Capture: Street Scenes of East London

Join a very sociable and practical, photography-based walk through the streets of London’s most vibrant areas: Spitalfields & Shoreditch. Cost £25.

Both beginner and improver photographers are welcome, whether you use a compact, bridge, CSC or SLR camera. If you are looking for a novel environment in which to practice your photography and make new photography buddies, this could be the event for you. Scroll down or click here to see some photos.

We’ll stroll through the heart of the old East End – encountering historic silk weavers’ houses, vibrant street murals, Banglatown shops on Brick Lane and City skylines – and you’ll capture your own portfolio of fascinating photos along the way.

During three hours, you’ll discover the colourful and diverse streetscapes whilst trying out some new approaches to taking interesting, story-telling photos.

Through a series of pre-planned group stops and 1:1 time, we’ll look at camera settings and composition techniques such as:

• Using exposure compensation to correctly expose for the scene
• Including juxtapositions to highlight change in the area
• Changing white balance to bring out the street art colours
• Applying leading lines to improve our photos visually
• Experimenting with themes to provide a focus to our stories

And to put your pictures in context, walk guide Graham Barker shares stories from the local streets, as we walk in the footsteps of weavers, writers, market traders and spray-paint artists.

Rounding off the day, we’ll end with lunch at the Rich Mix cafe and an inspiring slideshow of the group’s favourite photos from the day.

You’re welcome to join us, whatever your experience – whether you’re a beginner starting out with a new camera or you want to learn how to refine and extend your photography techniques

The event will run 10:30am-1:30pm and costs £25. The slideshow takes place after lunch and so the day is expected to formally end around 3:30pm (a few of us may stay on).

Lunch at the cafe is not included in the price (budget £5-10). As this is an outdoor event, please dress to suit the weather forecast.

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• Dates: Sat 11 Feb – 10:30-3:30pm
  
• Meeting Point: Corner of Spitalfields Market at the white goat sculpture
• Nearest Tube: Liverpoool Str or Aldgate East
• Price: £25
• Group Size: maximum 20 participants
• Prior Knowledge: how to turn your camera on!

“Hi! I really enjoyed the event and the personal tuition that Natalie give to us individually and to the group. It was new information regarding how to use our cameras. It was a great day to enjoy. Looking forward for the next one.” Lourdes

“It was a great chance to learn more about the camera. The weather was great for the relaxed session walking around.” Ross

“Clear instructions and the chance to try things out without distraction. Free time and then the chance to review with instructor. Just the right amount of time.” Laura

Focus On: Night Photography

This ‘Focus On’ event is a chance to get to grips with night photography whilst photographing some amazing views across the Thames. You will need to bring a tripod. In the series we have:

• Fri 3 Feb: Southbank & Hungerford Bridge
• Tue 7 Feb: St. Pauls & Millennium Bridge
• Wed 15 Feb: V&A Embankments & Westminster Bridge

with repeats on:

• Mon 20 Feb: Southbank & Hungerford Bridge
• Thu 23 Feb: St. Pauls & Millennium Bridge
• Wed 28 Feb: V&A Embankments & Westminster Bridge

It is an ideal practice event if you have completed the Explore Exposure, Switch to Manual or Night Photography workshops and wish to experiment with what you have learnt with hands-on professional help. It is not suitable for complete beginners.

Throughout the evening, I will recap on settings for night photography, offer 1:1 time with exercises to try, and answer any questions you have. We’ll be looking at:

• Short shutter speeds: make people become ghost like
• Long shutter speeds: motion blur of cars and river traffic
• Using M: adjusting our metering to get a correct exposure

• Dates: 3, 7, 15, 20, 23, 28 Feb, all 6:30-9:30pm
  
• Meeting Point: see below
• Price: £15 which includes 1:1 time
• Group Size: maximum 12 participants
• Prior Knowledge: Explore Exposure, Switch to Manual or Night Photography

Meeting Points – My mobile 07773 819053

For Southbank & Hungerford Bridge meet at Embankment station. Take the left exit. Meet outside Costa (on the left) under the bridge (near to Starbucks).

For V&A Embankments & Westminster Bridge meet at Embankment station. Take the left exit. Meet outside Costa (on the left) under the bridge (near to Starbucks).

For St. Pauls & Millennium Bridge meet at St. Pauls station. Take exit 1. Meet outside Cafe Nero (on the left).

“It was a really good night. I learned loads of new techniques from Natalie. I am now much more confident about taking night shots.” Sandra

“Great session. I learnt so much but really need to practice more with the tips that were given to me. Let me know when the next night session is :o) ” Claudine

“Great location; great tips – thank you.” Gail

The Photo School Has A Day Out At Westonbirt

On Saturday, 10 Photo School members went to Westonbirt – the National Arboretum – in Gloucestershire. What a truly fantastic and memorable day, plus all for under £50!

We spent the morning in the Silk Wood photographing and in the afternoon the choice was to go on a guided walk to learn about the history of the arboretum and its trees or more photography. I went for more photography! Here are my leaf portraits that I took on the day.

If you’d like to join us, sign up to the newsletter at the top right of the page and I’ll keep you posted.

London In Black & White

Today we went to the Tower Bridge Exhibition. It’s fab up there – well worth the £8 ticket price. You can get some fab photos across London in either direction.

There are two photo exhibitions on. One of London in 20th century and one about bridges around the world. Here are my favourite photos from the day.

