New Classes for 2012

While I'm off of teaching this week until Saturday, I'm still working!

My goal is to get all of my accounting together in preparation for the end of the year and not do a last minute rush to get everything to the accountant.  In the past several years, I've been pretty good at this. So far, I'm on track to get this finished by today.

I'm also answering phone calls from students trying to schedule their classes.  This happens daily anyway.  Other calls involve signing students up for taking a class if they did not go through an online coupon company to buy their class.

I've also been dealing with planning for the 2012 classes.  The "Photography 101" class is going to be "more compact" in 2012 (and will be called "Photo Essentials" going forward) and will move to a 4 hour training session instead of 6 hours.  This will move the class to a slightly faster pace in order to keep the information the same.  I feel it will actually make the class more interesting... and it will keep the students on their toes.  Several students have said that this is a good idea as well.

The Photography "Boot Camp" class will remain the same at 3 hours.  The main difference between the two classes will be that the "Photo Essentials" class will also discuss composition and other topics that are not specifically just about how to use the mechanics of the camera.  Boot Camp will concentrate solely on the camera's operations.

I am also adding a class called "DSLR Advanced."  This new class is for those who have already taken "Photography 101," "Boot Camp" or the "Photo Essentials" class.  It will be the continuation of those classes.  We'll cover many more of the advanced features you will find inside the "menus" of the camera itself.  There are a lot of features inside your camera's menu and it was impossible to even discuss them in the first class and still get through the main focus of the Photo 101 and Boot Camp classes.  With DSLR Advanced, we'll be able to do this now.  It will be a 3 hour class.

However, DSLR Advanced will only be offered to those who have true DSLR cameras.  Those who own "hybrid" advanced Point and Shoot cameras will not be able to attend this class as it will be specific to the DSLR.

Can you get the new DSLR Advanced Class through Groupon, LivingSocial or Amazonlocal?  No... but it will be available directly through Balanced Exposure at a substantial discount for students who have already gone through one of the first classes.  Keep an eye out for a special email announcement in January for this class.  You'll have an opportunity to get tthe discount if you respond to the promo offered via email.

Also in 2012, Balanced Exposure will drop Point and Shoot photography classes.  With so many more DSLR students coming onboard in 2012, and also to service existing students, I decided Balanced Exposure will need to concentrate solely on DSLR cameras going forward.

Hybrid / Advanced Point and Shoot cameras will be allowed into the Photo Essential and Boot Camp camera classes, but they must be truly capable of functioning like a DSLR.  This means cameras that can fully be controlled manually and also can be shot in both Aperture and Shutter Speed Priority Modes.

The calendar for 2012 is currently up on the website, but may be tweaked a little as classes are added throughout the year.  Stay tuned!