advice on photo experience,night courses?

deimne

I've been told by a very nice workmate and user of these forums that you lot can be very nice and helpful

basically i'm looking to improve my self as photographer

i have been taking photos on and off for maybe 5 years, but dont feel proficient in any area.
i have some experience of B&W with 35 mm slr manual camera, and darkroom processing, but now use digital - my camera has auto and manual functions that i have yet to figure out properly

most of my 'experience' to date has revolved around studio shots of my own art works (glass mainly), local live band photography, and a wee bit of landscape, almost all for personal reasons really - or because said local bands are mates and offer me beer or free into the gig!

i just really want a proper push to get better at 'everything' -
i'm thinking of taking a course, but was also considering to volunteer, maybe one day a week as an assistant of some or any description.

im living in dublin, was considering the dublin camera club courses for starters.

hoping to get more info, suggestions, etc.

elven

Here's a fairly recent thread about the camera club, although I don't have any experience of it myself, I was in a club back in Glasgow and found it was quite difficult to actually learn anything from it except what judges think of photos in the competitions... but I would expect if you're just looking to get the hang of the manual settings on the camera, then one of the courses would be perfect. If you do a search, there are also a good few recent threads on those courses.

It would definitely be worth doing some reading online, once you have the basics of exposure, experimentation is the best teacher! Doing a quick google gives you tons of stuff, maybe someone knows a particularly good site but straight off I found this.

If you have any particular questions, like what happens when you do something or how to achieve a particular effect, just fire away and we can do our best to help you out. That's the easier bit!

DotOrg

you say:
"i just really want a proper push to get better at 'everything' "

do you mean at the taking of photos or at the getting into the business side of photography?

kayakboy

Hi
If your in Dublin the VEC run a number of night courses in photography. I have no idea if there any good but they do run courses in a number of locations around the city. If you are thinking of signing up you'd better hurry up 'cos tomorrow is the last (official) night for enrolemnt for most of them. Check out the pathetic website www.cdvec.ie
yakBoy

abetarrush

Try www.qualifax.ie

its way better, and will show pretty much ALL courses

digitalbeginner

Our next round of Digital Photography Courses start next week in Drogheda, Dun Laoghaire, Drumcondra and Leixlip. You can find more info here http://www.digitalbeginners.ie/digitalphotocourses.htm

deimne

thanks for the advice.
i aim to improve on my use of the camera, and then perhaps try tackle the business side of things.
i have detailed user manuals, and some general books on all sorts of technical tips, but just find it easier to push myself to learn these things with others.
going to have a bit of a think but i need to act soon to go for one of those courses.

mishima

What sort of camera have you got?
Practicing in your free time and experimenting with different settings, angles, exposures etc. will be of great benefit to you.

If you want to go for the classes, I recommend the VEC ones. My father did one and loved it. He learned loads too.