Explore the local after-hours "street" scene with camera and lens together with our host, Ray, who is highly skilled in Street Photography and Photojournalism.

Street Photography requires quick responses and react intuitively as you would shooting sports. Just like Travel Photography, you must master storytelling. And you must be able to thoughtfully and creatively compose a compelling shot that draws in your viewer, just like in Landscape Photography.

This 2-hour workshop is aimed at enthusiasts with basic and intermediate skills. Ray will guide you through exposure settings whilst the availability of light is limited; camera flash is not used in this genre. At night, backgrounds can be much more beautiful than during the day, so it often pays to have people become the secondary element in the scene, rather than the primary focus.

Learn how to compose your photos and which techniques are best suited for this tricky genre. Moreover, you will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of photography, not just the basics of Street Photography, but also enhance your potential. After-hours Street Photography is a perfect way to advance your craft and create compelling digital files. Thereby, your images will tell stories in frame.

The best night-time Street Photography equipment is broadly similar to its daytime counterpart regarding your gear: lightweight, compact, and inconspicuous.

Capturing sharp Street Photography is mostly about the shutter speed, so that is where participants will start. To freeze motion during the day, your tutor generally prefers to use a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second (with 1/125 of a second as his lower threshold).

Nonetheless, what camera mode should you use?
If you are doing fast-paced shooting in a variety of different lighting scenarios, such as moving in and out of the streetlights, aperture will be tricky, particularly if you are shooting in shutter priority.

How about which method of focussing?
Reviews from several so-called experts claim that zone focussing is the recommended method for Street Photography. However, in Ray's opinion, when using an ultra-wide aperture at night, you will end up missing a lot of images. You can try using manual focus to pre-focus in a certain area if you can anticipate a shot in advance. Fortunately, with some practice, this can be done. Most street photographers aim to get their photos as sharp as possible. Sharpness certainly is not a bad thing. But you may be inclined to incorporate a blur effect in your after-hours shoots.

Ray will recommend various tips, and depending on the specifications of your camera, you will be given options on what will work best.

Do not perceive you are restricted to photographing people on the street outside clubs and restaurants. You can capture all sorts of stunning effects by shooting through windows (plus, if you are feeling a bit nervous about photographing people, the window can act as a barrier and reduce your anxiety.

We recommend you take plenty of shots, so make sure your camera battery is fully charged before proceeding to this workshop.

Wikipedia defines Street Photography as "photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents". Typically, Street Photography is about candidly capturing life in public areas. And contrary to its name, this genre does not have to be done on the streets. You can do it in any public space.

What makes a good "Street" image? Right now, social media is flooded with mediocre and subpar Street Photography, much from New York city. Just pointing your lens in the direction of a person on the street does not qualify as Street Photography. As in all photography, how you compose your image will make or break your image.

If you think you might be interested in this type of photography session, make a booking.

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Are you a photography enthusiast looking to level up your skills? A beginner ready to dive into the captivating world of photographic imagery?
Or are you an intermediate photographer eager to refresh your fundamentals?
This 3-hour event is the key to unlocking your creative potential and transforming the way you see and capture the world with your camera and lens.
You do not need fancy equipment or years of experience, just a burning desire to preserve moments and express your unique perspective through the lens.
Hosted by a professional photographer experienced in various photography genres, this hands-on approach, combined with in-depth tutorial and photo shoot provides you with practical knowledge that you can apply instantly, taking your photography from ordinary to extraordinary.

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The basic concept of photography is largely based on one of the most important principles of physics; the way light works.
Our photography tutor, Ray, is hosting for the very first time, a photography concept he experimented almost two decades ago which embraces the phenomenon that water, being a three-atom molecule, is a perfect subject when elements through the lens release this transparent mundane object from the bonds of realism and create abstract beauty. Ray's collection of 108 coloured abstractions is a by-product of the principle of Photons.

The study of photons was one of the major breakthroughs Albert Einstein, and the father of quantum physics, Max Planck, made about the nature of light, and that energy can be discretely measured on a quantum scale. Einstein conceptualised the science relating to photons from 1905-1917. A photon is an electromagnetic "wave packet" and can behave as a wave or a particle depending on the experiment.

Photons are the fundamental particle of light and have a unique property in that they are both a particle and a wave. This is what allows photons' properties such as refraction and diffusion. Without the principal of photons, photographers would not understand the importance of the speed of light and with it the understanding of the interaction of time and space that it produced. This science allows us to work with complex shutter speeds and sensitivity ratings to photograph flowing water on such intricate scales and ultimately produce unique colourful images.

Ray never discussed his Watercolour abstract formula, and ever since 2012, his Evocative Abstractions are accessible for viewing in his website (raygaleaphotography.com). However, for the very first time, he plans to introduce participants to this phenomenon in a 2-hour session that is aimed at enthusiasts with intermediate and basic skills. Session participants will be guided to create their own unique images that encapsulate flow motion colours.

When interviewed by Steve Packer, former editor of Australian Photography magazine, and correspondent with Photo Review publication, Ray said: I am not aiming for mystification, but my prime objective is to produce digital images which are not susceptible to exact definition.

If you are interested to participate in this session, make a booking because this may likely be a one-off event.

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Would you like to learn how to capture timeless memories of your dog to be treasured forever?

