I was a mere snapper until my introduction to Flickr and Exposure Leeds. Finding these groups opened up a world of ideas, projects and inspiration for me. As an online community, Flickr is brilliant and contains a wealth of amazing groups on every subject you could imagine (some more random than others!) but on the whole incredibly interesting.
As well as the fact that searching Flickr, and its groups, is highly enjoyable – there is also a great community of people giving positive comments which is great, the only downside being that because so many of the comments are positive, you don’t get much constructive criticism!
Exposure Leeds has been the perfect accompaniment for me – a ‘real’ group with ‘real’ people who you can meet and discuss things with! Through the Exposure Leeds days out, workshops and other training activities i have developed a real thirst to try new things and get answers to questions i was struggling with.
Jump Jump - Emma's winning photo from the Street Event
The Street Photography sessions I have attended have been brilliant, they are the perfect introduction to what can be a daunting prospect for a beginner. Being in a group while practicing allows you just enough of a backup to give you the confidence to get started.
There are even informal competitions on these days to encourage people – and on the Street Photography day i WON!! I won a great Lee Friedlander book. They are great as it really gives you a goal to work towards, but a the same time is completely optional so there is no pressure!
I strongly recommend you go have a look at Alison Covey’s photo from the same event.
Ewa - Emma's favourite photo from the Model photography workshop
The Working with Models workshop was another hugely beneficial introduction. I wouldn’t have had the courage to book a model prior to this course – it was a great way of seeing how it all works in a stress-free, friendly environment.
As well as all these, the annual Photocamp is a fantastic event and great value-for-money. Here you get a huge variety of different lectures and talks you can attend on a huge variety of subjects. Last year one of my favourites was the strobist play session where we got to direct flashes and ‘models’ (fellow delegates) to see the effects of different flash set ups.
In addition to my photo, can I suggest you take a look at the shot Mark (one of the tutor’s) shot of Greg and the shot Faisal, fellow ‘student’, shot of Antonia.
Another great plus point to joining Exposure Leeds has been the guest lecturers. There are actually too many to name now, but my favourites have been: ‘Miss Aniela’ – aka Natalie Bybisz and Rosie Hardy (both doing self portraits and montage work), Richard Hanson (a photo-journalist) , Tim Parkin (landscape specialist) and Danny North (gig and band portrait photography).
escape II - one of Emma's cloned images.
Miss Aniela spoke to us at Bradford Photocamp and sponsored a prize for the best shot of the day. Alison Covey was the winner – her prize? One of Miss Aniela’s prints! (See her winning image)
I have loved having a go at styles featured by Miss Aniela, like her clone and movement shots. Just practicing creating shots like this has taught me a lot about photographing people and of course Photoshop image manipulation techniques!
Both Flickr and Exposure Leeds have been hugely inspiring to me an allowed me to move my photography on to the next level – and they are such fantastic value for money!
Emma goes by the name of Black Cat Photos on flickr and contributes images from a mix of photographic genres.
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