Welcome to our studio and virtual classroom:
The challenges and opportunities facilitated through digital technology can be absolutely fascinating and equally infuriating. So how can we keep up with such rapid change? What don’t we know but need to understand? What new skills are required? And where do we even begin? In answering such questions I find it helpful to distinguish between those intellectual skills that enable us to engage and understand, and the practical skills that facilitate our creativity and realise our dreams and desires.
The intellectual skills tend to be quickly acquired, for example over a weekend or two, but the practical skills take much longer. This is why we offer such a broad range of educational programs, from one-on-one mentoring to studio workshops to week-long residential courses. Each serves a different purpose and caters for different needs.
And since March 2020 almost all our teaching and consulting has been via ZOOM video conferencing software broadcast from our Melbourne studio which also ensures attendees from all over the world are also in the comfort and familiarity of their own working environment, equipment and images. There are no travel, accommodation or additional costs and enrolments are not constrained by ‘the number of seats around the table’. Our time is then entirely focused on how the workshop’s content and delivery inspires and facilitates your own workflows, production skills, and creative ambitions.
Consultations:
PRODUCTION or MENTORING consultations can be scheduled at anytime and in any time zone via ZOOM video conferencing or Team Viewer QS Remote Desktop software. They provide an exceptional opportunity to refine specific areas of your personal, professional and creative practice including unique and specialist content, or in greater depth and a more focused manner than can usually be realised elsewhere. Regular consultations support large scale projects such as exhibition preparation, or holistic artistic development through a personalised mentoring program, while individual consultations on a ‘need-to-know’ basis provide quick yet profound solutions to immediate questions or problems. Post graduate and post doctoral research project supervision, including grant applications, research proposals, reviews and audits are also regular outcomes. The cost of a private consultation is AUS $200/hr + GST (charged by the 1/4 hour). Typical consultations vary between one to two hours, but are capped at a maximum cost of $300 + GST to ensure what needs to be covered is adequately addressed without the ‘time taken’ getting in the way.
Workshops:
Our weekend workshops are presented between 10.00am to 1.00pm AEST/AEDT on both days from our multi-camera broadcast studio in Melbourne Australia via ZOOM video conferencing software and DropBox file transfers. They are intensive events taking place over two half days to maximise retention and application, with plenty of time for revision, practice, and additional questions to arise. Plus being in your own working environment and working with your own equipment and images ensures you are immediately applying the workshop’s content and revelations to your own practice. You are also collaborating with us and our state-of-the-art equipment and workflows, libraries and research archives. And while each studio workshop focuses on a specific topic and skill set, the priority is always your questions and how to translate and adapt our ‘world’s best practice’ to your own practice, working environment, aims and ambitions. For our international guests we can also record/time-shift the workshop, if needed, so they can participate in their own time zone – see our FAQ Education for more information. Detailed workshop outlines are also available by clicking the individual workshop titles. The cost of a Studio Workshop is AUS $330 including GST or AUS $300 (without GST) for our international guests.
Photography Retreats:
Since 2003 we have also presented photography retreats such as our annual eight day Daintree workshop at the James Cook University DRO Research Station at Cape Tribulation in Nth Queensland, or at James Cook University’s Orpheus Island Research Station. These are unique experiences generously supported by our many sponsors who also attend and supply ‘state-of-the-art’ equipment, knowledge and materials for all our creative photography needs, from printers, ink and paper, to medium format cameras, specialist lenses, drones, graphics monitors, photo books and their expertise in all things photographic. All inclusive costs ex Cairns in 2023 are AUS $4980 per person.
How to Proceed:
Begin by categorising or grouping your requirements into areas of interest. This helps prevent being overwhelmed by the possibilities and opportunities, while also identifying your most pressing concerns. And not just your practical skills, but also where your understanding and confidence is strong, or not. And while our workshops provide the best ‘value’ sometimes a short consultation on a specific topic can save both time and money, especially if you work best in a one-on-one environment.
For example, if you are looking to improve your digital camera and creative capture skills, then our Knowing and Loving your Camera short course would be ideal. But if you are already ‘camera competent’ and want to prepare and print your own images, then our Digital Printing workshop is the perfect introduction – we even custom profile your printer and favourite paper for you!
Or if you are already printing your own images and are happy with your paper selection and print to screen matching, but are seeking even more refined and utterly spectacular prints, then our Crafting a Digital Print workshop is designed for you.
On the other hand, if you can’t quickly locate specific images, or identify different versions of the same image, or are unsure if their storage and backups are safe and reliable, our Cataloguing and Archiving workshop will help you look after yourself as well as your precious images.
Perhaps you want to break out of the limitations and frustrations of an Adobe workflow? Then our Affinity Photo and 3DLUT Creator and Capture One Workflows workshops will ‘change your life’ by profoundly advancing your pictorial understanding, editing, and imaging skills through state-of-the-art professional software and ‘first-principles’ based workflows.
When your passion is the classic BW photograph, our The BW Digital Image workshop will not only extend your personal and historical interest, but also profoundly improve your entire workflow from pre-visualisation to capture, editing and printing.
But if you are seeking more meaning and creative purpose in your pictures, especially with a deeper understanding of how pictures ‘capture hearts and minds’ independently of their subject, then our Understanding Pictures and/or Thinking Photography and/or Color Artistry workshops will be incredibly informative and inspiring.
And these are just a few of our many offerings.
Working with us will also provide an overview of the opportunities that lie ahead, where learning what you do-and-don’t know helps identify not only what is most pressing in your current workflow, but also where you can quickly make the biggest improvements in your practice, understanding, and confidence.
Our EDUCATION CALENDAR summarises upcoming events while online bookings and payments are available via the links on each page.
WORKSHOPS FAQ TESTIMONIALS CONSULTATIONS
Dr Les Walkling
Andrey Walkling
Last updated 20 March 2023