Dog Photography is a niche within a niche. So, look no further than our 3-hour session hosted by Ray, who is happy to tutor participants about the technical necessities, and what it takes to be a proficient dog photographer. This session is specifically suited for beginners or those shifting away from phone camera snapping to masterful Dog Photography using digital cameras and associated lenses.

Basically, if you love animals and have the right attitude to Dog Photography, passion-based learning allows you to practice these photography skills in real situations. With so many different types of dogs, this niche still has a huge variety of beautiful animals with differing personalities to capture in emotive photography so that it never becomes boring for the dog photographer.

For countless people, our dog is not just an animal, or simply a pet, but a member of our family or a best mate who means the world to us. Understandingly, photography plays an important role to establish timeless images.

As pet owners, we know how much luck is involved in capturing great shots. Often our dog will not sit still, or face in the right direction, and hardly has the patience to model for you. The time we have with our dogs can sometimes be the most precious moments we experience, leaving an unforgettable impression.

Dog Photography is a specialised genre, and requires certain skill sets from an easy-to-learn photography fundamentals and skills from the principles of Exposure Triangle and knowing how to use the appropriate shutter speed to get those many sharp images when your dog is chasing that ball.

In most genres of photography, the more the photographer knows about their subject matter, the better the final outcome. This is also applicable in Dog Photography.

Whilst such passion is critical for success and is essential in capturing natural images of each dog, knowing the essentials will produce good outcomes. The better the photographer understands his or her relationship with their dog, the more personality can be captured in the photography itself.

As a participant of this session, you will also receive a digital tutorial/manual created by your host.

Learn to be a masterful photographer to capture your loyal furry companion on your heart.

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Have you ever tried your hand at photographing a forest, and come away from that shoot disappointed and frustrated at the results?

A subset of both landscape photography and nature photography, forest photography is, as it sounds, pictures of wooded areas. It may seem simple, but it is a unique and challenging type of photography to learn and master.

Woodland-Nature Photography is one of the most difficult and challenging genres of this medium. A rainforest is generally cluttered, chaotic, and unforgiving place to capture with camera and lens. Good compositions can be challenging and difficult to configure. But this genre can also be one of the most rewarding photography genres.

If you are either a beginner looking to master the fundamentals, or intermediate photographer seeking fresh insights in capturing a rainforest with its flora and fauna, look no further than our 2-hour workshop covering this facet hosted by our professional lensman, Ray. An experienced photographer spanning more than 30 years in photo media, Ray will provide the ultimate guide to this genre.

Getting beyond the hurdles of frustration of this genre takes much patience and loads of practice, there are no ways around that adage, of practice makes perfect.

When under the canopy of a woodland area, it can be surprisingly dark. We often do not notice this due to the way our eyes adapt so well to low light situations, but unfortunately the camera is nowhere near as advanced as the human eye, particularly if you are shooting in auto!

This photography session offers a non-definitive list of tips and tricks to help with your Woodland-Nature Photography. It is the advice your tutor applies in his own style to specifically take participants to the next run of the ladder.

While a natural landscape benefits from water and spectacular light, forests are more forgiving. Grey, dull skies, and even rain soften the light and simplifies the scene. You guessed it; light is one of the vital compositional elements.

Few things are more beautiful than trees in the soft, warm light of the morning sun. Avoid the midday light that may create too much chaos with burnt-out reflexes in foliage and a cluster of black shadows.

Other factors that help increase your chances of producing good outcomes are edges, corners, and depth. The latter, such as a sense of depth, may place the definitive element in the foreground or using leading lines created by branches or fallen trees towards a backdrop.

Various topics for discussion will certainly include the choice of lens. Focal length is so much more than angle-of-view. Different focal lengths alter the compression of the scene and thereby the relationship between near and far subjects. For a composition in the forest, this relationship can mean all the difference.

Participants will also receive a digital tutorial/manual created by your host.

Port Macquarie Photography Group hopes that this session will plant a seed of inspiration for your photography passion.

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In the extremely diverse world of photography, photographers are often confronted with the challenge of finding and developing their artistic vision. Whether it is monochrome (black and white, sepia) or colour, the challenge is ever there.

In this 3-hour session, your host Ray, will emphasise that Monochrome Photography teaches us how to see differently and how to capture differently. This genre removes all distractions and focuses on three things: the subject, light, and the background. You will learn to incorporate tones of a single colour used to represent all the different monochromic hues within an image. After all, the definition of Monochrome Photography is an image displaying a single colour or different shades of a single colour. Monochrome is photography in which the entire image is recorded and represented by differing amounts of light instead of different hues.

Ray studied photography based on the Langford curriculum adapted by Royal College of Art, London, and the then Sydney Institute of Photography. Your host draws his monochromic inspirations from the inner visions of past masters including: Eugene Atget, Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Brassai, Walker Evans, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier Bresson, Ansel Adams, Yousuf Karsh, and Philippe Halsman.

This 3-hour session could be a game changer because Monochrome Photography represents subjects in varying shades of neutral grey but includes no other colours. This stands in stark contrast to contemporary colour photography in which the actual colours present in the subject are captured and represented in the photograph.

Because of this distinction, monochrome images are not true renditions of the world, but rather abstractions that represent different colours with different shades of the same colour. Thereby, Monochrome Photography is most often used for artistic and aesthetic purposes.

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