foto Priority

As the first batch of 2011 Digital SLR Photography students eagerly await their Top 30 results we have a little bit of exciting news to announce.

The Top 30 will now have a ‘Viewers Choice Award’ for the most popular image as selected by you, our supporters and photography enthusiasts.

The process is simple, just after Easter once the first Top 30 for 2011 is announced, we will create a gallery where you will be able to browse through the final  images and vote for your favourites. The image that gets the most votes within a set period of a month will receive the great prize courtesy of Lexar Media.

“To show Lexar Media’s continued support of the Australian photography industry, it is proud to support the SPW Top 30 Viewer’s Choice Award. Lexar media will be offering the talented winner of this award a professional photographer’s memory accessory prize pack, valued at $470.00″

The pack includes;

1x Professional Dual Slot Reader

2x 16GB 600x CF Cards

1x 16GB JumpDrive S70

We’re sure you’ll agree that it’s indeed a very worthy prize. A huge thank you to Lexar Media for their kind support. Make sure to check out Lexar’s Digital Photography page for some great workflow tips and lessons.

Meanwhile, do yourself a favour and check out the amazing selection of Top 30 images from 2010.

2010 “Top 30″ Galleries

2010 Intake 1	2010 Intake 2
2010 Intake 3	2010 Intake 4
2010 Intake 5

Also, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook. Make sure to ‘like’ our fan page to receive all the latest updates and inspirational tid-bits.

Sydney Photographic Workshops Fan Page

Behind The Scenes - The amazing Bradley Chatfield turns it on for our first ever weekend workshop back in June 2005

I can’t believe that I didn’t think of this earlier! Last night while trolling through the thousands of images taken over the last 5 years worth of workshops, I realised that there are just so many amazing images that have never really been seen, so over the next however many months I’m going to open up the vault and see what pops out. The amazing models, cool locations and the fun we had.

Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we enjoyed making them.

Link to Sydney Photographic Workshops

When Australia’s leading experience supplier Red Balloon Days approached us about trying our Beginners DSLR Photography Workshop in order to write a review, I was naturally nervous. Although I was always quietly confident that we had one of the most thorough and inspiring beginners workshops on the market, there is always that little voice that says ‘perhaps you’re just biased’. Especially now, with so many new offerings out in the market place, the pressure is on to provide the best experience possible. After all, these days more so than ever it’s all about the experience!

Well now the confidence is back in my step, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Red Balloon Days had to say about it.

Read the Review

It was that time again where Daniel and I put on our judge’s hats and began the process of choosing the top 30 images from the first intake for 2010 - Digital SLR 8 week beginner course

With just under 1000 images presented on the final night we knew we had a challenge on our hands to pick the 30 stand out images.

This final selection was based on, originality of idea, overall impact of image (mood), use of colour and composition, and technical execution.

Congratulations to all those who made the final cut!

Click on the image below to reveal the top 30!

Our apologies for a delay in posting the final Top 30 of 2009. We’re blaming lots of things, but mainly Christmas holidays, travel, too much eating and definitely drinking, children, pets, photo shoots and technical issues. We hope it’s worth the wait.

Every time I sit down to run through this editing process I am astounded by the number of quality images presented by those, who only 8 weeks earlier knew NOTHING about photography.

This time we started with 1480 images which were presented on the final night ( wk 8 ) by each of the students. The first edit was easy, as images were selected based on initial impact. Basically, they stood out from the rest of the pack. Within a few hours the 180 were whittled down to 60 as we lost a great number to critical (or general) focus issues and slightly sloppy composition. From there things really slowed down, we compared, discussed and even argued over each image, and it’s merits.

This final selection was based on, originality of idea, overall impact of image (mood), use of colour and composition, and technical execution.

Congratulations to all those who made the final cut! I feel most would agree that these images hold their own on most gallery walls around town.

Click on the image below to reveal the top 30!

Approximately every 8 weeks a new batch of SPW “Beginners DSLR Workshop” graduates go out into the world armed with their new cameras and enough new photographic knowledge and inspiration to make the most of them.

From chatting to the tutors and also the students themselves, one of the most beneficial, and I would say fitting ending to the course, is the Final Night presentations where each student brings along a selection of images created during the 8 weeks for a final slide show to music. Being able to see other photographers interpretations of the various exercises and subject matter as, well as uses of basic techniques in unique ways, often broadens the creative mind and can offer a new perspective on an otherwise familiar subject.

Images are created to be shared, to teach, to inspire and off course, to communicate the creators vision of the world. I always make a point to encourage ALL to attend this final night as the value gained from seeing the results of others often outweighs any that can be passed on verbally or by the written word. After all, photography is a visual medium.

For myself, the reward is seeing the quality of the images created and the breadth of ideas from a group who just 8 weeks earlier had little or no photographic knowledge. So it is with great pleasure that we present the first selection of our ‘Final Night Top 30′.

To view the image larger, just click on the photographers name below the thumbnails

[svgallery name="SPW09 T4 Final Night"]

This set of Top 30 Images was selected anonymously from over 800 final night images presented. In the selection process we considered; initial impact, originality of idea/concept, technical execution, composition and overall mood and feel.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THOSE WHO MADE THE FINAL CUT!!!

by: Daniel Linnet