Here’s to 2019! A new Photo Critic website, and more news …

The DPC Team and I wish you a wonderful new year filled with abundance, joy, and spectacular photography! May 2019 be your best year yet!

In my 2018 New Year’s message, I predicted that photography will be booming even more, especially with the latest developments we’ve seen in mobile camera technology. We also saw spectacular growth in the mirrorless camera market, with serious advancements from Fujifilm, Sony, and Olympus. Nikon and Canon (at long last) also stepped up their game through introducing thoroughbred mirrorless full-frame cameras and brand-new lens systems. All the big players are now competing in bringing us smaller, lighter, and more convenient cameras.

Apart from mobile and mirrorless camera technology, I did not foresee the astonishing growth in video and drone trends. For me – who inherently like to stay out of the limelight – the staggering pace is dreadfully fast; maybe too fast for someone who prefer the rather “slowness” of still photography. However, in order to survive in a such a mad, fast-paced world we can no longer be mere image creators. Many of us will have to run the gauntlet in becoming full-fledged media creators. This has been my personal realisation and you can therefore expect more media content from us in 2019.

• Mirrorless cameras: Photography’s new decisive moment
• The 30 Instagram Statistics You Need to Know in 2018
• Drone Market Showing Rapid Growth

Delays in the Online Photography School

A year ago, I announced that we have started developing an online social learning platform. Unfortunately, now, a whole year later, the online platform has not yet materialised as we are still in the process of refining our content. Nevertheless, we are still fully committed to the online school and will continue working on it when everybody is back from the holidays. This time however, I am not going to put any time frames out, but we earnestly work towards the end of 2019.

Happy Days. A new Photo Critic website!

For most of our students, our decision to put Photo Critic on hold while developing the online platform was a tragedy! But in all honesty, I just couldn’t find the extra time to maintain Photo Critic. Towards the middle of 2018, I realised the online platform is not going to happen soon enough and we decided to revive Photo Critic and upgrade the dated platform as well. The good news is that the new platform is already up and running. It is better than the previous one, but not without problems.

You can expect some major changes to Photo Critic, especially in regard to the business model, but I don’t want to reveal too much yet. We are sensibly scheduling the official launch of the new Photo Critic for 4 February 2019. In the meantime, head over to the new website at https://photocritic.co.za and update your profile so long. Please ignore the Lorem Ipsum text and place-holders! It is still a work in progress! If you’re a previous Photo Critic user, please remove the old URL from your bookmarks, as it is still not deactivated.

New Photography Courses for 2019

All our photography courses are online. Visit our Courses Overview Page for a complete summary. Below is a list of all the new courses and changes for 2019:

Photography Courses for Teens

DPC will now offer dedicated Basic – Intermediate Photography Courses to teenagers at various schools around Gauteng.

Conceptual Portrait Courses

Andre Badenhorst, who is one of SA’s most successful and prolific visual storytellers has joined the DPC team and will be presenting Conceptual Portrait Courses!

Newborn Photography Course

So many of you requested Newborn Photography classes. We’ve listened, and the talented Robyn Prevost joined the DPC team and will be presenting Newborn courses.

Wildlife Photography Courses

This year, Bruna will be presenting part-time wildlife photography courses, in Centurion, Bryanston, and Alberton. These courses will take place over four evenings with a full day practical outing to ensure that we cover more than just the basics!

Creative Photography programme

The creative programme now consists of four different courses, which are spread throughout the year to give our students proper time in-between to apply the principles they have learned first, before doing the next course. Even though it is not a requirement, we recommend that you do the courses in order; starting with Expanding your Vision Series first, then Visual Storytelling before you do the Develop a Personal Style Series. The programme finishes with John Fox’s Portfolio, Printing and Presentation module towards the end of the year. You can book for these modules separately, or you can opt to register for the complete Creative Programme in advance and save 25%! Go to Creative Photography Programme to learn more.

Photoshop Courses

After feedback that the previous Photoshop Course was just too overwhelming, we decided to develop an introductory course, followed by an advanced course. Go to Basic Photoshop Course, or Advanced Photoshop Course to learn more.

Click here to view all our photography courses for 2019

New Pretoria Venue | Kaimara Studio

Since last year, we have moved our Pretoria location from Erasmuskloof to Kaimara Studio in Menlo Park. Pieter Uys, the owner of Kaimara is an exceptional media creator, and also joined our team. Pieter is partnering with us and will assist with content creation for the online school. You can expect to see a lot more of him from hereon.

Here’s to 2019!

We are looking forward to a great 2019 and hope to see you soon in class and remember to join us on Photo Critic!

As always, your suggestions and motivational messages are highly appreciated. Feel free to leave your comments below!