~ Article by Danie Bester

 We’re heading at a pretty frantic pace for the end of the year and I can scarcely believe that we’re through 2013 and that I am yet another year older, and wiser, I hope.

This has been an eventful year and we’ve seen some of our members’ photography growing with leaps and bounds and I can proudly say, that we are probably one of the most successful and active photography communities out there!  I would like to use this opportunity to break the latest news. Please read through to the end as the last paragraph provides some very important information that might just benefit you!

 

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITIONS

Firstly, you have only 3 more weeks to upload your best images to be considered for December’s SOTM, which will then open the door to be taken into account for the covetous SOTY competition. This year, an added cash prize will be given to the winner and runner up. The Winner will receive an R2, 500 Cash Prize and the first runner up R 500, which will be added to the other prizes. Special thanks to Rudolph Viljoen and Bruna Mentrup-Nortje for your sponsorships! If you would like to contribute to making the SOTY competition even more awesome, please contact me. The winner and runner-ups will be announced on the 14th January 2014. Read more about the SOTY competition and view the candidate shots

Secondly, Doc Pelser sponsored an R1, 000 for a photography competition “South Africa through my Lens” and we hope that the December holidays will give you ample opportunities to nail this one. You have time till the end of January to make your submissions

 

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES

The good news is that there will be no cost increase to any of our 1-day Workshops, including the Portrait Boot Camps and the 5-day Wedding Photography Workshops. There are a number of exciting changes to our current course offerings though. Here’s a breakdown:

 

Advanced Photography Courses

From 2014 the Intermediate – Fine-Art Courses will cease and is replaced by two separate courses; a complete Advanced Photography Course and an additional Fine Art Photography Course. The curriculum for the Advanced Course is already worked out and we are ready to launch in the New Year. The Advanced Course will take leave where the Basic Photography Course has left off. At the same time, we will introduce a plethora of new aspects and techniques, while focusing on personal development, consistency and accuracy. We are still working on finalising the Fine Art Programme, but all I can tell you is that it is going to be awesome!

Now for the very good news, the Advanced Photography Course will be really, really affordable and the curriculum is quite impressive compared to what other schools offer. Even better, we will be bringing the Advanced Course to your doorstep! To start with; Centurion, West Rand, and Fourways courses are already scheduled and online. We are working on the probability of an advanced course in the East Rand and will gauge the interest of our members in Kempton, Boksburg and Alberton. Please message me, if you are living in the East Rand and interested in doing the advanced course. Check out the Advanced Photography Course

 

Lightroom Workshops

From next year onwards, we will present Lightroom Workshops as two separate workshops; Introduction to Lightroom and Advanced Lightroom. After much consultation and feedback from our members, it was clear that covering Lightroom in a single day was just too demanding for most. The Introduction to Lightroom module will allow us to cover the basic aspects more thoroughly, while the second module will allow us to spend more time on advanced workflow aspects. Pricing for the first module remains the same, but we will give discounted rates for the second module.

 

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

It might be a little early for me to speak about New Year’s resolutions, but all I can say at this point is that we intend to make the New Year pretty awesome for our members. And what better way to allow our members, three instead of two image uploads per week from now until the end of December. This might just increase your opportunity to win that SOTW!

Now with this good news, I am off to watch a movie…