Why pay for tuition?

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I need to declare an interest, right at the start, just like politicians ought to. I am on the market as a photographic tutor, and for a fee, I will help people learn new photographic skills. After a rather slack period that started in the autumn of 2022, I am starting to run workshops again in a few different venues in the Midlands – and that has prompted me to consider why anyone would want to pay me (or anyone else) for photographic tuition.

Have you ever been on a course at work? I always found that a day away from the office left me with a dozen new ideas. Even if the course was, in itself, next to useless. There’s a process of free association when you leave the everyday tasks behind. And I think it works for hobbies, too.

You may very reasonably ask why I think I’m worth paying for this and what qualifications I have. Also, of course, what can I teach people? I have no academic qualifications in photography, but I’ve been shooting for a long time, and I reckon that my portfolio demonstrates a decent level of competence. And there’s also the fact that I’ve been doing the job for just over six years, with a good bit of repeat trade.

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What I can teach people is a more complicated thing: I don’t have great skills in (for instance) landscape photography, and absolutely none at all in action or wildlife work. But I know my way around a digital camera (and, indeed, a film camera) reasonably well, and I’ve got a lot of experience using studios and the flash equipment they contain – and that’s where the greater part of my work is done. And in the studio, there’s a real question about how to work with a model – paying someone to be in front of your camera can be quite intimidating, and having a third party there to mediate things can be helpful.

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And there’s still the killer question: why should someone pay to learn from me? Aren’t there enough YouTube channels dedicated to telling us all how to do stuff?

The answer to that is that you don’t learn terribly fast from watching a video. It’s far better to have a face-to-face interaction with a real person so that you can stop them and ask for clarification. And best of all is ‘experiential learning’ – where you apply what you’ve just discussed, and actually take pictures in the way that you’ve heard described.

And there are plenty of people out there who will provide tuition: many of them making big claims, and a few who can deliver on them. In many cases, you’ll need a good budget, as the tuition can be an add-on to a photographic holiday somewhere photogenic – in this territory, you’ll be looking at a cost with three noughts on the end, I suspect.

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But it can be much cheaper and closer to hand. My latest venture is a series of monthly, two-hour photowalks in the park for beginners, for which I’m charging £10 a head. You can get similar experiences in towns and cities around the world, many of them organised through an Australian organisation called Photography Groups, though their prices are higher, reflecting the size and resources of the organisation backing the events. A common feature of such groups is a way for members to share images, through groups on Facebook, Instagram and so on. This allows members to share images in a safe and supportive environment – it’s amazing how shy some aspiring photographers are…

For me, the challenges are greater than for most studio-based workshops, because of the highly diverse abilities and equipment. I’m finding it a really interesting area, applying general photographic principles to mobile phones because much of what makes a good picture is about control of depth of field and shutter speed… Mobiles rely on built-in processing capacity rather than shallow depth of field, for instance, and only the high-end models have the longer lenses that I find are so useful for almost any subject. The upshot is that I am now taking along my own cameras for people to use!

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Anyway, here are some options that are available – you can choose what suits your budget and temperament, as well as your photographic aspirations. At the top of the tree are workshops that last several days, usually in a location that is rather special, and often involving a degree of luxury in the accommodation. You will pay a premium price for such outings, but in return you will get the benefit of a small group and a celebrity photographer. Four nights in Glencoe with Colin Prior (who has been making superlative landscape photographs for 30 years and more) will cost around £2,000, including accommodation. I am unsure of the group size, but it won’t be large.

At the next level down, you will find one and two day courses run by photographers who are known within their own specialism but are not generally well-known to the public. 18 months ago, I interviewed boudoir photographer Leigh Perkins, who charges £750 for a one-day course shooting erotic nudes with one-to-one tuition. This excludes accommodation but includes the cost of an appropriate model – and Leigh’s models are very good indeed, as is his photography.

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Some years ago, during a “resting” period in my day job, I entered a draw for a landscape course. I’ve done some landscape, but for several years, I’ve mainly been a studio photographer.

To my consternation and delight, I won – a day with two other photographers on Dave Butcher’s course in the Lake District.

Now, I’d got Dave’s first book, High Light, from the wonderful days of Creative Monochrome, so it was an intimidating thought that my tendency to Landscape Lite would meet up with a REAL, published landscaper.

And, when it came to it, there were two other hardcore landscapers there. And, despite the amicable chat in the pub the night before, it was really apparent on the day…

Dave used a Mamiya rangefinder and a carbon fibre tripod, all carried with his FP4 in a front-mounted bag (like me, he has back problems). One of the other togs was on classic fare: an RB67, and the other was using a mix of digital and film. (I’d opted for my Contax RTS: it remains the loveliest camera I own.)

