I attended two classes with Francois Nadeau: “Introduction to Digital Photography” and “Street Photography”. Both were excellent in their own right as well as in combination.

Introduction to Digital Photography provided comprehensive technical basics that any photographer should know. Francois explained clearly and on the basis on our individual cameras, gave practical examples and was always ready to answer questions or take the conversation somewhere of interest to a student. In line with his remark “someone can teach these things in a few hours but it will take a life-time to practice and make them work”, he then took us out for exercises and provided tricks, tips and hands-on guidance.

In Street Photography the theory was less technical and more focused on masters of the craft/ genre, their approaches and the way we perceive photographs.

After a conversation around these topics we ventured out to shoot Beijings street life. Francois provided the general direction that everyone moved in, but within that everyone was free to follow their own impulses on where and what to capture. He had a good overview over who did what and found time to attend to everyone on their respective level by using learning opportunities that presented themselves in situations at hand: light, movements, people, patterns…

Both classes: Great fun and learning alike! What is next?