Photography Workshop at Balmoral Castle

Residential Workshop in North East Scotland

THE COURSE FOR 2009 is withdrawn.

I have been providing tutoring services for the past two years in November at Balmoral Castle for a week long residential course offered by this Royal Deeside Estate and this will be running again hopefully in 2010. Quite apart from the unique location for such a workshop, the surrounding Scottish countryside offers wonderful photography opportunities and I hope the tuition offered will allow you to enjoy and benefit from the great capabilities of a digital camera. It is also a very beautiful part of Scotland to come for a holiday which is the way that we treat this course, relaxing, friendly and full of interesting things to do and see; a great way to learn.

It is important to note that this is an all-inclusive package, so once you have paid for it and the travel costs, the only other costs are for your gifts and mementos to take back.

The course is aimed at an Introductory to Intermediate Level for people moving from the traditional film camera into the world of digital photography, whether with a compact camera or DSLR. The basic principles of photography that apply are the same but the digital camera offers considerably more, especially when combined with the facilities of the computer and good photography software. The course is taught around Photoshop Elements but is concentrated upon the basic correction tools rather than the software package itself, so anything learned is applicable to any other photography software such as Paint Shop Pro.

Photography skills are also developed through at least  2 days of outside photography in the beautiful countryside surrounding the Castle, as well as opportunities on the Estate itself.  Areas visited include Glen Muick, Ballater, Linn of Dee, Braemar, The River Dee by the Balmoral Estate and if time permits some of rich ancient heritage of Royal Deeside.

As the numbers on the course are limited to 10, it means there is plenty of time for individual support from myself. Apart from the hands on tuition during the workshops and class room work, the computer aspects are reinforced with photographs provided by myself for practice with the various Photoshop tools and a comprehensive manual with screen dumps of each step, both of which remain your property for ongoing reference at home. You are also welcome to keep in touch with me with any questions or advice thereafter.

For overseas visitors, the Estate will collect airline passengers arriving in Scotland from Aberdeen Airport and return them to the airport on the Saturday morning for flight connections. There is ample car parking by the residential building at the estate.

Full details of the next course hopefully in 2010 will be on the Balmoral Website and the link will take you to it.

I also teach evening classes in Digital Photography at the Aboyne Community Centre. Contact Caroline or Sonia on 013398 86222 for details.