Private Photography Lessons | Charlotte NC Greenville SC Atlanta

What are in person, private photography classes near me?

Private camera lessons customized to your unique needs and interests! These one-to-one sessions target your unique situation and needs. By the end of this one-to-one photography class you will create a portfolio of outstanding images. You will be prepared to confidently shoot on your own. You will also incorporate correct exposure, perspective, composition, lighting conditions, bokeh and color balance every time you go on a shoot. If you have already taken a beginner photography workshop, this is the next step.

Additionally, you will have a digital scrapbook that you can reference afterwards. Whether you are a small business in the Charlotte NC / Greenville SC / Atlanta GA area trying to save money by producing high-quality photos of your products in-house or a camera enthusiast who wants to create phenomenal images to proudly display on your walls, Forrest’s one-to-one private photo classes / coaching sessions will help you achieve your goals as quickly as possible. Save money, flatten your learning curve, and take control of your camera while enjoying your customized photography classes / lessons!

Types of private photography lessons we offer

Workshops include:
Sports
Travel
Nature
Studio photography
Night photography
Children / Babies
Weddings
Products
Developing your creative style
Starting and building your photography business!
…and many more

For questions or to book a reservation for the Customized Mentoring please contact me via email or call (864) 336-3554

Earlier we were discussing the reasons for enrolling in private photography classes as well as introduced several objections. We will discuss intermediate photography lessons in another post. Here’s the current objection to taking one-to-one photography lessons:

I took a class once already

Well, how did it go? Did you learn everything that you needed to know about photography? Was it the best use of your time?

In a one-to-one photography mentoring session the absorption rate is much quicker than during a classroom setting. Why? Because you have the photography coach’s 100% attention; there are few (if any) distractions for either you or the photography teacher; and their is more time allocated to real-world shooting situations, as opposed to abstract theory (I like theory…well, in theory). As the expression goes “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand”. At least half (if not the overwhelming majority) of your one-to-one session with a professional photographer should be hands-on. You should leave a good individual photography lesson with just the slightest bit of information overload, which should leave you asking a few questions. You should also leave the session eager enough to practice everything you learned on your own, ideally within hours of the lesson (like it or not, recall drops drastically as time progresses).

The advantages of an in person private photography class near me

A one-to-one photography lesson addresses items that aren’t catered to in a group forum. Individualized lessons are surgically precise and the photography mentor will plan for your unique situation in advance, covering items that are germane only to you. In an individual setting, no one has to worry about sounding like (or sitting next) to either the attention-seeking brainiac (the class participant who “knows everything”, but still asks a hundred questions), or the person who is lost no matter how basic the concept (“Wait, wait, wait, how do I turn my camera on?”).

After teaching for 10 years, in a variety of forums including an MBA program in Vietnam and undergraduate marketing courses at Georgia State University, I have yet to meet a teacher who does better than ‘target the middle 80%’ of the students”… tragically either the brains, the slower paced learners, or both are inevitably underserved to some degree.

If your hectic schedule keeps you from pursuing your passion then enroll in an enjoyable one-on-one private photography lesson. These affordable timesavers will provide you with immediate results and techniques you can’t find anywhere online. Best of all, you can learn photography during the hours which work best for you! If you need a customized photography workshop tailored to your unique concern, don’t hesitate to get more information from Forrest Briggs Photography and acquire the skills and results you want immediately (click here).

REVIEWS:

“I’ve taken Forrest’s Intro, Intermediate, and One-on-One Mentoring classes. Every class has been well worth it and no matter which one of the courses you take the knowledge gained far exceeds what one would pay for them. He is not only a great teacher but a good person to know. You’ll quickly realize his passion for this art as you gain better knowledge and ability to take a great photo intentionally rather than accidentally. His passion comes through his teaching and you will learn more from his one class than you ever could by looking at the manual and youtube videos. If your interested in photography, seeing Forrest is a must!”… Leonoard L. Greenville, SC

“Forrest was very knowledgeable & very professional. I received excellent wisdom & advice. Experienced, focused & intelligent! This is the type of help I was hoping to get! Thanks Forrest!”… Andrew K, Los Angeles CA.

“Forrest gave in depth detail about shutter speeds and aerial photography. This helped me prepare for a shoot coming up next week.”… C. Stoltz

Questions Regarding One-to-One Private Photography Lessons

Who needs one-to-one photography lessons?

Well, you do. And I do. And pretty much any photographer who wants to improve their photography game does.

To pre-empt your impending question with another question – What do athletes like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps and others have in common… they have all had coaches throughout their careers. The coaches / mentors are providing perpetual tuneups – maintaining the athletes’ strengths while improving their weak areas.

“But I took a class once already”, “But I’m already a professional / I just do this part time”, “Photography is merely just a hobby of mine”, “I have a really nice camera”, so why do I need to attend private photography lessons, photography seminars and hire someone for one-to-one photography lessons?

Well let’s run thru these concerns one at a time:

Our experience

One-to-one private photography lessons addresses items that can’t be catered to in a group forum. Individualized lessons are surgically precise and the photography mentor will plan for your unique situation in advance, covering items that are germane only to you. In an individual setting, no one has to worry about sounding like (or sitting next) to either the attention-seeking brainiac (the class participant who “knows everything”, but still asks a hundred questions), or the person who is lost no matter how basic the concept (“Wait, wait, wait, how do I turn my camera on?”).

