Great post, great site – I look forward to reading your articles and learning along the way.

I think the Olympus Trip 35 could be the best camera in the world – fully automatic, no battery, it goes on and on. Oh, and that sharp 2.8 lens. Magic!

Cheers, Rob.

I wholly support your view there, workshops are great for personal development of your photographic technique, confidence, & seeing.

I am a member of photography club, Bookham Camera Club, and it has done wonders for me too, so for those who are keen to learn more on a weekly basis for as little as £40 per annum membership fee its fantastic value.

I must say there are many ways to develop your passion, skill, & knowledge, thanks for adding some of the best to the post.

Steve

Spending several days with a top photographer accelerated my skills and knowledge. I truly started to ‘see’ images, to anticipate the image I was ultimately trying to capture and create. I learnt to be decisive about composition factoring constraints in the field. I learnt how to print images properly, how to use filters effectively and even how to emulate the darkroom processes within Photoshop.

I went on my first photography workshop when I was around 40 years of age. I wish I had done it 10 years earlier, because I could have put into practice for much longer what I had learnt.

The second thing I would advocate is to join a photography club. Being amongst like minded people of all ability levels is inspiring and provides a great forum to learn from others. Often they have guest speakers who are professionals and are approachable in the same way.

Lastly, practice, practice, practice. This is not just for learning the piano!! Going out and coming back with a bunch of images and critically assessing them will ultimately bring improvements. Of course, you need to learn from your experiences and try the different settings on your camera, different times of the day, different perspectives, etc. The driver for this can be your research and studies of other photographers as this blog so clearly states.

Good luck