A Second Year With My Camera: preview

A Second Year With My Camera is finished

I have enjoyed writing this one so much. I have been able to go in to so much more detail than was possible in AYWMC1: you already know the basics so I can dig deeper and show how more advanced photography concepts will help you create even more fabulous photography.

The workbook (fingers crossed) will be ready in January. In the meantime I’m launching the course preview in monthly emails. Keep reading and then you can sign up for the emails towards the end of this post.

What’s in AYWMC2?

Instead of weekly projects the year is structured around twelve monthly projects. But because the weekly lesson idea is very popular there are four things to try for each project:

  • You will be taking a photograph in the project genre.

  • There is a printing task each month.

  • You will be revising or learning a technical skill appropriate to the project.

  • There is a “mindset” idea to take on board.

So for example the first month revolves around the still life genre.

  • For the main project you’ll learn about the history of the still life genre and I’ll list things you need to consider. I provide suggested settings to use for your first attempt and encourage you to adapt these based on your circumstances. The role of light will be explored and examples provided.

  • The printing tasks start easy in the first month and gradually become more sophisticated. For the first month you just need to create a cheap-and-cheerful temporary display.

  • Depth of field is critical for a successful still life so in the first month you will be revising apertures and expanding your knowledge. If you’ve done my flower photography online course you’ll be ahead of the game for this section.

  • The mindset idea for the first month is to remind you that you’re on your own journey and there are some self-reflection prompts

The projects

After much consultation and debate the monthly project genres were finalised as:

  • still life

  • wildlife

  • street

  • abstract

  • long exposure

  • colour

  • portrait (including basic flash)

  • events

  • action

  • macro

  • black and white

  • big project

The workbook and the emails

There is a LOT of information in the book. I still don’t know I will be able to fit it into one book or if I will need to split it like AYWMC1. I do know that I won’t be able to include all the information from the books into the emails. I will try to include the key information so you can join in without having the book/s but this is one part of my business where I really will recommend you buy the book/s to get the full experience.

Join here to get the emails each month:

Click here to subscribe

The community

There will be a separate group in the AYWMC app (just one for now but we’ll see if it needs to be split up next year). If you’re in my camera club there will be a separate SIG for everyone who wants to work through it together.

The tools

I just want to give a non-sponsored shout-out to Writemapper. I used this writing software to write the whole book. It lets you plan a big document like a mind map and work on progressively smaller segments separately. You can easily drag and drop sections around the manuscript if you change your mind about ordering. This was invaluable to me as I kept changing my mind about whether to have printing as a separate chapter or whether to split it up and spread it out through the year. In the end I did the latter but I could write the whole section when I wanted to and easily move parts around without extensive cutting-and-pasting. I love it.

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A (first) year with my camera

If you need to work your way through the basics before you jump in to the new stuff join A Year With My Camera here. It’s free for a year by email:

Click here to subscribe


General, AYWMCEmma Davies