Day Trip To Westonbirt, National Arboretum – Update

We are going for the self-led option (£50) rather than for tuition (£165).

If you’d like to capture some stunning photos of your own, join me next Saturday for a day at Westonbirt doing our own thing as a group. We can share hints and tips on the train there as the journey is 1h30.

The cost of this is approximately £50 which is the cost of the train (£28), taxi (£12) and entrance to the arboretum (£10). No lunch provided. The more there are of us, the more we can save on the travel cost.

Photography at Westonbirt – Day’s Itinerary

* Meet at Paddington Station at 7:45am to buy tickets
* Train to Kemble arriving at 9:30am
* Taxi to Westonbirt arriving near to 10am
* Photograph from 10am-1pm
* Lunch at 1pm until 1:30pm
* Photography from 1:30-5pm
* Taxi back to Kemble with train departing at 5:48pm
* Arrival in Paddington at 7:15pm

Join Us TODAY – Tower Hill 2pm

The 60 images sourced from London Metropolitan Archives offer visitors the chance to step back in time as far back as the late 1800s and immerse themselves in the rich seam of history that surrounds Tower Bridge, the Pool of London and the surrounding areas.

Walking over the top of Tower Bridge is well worth the £8 the tickets cost (payable on the day); it’s such an enjoyable and unique experience! We’ll also get to see some amazing black and white photos of London, and take photos of our own from the bridge.

The photographs have been chosen to represent six categories of London life: Tower Bridge, waterways, work, life, buildings and boats. The shot chosen as the main publicity image is of St Paul’s Cathedral seen behind an early 20th century river frontage that is very different to the present day structures – today, the newest river crossing the Millennium Bridge stretches across the Thames in this very spot.

“There couldn’t be a better venue for this exhibition than Tower Bridge,” said Tower Bridge director David Wight. “ Some of the locations shown in the photographs can be seen from the Walkways which adds a unique dimension to the experience. Tower Bridge is a potent symbol of the rich historical significance of the City, surrounding area and the River Thames so the opportunity to be able to share this with visitors from both home and abroad was unmissable.”

Read more on the Tower Bridge Exhibition website.

Photography Trip To Westonbirt, The National Arboretum

Every year, thousands of visitors make their way to Westonbirt during Oct and Nov to experience the climax of colour before the winter sets in. We’re hoping to go on Sat 15th Oct.

Autumn for them is described as “starting with a bang with one of the best natural fireworks displays in Britain”. The famous Japanese maples in particular are ablaze in reds, oranges and yellows.

I went last year and it certainly was a festival of colour! The day provided some awesome photography opportunities which you can see here on flickr.

If you’d like to capture some stunning photos of your own, join me for the day with tuition provided by Cotswolds photographer Sarah Howard. Details on the day’s workshop are here and her beautiful photos can be found here.

The Day’s Itinerary – Saturday 15th October

• Meet at Paddington Station at 8am
• Train to Kemble arriving at 9:30am
• Taxi to Westonbirt arriving near to 10am
• Tuition & photography from 10am-1pm
• Lunch at 1pm until 1:30pm
• Tuition & photography from 1:30-5pm
• Taxi back to Kemble with train departing at 5:48pm
• Arrival in Paddington at 7:15pm

Updated 9/10/11 with more info re. costs.

Special Shoot: Strictly in the City!

On Saturday, we held our second dance shoot in the City. 11 of us photographed 3 dancers – contemporary and hip-hop – in the beautiful settings of an old church.

Photo Challenge: Through The Generations

Join a group of beginner photographers for a fun challenge to produce 10 portraits of people enjoying Regent’s Park. You’ll be encouraged to seek out people aged between 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50 etc.

• Date & Time: Mon 29 Aug 2-5pm
  
• Meeting Point: Outside Regent’s Park tube station

This is an opportunity to experiment with your people photography and build your confidence in taking portraits.

There will be no hard or fast rules as to what lens to use, or whether the portrait should be ‘posed’ or ‘candid’. The aim of the photo challenge is to start to develop an approach to taking people photos that you feel comfortable with. To help with this, the event will include:

• Discussion on ways to take people photos
• Sharing of ‘ice-breaking’ props
• Polite ways to find out someone’s age!
• A prize for a ‘poker hand’ of images (to be explained)

The photo challenge lasts three hours which includes time to ask questions about your camera as well as group check-ins. The cost of the event is £10 which includes the chance to receive feedback on your photos post-event.

Sign up for a photo walk as well to meet other like-minded photographers.

Photo Walk: Pool of London

Join a group of beginner photographers for a leisurely photo walk around the Pool of London. We’ll go along Northbank, cross over Tower Bridge and then along the south side of the river to London Bridge.

• Date & Time: Thu 1 Sep, Thu 15 Sep, 7-10pm
  
• Meeting Point: Outside Monument tube

This will be a low-light walk so it’s a chance to practice using your tripod or high ISOs. Sunset is at 7:50pm. Photographic opportunities include:

• Reflections across the Thames as the sun sets
• Light trails as traffic crosses Tower Bridge
• Tower of London and City buildings being lit up
• Night shots of London Bridge and its traffic

It lasts three hours which includes time to ask questions about your camera, as well as stops to discuss, share and review technique. The cost of the walk is £10 which includes the chance to receive feedback on your photos post-walk. The walk ends at London Bridge tube.

Sign up for other photo walks and read about the benefits of attending.