#1114 Summer Photo Adventures

Posted on July 24, 2015 by admin

Summer started well for groups of photo students who recently enjoyed Custom Photo Courses. We’ve been taking people out to extend their photo limits using their existing equipment.

We’re also preparing a Laurentians Photo Adventure for early summer 2016, below, for people wishing to challenge and explore their skills behind the camera.

Custom Photo Courses
Join us for individual attention or as a small group for our custom courses. We’ve been offering custom courses for many years. Read a recent review.

Custom Photo Course
Chelsea, Gatineau Park

Locations include central Ottawa, Gatineau Park. We use other locations, too.

Our most common course is a four hour, individual session for $350.
A two person, four hour session is $550 (or $275 each).

Material covered depends on your needs.
We’ve covered:
• beginner basics
• portraits
• advanced creativity

2016 Laurentians Photo Adventure
Join us on a relaxing but immersive photography learning session next summer.

We combine a tranquil and comfortable base in the Laurentians bordered by a bike / walking path and the Rouge River.

Date:
Early July, 2106

Night time Teepee Photography Laurentians Photo Adventure

We’ll be choosing from locations to best suit the weather and the group. Shooting locations and subjects could include:
• Tremblant Village
• Horses
• Gardens
• Rivers and Waterfalls
• Night time Teepee shooting
• Parc national du Mont Tremblant

Throughout the day you can expect:
• early morning shoots
• evening photography
• critique sessions
• time for relaxing & meals

Laurentians Photo Adventure

More important than the locations will be the support and creative stimulation you’ll receive on the adventure.

Accommodations
We are teaming up with a quiet Bed & Breakfast close to the action of Tremblant but a universe away. Our hosts provide a limited number of gorgeous B& B accommodations and attractive camping. You may choose your own accommodation when registering for the Laurentian Photo Adventure.

My family has stayed with them many times and explored the area for years.

Our hosts’ patio for post shooting relaxation and editing!

Meals
Breakfast is available at our base B&B. We will take care advantage of local restaurants and available eateries for lunches, snacks and dinners. Mid-day meals may include packed picnic lunches.

Transportation
We will be traveling short distances – up to 30km to different photo sites. Most people will travel by personal vehicle or share driving with other participants. No transportation is included in the cost of the Laurentians Photo Adventure

Our hosts’ gardens in the Laurentians

Costs
Costs include:
• photography instruction fee – early bird rate of $500 for 2 days on the adventure.
plus
• accommodation for two nights. 2015 rates range from camping @ $14/person/night or lovely B&B rooms from $99/night (single occ. Lover’s Loft) to $154/night (double occ. Garden Retreat); Other rates exist for different rooms.
• meals
• transportation
•extras that you wish to undertake

Booking
Photo Adventure spots and accommodation are limited as this is our hosts busiest time of year. Please contact us for more information and booking your adventure.

#1107 Photo Workshops and Private Courses

Posted on March 15, 2015 by admin

Spring is coming!
Flowers are preparing to burst into colour.
Bears are starting to stretch, ready to come out of hibernation. Sleepy photographers are starting to stir, too!

Push your photography limits this spring!

We’re offering two options this spring for photographers to improve their skills:

• Our classic Creative Fundamentals photo workshop
Learn in a traditional format taking advantage of live theory, practical and critique. All camera styles welcome.

• Private classes for individuals and small groups
Learn what you want, when you want.

Improve your Smart Phone photography!

Background – Harry Nowell
Harry Nowell has worked for 20 years providing imagery for clients like Carleton University, Canadian Senate, Royal Ottawa Hospital, Canadian Geographic and others. His imagery has been licensed all over the world.Harry Nowell has taught photography for 15 years. His students are his best advocates!

YouTube!
In the age of YouTube there is a lot of free advice and “how-to” related to photography. There is also a decline in the quality of photography. From the Financial Post:
“When it comes to image quality, the real problem is that consumers no longer care.”
And there is frustration!

Improve your photography!

If you are frustrated or have a passion for quality in your pictures, we can help!

Creative Fundamentals
May 7 (evening classroom)
May 9 (practical shooting)
May 14 (evening classroom critique)
Central Ottawa/Gatineau
$375.

Private Classes
Offered as schedules permit.
$Cost depends on session:
• One person / half day = $375.
• Two people / half day = $275 each.
Prices may change without notice.

