This Street Photography Workshop is a unique experience.
We’re not going to meet under a statue at Trafalgar square, herd you around the streets for a few hours and then send you home.
Participants should expect a solid day (from 10.00 am – 5.00pm) of shooting, lectures, critiquing, discussing and breathing photography with Cyrus and Marc based at their rooms on Fleet Street in London.
If you want to know exactly what the class will be, that’s impossible because it’s a free form living organism that also depends on what you bring to the group dynamic. There are no rules.
You will be sent out on assignments to photograph people. There will be (gentle) criticism of your work. You will be forced to look at our work (criticism of our is optional). There will be demonstrations and talk designed to help you avoid the problems that plague you. You’ll be nagged into improving your images.
There won’t be enough time to do all the shooting, editing, critiquing, talking, and looking at our work that you’ll want to do.
You will be overwhelmed but will end up a better photographer, if not a better human being.
We normally run the courses on Saturdays and Sundays, but if you want a midweek workshop, drop us a line at admin@streetphotoworkshop.co.uk and we’ll see what we can do for you.
“This was a really great workshop. Very well planned for the time available, the content was interesting and useful, the presentation had a good mix of humour and seriousness and participation by attendees was varied and well thought out. Members with different personalities were all sensitively responded to and we were given both encouragement and serious critique.”
“I found the workshop to be very well structured and informed, with different topics covered that I wouldn’t have thought of. The dynamic was also relaxed yet to the point which I liked”
Maybe you’ve spent £/$1,000’s on a digital camera and the same amount (if not more) on lenses.
It’s a marvel of electronics, precision engineering and mass production. Bresson, Cappa and Maier would be unable to comprehend the quality of even current average lenses.
And yet your photographs look nothing like theirs.
The photographs you usually end up taking are of your partner, children and some landscapes while on holiday.
There is SO MUCH MORE you could be doing with your camera !
Most of our atendees have NEVER deliberately taken a photograph of a stranger on the street, or thought about composition. Or light.
We cover all this and more in our intensive one day course (which is often cheaper than a lens hood).
Street photography can become addictive and we’re here to show you how !
Even if you don’t take photographs to show in a gallery, most people find it, at the very least, healthy, meditative and an antidote to spending large amounts of money on therapy to deal with the stresses of day to day life.
The course costs £200 for a 7 hour day of lectures, shooting and feedback.
The group will consist of no more than 10 people.
That way, you will get all the advantages of working closely with us.
We will do nothing other than breath and talk photography
Prior to the course you will be asked to send 3 of your best photographs in JPEG format to admin@streetphotoworkshop.co.uk so during the course we can (gently) give you feedback .
We will cover the following (and more):
Although nothing is set in stone, a typical day is as follows:
10.00am Introduction, lecture and feedback on photos sent in advance.
11.30am Group leave to do their first photo shoot around Fleet Street.
12.30pm Lunch.
1.00pm Group discuss first photo shoot. Further tuition.
2.00pm Participants take more photos in the area.
3.00pm Group returns for feedback of 2nd shoot photographs
5.00pm Event ends. Retire to pub to talk photography for rest of night (optional)
We normally run the courses on Saturdays and Sundays, but if you want a midweek workshop, drop us a line at admin@streetphotoworkshop.co.uk and we’ll see what we can do for you.
Eat. Sleep. Snap. Repeat.
As we have the benefit of a comfortable studio and a state of the art 4k projector (and a white wall), one of the most popular parts of our course is the critiquing of you own pictures.
We ask you to send in three pictures in advance of the course and we’ll spend the start of the day gently suggesting ways in which they could be improved (or patting you on the back if they’re excellent)
Visit the critiquing pages here to see what some of our previous students submitted and how we analyzed their pictures.
In between lectures you’ll be sent out to take more pictures and when you come back to the studio, we’ll download and review those.
When you eventually get home, we encourage you to send us 3 more pictures for us to critique again, this time by email.
