by Lorna Preston
What a difference a year makes!
Having recently completed a PTS (Progress To Success) course with GDH
Photography Training, I am proud to be able to look back at my work a year ago and see
such a huge transformation not only within myself but also that of my seven
fellow course mates who have been a part of this career altering experience.
So, firstly, here's a brief overview of what's involved... One year long commitment from the students to attend 6 full day intense
training sessions which are aimed at improving and building on the previous, over
50 hours input from teacher including individual online mentoring, homework following
each session for students to keep up on their practice…oh and a hell of a lot
of brain ache!
From my own perspective, I chose
to sign up to the course because I wanted to be a better photographer. I wanted
to be proud of what I was producing and most importantly, I wanted to be able
to be comfortable and confident to produce quality work given any situation and
any client…which, at the time, I didn’t. I was sick of trying to sift through
all the ill-informed Youtube videos of “professionals” trying to tell me how to
use off camera flash or how to meter correctly. It’s embarrassing to think back
on how many hints and tips I blindly followed thinking it was correct only to
find out later that I had inadvertently become part of the “youtube society of
crap photographers”. I was constantly looking at the work of those I admired
and wanted to get to the same standard. In order to do that I needed to raise
the bar and this course offered me just that.
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| Photograph by David Airey |
From the first hour of the
first session I knew I had chosen the right mentor in Gary. He has the
ability to communicate all the technical jargon in a simple and understandable
way and really encourages you get involved. I had been to a couple of training
days previously which had been more of a spectator sport which just wasn’t for
me; I’m more of a hands on learner. During Gary’s training sessions you are
made to participate to get you to make mistakes and come across problems you
would during a normal client photo shoot. After all, what’s the point in being
shown something and not being able to put it into practice yourself? The
general message from the beginning was to expect to feel as though you were
taking a step backwards before you felt as though you were moving forward…and
that was exactly right!
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| Photo by David Airey |
The sessions which followed throughout the year further elaborated
on the laws of light, contrast ratios, masculine/feminine lighting patterns,
the rules of posing, how to construct more complicated two and three light setups, the difference between classical and contemporary lighting, how to use reflectors/grids/softboxes
effectively and off camera flash on location and so much more. We were even put in front of the camera to really understand what it feels like for our clients. Each session
expanded our knowledge and understanding of the craft of photography and as a
result our confidence in our own ability grew. We were no longer just taking
photos; we were carefully constructing images which were not only of a high technical
standard but also appropriate and relevant to our subjects.
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| Photograph by David Airey |
The final session was all
about us putting everything we had learned in to practice and be able to
produce a technically correct image which had been carefully planned, constructed
and executed. Gary was on hand to assist with any technical questions, but it
was down to us to select location, lighting, composition, pose and styling of
the model etc. We were split in to pairs where we had to work together throughout
concept to completion - decision making and problem solving as we endeavoured
to be able to produce outstanding work without guidance. Rather than telling
you how great we all did, I thought it would be much better to show you. There were so many images to choose from but here's a small selection which we created in one day with one model and some pretty creative minds...
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| David Airey |
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| Stuart Reece |
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| Philip Antrobus |
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| Iain Hamilton |
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| Kate Wise |
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| Scott Somerside |
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| Sarah Flanagan |
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| Lorna Preston |
I can proudly say that I am
honoured to have been given the experience to learn and also to meet a group of
people who I now call friends who have made it so much fun and who have become
a support network for me offering advice, critique and further learning. We’ve
all worked so hard, been 100% committed to learning and we’ve had fun along the
way…
I look forward to becoming the
photographer I now know I have the potential and knowledge to be. #watchthisspace
