I’m making on online course about how to make storytelling photography projects. You can sign up for the waitlist here.

🧐 Why make an online course?

When I was trying to learn, there were 2 options:

1. University courses: Rigid timetables and *really* expensive. Cost of tuition in the UK has gone from £1,000 a year in 1998 to £9,250 and student loan debt in England surpasses £200bn. The ROl on undertaking a uni course is uncertain with a staggering 69% of graduates, in England and Wales, felt their degree wasn't worth it (YouGov poll in 2022). I needed to be able to study flexibly and at my own pace.

2. A patchwork of in person and online courses: I tried a few and was frustrated — they only covered specific areas, and not all the aspects of documentary photography that I needed. Eg. one course discussed how to get started and idea generation but didn’t cover how to select photos into a cohesive story. Also, I found a *ton* of vanity courses where [insert name of well known photographer] spent a large proportion of the course talking about their portfolios and accolades rather than giving practical tips and advice.

I felt dispirited and spent too much time exploring dead ends. That time could have been better used. This is the first reason to make a course, I don’t want other people to have to go through the same.

Second, I really want to help people to tell their stories. And, education shouldn’t be a luxury for only those who can afford it.

Third reason for making this course is because I love teaching. I receive requests for workshops and mentoring which I just can’t do because I literally don’t have the time and if I did, I wouldn’t have time to work on and explore my own projects. So, an online course was the obvious solution.

📖 Manifesto

• The knowledge offered in the course should be democratic and offer the participant the ability to study storytelling photography without costing huge sums of money.

• The course will offer flexible learning and allow people to learn at their own pace.

• It should be an end-to-end course to equip people with all of the knowledge of how to make documentary photography projects.

• I want the course absolutely packed full with learning, advice and information. Nothing should be held back.

• An absolute must, is to offer free scholarship places to the less advantaged.

🎥 👩🏽‍💻 Format

The course will be in two forms:

• Video: lots of people like me are visual, and ideas resonate more deeply when visually explained.

• Written: I’m in the process of making a specific area of my website the home for the written content. I absolutely don’t want this section to be a verbatim transcript of the video, rather, I’m looking to add value by making it a standalone resource. The written content presents a huge opportunity to offer more information and go into greater depth by being able to include and link to online resources.

🛠️ Practicalities

To start making the course I became aware I needed equipment and I so sold my beloved Leica SL 601 camera and I’m in the process of selling my beautiful Leica 35mm Summicron-SL lens to help fund the gear and software I need to make the course (and to help fund a research trip for a project I’m working on).

• What I need: S̶p̶e̶c̶i̶f̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ I̶ n̶e̶e̶d̶ a̶ c̶o̶n̶t̶i̶n̶u̶o̶u̶s̶ l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶, m̶o̶d̶i̶f̶i̶e̶r̶, s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶, t̶r̶i̶p̶o̶d̶ a̶n̶d̶ e̶d̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ s̶o̶f̶t̶w̶a̶r̶e̶. I now have all the lighting, a fantastic lens etc and I’m good to go with recording the video! 😀

• What I have: I have a good mic, suitable computer and thanks to winning the Sony World Photo Award, a camera suitable for recording video.

📈 Progress

(Updated March 2024)

• I’ve recorded and edited 40% of the video content for the course. It’s a slow, time consuming process and I love it!

• I’ve worked on the storytelling with photography course most days of 2023 and it’s in really good shape.

• T̶h̶e̶ r̶e̶s̶e̶a̶r̶c̶h̶ a̶n̶d̶ c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶n̶t̶ i̶s̶ m̶o̶s̶t̶l̶y̶ d̶o̶n̶e̶. I̶’m̶ n̶o̶w̶ p̶i̶e̶c̶i̶n̶g̶ i̶t̶ t̶o̶g̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ t̶o̶ p̶r̶e̶s̶e̶n̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶ w̶r̶i̶t̶t̶e̶n̶ c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶n̶t̶ i̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ c̶l̶e̶a̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ w̶a̶y̶ p̶o̶s̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶e̶x̶t̶, d̶i̶a̶g̶r̶a̶m̶s̶, p̶i̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶s̶ a̶n̶d̶ l̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶o̶ o̶n̶l̶i̶n̶e̶ i̶n̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶. I’ve done all the research! I’ve written all the content! N̶o̶w̶ i̶t̶’s̶ a̶ p̶r̶o̶c̶e̶s̶s̶ o̶f̶ r̶e̶f̶i̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ a̶n̶d̶ e̶d̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶.

• I’ve been road testing sections with some of the nice folk who volunteered from my email list and it’s been a huge help. Thank you to all of those who have helped 😀.