After teaching for 10 years, in a variety of forums including MBA programs and undergraduate marketing courses at Georgia State University, I have yet to meet a teacher who does better than ‘target the middle 80%’ of the students”… tragically either the brains, the slower paced learners, or both are inevitably underserved to some degree.

One-to-one private photography lessons are a great way to jumpstart your photography business.

As the saying goes “A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything”.

I have enrolled in several private photography lessons to keep ahead of the competition. Long gone are the days where “nice composition” is a viable business model. These days, composition is just the tip of the iceberg. A good photographer is a perennial student of the all subjects related to lighting, post processing, marketing, people skills, posing, wardrobe, thinking on the fly, dealing with clients, the latest technology, web-practices, the legal environment, running a profitable business, improving one’s creative eye, etc.

As a professional, I make sure to allocate a % of revenue each year to education. This is a non-negotiable. Why? Because my competition is also hungry to have the best game in town. Hiring a photography coach minimizes the countless hours I’d otherwise spend trying to make sense of each of the above.

The benefit of a good photography mentor

Additionally, the ROI from a good instructor will eliminate you the countless hours of frustration associated with trial and error and ‘going at it alone’, a photography teacher will enhance your approach to photography and photography thinking as well as save you lots of $$$. How? Well, in addition to acting as your guide when considering purchasing photography equipment (s/he will recommend the gear that works best for YOUR unique situation and steer you from the thousands of enticing gimmicky trinkets that are out there).

Moreover, a good photography coach will answer questions you may have even long after your one to one photography learning session. Finally, a good coach will cater the individual lesson to your specific needs and concerns. No need to sit for hours in a ‘one size fits all’ lecture where you are learning only a fraction of the material either because you the material is way over your head (and thus you are lost and dont want to hinder the flow of the class because you don’t know how to turn your camera on) or because the material is too elementary for you and you are wishing that you were playing golf instead of dozing off to stuff that you have known for years.

But photography is just a hobby… I don’t want to get ‘that serious’ about it. Why do I need one-to-one photography mentoring?

We all have taken that “once in a lifetime Ansel Adams photo”, only to upload it and realize that what we experienced in person has little bearing as to what our camera produced. Colors are under-saturated and not as vivid as the real thing; the lighting is off and the camera doesn’t capture the dynamic range of tones that our eyes saw; colors shift towards blue or have a nuclear-like amber color cast; the photo lacks sharpness and / or just doesn’t ‘pop’; those darn powerlines are in the way… yet again. We want our images to be as good as, if not even better than the real thing, otherwise, we’d rely solely our iPhones. Thus its extremely useful to learn the constraints of our camera and how to leverage them to recreate as close as possible what we experienced.

One of the best skills that a photography enthusiast can learn is how to anticipate an event. Knowing how a scene or event will unfold. Weddings, babies, families, pets, nature, people, etc. each has its own unique rhythm and degree of predictability. Understanding how to foresee this is invaluable.

Learn the process of capturing the best image possible

There is a process to capturing an image. For most professionals, it is more or less automatic, just like tying one’s shoe is for most adults. But it hasn’t always been. Remember the challenges of the first several times you tried to tie your shoe. The task was divided into a sequence of smaller actions, some happening simultaneously, some necessarily proceeding others. Well, creating amazing photographs is a LOT more complicated than tying one’s shoe.

If we break down the science of portraiture, we need to account for lighting (the power, direction, distance, placement, diffusion, color, etc), pose (direction, placement of hands, angle of shoulders, body position, head tilt, etc), expression (candid-looking and not forced, spontaneously evoking the correct expression from eye position, to smile to facial muscles, etc), location (does the background compliment, compete with, or detract from the subject? Is it the right background and location for the feel that’s trying to be expressed? To what extent is the background in focus? What is the story that is subtly told via the periphery? etc), and we haven’t even touched on the camera’s contribution (settings, lens choice, full frame vs cropped sensor, angle, perspective, etc).

The point is, the more we understand every variable that contributes to a stunning photograph, the more stunning photographs we will create! What better way, easier, quicker way to decipher the above than with the help of an individualized photography class.

Hands-on Photography Lessons | Charlotte NC, Greenville SC and Atlanta GA

So let’s tie this all together. If you live near Charlotte NC, Greenville SC or Atlanta GA and are serious about improving your photography immediately, I’d encourage you to take the next step to start creating stunning images. Private photography lessons will grow your business, regardless of the economic climate; allow you to brand and differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack; empower you to attract higher paying clients; give you the tools to create eye-catching images that others will envy (and thus hire you to create for them).

Private Photography Lesson Topics

In-depth critique of your current portfolio, providing a road map for the best ways to improve your unique situation.

The ten most important functions in your camera and how to create amazing images using just a few of them.

Hands-on timesaving tips: how to conduct a 60 minute photo shoot in just fifteen minutes. Stop wasting your and your clients’ valuable time.

The eight critical elements of composition.

Business advice – how to avoid becoming a dinosaur in this ever-changing industry. Learn how to effectively market your business, how to effectively do your own SEO to rank high in Google and convert those high rankings to inbound phone calls. Forrest has an MBA in International Marketing from University of Hawaii, and 3 years of Marketing PhD work at Georgia State University (I understand photography marketing better than most do ;). I will share with you how I landed big name clients such as Emory Healthcare, Westinghouse, Waste Management and others.

Private Photography Lessons | Charlotte NC, Greenville SC and Atlanta GA