#1088 Online Photo Program – Photographing Water – Member Results!

Posted on July 13, 2014 by admin

Last month I presented our Online Photo Members the challenge of photographing water. We presented some technical tips and a broad suggestion of what was possible within the realm of water photography.

“It is an amazing program and I have learned so much from it and from you.”
CP

I thought most people would photograph rivers and waterfalls.

I was happy to see that, while we had some (excellent) rivers and waterfalls, people pushed themselves to photograph water in many different ways including bursting water balloons!!

“… thank you for all the instruction and encouragement from the online program for the past year plus that I’ve been a member.” LR

“I’ve learned so much in the short time that I have taken part.” JS

Members make me smile – I’m proud of them all!
I’ve seen excellent shots and excellent growth in skills!

#1086 Summer Urban Photo Safaris

Posted on July 6, 2014 by admin

Summer is here and it’s time for shooting.

Join one of our two summer photo safaris:
• For all skill levels – we’ll challenge everyone at their level.
• Meet photo enthusiasts.
• Discover fun photo locations and new techniques.

Each night we pull photo exercises from years of photo workshops in Ottawa and Gatineau. We shoot at different locations each evening.

Two dates in July, 2014 – cost is $75 plus tax…
Join us…

Jon us – urban photo safari in Ottawa

#1069 Creative Fundamentals – Course Follow-up

Posted on May 2, 2014 by admin

In it’s 14th year we offered this spring’s Creative Fundamentals session.

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop © Kathleen

Typical progression:
• Classroom Theory Session – Wide-eyed wonder
• Practical Session (early) – Trepidation
• Practical Session (late) – Smiles and relief
• Critique Session – Smiles and (early) confidence

Creative Fundamentals Photo Class – © Richard Provencher

The course went well.
Photos and skills progressed.
Smiles became more frequent.

Creative Fundamentals – Photo Class © Lisa Nabe

Students said:
“Positive. Fun. I appreciated the prep work and care.”

“Amazing. Harry’s easy-going, well-explained style is perfect for this beginner’s course. His knowledge came through very easily using simple, easy to understand language… I came to this course very much intimidated by my camera. In a very short time I felt confident about what I was doing.”

Creative Fundamentals Photo Workshop – © Virginia

“I learned so much with this workshop. I went from knowing nothing about exposure, iso, aperture and shooting in ‘auto’ to shooting in ‘manual’ and understanding.”

Thanks for the fun!

Creative Fundamentals © Gabriel

#1055 Online Program – White Challenge Success!

Posted on March 6, 2014 by admin

Our Online Photo Program members worked hard last month on a tough technical challenge.

I asked them to only shoot colour scenes that were offered only black or white elements. The hard part was the photos had to be exposed perfectly straight from the camera.

Background
One of my pet peeves in photography are photographs that are poorly exposed or photographers who rely on post processing to correct exposure mistakes made when shooting.

If you aim you camera at something predominantly white or black the camera will get the wrong exposure – EVEN in Manual Exposure Mode if you don’t know how to over-ride the camera’s brain.

Our most popular course is Creative Fundamentals. We teach people how to get correct exposures all the time without relying on the computer. Better still, we use simple steps to help people understand exposure.

For many people exposure is scary! We make understanding exposure accessible.

Member’s Photos
There were some growing pains this month. But people did well!! Help me congratulate our members for another successful challenge!

Join us to challenge yourself!

Leah E – good exposure with a slight colour cast – that’s ok for this assignment! The histogram shows bright whites and dark blacks!! Good work.

#1049 Winter and Spring Photo Classes

Posted on February 17, 2014 by admin

Our line-up of winter and spring photography courses is almost complete!

Better photos @ HarryNowell.com photo classes

For those close to Ottawa and Gatineau, we’re offering something for everyone:
• a course for communications staff to create better work-based photos
• Macro workshop (almost full) and tulip safari with Louise Tanguay
• Smart phone photography with Blair Gable
• Creative Fundamentals – our most popular course to help people with the basics of photography plus an advanced fundamentals course for those wanting fundamentals support but more than the basics.

For those further afield we offer our Online Photo Program – all you need is a good internet connection and a desire to learn from our members!