“As a complete beginner I didn’t really know what to expect, but Cyrus and Marc put me at my ease straight away. I found the lectures, discussions and critique very interesting and enjoyable. I learnt such a lot and had plenty to take away with me and put into practice. I will definitely be booking another session. Would recommend this workshop to anyone who is interested in photography, whether they are a complete novice or experienced”
Tanya
August 2024
“I found the street photography materials shared by Cyrus and Marc to be informative and interesting. It’s a series of content on the history, and techniques for street photography including some live (friendly :)) critiques of attendees work. There is also time to go out and shoot during the workshop to help cement some of the learnings. Would recommend for any beginner to intermediate looking to get into, or crystallise some of their learnings in street photography”
George
August 2024
“Really useful and informative workshop! I only just started getting into photography more seriously in the past year so this workshop was super helpful and well-structured with its mix of theory and practice. It was rather insightful to hear Marc and Cyrus’ critique of my photos taken on the day and of photos taken in the past during my travels. It has definitely allowed me to view and critique my photos through a different lens so I know what to look out for the next time I am going on shoots. Most importantly, Marc and Cyrus provided many useful tips that have helped build my confidence in approaching street photography as before I was wary of photographing strangers. *Added bonus – you can also learn a lot about the history of the streets of London from them!”
Chloe
January 2024
“The workshop was a highlight of my trip to London. I appreciated the feedback they provided on my work and the instruction we received on how to capture great street images. I would recommend a workshop with Cyrus and Marc to anyone with a beginner to intermediate level of experience with their camera.”
Jennie
February 2024
“Hi Marc & Cyrus, Thanks so much for the really useful and enjoyable photography session given as part of the Islingtom Festival
For me it was a bit like a very friendly kick up the arse – with impact but no violence! What it did was remind me of some things I’ve learned/ thought about before plus some new ideas, but which I’ve neglected or only half attended to in recent times. Looking at street shots from my collection, few really match the criteria taught. Some sharpening up of form would add a great deal to my content.
You made us feel collegial and very involved right from the start, gave what you had to offer very clearly and so memorably, and structured the time we had very well to give a rounded experience. I really liked your starting with feedback on our offered photos, followed by your teaching, followed by direct experience and feedback. I’m not a fast learner but that doesn’t invalidate the renewed excitement of a supported task. And it sent me home looking at my collection in a very focused way and wanting to put form firmly rather than loosely in what I do next.
Perhaps unfortunately, I can’t give any cons to balance – there just weren’t any. Tho I can see a longer day or more would allow greater development of what we covered.”
Anna
21st July 2023
“Just wanted to share my gratitude for your photography workshop I attended at the weekend.
I learned a lot and the SEB guidance really will help me improve my photography. The workshop detail was very immersive and the balance between technical and creative steer was just perfect.
I have shared my enthusiasm for your workshop with colleagues and would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve there photography craft.”
Terry
21st July 2023
“Thanks for the course on Saturday ! Megan and I found it a really inspiring day and we learned a lot. We particularly appreciated your passion for street photography and, as a result, both feel motivated to rekindle our own creativity and interest in taking pictures”
Jamie and Megan
“Thank you very much for the fantastic course on Sunday. As promised, here is some feedback!
I found the presentation to be very well structured and informed, with different topics covered that I wouldn’t have thought of…..The dynamic was also relaxed yet to the point which I liked. I’d never tried street photography before and one of the things I was nervous about was photographing strangers, and your advice put me at ease and I will definitely be going out to try more. I travel rather a lot with my work, so will be taking my camera with me more. My only critique would be to have had more time to hear more, and also take some more photos / have more comments – but for a condensed course you gave, it was perfect for time structure.”
Ashby
July 2023
“Many thanks for an interesting event yesterday. I do feel it’s given me renewed enthusiasm for photography!”
Nita
“Interesting approach to guidance on street photography. Included a critique session of photos submitted in advance provided a third party view. Useful reminders for basic pointers for creative street photography.”
Clarence