Escape Auto: Take Control of your Camera!

When I first picked up a camera and started taking pictures, it took me an embarrassingly long time to learn the technical basics, and understand what my camera was actually doing to create images. Partly this was because it was a few years before I had any formal training and just learnt from my best mate. Partly it was due to shooting film, which meant there was always a long delay between adjusting a setting on the camera and seeing the result. Either way, I wish I'd been able to shorten that learning curve, and feel like I had more control over how my shots came out, rather than the whole thing being a mystery!

Finding a "Quality Control" sticker on prints you received from the lab was never a good sign!

These days (I was learning in the 90s, and have the photographic evidence of haircuts to prove it!) the feedback loop is pretty instant - we can take a picture and immediately review it on a screen. What hasn't changed though, is learning how to use the camera to bring to life the moment you saw in front of you, or the idea you saw in your mind. You'll still need to develop a decent understanding of the technical side of photography, and get a good feel for visual language in order to achieve this regularly. Yes - you can get lucky - but let's be honest, we're not interested in crossing our fingers and just hoping for the best.

As a professional, luck always plays a part, but I try and weight the odds in my favour with a good team, thorough planning, good ideas, and decent kit!

What I've tried to do with this course is distill right down the technical fundamentals you need to take control of your camera, and get it to produce the images you want, and marry that up with feeding and encouraging your creativity, so that your vision develops and your ideas and shots become more interesting. Not just for you, but for anyone and everyone who looks at them.

So, "Escape Auto" gives aspiring photographers the tools and understanding they need to make their camera work for them, rather than the other way round.  With all the topics I've covered, there is a lot more to delve into, and far more detail that this course could cover, but I’ve tried very hard to keep it just to information that will help you use your camera better.  Too much information can be just as much trouble as too little!

Modern cameras can get insanely complicated - we need to remember what actually helps us get good shots, and not get lost in the weeds!

Throughout the course I've woven in lots of work on developing your own vision and nurturing your creativity. Technically perfect photographs won't be very interesting to look at, without a strong underlying idea. Equally, a great idea, poorly executed will have far less impact than one that's well crafted.

Here's how the course breaks down:

Week One:

• The basics of how exposure works.

• What effect the exposure controls have on the image.

• Starting to think visually, and explore how you see the world.

Week Two:

• Making choices based on how much light you've got, how your camera meter works and how it can be fooled!

• The histogram, exposure and meter modes.

• What you choose to put in the frame, and the basics of visual language.

Week Three:

• Dynamic range and real world exposure scenarios.

• Focusing and getting your images sharp.

• Developing and working with your influences.

Week Four:

• Depth of Field.

• Workflow and file formats.

• Finding your outstanding images, and using a logbook.

Week Five:

• White balance.

• Camera types, sensor sizes and resolution, and lenses.

• Building your logbook and "blackboxing".

Week Six:

• Reverse engineering other people's images.

• Deconstructing an entire shoot.

• How to critique work well, final group critique.

The course runs across 6 weeks, for 2 hours each session, and there are "homework" assignments to be considering in between sessions. It's suitable for photographers with a bit of experience, but who feel they don't really understand their cameras. You won't be out of your depth as a complete beginner though, as the course starts right from the ground level and works up. You don't need an expensive or fancy camera, though one with the ability to control exposure will be very useful, and interchangeable lenses, or a built in zoom lens will be a plus.

It doesn't really mater what camera you use, as long as it works!

The venue is upstairs at Tonbridge Old Fire Station, with nearby parking, located less than 10 minutes from Tonbridge station and close to several bus routes. The classes are in the evening, so sadly the cafe downstairs is closed (but we do have the place to ourselves!)

Escape Auto

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