Congratulations July 2019 starters
One year ago a group of 5,413 beginner photographers signed up with some trepidation to a free photography course. They tentatively started to share some of their pre-course Make 30 Photos shots, nervously comparing their shots to everyone elses despite being encouraged not to compare.
Minds were blown in the very first lesson and from that Thursday on they jumped in and got to work. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO were mastered in the early days. Compositions were struggled with and breakthroughs made. Light became an element of the photograph instead of an annoyance. More advanced technical skills were attempted - from hyperfocal distance to contrejour - and conquered. Individual styles began to emerge and were nurtured.
Scroll down for downloadable finishers’ graphics.
Confidence
More than the actual photography though, confidence was tasted, sometimes for the first time. Students were able to bring out their big camera in public without feeling they didn’t belong. Family members stopped laughing at their attempts and started to be impressed. Photographs were sent to newspapers, competitions entered, camera clubs joined. All without that underlying dread of not being good enough.
If you finish the first 3 months of A Year With My Camera you know that you are good enough. You know the basics and you can hold your own in a photograph conversation. If you finish the whole year you will be flying. You won’t have time to compare yourself to others - you’re too busy having fun. You will know what you enjoy, you will be eager to work on the areas that didn’t click first time around and you will be seeing photographs everywhere.
Even a global pandemic doesn’t stop AYWMC students - they can find their homework opportunity in a kitchen cupboard or under a stone in the back yard. The July 2019 starters also managed to complete the landscape module from home: that shows the true creative spirit of an AYWMC finisher.
“I don’t want it to end”
In our end-of-year round up on the app and in the Facebook group this has been one common thread; “I don’t want it to end”.
Other popular sentiments -
“I take fewer photos than I used to and keep more of them.”
“Thank goodness I found this course.”
“The course has opened up a whole new world.”
“I didn’t expect to make so many new friends.”
“I didn’t think it would be so much fun.”
The only photographer I will compare myself to…
To everyone in the July 2019 start: you can finally compare yourself to the photographer you used to be. Look back exactly a year. How did you feel? And how do you feel now?
Right click to download
Download or screenshot these images and use whereever you like. The one on the right (or the second one if you are on mobile) is a .png image if you download it so you can superimpose it on your images if you know how to do that.
Join the next start here
A Year With My Camera starts every other month (except August and December). Sign up for the next free email start right here (and get details of how to start sooner if you don’t mind buying the book or the app):