… And there are more courses listed and soon to be announced. Stay tuned…

Better pictures through HarryNowell.com

#1044 – Online Photo Program – Black & White Environmental Portraits

Posted on January 26, 2014 by admin

Online Photo Program – © Al Garner

We had a good crop of member photos from this month’s online photo challenge.

As usual, we set a photo challenge every month and we feed tips, links and videos throughout the month as members do their best to produce photos for the monthly critique.

This month we offered a DOUBLE challenge:
1. Environmental Portraits – photos of someone working/living in their natural environment.
2. Member photos had to be in Black & White – either converted in post processing or shot on film.

The private Facebook forum buzzed as members posted photos, offered criticism, ideas and encouragement.

The whole process helps photographers grow. Comments this month:

• “I had lots of fun this month. I wasn’t too confident coming into this month’s challenge. After posting my three pictures on the Facebook forum and receiving such helpful and positive feedback, I felt much better. What a great community!”

• “There is zero chance that I would have taken these shots without the online photography program. I think the monthly assignments are starting to have a cumulative effect and my photography is steadily improving. I think I get the biggest bang for my buck from the online program. Keep it coming!”

• “I have been learning for over 6 months through one-on-one Creative Fundamental course, Lightroom course and the On-line Program which I absolutely love.

These courses combined, have taken my photography to a whole new level. I have learned so much and I have a much better appreciation to the complexities and creative side to photography and, I am having so much fun.

Thanks so much Harry. I am still learning and I will be for a long time. You are an exceptional teacher.“Good work this month, members!

Want better photos?
Join us!

#1042 Exposure Basics + Your Input, Please!

Posted on January 20, 2014 by admin

On Saturday, we hosted a good crew looking to refresh or develop good base photo skills.

We looked at the basics of exposure and how to master manual exposure mode.
… It’s scary but essential if you want to drive creative control yourself.

And contrary to popular belief it’s not that hard to get good, solid exposures in manual exposure mode – at least when you understand the concepts and steps involved.

Benefits of manual exposure mode:
• YOU control brightness of your photos and choose creative outcomes
• Avoid letting the camera decide on exposure – the camera will choose different exposures based on what it aims at (dark tree or bright snow…) rather than what light level exists.
• Avoid grey snow scenes (a sure way to know someone doesn’t understand exposure!)

In three hours participants were getting consistently better exposures.
And more smiles. 🙂

Learning about exposure and histograms

Spring and Summer Workshops? Your input please!
Initial offerings of spring and summer workshops are set but we have a few more slots we’d like to fill.

What do YOU want to learn?
• Portraits?
• Composition?
• Motion/sports?
• Any guest instructors?

Send us a note – we’d love to hear from you!

Photo workshops

#1040 Learning how to Photograph Events for the Workplace

Posted on January 12, 2014 by admin

Photographing key-note speeches

Years ago a government communications staff member lamented about the quality of photos she had to deal with in her work. She admitted photos often came from staff with intentions better than their photo skills – the reality being there was not always a budget to hire a working photographer.

She suggested we offer a photo course for communications staff that would help people get better pictures of their work events…

… And Photography for Communications Professionals was developed. We have run this course for many, many organizations including Carleton University, Ottawa Airport, Library and Archives Canada, Passport Canada.

The one day photo class includes material from:
• Creative Fundamentals
• Natural Light Portraits
• years of shooting events
and packages it in a format geared to communications staff from government and large organizations.

Photographing podium speeches

The Format
1. There is a classroom section covering equipment, theory and challenges like consent forms.
2. A hands-on, practical session gives participants a safe environment to develop skills photographing:
• staff portraits
• podium speeches
• tricky lighting scenarios typical of events
• with and without the use of flash.

“Photography for Communications Professionals is the perfect length, perfect structure, and perfect information for government photographers. One of the best teachers I’ve ever experienced.”
A.P.

Details
This course is offered as a class and as a custom course for individuals or groups.

Group Course:
Wednesday, March 19; 8:30-4:30
Location:
• Morning: Classroom to be determined
• Afternoon: On Location shooting in central Ottawa/Hull
$600/person + any location costs

Custom Course
Available anytime schedules permit.
One person; full day: $775 + any location costs
Groups – please contact us for pricing
Location: Anything is possible. We can meet at your location or we can arrange locations.

Join us! Register online at the bottom of this link.

Photographing in tricky lighting conditions