Enter the AOP Awards 2013 to get your work showcased in an exhibition and to win great prizes!


Image © Rob Payne, Non-Commissioned Portrait Single category AOP Photographers Awards 2012

The Association of Photographers is excited to announce the launch of this year’s Awards programme. As it’s 30 years since the Photographers Awards first began, the Association has recognised this landmark date by transforming the Awards programme.

The Photographers Awards (to enter the Photographers Awards you must be a member of the AOP, to apply for membership please contact the AOP on 020 3327 7208)
Open to AOP Photographer members, the Photographers Awards is still regarded as the original and the best Photographic Awards in the industry. Being selected for entry into the Photographers Awards book and accompanying exhibition is considered one of the highest accolades available to professional photographers in the industry today.

Closing date Friday 10 May, 6pm – Deadline has been extended to 6pm Friday 31 May!
Follow this link for more info and to enter – entries.the-awards.com

The Open Awards
Open to everyone, members and non-members, the Open Awards has no categories or themes but recognises all forms of outstanding imagery shot by professionals and amateurs alike. Within the Open Awards this year, there is a huge range of prizes on offer. Prize packages will be given to:
• Best in Show
• Public Choice Award
• Best Photographer Member
• Best Assistant Member
• Best Student Member

Closing date Friday 31 May, 6pm.
Follow this link for more info and to enter – entries.the-awards.com

Prizes include… G-Technology hard drives, hire of the Hasselblad studio including equipment, Bikinilists subscriptions and email credits, Production Paradise promotional packages, onOne software, Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 tripod, Blinkbid software and a Fujifilm X-series camera amongst others!
PLUS, each successful entrant to both Awards can take advantage of a brilliant print deal at Metro Print.

Find out more and enter! – awards.the-aop.org

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Our first course for international students, from Norway

We were really delighted to run a bespoke course this month, for 13 college students all the way from Hvam Upper Secondary School near Olso, Norway. The students were aged 18 – 19 and in their third and final year of a vocational education programme in media and communication.
The school wanted a 2 day course that included both theory and practice, and that contained either individual or small group practical assignments that would be possible for the teachers to value.

The students already had a basic knowledge in photography and the levels of skill and understanding of camera techniques varied within the group. So our challenge was to design a course that covered beginner to intermediate camera handling, creativity, observation, composition and practical assignments.

What we delivered was a 2 day course, taught by our tutor and professional photographer Jon Mortimer, who delivers our DSLR Courses, One to One tuition and our new Portraiture Masterclass. Day 1 started with the students going over what they already knew about photography and their cameras. The tutor brought everyone up to scratch and up to the same level, ensuring each student was comfortable with ISO, aperture and shutter speed.
They then moved onto more intermediate areas such as exposure in depth, white balance, lenses, histograms and colour temperature. These topics are covered in our Intense Foundation of Digital Photography – Level 2 course.
This morning session was a mixture of theory based learning here in our classroom, and also some practical exercises inside and outdoors.
In the afternoon the students covered some basic lighting tuition, focusing on portraits. They constructed a small lighting set up in the classroom and practised taking portraits of each other.

The second day, focused on Street Photography and was mainly delivered on location. Starting at our studio where a couple of hours were spent learning about street photography and theory, they then took the tube and headed to Oxford Circus and around The Photographers Gallery to spend the rest of the day photographing and putting what they had learnt over the past 2 days into practice. Tutor Jon Mortimer was on hand throughout the day to answer questions and give help and advice.
Finally the students came back to our studio in Shoreditch to review and discuss their photographs taken on the street, round up everything they had learnt over the 2 days and had the opportunity to ask any questions they had.

The students had a variety of photographs to take back with them to Oslo demonstrating all of the different techniques and methods they had covered.

The course was a real success and the students went away with a great deal of knowledge and skills to apply to their media studies and their future careers as graphic designers, filmmakers and photographers!

If you would like a bespoke photography course, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! You can drop us a line on 020 7608 0000, or email your enquiry to info@photographycourselondon.com

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UEL Student Exhibition at the Rich Mix, Shoreditch


Mental Photography, Konstantinos Noulis, photographic print, wood, Plexiglas, 2012


Dogged Senseless, Mike Clark, digital C-Type print, 2012


Left image: Mezzanine Gallery. Middle image: Soho or Sohoe?, Melaina Neal, 35mm photography, 2012. Right image: The Asylum, Aaron Coe, archival giclee print, 2012.

This exhibition has been showing at the Rich Mix in Shoreditch, East London over February 2013. The title of the show, To Each Their Own. The UEL (University of East London) partnered up with Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) to exhibit a selection of UEL student work.
So what’s the exhibition all about?
Each artist in the show has been selected because of their response to the world around them, which over the past year has involved recessions, social media polemics, revolutions and many more newsworthy stories. The artists demonstrate how these events shape their approaches and subject matter in art.
From photographic works to sculpture and painting, Photography Course London thought the exhibition showed raw talent, originality and diversity of subject matter and techniques. When organisations team up to deliver student exhibitions it shows their support of upcoming talent by bringing their artwork into the limelight and the public eye. Apart from ‘To Each Their Own’ being an enjoyable feast for the eyes, some of these students will go onto do great things in the commercial art world and that’s the exciting part!

