Events and Courses – Damien Demolder

One-to-one classes with Damien

One-to-one photography and

CAMERA-SKILLS CLASSES WITH DAMIEN DEMOLDER

One-to-one tuition for all levels of experience. Sessions fully customised to your needs

£499 – including lunch and refreshments

My one-to-one days are designed around each individual student’s needs and are tailored to fill specific gaps in knowledge or experience that we identify before the day starts.

The day usually begins with a chat about the type of photography we will be doing or the techniques and modes we’ll be using. Then, to put into practice what we’ve discussed we go on to a series of great locations to so we can both be sure that the lessons stick and are really learnt in a concrete way.

Damien Demolder's one-to-one photography courses
The whole time I’ll stand next to you delivering instructions and instant assessments, in a friendly and constructive way that so you can see exactly what your mistakes and successes are. By the end of the day you will have thoroughly grasped the concepts and skills covered and you will be a much better photographer and a wider experience and a more open mind to future progress.

Working on a one-to-one basis is an ideal way to fast-track your photography skills and your understanding of how your camera works. You get all the attention and you can ask all the questions you like – in the comfort that there are NO silly questions, and that everyone has to start somewhere and from a position of hardly any knowledge.

I have 15 years practice teaching photography, from writing practical and technical articles for Amateur Photographer magazine, Photo Technique magazine and DP Review, as well as from working with countless individual students. I am fully familiar with every brand of camera, having tested and used DSLR and compact models from all manufacturers over the last decade and a half. So I’m in a perfect position to help you to understand how to find your way around your camera if you are a beginner, or how to get more out of it and your manufacturer’s system if you are a more experienced user.

Understand and control basic and advanced settings and photographic skills
• Apertures and shutter speeds
• Exposure modes
• Exposure metering
• Depth of field
• Editing techniques

Visual Concepts
• Composition
• Framing
• Subject placement
• Camera angles

One-to-one classes take place in London, and students can request a weekday or a weekend. Please email me for more information, available dates and with details of the areas of photography you’d like to learn about.

You can see a galleries of former student’s work in the One-to-One Students’ Gallery and in the One Day Street Photography Classes Gallery.

Gift vouchers for photography courses

A voucher for one of my street courses or a one-to-one learning day is the perfect gift for any photographer of any experience level. There’s no greater feeling than making progress in something you love, or in finding the answers to the questions that have been bothering you for ages.

Whether you pick a street day or a personal day the recipient of your gift will love you for ever, and every time they take a good picture from that day on they’ll remember your kindness and your thoughtful gift.

You can find details of my day courses and night courses on their respective information pages. You can find details about my personal one-to-one courses here, but in short they are designed precisely around the needs of the student and their level of experience or area of interest – so every one is different. They start with a chat on the phone so I can find out what is needed, and it ends with an assessment of the pictures taken on the day – with hints and tips on how they could be better, and what has worked brilliantly.

My aim is always happy and fulfilled students, who know they have learnt a lot and that they’ve had an excellent and enjoyable day. These courses change the way students think about photography, their cameras and the way they see everyday scenes. I aim to make them life-changing.

Gift vouchers are posted to you along with one of my greeting cards, so you can write your own message inside. The price of the voucher reflects the cost of the course.

Street photography courses cost £180

Personal one-to-one days cost £499

Just go to my students’ picture gallery, and read the comments they’ve posted on the day courses page if you want to know what people think.

To buy a voucher email us stating the course you’d like to buy, and we’ll get in touch straight away to sort out the details.

Damien

Silhouette of a running girl – Exposure, coincidence and making your own luck

A silhouette can be a powerful graphic element in a photograph, but to work well it needs the right background so it can stand out and the right exposure to make it just dark enough. When we create silhouettes we reduce the scene we are photographing to just a collection of shapes, lines and edges, so we also need to be careful that they all interact well with each other and that they don’t overlap when they shouldn’t.

This is a picture I took one sunny morning on the pathway that leads to the north side of the Millennium Bridge in London. The sun was streaming between two buildings and creating a river of very bright light in the generally shady alleyway. What struck me at the time was the immense contrast between the area that was lit and that which wasn’t. As people walked to the bridge I could see that they were crossing from the two extremes – one minute light up by the sun and the next in the shadow of the building. By positioning myself at an angle to the path of the light I could get a view of the people in the shade while they were still passing part of the background that was still alight.

Pre-visualisation

Thinking about the shot I wanted I determined that I should expose for the light levels on the sunlit part of the wall, as this would render the shaded part of the scene very dark. Exposing for the shaded area would obviously render the lit wall very over exposed and much too bright. If I let the camera do its own thing it would have made shade just a little bit dark and the light area a bit too bright. You have to take control in this kind of situation, know what the camera is going to do, and then set your exposure yourself. For this shot I set the exposure about 2EV darker than the camera would have done – because I wanted the shade to be black and the wall to bit a fraction too dark so the colour of the brickwork would become saturated and powerful.

I had to wait for people to cross from the light into the shade to take the shot. The area in which they could be to make this work was actually pretty small – probably about six foot – and they needed to be a particular distance from that background wall to be framed nicely. What complicated things more is that to get a completely clean outline they would also need to have cleared the triangular shadow created by the smaller wall on the right of the frame. As you can guess, I had to wait some time to get a person in exactly the right spot – even though it is a very busy area.

The right person

I also needed the right person. Someone with a distinctive outline that would give visual clues to what they were carrying, where they were going or what sort of person they were. I shot a few business people – singles worked and pair became confused very easily – and everything depended on the pose they were in when they hit that exact spot where the picture would work.

