Digital Landscape Photography Course
April 13th, 14th & 15th 2012
Landscape photography is a vast subject but there’s something about getting out into the countryside with the challenge of capturing some of the amazing landscape beauty that you see – never more so than inIreland. In response to popular demand The Wildlife Film School has created the Digital Landscape Photography Workshop, designed specifically for those wishing to add landscapes to their repertoire of photography skills. It is also suitable for those who wish to pick up extra tips to enhance an existing interest.
The weekend residential Digital Landscape Photography Course will concentrate on making landscape images at carefully selected venues around West Cork and will include top tips from our expert tutors on selecting , establishing foreground, trying unique points of view, working with low light, creating “movement” in your image and getting different images from the same scene by changing focal length…in addition to a detailed look at composition rules and maximizing depth of field. This workshop will show you how to make landscape images with the equipment you already have without spending a fortune of new gear. Course notes will be provided to take away.
The lead tutor on this weekend residential Digital Landscape Photography Course will be:
Chris O’Dell BSC
Chris O’Dell is a photographer and cinematographer and a graduate of theLondonInternationalFilmSchool. Initially trained as a stills photographer, Chris travelled widely in the 70s and 80s filming documentaries of every kind, including the world famous “Cosmos” with Carl Sagan, and “The Heart of the Dragon”, the story ofChina, for Channel 4. Chris was cameraman on two major wildlife series for Channel 4 with naturalists Gerald and Lee Durrell, “Ourselves and other Animals” and “The Amateur Naturalist”. As a qualified diver, he spent a lot of time filming underwater for the BBC and other clients. He ran a successful production company making arts and music programmes for the BBC. Since 1990 has been the director of photography on many very successful TV drama series including Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Sharpe, Hornblower, Inspector Morse, the Morse sequel Lewis, and many single dramas. Chris lives and works in West Cork and photographs the wonderful changing light on the landscape ofWest Corkfor which he employs Nikon, Apple, Photoshop, and Epson equipment. Chris O’Dell was chairman of the 2009 Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival.
The supporting tutor on this weekend residential Digital Landscape Photography Course will be:
Sheena Jolley
One ofIreland’s celebrated wildlife photographers, Sheena Jolley was born inWicklow,Ireland. Between 1999-2001 she studied Photography full time at North Oxfordshire College of Art thus combining her creative talents with her knowledge and love of nature. Sheena is dedicated to capturing award winning images of the indigenous wildlife ofIreland. Her work specialises in tight close-ups as well as a studies of animals in their environment. Purchased by collectors in both Europe andAmerica her work has featured many times in a number of national publications such as The Irish Wildlife Trust magazine, broadsheets such as the Irish Examiner and the Irish Times and on regional TV. Sheena has reached the finals of the prestigious Veolia Environment Wildlife photographer of the year Competition.
The assistant tutor on this weekend residential Digital Landscape Photography Course will be:
Nic Slocum PhD
As an experienced naturalist and wildlife guide Nic Slocum is best known for his escorted tours taking enthusiasts out, both in Irelandand overseas, to view and photograph whales and dolphins with his company Whale Watch West Cork. Nic has maintained a lifelong passion for using photography and film to promote the conservation of our wildlife and wild places and has appeared as an expert commentator on RTE, Channel 4 and ITV. A zoologist by training, Nic has published articles on conservation related issues in both regional and national newspapers and is working on a book – Field Craft in Wildlife Photography and Film Making. Nic Slocum lives and works in West Cork and is a director of The Wildlife Film School which runs courses in digital wildlife photography and overseas photography tours
Course Details
Friday 13th April 2012
Arrival at Liss Ard between 6pm and 7pm. Do not worry if you cannot arrive until later. If you arrive earlier there are plenty of woodland trails to explore.
7pm – Introduction. Who we all are, what we want out of the workshop and the structure of the weekend’s activities.
7.30pm – Evening meal served
8.30pm – “Cutting Digital Landscape Photography Down To Size”. Chris O’Dell will discuss how to get out into the countryside and make high quality images with the camera and lens equipment you already have and will examine some easy steps to improve your landscape photography. He will discuss how to maximize depth of field, work in low light conditions and will review composition rules and depth of field. Using some world class images of his own and of others Chris O’Dell will review what makes an image outstanding and why point of view is so important. Most importantly Chris will identify those situations where the rules can be broken!
