Travel Photography Course

■ Interactive, dynamic, fun. 'Hands on' shooting and telling your travel story

■ The ideal Travellers Photography course for time pressed persons

■ Learning about camera handling, types of lighting and creative composition

■ Portraiture, landscapes, still life, motion, architecture, nature, wildlife

■ Reflections, heat and dust, snow and cold, the essence and soul of a region

■ Fun and innovative learning with like minded fellow individuals

■ Active 'hands on' learning at photogenic and interesting indoor and outdoor locations

■ Well structured, practical workshops covering a variety of subjects

■ Small groups of no more than 6 persons

■ Expert tuition from the professional photographer Andrew Thomasson

THE COURSE STYLE 

■ A practical 'hands on' course with a series of workshops designed to emulate scenarios you will encounter in your travels

■ We use a variety of great Brisbane locations to give you a feel for diverse scenarios.

■ Snapping boats and food at Marina Mirage wharf semi replicates a Greek holiday.

■ Nature and flowers in the Botanical gardens are good practice for shooting in Costa Rica.

■ Tips on Brisbane architectural photography can be transported to pictures in London.

■ The bustle of the Brisbane markets emulates Covent Gardens.

■ Shooting wildlife and nature at The wildlife parks provides invaluable tips for your upcoming Kimberley cruise, Antarctica adventure or African safari.

■ We recognise its impossible to cover everything in one day. To that end you will receive a set of detailed notes to support what you learn and to cover points we may miss. See FAQ section for further details on these notes. 

 

■ No previous photographic experience required

■ A smartphone, compact, mirror-less and/ or a DLSR camera ( see FAQ's for more information)

■ Memory Card(s): we recommend at least a 4 GB card for each day of shooting

■ Charged camera battery and a spare if you have one

■ A wide-angle is useful for landscapes. A telephoto for wildlife

■ Your travel itinerary and camera instruction book (alternatively we access camera operation details on the day using a smartphone)

 

Time	10am to 5pm
Location	McDonalds - Marina Mirage, Seaworld Drive, Main Beach QLD 4218
Meeting Point	McDonald's Marina Mirage

Why do this two day Travel Photography Course?
■ A must for any traveller, this travel photography course is designed to inspire you and deliver the skills you will need to develop a beautiful and stunning reportage style and the art of storytelling.

■ You want a fun yet informative learning experience in the camaraderie of fellow travellers in one of the world's most iconic cities. Over two days you will get to photograph some of Sydney's most photogenic locations including wildlife at Taronga Zoo.

■ You want to get more out of your camera's features and learn more about photography in general. You learn much faster with 'hands on' instruction from a professional photographer & tutor

■ You need to learn how to use your camera properly before hitting the road or getting on a plane. To understand how various settings and modes will deliver the results you want. For instance, capturing fast moving wildlife is ideal in Shutter priority mode. Aperture priority is essential for macro and landscape photography. You need to know about exposure compensation in white, bright snow & beach scenes, about focussing points to isolate a koala nestled in a gum tree. A quality smartphone will deliver outstanding results and be unobtrusive in a crowded Indian market, a drone is perfect for capturing Australia's stunning coastline.

■ Experience matters: compiled by working professional travel and tourism photographers. We are authoritative, consummate professionals in both shooting and teaching travel and tourism photography - NOT 'armchair' experts.

■ Expertise: this one day course has been created by Andrew and Serena who have trained tens of thousands of students through their one and two day Travel Photography courses running in throughout Australia. They are also authors of the worldwide selling Online Travel Photography course. Andrew & Serena have racked up 122 joint countries they have travelled to and photographed. They are consummate travel photography experts.

■ Knowledge is power: You are spending a huge amount for a trip of a lifetime - a cruise to Antarctica, an African wildlife safari, a cultural tour on the Silk Road. You have some good gear. You need to know the essentials about how your camera works, how you can take full advantage of its features, about travel photography across the board, about the conditions you may encounter - the weather, restrictions and local laws, the best time of day, the best time to go, an idea of what you want to photograph. This course will fast track you into the world of travel photography.

What are some of the indoor & outdoor locations we photograph at?

