Can I bring someone who isn’t a photographer?

On all of our non-UK workshops you are welcome to bring someone who can join any evening drinks/dinner sessions we organise.

What skill level do I need to be at?

• For our dawn workshops: These courses are suitable for photographers at almost any level of experience. However, it is recommended that you have at least some experience of using manual settings (although this is not essential).
• For our Introduction to Photography: These courses are aimed at beginners – so you do not need to have any, or very little, experience with your camera.

What should I bring?

On booking your workshop we’ll send you a list of the essential items we recommend you bring (like gloves, which even in summer can be essential in the very early morning). The most essential item for all courses is a DSLR camera – and for our dawn workshops a sturdy tripod is also essential. For our London workshops we are able to loan up to two tripods out per session, on a first come, first serve basis only. Unfortunately we are not able to loan tripods out for our non-UK workshops.

What happens if it the weather is bad?

The cities we visit are some of the most beautiful and photogenic in the world – and often their beauty is enhanced by bleak weather. If though the weather is very bad making it difficult to keep our kit dry – we have several back up routes and plans that will ensure that we still have a great adventure. That might mean starting our walk a couple of hours later, ducking into a covered market and doing some indoor shooting or going in-studio for a session where we delve deeper into the creative and technical aspects of photography. We will do our very best to make sure you have an amazing photographic experience, with other passionate photographers – even if we catch a few bits of bad weather.

Is there a lot of walking?

• For our dawn workshops: On our dawn workshops we will walk approx.  2-4 miles, although we don’t walk very fast because we are looking around, learning and taking lots of photos! All of our workshops are very practical; we try to keep to any in-studio learning to a minimum as the best way to learn is to practice, practice, practise. Some of our workshops have no in-studio time at all (the London at Dawn workshops). We also have some of walks that have copious amounts of stairs (Montmartre for example).
• For our Introduction to Photography: Each day of this course ends with a short photo walk of approximately 1-2 miles.

If you have any questions or would like more info about this please do get in touch – 020-7928 4178 or info@anthonyepes.com.

What will I learn?
Take a look at the workshop photography guide. You can get an idea of what will be discussed over our workshop and courses.

Why dawn?

Lead workshop tutor Anthony Epes says – I love photography and I love the light at dawn.  My workshops are based around my books of Cities at Dawn (London, Paris, Venice, New York…)  They are a chronicle of my passion for the etheral light of dawn and the epic beauty of an empty city.  Take a look at the BBC World report on my project so far, where I talk about the light and what is special about each city  – BBC World  interview.

At no other time of day will you find perfect vistas in the middle of a bustling city, with the streets empty of those pesky cars and jostling crowds.  The tranquillity you will find will take your breath away.   I have been doing this for over a decade and I can tell you it never gets dull.  Morning light and the exhilaration of being out and capturing the first rays of the day knowing that the inhabitants will never experience what you are experiencing came make you feel a bit elite…you have made the effort and are being well rewarded with stunning images and a heart that is content with life.

Processing your images
Now that we are all shooting digitally these days it means we must be on the computer to process our images.  If you are keen to make your images the best they can be, that is, the highest quality available to your camera, you need to shoot RAW files and for RAW files you need the right software.  We recommend Lightroom 5 for all your post-processing needs.  The learning curve is low and so is the price, around £100. This is completely optional but it’s a good way to get your photography up a level.  Post-processing is a very big part of digital photography.