I saw this girl running quickly towards the magic paving slab, and with fingers crossed pressed the shutter when she got there. And I was delighted when the preview arrived on the screen. Her pose couldn’t have been better had I posed her myself, and her feet landed perfectly to be in the shadow but without being lost in the darkness. She had just cleared the triangular shadow and there is a comfortable space in front of her for her to travel into before she hits the wall of darkness.

Coincidences

The picture works because of all the coincidences that came together to make the shot. The position of the girl and her pose, and well as the position of the sun and the type of the light – I shot again the next day in overcast conditions to show how reliant the success was on the exact weather at the time.

That everything came together was a stroke of luck, but it was luck I waited for and luck I helped to make for myself. I spotted the potential and waited for the right person to be in the right position. That person may not have come along at all, but I did what I could and hoped for the best – and it happened. A fisherman will put himself in the best spot on a good river and use the right bait, but only luck will bring the fish, and it’s the same with this kind of shot. This fish just happened to have its hair up and trainers on!

Samsung NX20 with 30mm lens.

You could shoot pictures like this too. Find out how on one of my photography workshops.

See me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/demolder
Follow me on Twitter at @damiendemolder

Damien Demolder street photography

Street photography – long shadows and shooting at night

Street photography –
long shadows and shooting at night

An evening shooting by the light of the setting sun, and then the multi-coloured lights of the city after dark

£180 How to book

Join Damien for an evening of photography by the light of the street lamps and shop windows. Starting as the sun falls in the sky to create those magical long shadows and then working into the dark with the orange of the city streets and the multi-coloured lights of neon displays we’ll catch the varied and romantic atmosphere of London at night. Damien will teach you how to spy a good subject to start with, and then we’ll explore exposure and white balance as well, of course, as composition, timing and communicating the emotions of a world after dark.

As with the daytime street classes, these night shoots are about learning and being taught. Damien will spend time with each participant and will ensure that you get the attention, information and inspiration you need to create stunning images.

Who is it for?

As there is such a high degree of one-to-one time on these courses they will suit photographers of any ability and experience. You may have just bought your first camera or you might have been taking pictures for years, it doesn’t matter. Members of the group are encouraged to learn from each other’s unique vision as well as from the instruction and guidance that I will deliver.

Broad itinerary

The itinerary for the evening will depend on a number of factors, including the weather, the time of year and what is happening in London at the time (road works, building refurbishment etc). In broad terms though, we will meet-up before sunset, usually around 4pm, and then, after a brief chat about the shoot and what everyone expects and wants, we’ll visit a number of locations to talk through the ways in which they can be photographed.

There will be a brief stop for a snack and then the group will work on until about 9pm when we retire to review the pictures taken during the event. This is a group review session during which group members get the chance to see how the others tackled the same tasks. It is always amazing to see the range of different angles and viewpoints, and it’s often surprising to see who comes out with the best shots. It’s not a competition, of course, but beginners sometimes get great satisfaction from their shock high-ranking and success.

In all though these are fun events devoted to learning something new about something you enjoy very much. There is no pressure, and advice and guidance are given in a very friendly and supportive way. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and I’m more than happy to discuss basic concepts, kit choice, photographic techniques and advanced practice.

How to book

I run these courses frequently. Using the calendar in the top right of the page you will be able to see on which day of each month there is a course. Click the date to see the details and if you’d like to book email me. I’ll be able to tell you whether the course you want is available, and give you payment instructions.

Places available for these dates:

Thursday 11th December 4pm -10pm in Central London – Sold out

Thursday 29th January 2015 4pm-10pm in Central London

Thursday 12th February 2015 4pm-10pm in Central London

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Street Photography Courses in London – Full Day

London street photography one-day courses

Improve your seeing and photography skills in a single informative and entertaining day. Suitable for all levels

£180 How to book

See our previous students’ pictures in the London street photography gallery at the bottom of this page.

Join me for a full day of tuition and make some serious strides forward with your street photography skills. Groups are kept very small (5-6 people) so each individual gets lots of one-to-one time and learning levels are high.

These aren’t the sort of days where you are left to wonder aimlessly with your camera. These are courses that concentrate on introducing new concepts, developing new ways of seeing and polishing existing skills.

During the day you’ll learn how to identify a good location, and then discover how to work it to find the best angles and to optimise its potential. We’ll talk composition, exposure and lighting, as well as timing, lenses and focusing – and what makes one of those magical decisive moments.

Who is it for?

Broad itinerary

The itinerary of the day will depend on a number of factors, including the weather, the time of year and what is happening in London at the time (road works, building refurbishment etc). In broad terms though, we will meet-up mid-morning, usually 11am, and then, after a brief chat about the day and what everyone expects and wants, we’ll visit a number of locations to talk through the ways in which they can be photographed.

There will be a brief stop for lunch and then the group will work on until about 4pm when we retire to review the pictures taken during the day. This is a group review session during which group members get the chance to see how the others tackled the same tasks. It is always amazing to see the range of different angles and viewpoints, and it’s often surprising to see who comes out with the best shots. It’s not a competition, of course, but beginners sometimes get great satisfaction from their shock high-ranking and success. The day will finish at about 5pm.

In all though these are fun days devoted to learning something new about something you enjoy very much. There is no pressure, and advice and guidance are given in a very friendly and supportive way. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and I’m more than happy to discuss basic concepts, kit choice, photographic techniques and advanced practice.

How to book

I run these courses once a month. Using the calendar in the top right of the page you will be able to see on which day of each month there is a course. Click the date to see the details and if you’d like to book email me. I’ll be able to tell you whether the course you want is available, and give you payment instructions. You can also visit my photography workshops page that lists upcoming classes.

Have a look at some of the pictures taken by
photographers who have been on this course and
watch this video of a day with the Fuji X-Pro1 I did for Fujifilm UK

Student Gallery

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If you have been on this course please feel free to add three of our best pictures from the day, using this uploader below
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