We’ve all imagined ourselves as the next Annie Leibovitz or Henri Cartier-Bresson…no? Not even a little? Well at least I can say we’ve all dreamt to be known for having the coolest Facebook profile pics. I have never been formally trained in photography; don’t get me wrong I absolutely love it and recently – with all this blog exposure and meeting people who are so damn good at it– I’ve been dying to really get into it. I also just want to properly show everyone how cool this city is! It’s a pretty broad field and as a beginner the first time you Google DSLRs, trust me, you’re going to get a heavy wave of anxiety. Why are there a million different models?! What does this all mean???
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Tomás Correa
Turns out, not so bad once you dive in. I think it had a lot to do with my first ever photography teacher. Tomás Correa runs the Pentaprisma courses and workshops in Berlin– they’ve got a range of specialties to choose from. The course I took was mostly about the content of photos, how to best capture brilliant Berlin; from its still architecture to its active and enticing streets. Being the fool that I am, I kind of threw myself into a level more advanced than what I was capable of. Thankfully, Tomás was super friendly and it took me by surprise how accommodating he was. The group was small, about 5–6 people and so you could get one-on-one help and advice at any point – he even took me aside to go through some basics I wasn’t fully familiar with. I’d been so used to 100 person lecture halls, I’d forgotten how easy small group learning could be.
Throughout the four-day course we not only got to perfect our photo-taking skills, but got to experience and learn about the city. We traveled all over Berlin, to famed and historical locations – therefore highly recommended for newbies and visitors!
The course had a perfect mix of theory and application– with immediate feedback so you got to learn and adapt quickly. I know the word “theory” gets people cringing, but trust me, it was always short and sweet; he even incorporated famed photographers, old and new, which was my favourite part. Who knows… maybe you really do aspire to be the next Cartier-Bresson. It can be hard to discover these artists – to understand, manipulate and apply their specialties on your own.The teacher was also highly experienced and what I loved most was how open he was to the creativity of others – we got to experiment with our artsy side, sharing and discussing with everyone in the group.
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Tomás Correa
Clik here to view.
Tomás Correa
Clik here to view.
Tomás Correa
Clik here to view.
Tomás Correa
Clik here to view.
Tomás Correa
Clik here to view.
Tomás Correa
Oh and one more thing –because the group is so small you get to make some pretty cool new friends and learn about their style. I still meet up with some people in my group to go on photo story adventures; again really great if you’re new to Berlin and have yet to meet people. They’ve got more workshops this summer. Check out www.pentaprisma.eu for more information.
Below are some of the pictures I took throughout the course.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
