L.S.P : Back to School

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I’m squeezing in this post with less than 12 hours to go before my flight to Malaysia… when i should be packing!

Feeling a little lacking in technical knowledge and experience i decided to take a 4 day crash course in Photography at the London School of Photography (L.S.P). Through out the four days we covered what they called Photography Levels 1 & 2. My course instructor Andrea was very accommodating to everyone’s varying levels of experience and ambition. Seeing us through from showing us how the camera’s sensor/shutter combination actually works on monday to discussing composition and introducing flash photography on the friday. All the while referencing relevant photographers, discussing their works and providing useful links and tailored advice. I was always a bit skeptical about how much more you could learn and benefit from 4 days of photography lessons over say juggling the Manual whilst watching YouTube tutorials. However, i feel the opportunity of interaction with both the tutor and fellow students was priceless.

The course outline suggests that y the end of the course the student will “feel extremely empowered, fully in control of your camera and will see the world with brand new eyes”. Now i’m fairly sure i’ve still got my old dusty squinting eyes… but i must admit i do feel empowered and far more confident clutching my D7000. I haven’t switched to Automatic mode once since last monday. Which for me is a huge step… so let’s walk.

Pre-maturely playing with a slow shutter speed & zoom combination… a surprisingly good result first time!

Officially experimenting with Shutter Speed and Panning practise

H/W: The first real homework i’ve been given since A-Level…

Silhouette: Using Spot Metering to read background light with foreground focus.

Shutter Speed: Get all 3 coloured lights in shot… Check.

Painting with Light: A bit of creative freedom… gone mad!

Love these! Thanks to Joe!

Museum Runaround: Given a brief to compose photographs around the British Museum using lines, shapes and light… it got a bit tedious, so i went off brief for a couple.

Final Task: China Town

Come up with any theme you want and take photos according to decided theme in 30 minutes. Hmm… How about photos that show the disappointing and bland realities of places that are expected to be culturally clean and inspiring. Using my natural negativity for positive use!

I didn’t really get any of the shots i wanted… but i got the job done more or less.