Tim McCann, IOP Course Director, explains more about the IOP Photography Coaching Experience
Q. Why did you decide to launch the Photography Coaching Experience?
A. A few reasons really.
Firstly, the quality of online learning in the photography market is not particularly high and at IOP, we aim to buck this trend by consistently supplying innovative and interactive online course options for the photography enthusiast.
We are one of the very few online photography schools where you can research your tutors, so you can be sure that you are getting the best advice and feedback.
Also, we believe that feedback on your photos is the pathway to improvement. You can take a course that tells you how to take a great photo, but until someone actually looks at your image and points out specific areas of improvement, it can be difficult to use the knowledge you gain from a course.
The Photography Coaching Experience does just that. It is all completed online but is just like having your own college tutor, side-by-side, helping you to improve your skills by pointing out the areas of learning that are specific to you.
Q. Why is the Photography Coaching Experience different?
A. Well, we have deliberately not called it a ‘course’ because it is a learning experience. It’s an organic way of learning, where we will take you from a starting point, which in this case is the best photo you feel you have ever taken, and then help you to improve on it.
Through an 8-step process, we hope you will go from the best photo you have ever taken to something you never thought you would achieve.
Q. How does it work?
A. You supply the first photo for Assignment 1 and we work through 8 project assignments from there, with the tutor setting projects and assignments especially for you. It’s not about one photo, but an experience that will be a route to improving your approach to photography. This expert knowledge will push you further than you would have thought possible.
You can discuss assignments with the tutor, who can help you to deliver the best result possible.
Q. Who should enrol on the Photography Coaching Experience?
A. There are three types of students we expect to enrol:
- Those who generally want to improve their photography
- Those who encounter a specific problem or problems again and again and need sound advice to improve
- Those who have a specific goal – for example, we had a student who was a concert photographer and he really wanted to improve his concert shots. We were able to help him create much better portraits in low light and challenging conditions.
Q. Anything else we should know?
A. Yes, places are limited. There are no more than 10 places available at any one time as the feedback is so bespoke, that we want to make sure each student gets in-depth tutor attention.
Contact Tim McCann at tim@institute-of-photography.com
