Exposure Leeds have joined with Camera Society to offer you an excellent training opportunity.

Simon Young is coming to West Yorkshire to run a weekend workshop in portrait photography on March 6th and 7th – saving you a trip to Gloucestershire and the accommodation! And, if you mention Exposure Leeds when booking, you get a 10% discount. Making the course £225 (inclusive) for the 2-day intensive course.

Finally, before you read on – not sure if this is a positive for you, or not – but I’m going on the course myself. I was already planning a trip to the South-West when Steve from Camera Society told me about this!

Here’s an edited version of the information from Camera Society…

Why? Training is a great way to develop. Sure, its great to go out there and experiment and develop your own style, but even the best can gain from hearing the experiences and sharing in the knowledge of others – moving you along the path of photographic excellence.

Who? Simon worked for British Hypnosis Research for a number of years (about 7 years) before becoming a photographer.
Part of the role was observation of facial expressions and how others “perceive” individuals through things like expression, head angle, body language, language, tone of voice… Simon also ran projects using eye-tracking technology that showed how people actually look at things such as pictures and how expressions change with level of excitement and in communing with others.

Photographs of faces, taken by Simon (he was a keen photographer) were used to illustrate lectures on the “use of language in rapport and influence”. A student loved the photos and asked why he hadn’t become a professional portrait photographer. As he couldn’t think of a good answer Simon turned pro shortly after.
Simon has been commissioned by major companies to “capture” the essence of expression – these include: NHS, HP, American Idol, Walmart, Makro Group, John Lewis, Bang & Olufsen, Selfridges, Nationwide Building Society and many others

What? The course content is flexible and is tailored to some extent to the attendees.

Areas covered may include:

• Fundamental principles and considerations of authoring a photograph
• Output requirements, Wall or book, print or screen
• How viewers read a photograph
• How to compose a photograph for easy reading
• Effects of spatial positioning
• Effects of contrast
• Effects of lines
• Perspective -v- Framing
• How to use a zoom lens effectively.
• What is beauty
• Understanding symmetry and angles
• The optical illusions we can use
• Expression (above all else, expression)
• How to get the expression you want
• Shaping the expression
• The importance of rapport
• Rapport and expression “Tricks”
• Timing the shot
• Flow and rapport before and during a shoot, directing a model
• Understanding the effects of light and shadow for dimensionality (kind of key to photographers).
• Optical Illusions.
• The brain sees, not the eyes. The camera has one eye.
• Understanding the effects of colour.
• Positioning of the main light.
• Positioning of the fill light.
• Positioning of accent lights.
• Controlling shadow boundaries.
• Doing it in the studio. (If you understand light, the location doesn’t
• matter).
• Doing it outside.
• Exposure considerations, monochrome -v- colour and White balance.
• Measuring light and understanding shadow depth and its effects .

… and anything else that comes up, sometimes we might cover some post-processing.

All courses cover the principles of composition, lighting and expression as in Simon’s experience, even the most
experienced photographers don’t truly “Know” this.

Beyond this the rest is flexible depending on the group

Past students…

Attended Si’s course at The Camera Society this weekend – and can say without hesitation that I learned more in the two days than I have in the last two years. To anybody else who is as sceptical as I was as to the value of investing in training, it has opened more doors in my mind than any  number of new lenses or lights ever could. Absolutely recommended.
Jay Mawson

Simon has been a positive influence in my photography career. Since the beginning, he has given me options and tools, without affecting my own personal style. In fact, he has encouraged that to grow naturally over time. The difference with Simons tutoring style is, for example, that he will tell you “why to light something this way”, instead of just providing you with a lighting diagram that works in some situations but won’t in others. This deepens your understanding of the right way to work in all circumstances and provides you with the ability to adapt in tricky situations – which is of significant commercial value. He has taught me some very advanced topics effectively too, including deeper compositional techniques, colour theory and digital processing.
Phil Drinkwater

Further testimonials available upon request.

More? If you have any questions or would like to make a booking please  email Steve – info@camerasociety.co.uk