For more exhibitions at the Rich Mix, visit www.richmix.org.uk
To learn more about Iniva and their projects visit www.iniva.org
And to check out the UEL visit www.uel.ac.uk

If you are a student who is just about to finish university or college, or if you have recently graduated and have an interest in persuing a career in photography, read about our 12 week Going Pro course here – www.photographycourselondon.com/going_pro


The Café Gallery


Intimate Life Project, Charles Woodward, digital C-Type print, 2012

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Win a tailored private course for 2 people in our TimeOut London comp!

Win a tailored private course for two people, which includes two half day sessions delivered at our Shoreditch studio.

In session one you will learn how to control your camera, control exposure and master creative effects such as shallow depth of field. For more advanced users, you can develop your understanding of exposure and look into the more complex camera functions including histograms and RAW.
Session two will be spent learning Adobe Photoshop. Learn to process RAW files, retouch your images and prepare your image for print.
Each session can be tailored for complete beginner to intermediate users.

In addition, each winner will be given a place on a Photography Course London course of their choosing up to the value of £300 each.
Finally each winner will receive a professional 20″x 24″ photographic print of their choice provided by The Print Space.

You just have to answer one simple question! To enter visit – www.timeout.com/LPC2013

This competition closes at midnight on February 26, 2013

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Brand New PCL Video!

We’ve been busy creating our first ever Photography Course London video! Have a peek at our modern Shoreditch studio, engaged students getting stuck in on a Beginner DSLR course with tutor Vicky and the surrounding Shoreditch area. The video was shot on a DSLR camera by Jack Flynn. Please feel free to share the video with your friends, family and colleagues on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin and we’d love to hear what you think of it! Enjoy!

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Tim Flach: More Than Human 2012


Kanja Shaking by Tim Flach, 2012


Da Vinci Bat by Tim Flach, 2012

Why not pop over to the Osborne Samuel Gallery during the holidays and catch the latest Tim Flach: More Than Human exhibition.
You will get the chance to see some truly extraordinary images, which focus on the relationship between humans and non-humans, many of which have never been on show before.
The exhibition is running untill 11 January 2013, so amke sure you don’t miss out on these stunning and captivating photographs.
For more information about the exhibition, visit www.osbornesamuel.com

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Must See Exhibition! Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Harlem, New York, 1947

5th Avenue, New York City (1975) by Joel Meyerowitz

Karl Baden, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, 2009

After PCL visited the very impressive Tim Walker: Story Teller photography exhibition at Somerset House (still on until 27 Jan), we were delighted to hear that another great exhibition was in store! Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour showcases 10 Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs which are being show in the UK for the first time alongside 75 works by 14 internationally acclaimed photographers. The show is themed around Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’ and how these 14 photographers adopted and adapted the decisive moment using colour.

So whether you love black and white, or colour, this is fantastic opportunity to see some legendary photographers works in print, but also a chance to get some creative ideas and inspiration for your own photography!

This free exhibition is currently showing at the South Wing of Somerset House until 27 January 2013.

To read more about the exhibition follow this link : www.somersethouse.org.uk

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Review Competition Winner!

The winner of our latest Review Competition is Joel Dhuna, with his review of our Intense Foundation of Digital Photography Level 1 Course, with tutor Gary John Norman.

“I chose the Intense Foundation Level 1 course to understand the fundamentals, the technology of my camera and to stop using the ‘AUTO Mode’! The course lasted 6 and half hours and covered all the need to know-how’s in taking that perfect picture. The class size was around 9 participants this made it feel more like a one-on-one personal session. The foundation was taught by Gary, a well experience photographer who covered each topic thoroughly. The session itself was about 70% practical and 30% theory with understandable handouts given; with a 40 minute session after lunch outside practising all the techniques I was taught this helped etched this shooting methodology. At the end of the session Gary covered any other questions we had and stayed behind for further help. What Photography Course London offers over its other competitors is you have the option to choose either a 1 day or 2 day course so if you’re on a budget it helps a lot. All-in-all very happy what I learnt and how the course was run. Will go to level 2 in the New Year!”

Have you attended a course with us here at PCL?
Click on one of the review sites below to leave us a review and you will instantly receive a £10 voucher to use towards any course of your choice. Simple!

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Introducing our new photography course for parents. A great xmas gift!

Photography for Parents is aimed at new parents who are either expecting, have a new born baby or young children, and want to take great photographs to capture those important and precious moments. It is suitable for complete beginners to photography, but also for those who know a few basics but would like a refresher and learn how to adapt their knowledge to take great photos of their new born baby, toddlers or active youngsters!

This course will also make an excellent Christmas gift for those either expecting or already with a newborn or young children. We can personalise the gift certificate with a special message and the voucher will be open-dated which allows the recipient to book onto a date of their choice. To find out more about our Xmas Gift Certificates please follow this link…www.photographycourselondon.com/gift_voucher

Through a combination of theory and practical exercises, this course will teach participants the basics of their camera, help them to understand the different modes and become familiar with terms such as shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Creative effects such as panning, freezing and blurring motion and shallow depth of field will also be taught and the class will discuss when it is best to use these effects and how they can be applied to their everyday life and routine to create interesting and exciting photographs. The only requirements are that the participant has a digital SLR camera or bridge camera with fully manual controls.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about this course, please call our office on 020 7608 0000.

Our first dates in January 2012 are Wednesday 16, 23, 30 Jan & 6 Feb 2013, from 18.30 – 20.30. To find out more or to book a place, please visit our website…www.photographycourselondon.com/parents

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Happy Halloween!!

Show us your spookiest Halloween photos and you could win a £50 voucher with us here at Photography Course London.

Don’t forget to use #PCLTrickorTreat to enter!

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