Tuesdays Starting January 16, 2024: The Passionate Photographer Online Mentoring Program

Online Mentoring Program

Getting critique is essential to your development as a photographer. Because you’re so close to your own work it’s hard to be objective when picking your best. All photographers would benefit from some objective help when trying to cull their best. 

Through critique we enhance our command of the visual language of photography, learn how to best control shutter speed, depth of field, technical quality and visual weight to convey a specific meaning and tell the story you want to tell. Learning  how to study, review, and analyze images, sharpens our photographic eye. 

I have been getting and giving critique my entire photographic life and I know how the critique process can be illuminating and transformative, telling us things we otherwise might never know about our own work. It’s these insights we can build upon to up our game and keep pushing forward with our photography.

So with this in mind, I have created this mentoring program where in five classes over a five month period, we get together and share our existing work and new work generated from a series of assignments. I find I can learn as much (if not more) from seeing the critique of others as well as my own work. 

 ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This class is for all levels with being a passionate photographer as the main prerequisite. The discussion will be high level yet  accessible and the tide will rise for all participants regardless of their experience. Beginners will be inspired and motivated through assignments geared to them as will more experienced shooters. Classes will be at 9pm Eastern Time to accommodate those with day-jobs. 

How It Works

For the first class I ask each participant to send me up to 100 of their best portfolio images or ones they want feedback on. I will edit the work into a tight collection of 20-25 of what I consider the best from the collection and make my case for why. 

In our first class after a brief lecture we will get to know each other through the discussion of our work, setting the stage for future classes. At the end of every class there will be an assignment from which you will submit up to 10 images, sometimes with new work, sometimes images gathered from your archives. You will have weeks to complete the assignment which you can submit through a "wetransfer" link I will provide. 

During each class there are no subjects off topic. We can discuss technical issues or those of culling and post-processing (I use Lightroom exclusively). 

Once the registration is closed, I will attempt to set class times that work for the majority of the participants. I'm in the Eastern time zone. Here are the tentative dates and times but these could change according to student availability. Tuesdays Monthly January 16, 2024 First Class (Feb 13, March 12, April 16, May 14, 2024)Each online class will be on Zoom and recorded for you to view at your convenience. Classes will be small and we hope to have lively discussion when talking about the work.  

 Steve Simon as Mentor

With my love of travel and passion for photography and photo education along with a need to share that passion, leading workshops has become an ideal fit for me as I pursue my photographic dreams and projects. But my nine-year-old son Sawyer has made it hard for me to be away as much. I love hanging with him, so I've reduced my travel and decided to spend more time close to home.

 (Yes, I'm shamelessly exploiting my photogenic son for profit)

Click On Photo Below To See Steve Simon's Work

All About You

We make time to go over your work, and I will provide an honest and insightful assessment with suggestions on how to best move forward. We will also take time to solve any technical issues you may be dealing with before every class assignment. This mentoring program will move you forward toward achieving your photographic goals and dreams; and the assignments will help you stretch our of your comfort zone.