■ We endeavour to go to most or all of the following destinations:
•Brisbane CBD
•Sanctuary Cove
•Tamborine Mountain
•Main beach
•Gold Coast
•David Fleay Wildlife Park
•Byron Bay & surrounds

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Is this course suitable for me?
■ It is Suitable for everyone. Over 29 years, we have had 1000's do this course around Australia from every walk of life, travelling to amazing places and of all ages. It is for any traveller at whatever skill level you are at. The detailed notes are pertinent for any traveller- using any imaging device. Practical workshops at various locations demonstrate 101 tips and tricks pros use - like shooting reflections and starbursts. The tips on light and composition are relevant for any photographer.

■ People who want to earn money as a freelance travel photographer.

■ Experienced photographers who want to learn new skills, about new imaging technologies such as drones, about the specific scenarios they will encounter on their travels.

■ You should be physically able to walk 4-7km on this course. Talk to us about anyone with special needs and we will try to accommodate them.

What happens if it's raining?

■ We do not give refunds for inclement weather. Bring a raincoat and/or umbrella as some of the best photos are taken in the rain. We have a number of indoor shooting location options.

■ We offer a 'repeat for free' weather guarantee. If the weather is really bad we will do a few hours and you then receive a gift voucher to come back at another time. You can also 'gift' your credit voucher to another party.

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How many people will be on my course?
■ A maximum of 8 persons for a highly personalised learning experience. This ensures plenty of one on one attention.

■ We do cater for larger groups bringing in other tutors and splitting the groups into teams. Talk to us about your special requirements such as a 'team building' Travel Photography course for a government organisation, company, your travel or camera club and for private groups.

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What is the difference between the one and the 2 day course?
■ We offer a one day Travel Photography course in Sydney and Perth as the 2 main photographers / tutors live there. Its not economic to fly to Adelaide for one person booking on a one day course. Please enquire with us a week or so out as we may have a vacancy on the 2 day course - if so you can do the first day of this course.

■ This two day course is for those photographers who want to go to more places, it offers training in editing skills using Lightroom Classic and flying drones. The one day Travel Photography course does not.

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Do I have the right camera gear for this course & my forthcoming travels?
■ In your detailed notes you receive upon booking- we give lots of recommendations on the best camera gear, camera bag and accessories to consider before embarking on your trip.

■ Any full or cropped frame DSLR camera, mirrorless camera, quality compact or smartphone is ideal to do this course or for travelling in general. Full frame cameras with their bigger sensors will give better results if for instance you are on a Red Centre landscape oriented holiday where you need fine resolution for wall art enlargements.

■ A wide angle lens is most useful. (Say a 12-24mm) add in a telephoto lens 70-300mm for wildlife or a mid range lens 24-105mm for all round street photography. A 50mm f1.8  is small, cheap and great to have in your kit. Or just do this course with your kit 18-135mm kit lens.

■ Its imperative you think carefully about your travel camera gear. A quality compact with a decent zoom may be all you need. A great smartphone is the ideal companion for the older traveller or backpacker wanting to travel light. Conversely if you want to take fantastic wildlife shots on an African safari or polar expedition - you will need reliable, strong gear and some long telephoto lenses. A snapshooter skier will love a compact like the Sony RX100 series - brilliant photos, reliable, light and fits nicely in a ski jacket pocket.

■ Choose the right gear based on portability, what you like to shoot, whether you aim to be a hobby or a professional photographer and price point.

■ We suggest you aim to have a few imaging devices for increased versatility and we think every travel photographer should try to pack a quality compact. There are many other fantastic, high quality compacts on the market.

■ Look at getting into aerial drone photography - especially for destinations with stunning coastlines and landscapes.

■ Use a newish smartphone with excellent imaging capabilities for everything. They excel for Panoramic shots and video clips and the best imaging device is the camera which is always with you - your smartphone.

■ Build up a system as requirements and your budget allows.

■ Wherever you can and depending on how serious you are - Invest in the best lenses, filters and a lightweight, quality tripod - these should last you a long time under heavy use.

■ Don’t put 'all your eggs in one basket' - better to use lots of smaller memory cards than few bigger ones in case of loss or dysfunction of cards.

■ An on-camera flash unit is useful if you are travelling light

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Can I rent a camera? Buy SD cards?
■ Yes - we have cropped DLSR Canon and Nikon Cameras for rent. The fee is $90. Your camera will have a standard 18-55mm lens ( or equivalent)

■ Quality 32GB SD cards are available for purchase for $25 per card ( or bring your own SD card).

