekends.
– Full price; £100.  Concessions available for over 60’s and other benefits.

Serious Amateur course completes

We all had a great time on the Serious Amateur course, on the 5 field trips we managed to snap some fantastic images and the photos each of the group produced were fantastic!
For more on the courses available please see here.

Model photoshoot with Emma

Emma is a great model, she helped me out with part of my photography course and I loved this picture!

My 10 tips for photographing fireworks

With the International Whitehaven Festival starting this week I posted in a recent thread on Flickr about some tips on taking firework photos.    I hope this is useful…

10 top firework tips from me;

1. Use a tripod!  And also use a remote shutter release so that you don’t transmit vibrations when you press the shutter button on the camera with your finger.
2. Make sure you have a full battery and lots and lots of memory card space (obvious but you’ll be surprised!).
3.  If your camera struggles to focus in low light, set it up before hand while it’s light and switch your lens to Manual focus and don’t touch it.
4. Don’t use auto modes (including Aperture and Shutter priorities). Use manual.  And turn the flash off 🙂
5. Shooting in raw instead of JPG will give you better pictures. But be aware that raw will use a lot more memory card space and you may need to process each shot individually depending on what software you use.
6. Exposure?  Get the right amount of ambient light with the shutter speed, a few seconds should be enough for each shot. Adjust the aperture to get the exposure on the fireworks right and use your ISO to control the overall brightness of the scene..
7. Don’t use a long exposure because the results will just be a complete mess of whited-out over-exposed-ness. Instead, try to time each main burst from start to finish.
8. Don’t be afraid to blend two or more shot together afterwards to get the shot you need.
9. Don’t get in anyone’s way!
10. Don’t forget to enjoy the show! I’ve shot loads of fireworks where I’ve concentrated so much on the pictures I didn’t get time to enjoy it.

My Photography Courses are proving very popular!

Word about my Photography Courses certainly has got around and the demand as high as ever.  We will be adding more dates for the Introduction to Studio Photography course as we go through the year – the first three studio courses after Christmas were fully booked within a few weeks!

The Beginners course has now concluded and Summer term dates will be announced soon.
The Serious Amateur course starts in mid-April and we only have a few places remaining so be quick 🙂

I have to report that I didn’t expect the large demand for these courses, especially being tucked away in West Cumbria.  I really enjoy hosting them and I know that everyone who attends reports leaps and bounds in both skill and general confidence.

Don’t forget that to book your place on my course or to request an information pack please contact the centre directly;
– Telephone; 01946-595476
– Email; Click to email
– Website; Click to visit