Experience report photo course
Judith Sch. wrote this photo course experience report on 24 July 2015:
The reason for my visit to the 3-hour exclusive photography course with Mr Roskothen was a Waterfall in New Zealand. An incredibly beautiful waterfall in the middle of a humid, dark green shimmering rainforest - an absolute dream for every landscape photography enthusiast. And what was it?
I just couldn't capture the waterfall in its full splendour! Absolutely frustrating! So I stood there, gritting my teeth and glaring increasingly angrily at this natural spectacle and had to admit to myself that my much-loved Motif functions (which are so temptingly practical because you don't need to know anything about the technical secrets of your SLR) simply have their limits. It was this moment that made me realise: A photography course is needed.
Photo course offers
There are many offers. However, it was important to me to expand my own knowledge of photography in a way that was specifically tailored to me, my Knowledgemy Camera and my Interests harmonised photo coursewithout being rushed or completely slowed down by the know-how of other course participants - Mr Roskothen's offer promised to be exactly what I wanted. So I contacted him by e-mail and was able to arrange an appointment for my photo seminar with him immediately.
When we arrived on site, Mr Roskothen and I first took a close look at my camera equipment together and discussed my wishes and expectations for the course in more detail - then we got started immediately and full of enthusiasm. What was particularly noticeable and great for me was that the theory part that followed was really customised to me: if gaps were discovered in my understanding of the camera, these were filled in detail and with a lot of patience with new knowledge, but things I knew were skipped over - the limited time was used optimally. Another positive surprise was that this theoretical part, which I had dreaded, was less of a frontal instruction and more of a dialogue or a discussion. lively discussion between two photo enthusiasts wasone of whom willingly passed on his knowledge.
Own photo excursion
Armed with some useful tips and notes, we then went on foot to the very nearby park for the practical part, which offered an unexpected number of opportunities to try out various things: my favourite landscape photography, of course, but also macro photography, Architectural photos and portrait photography were on my personal programme, for the latter Mr Roskothen made himself available in a good mood. It was also great that, even though I was lured out of my comfort zone of landscape photography, I was always guided to success with a sure hand: abstract architectural photos, for example, which I had previously absolutely loathed, now hold a certain fascination for me. I had also told him in advance about my waterfall experience, so that at the end of our photo excursion we were able to get close to the park fountain together. It's amazing how quickly three hours can fly by!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I can only say: programme automatic, aperture automatic, depth of field and ISO values are no longer a book with seven seals for me and - even better - I will definitely be able to tame the next waterfall. Thank you, Mr Roskothen!
Judith Sch.
Looking at beautiful photos is a marvellous pastime. Taking beautiful photos yourself is almost impossible and anything but a marvellous pastime. And so my camera usually stayed nicely packed away in the cupboard. My family couldn't help but notice that this inability was gnawing at me and gave me a 3-hour photography course.
Last week the time had come. The first step was to clarify what kind of photos I actually wanted to take - emotional product photos. Then it was time for the theory. The dependencies between aperture, shutter speed and distance were not entirely foreign to me, but Mr Roskothen managed to get me to see them in the context of the photo I wanted to take in no time at all. The discussion of some sample photos was very helpful for me. If you can judge from the result what the settings for a particular photo were probably like, then you can conversely choose the settings so that the resulting photo meets your expectations. I was very impressed by this approach. And I already look at product photos in brochures or magazines from an analytical point of view.
The focus was always on product photography and yet Mr Roskothen also taught how the interplay of time, aperture and distance changes depending on the type of subject (still or moving).
Now came the practice. There was the handling of a tripod, then the handling of the camera (which I could certainly have practised before the course) - Mr Roskothen explained with the patience of a saint how to switch through the modes, when to use a preset, when to switch off the preset and intervene in the definition of the parameters myself, which point to focus on, how to use and intensify the incidence of light and so on. Of course we also took photos. But after the three hours, which flew by, I realised that I had only picked up a very small grain of the big world of photography, which I am now trying to apply successfully.
I have resolved to come back again - to optimise what I have learned from my own photos and perhaps try out new subjects. When I look at the photos of our four-legged friend.....
The photography course was tailored to me, my level of knowledge, my camera and my goals. The atmosphere was very relaxed and Mr Roskothen was absolutely confident. I had the feeling that he was actually sharing knowledge with me and not simply imparting facts that I could read up on somewhere.