One-day photography courses

I attended Nigel’s Exmoor in Autumn photography course in October 2022 along with 6 other really friendly course members and have to say it was an extremely enjoyable and informative day with some really great locations, we started out by photographing the woodland along the banks of the river Barle and Tarr Steps, then onto open moorland at nearby Winford Hill and finishing off at Valley of Rocks near Lynton. Although the weather was not in our favour as the day progressed (however conditions were great for the early woodland shoot) with heavy rain towards the later parts of the course we still managed to shoot these stunning locations in-between showers and with Nigel’s patience, help and guidance I hopefully came away with some decent photos and a renewed enthusiasm to ‘get out and Take pictures’ even in adverse weather’ and will definitely be booking another of Nigel’s courses in 2023.

A really enjoyable and informative day seeking out the deer around Dunster and then photographing the amazing dippers at Lynmouth. So good to be guided to the right places and given tips on getting the best shots, along with other like-minded photographers. We’ve already booked another course for next year!

I attended the Dartmoor in Spring one-day course, late May 2022. Thoroughly enjoyed the day which included evening low-light photography, fantastic to be up on the moors at the ‘golden hour’ (luckily we had sunshine and relatively clear skies). The afternoon was spent photographing the river Dart, varying light levels and blurring water. Nigel was very helpful and took time to explain techniques, so learnt a lot about aperture, shutter speeds, exposure plus how to check and correct exposure using Histograms. I was also happier about using my tripod after this course. Hope to do the Dartmoor in Autumn one-day course in October.

This course eventually ran after various Covid-induced delays and was well worth waiting for. We were blessed with ideal weather conditions and Nigel indulged all participants with guidance and advice. I was pleased with most of my own attempts, although quite naturally there is room for improvement. I now feel that having participated in this course I have the confidence to try again on my own, in other words to put my learning into practice. This was indeed an enjoyable experience in a well-chosen location ( for both parts of the course – the low light & the night sky).

I took part in Nigel’s Low Light Photography Course in March ’22 and found it informative and interesting. Prior to the course, participants had been supplied with course notes that described the basics of photography, and were well worth reading/revising before the day. It was great to be able to spend some dedicated photography time with 7 friendly others, and being encouraged to try out some techniques that I had never really got to grips with. The area around Exmouth Marina also provided some really good architectural photography opportunities too in both daylight and night conditions. We were treated to a nice sunset across the River Exe plus a clear sky for some night photography at Budleigh Salterton under very dark conditions. So dark in fact that I found it very useful to have had a good idea of the location of my camera controls by feel. By 9:30pm it was getting very cold on the beach, but at the end of the day I ended up with images that I was extremely pleased with, and will be looking forward to another outing with Nigel at some point.

The only downside was that my sunglasses fell out of my bag and I couldn’t find them in the pitch black.