The Academy

The Academy is an action packed year of learning.  Whilst the course contains continuous 1-to-1 coaching the whole way through, these six two-day modules are the backbone of the course and each one sets the tone for the next couple of months learning.  After each you will have assignments to complete, image critiques and ongoing mentoring via Skype.  After module 2 you will notice you start to join us at real weddings, to get the invaluable real-world experience you need.

Module 1:   Photography Technique & Light Mastery  (2 days)

After an initial orientation for the year ahead, we dive straight into talking about camera skills, understanding light, and working towards a photographic style.  We then put this theory into practice with a relaxed portrait shoot session working in your smaller mentor groups.

Day 2 continues our practical shooting, working with some couples on a location shoot.  In the afternoon we help you understand background selection, lighting, posing, and how to capture great moments within a portrait shoot.  This will be great preparation for your first shooting assignments, which will focus on identifying great locations and shooting couples.

• Module 2:   Wedding Photography  (2 days)

Quite literally, everything you need to know about shooting weddings.  What to shoot and why, how to manage the day and techniques for every stage.  We spend a full day and a half shooting various simulated stages of a wedding, from the getting ready shots in the morning to posed couple shots, helping you with your images every step of the way.  This module forms the foundation learning for when you’re assisting at your real weddings.

• Real Wedding shooting (3 separate days)

After module 2, we will invite you to join us at three separate weddings, to learn on the job.  You will work with one more than one of our mentoring team for variety, and these shoots will take place over the summer and autumn.  (There will be a long list of possible dates so we can find option that are convenient for you). These second-shooing experiences will provide a fantastic insight into what is expected of you, and how top professionals achieve great results.  They are great at confidence building, as well as helping you build really strong portfolio material, as you’ll be able to use these images on your website and to showcase in sample albums to help you book your own clients.  After each wedding your mentor will work with  review your images with you and give you advice to take to the next wedding.

Mentoring is a fundamental part of The Academy, helping you improve leaps and bounds over the course of your year with us.

Every student is assigned a dedicated mentor, all of whom are part of our training team that you’ll work with on the six modules. They each bring a wealth of experience and insight, drawing upon years of first hand experience of shooting weddings and portrait photography.

Mentors will review your project work with you on a regular basis, constructively critiquing, guiding and advising on all aspects of your style and technique, offering tips on composition, camera setting decisions, posing and lighting.  Mostly mentoring calls are managed on an individual (not group) basis, via Skype calls.  As the Academy is design to work around those currently working, mentoring appointments can be arranged for evenings if daytimes are not possible.

Working with your mentors at real weddings is undeniably the most valuable element of The Academy year. These aren’t days where you sit back and watch how the pro’s do it, you’re going to be shooting alongside us in these real-world settings.

It’s an opportunity to learn on-the-job, get a very real experience of typical wedding day shoots, and pick up an enormous amount of learning and knowledge from the professional photographer, the stuff that you can’t learn in the classroom.

The Studio:

The Studio is where most of our classroom training will take place. It was purpose-built with your training in mind, offering a comfortable and creative environment to learn in.

We pride ourselves on the relaxed yet informative learning style we’ve cultivated, which is very interactive.  The Academy group is limited to just 12 each year, and we build a really strong and encouraging atmosphere between everyone. The best way to learn is to simply enjoy what you’re doing, and that is always our aim.

A huge aspect of modern wedding and portrait photography is understanding the art of running a business.

Once you’ve gotten to grips with building your portfolio and mastering your photography skills, we spend time taking you through how best to set-up and run your business for greatest success.

The really exciting part is that very soon your dream of a photography business starts to flourish with websites, branding and sales advice.

The Academy training is carefully designed to take you through all aspects of camera and creative photography skills, and as such, is open to anybody who has a passion for photography and is considering making a career as a photographer.

There is no minimum level skill requirement and we easily cater for different levels of experience. Most of our students have a DSLR camera and a passion for photography.