I want to be a photographer. That's the name of a company that provides training by high profile professional photographers to amateurs. A month ago just before my two trips to Germany, frustrated by the poor photos I had taken of the arrival of the tour de France in Paris and now driven by the desire to have a better tool at hand for capturing special moments or simply impressions of Paris and the rest of the world, I acquired "my new toy", as my father calls it, that listens to the name of Canon EOS 450D.
I bought all types of books specific to the camera and about photography in general. Now studying books is one thing, but when I heard about this company in Paris I didn't hesitate one second and registered for a class. The theme of the class was "to photograph Paris like Doisneau". You all know Doisneau and the famous photo of the kissing couple in front of the hotel de ville ? Of course you do. Well at least Margaret and Andy know....
When I got the confirmation mail, I skipped up and down, because the teacher of the class was the one I had hoped for, Dominique Llorens. His experience is amazing and I still can't believe that someone like him was teaching me how to take better photos. He is, next to some other projects, the assistant of Yann Arthus Bertrand, who you all know from the amazing photos of "earth from above". How lucky I was !!!
The class lasted 4 hours, starting in a café with Dominique sharing some anecdotes about his professional experince, including his encounter with Doisneau himself, who had lived in his neighbourhood. So exciting !!! Then he provided some theory about the choices to make when taking a photo. Afterwards we were sent to the nearby market, to put to practice Dominique's advice and tips for taking photos of people in Paris. I was first totally blocked, because I felt very uncomfortable about taking photos of persons I didn't know. I didn't want to invade their privacy. But whenever I had a doubt, Dominique stood suddenly in front of me out of the blue, asking how I was doing and checking how I took my photos. He showed me how to get better in touch with people and create easily a relationship to use for good pictures. He also identified as one of my key "mistakes" the centered positioning of objects, whereas a basic guideline for better composition is to follow the rule of thirds.
After the hands-on exercise on the market we all returned back to the café and our photos were uploaded to Dominique's laptop and then "criticized" and edited by him. This was the most instructive part for me. I learnt so much about composition and layout of pictures, framing, emphasizing, dos and donts, watching background, etc.
The next day I sent an email to Dominique to thank him for the good time and his willingness and talent to pass on his experience. Checking out new courses tonight I just found my email quoted on the companies website, together with a selection of pictures we took that day. Mine is the second one in the gallery. Check it out...
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