9.30pm – Relaxation time, study some great images in the viewing room or discuss personal photography projects and prepare for the next day’s practical session.
Saturday 14th April 2012
8am – Breakfast
9am – What do you want from your digital landscape photographs? Running through your camera set up with the tutors and setting assignments and photographic objectives for the day.
10am – Photography assignments in the field. The emphasis of this detailed practical session will be on “looking at subjects differently” The tutors will be on hand at all times during photography assignments which will be held at various locations close to Liss Ard inWest Cork
1pm – Lunch. We will take a packed lunch with us if the weather is fine or return to Liss Ard
2pm – Continued photography assignments –
4.30pm – Return to Liss Ard House and a review and critique of photographs taken during the day. We will select a few images from each workshop attendee and review what the image was trying to achieve, if the image achieved the intention or where it failed and why.
6.30pm – Free time
7.30pm – Evening meal served
8.30pm – Chris O’Dell will discuss the key techniques on how to professionally compose and crop your digital landscape photography images depending on the use you want to make of your photographs – prints, websites, slideshows or competitions? During this session you will choose the image that you would like submitted for the photo competition
9.30pm – Free time to review photographs taken and other equipment used or simply chill out!
Sunday 15th April 2012
8am – Breakfast
9am – More photography assignments to hone your developing digital landscape photography skills in the field, setting up the shoot and some specialist techniques to manage lighting challenges. This session will be held in and around the 60 acre estate at Liss Ard
1pm – Lunch
2pm – Assessment of techniques learnt and practice assignments for when you go home. Plenty of time for questions and discussion. During this session Chris O’Dell will take us through…setting up for printing digital images from computer…and working with each attendee will print off a copy of their chosen image to take home…the start of your landscape portfolio!
4pm – Final questions to the tutors and announcements of photo competition winners and prize giving. Course ends following group photograph.
Booking Information:
Cost: €430. This INCLUDES expert tuition, accommodation and all meals. To secure a place a deposit of 100 euro will be needed with the balance payable four weeks before the scheduled course. If you book four weeks or less from the workshop then the full amount is due on booking your place. If The Wildlife Film School cancels a course for any reason all monies paid are refunded in full.
Course Dates: April 13th, 14th & 15th 2012 [NB. If you are interested in a course which is fully booked please put your name on the waiting list as places occasionally become available and are allocated on a first come first served basis]
To book: Contact learn@thewildlifefilmschool.com or phone on 00 353 86 153 1663
Workshop numbers are restricted to 12-14 people.
Accommodation:
We will stay on the stunningly beautiful estate of Liss Ard, near the town ofSkibbereeninWest Cork. With fabulous woodland walks, , excellent farm house cuisine prepared by the in-house chef and SINGLE OCCUPANCY rooms with all facilities our comfort is assured. All presentations will take place in the presentation room within the main house at Liss Ard and we will travel a short distance from there for field assignments.
What people say about our digital photography workshops…
“Well I tell you, I haven’t laughed that much in a long while. A great bunch!”
“…also thanks a mill’ again for sharing with us your wealth of knowledge and genuine passion for digital photography! I’m officially hooked!!! I’ll be recommending these courses to all my friends!”
“Just some words to thank everybody again for the brilliant atmosphere. It was a fantastic week end”
“Thanks everyone for making it a great weekend.”
“…thank you for a great weekend and for sending on the group photo. I learnt a lot over the weekend and I look forward to putting it into practice…”
“…thanks again for a great weekend, I will be doing a workshop in the club on the weekend and let the members know what I covered over the course of the 2 days…”
“…thank you and the guys very much for a very enjoyable weekend. Not only for the great photography workshop but for the great craic we had too…”
“…we had a great weekend and it was a pleasure to meet you all. We will be in touch about future courses and will be recommending you…”
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I would like to receive some information on the Digital Landscape Photography course running on the 13-15th April. Is this set up the same way as the Digital Photography Made Easy course running in February? I am interested in this course but unable to attend on those dates. WIll this course be running again this year? What are the main differences between the two courses?
Regards
Deirdre O’Leary