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The real discrepancy was in tripods. There I was, carrying my Benbo in one hand; everyone else just folded theirs up and strapped them across their bags.

So… A day out, walking and putting my camera on a tripod, something I’d not done as much in the preceding five years as on that one day… 

The best thing for me was finding that Dave generally approved of the way I was framing things. The downside was finding how often I tilt the camera (maybe have to use my spirit level instead of keeping it at home…) And the BIG reminder was that a tripod is good for landscape: I knew this (who doesn’t?) but I tend not to actually do it!

And there was another revelation, later. Dave is big on straight printing, generally, but with split grades and often long tonal ranges. I found I was printing negs taken in soft light at grade 1 and less, and getting results I’d never dreamt of.

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The final touch is that Dave asked for images to post to a special section of his website… I’m on there! And, better yet, my instincts worked, and at least one edition of Practical Photography (which I found has ceased publication) had my shot of Dave and a fellow course member in his advertisement. Contax RTS. 85mm Planar. T-Max P3200. And NO TRIPOD! The studio opportunist had one success out in the Lakes…

Sadly, Dave no longer runs courses because of ill health, but there are others in the field, and the cost is very reasonable compared with the benefits, whether you apply the lessons in the landscape or in the studio…

I’ve been on one other course, a 3-day lecture, critique and discussion event with John Blakemore, and a couple of seminars at various times. I have to admit, though, that it works better if you have a good deal of time to discuss, think, and be discursive… The discussion over lunch is worth every bit as much as the tuition itself. Similarly, if a workshop can be followed by a quiet chat over a pint afterwards, you can expand on the learning from the more formal part.

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In the studio, which is where I do the bulk of my tuition, I’m often working with competent and experienced photographers who are either nervous of working with models, or are unfamiliar with the mains-powered flash units that make some aspects of studio work so easy. Both can be intimidating to newcomers. And it’s in this sort of area where face-to-face, experiential workshops are hands-down winners over all other modes.

It’s also worth considering why paying for some sort of formal tuition is better than joining the camera club.  I think two main things of that are this: there is someone there who is specifically expecting to be asked questions and to impart knowledge to others, and you can choose the course that will suit your level of experience and interests.  While sitting next to Nellie will get you a great deal of knowledge, it will be accumulated in a quite haphazard way over a period of time – possibly over months or years.  With a course, there will be good focus during a limited number of hours, and you may well receive either printed notes, or some sort of follow-up if you have questions.

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Where can you find courses?  At least one monthly magazine publishes an annual booklet of courses, though this is an advertising project, and you won’t necessarily find every tutor working in the area.  If there are photographers that you particularly admire, it may be worth contacting and asking about courses.  Some will already be doing them, and others may find the idea interesting so that you will get the benefit of the tutor exploring territory alongside you. While the approach may lack polish, there will be a freshness to the teaching, and you may benefit from tentative introductory pricing.

However and wherever you find it, face-to-face tuition involves a real trade-off between cost and fitting your specific needs. From the tutor’s point of view, there are several things to attend to, and if you are in a group of a dozen, please don’t expect to be able to ask (and have answered) more than one or two questions. Even with a group of six, which is the most I have in my workshops, there’s always scope for someone to be more or less dissatisfied, and I ask your forbearance, on behalf of tutors everywhere! Working with two people allows a very high degree of tailoring, and one-to-one work is absolutely ideal from all points of view. It is also, of course, the most expensive way to work!

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Do you remember the ‘Teach Yourself’ books from the Sixties? Those simple and bright yellow and blue covers, with the promise of new and wonderful knowledge?  There are a number of books around that provide a structured approach to improving your photography, and there’s always a plethora of YouTube stuff on every topic. They may be less structured than you are hoping for – or they may be structured in a way that you find positively unhelpful. In the end, nothing quite replaces one-to-one interaction.

And there are still a variety of more or less individualised courses, which are run online these days – no more posting off coursework for marking! I have only met one person who has tried this approach, and when I asked him his view, he wrote:

I was left to my own devices most of the time: there was very little tuition per se and a very large proportion of the assignments were written rather than practical photography. When my assignments were evaluated I’d get criticism or praise whichever the case might have been. I did a Masters degree in Photography and now I’m an MA.

I’d love to hear from others who have had a more positive experience of correspondence courses.

And, as ever, ePHOTOzine can help – you can always post an image in the Critique Gallery for thoughtful and focussed comments from members, including a team of us who are committed to giving positive critique, and answering question about images. I have just one plea for you, if you do want to post there – please give us a good idea of what you want from us, and be prepared to expand on your initial request, and enter a conversation with us.

So – forego a lens this year. Sign up for a course…