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What are some of the topics covered in the notes I get?
■ Course notes mirror the practical course workshops with detailed with easy to understand, step by step procedures to teach you camera handling skills, about composition, lighting and a myriad of other techniques to become a competent travel and tourism photographer.

■ PREPARATION  - introduction  |  before you go  |  where to go |  when to go |  how to go  |  what to shoot |  on location  |  street etiquette  |  be adaptable  

■ CAMERA GEAR - what gear quick guide  |  full frame DSLR cameras  |  cropped sensor DLSR's  |  prime & zoom lenses  |  quality compacts  |  mirrorless cameras  | medium format cameras  |  adventure cameras  |  smartphones  |  drones |  speedlite flash units  |  tripods, monopods & gorillapods  |  filters  |  batteries memory cards & backup  |  cleaning your gear  |  camera bags  |  accessories  

■ CAMERA HANDLING - shooting modes  |   raw vs jpeg  |  metering modes  |  colour space  |  focusing modes  |  white balance  | iso  |  picture style & control  |  exposure lock  compensation & bracketing  |  adding light into shadows  |  high dynamic range (HDR)  |  using flash 

■ LIGHTING - types  | natural light  |  artificial light  |  white balance  |  time the light 

■ COMPOSITION - leading & converging lines  |  the rules of thirds  |  framing an image  |  reflections  |  look for unusual angles  |   star bursts  |  focusing on detail  |  showing motion  | viewpoint   |  selective focus   |  aspect ratio 

■ POPULAR THEMES TO SHOOT - objects, people, landscapes, buildings & architecture, food & drink, action, wildlife, nature, abstract  

■ BACK AT HOME -  basics of editing  |  editing in Lightroom  |  transferring files-hardware  |  uploading files  |  auto smartphone backup  |  home & office back up  |  showcasing your images  |  social media  | selling online  |  photo books & frames  |  photos as prints  |  tips & tricks  |  summary  |  recommended gear

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Can I bundle or package the 2 day course with the 'Online' Travel Photography course?
■ Yes- we offer a 10% discount when you opt to purchase both the 'Online' Travel Photography course and this two days 'on location' Travel Photography course as a 'bundle'

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Focus 10 runs fantastic, informative and always fun courses and tours. I have done 4 of them now - Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, 3801 Steam train and the most recent to Jervis Bay. Always a laugh and with excellent like minded, fellow photographers!

--Sean Dudding | product owner

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Hi Andrew,

It was great to catch up with you this afternoon. I feel that doing your course was extremely beneficial and since then, using your tips, my confidence and ability with my camera has increase exponentially. Thank you so much for the information on the Indian photo processing lab. I hope that I'm able to get good at Photoshop and Lightroom but it's good to have them there as a back up just in case.

--Katrina Price

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Thanks for the email Andrew And yes Mate - loved the photos making me look 5 years younger. The make up artist was a good idea.
Been busy pitching new business all week.....have some time tomorrow to have a proper look at all the photos but lots to choose from.

--Craig McCann

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Great to meet you. Christie and I love your work. We think that the 4 attached, at this phase of our project would fit well and we would be keen to see if any of these would be able to be blown up to a large wall art format.

--Kate Hopwood | Head of Design

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Andrew is our family photographer! He shot our wedding at Jonah's at Whale Beach last year- the photographs are amazing - Kevin and I love them! I would highly recommend Andrew as your wedding photographer. He has also shot my sisters wedding and does corporate shots for us as well

--Christie Maartensz | homewares importer

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Super smartphone training session for our leisure sales team. Thanks for the complimentary give vouchers to each participant as well. Cheers

--Nick Ward / Head of Leisure Sales

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Thanks again for your work at our conference. We were all very pleased.

Got back to the office yesterday and we received via Dropbox all the amazing photographs you took. You captured everthing- the keynote speakers, the sailing events, the party. We will definitely be using you again when we are next in Australia

-- Karen Seidman

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As director of a company which represents hundreds of professional photographers running courses around Australia its always a pleasure dealing with Andrew and Focus 10. They run highly professional Australia wide photography courses and from the feedback from my clients they do a great job, they are reliable and honest and always do the right thing by their clients - we highly recommend them.

-- Paul Middleton | Director

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