Tuesday 17th July – 10am-4:30pm

Do you love taking pictures and have treated yourself to a decent camera? Want to
know how to use it to its full potential? Well this is the photography course for you.
This is your opportunity to take your photography to the next level by taking part in our very
own photography course, run by Gemma Varney, a local photography tutor, here at The
Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth. We have a fantastic amount of wildlife, nature, landscapes and
of course, our wonderful donkeys to harness your new photography skills on.

Course Contents:

This full day course will follow on from the lessons taught in the beginner’s session which
gives you confidence to step off of the automatic setting. We will look at the settings listed
below and how they can enhance your creativity when taking photographs.
The course will begin by reviewing the camera’s three main settings; Aperture, ISO and
Shutter Speed which were covered in the Beginners Photography Course, and then it will
continue to look at the following:

 White Balance
 Metering Modes
 Autofocus Modes
 Bracketing
 Built in Flash
 Composition and Framing Guides
 Camera Picture Styles
 Exposure Compensation
 Face Recognition
 Back Button Focussing
 Setting Function Buttons and more

This course will incorporate plenty of practical elements which will take place in one of our
donkey’s shelters, so you can practise your newfound skills on our photogenic donkeys!
You will receive worksheets to reinforce your learning, and an action plan with projects for
you to complete in your own time. You are welcome to contact Gemma after the course with
any specific questions that you might have.

Important Information:

You will be met at the Main Entrance at 10.00am and the course will finish at 4.30pm.
Please bring with you a camera with P, S, A and M modes on the mode dial.
A buffet lunch will be served and refreshments will be provided throughout the day but
please bring a bottle of water to carry around with you for the practical session, and any
medication that you may require.

You are welcome to explore the Sanctuary after the course finishes if you wish.

Booking:

The course costs £70 with limited spaces available, so please contact the Events Team
early to secure your booking.
For further information and to book:
Telephone: 01395 573156
Email: events@thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk

Tuesday 5th June – 10am-3:30pm

Have you ever wanted to hone your photography skills? This is your opportunity to
become a wizard behind the lens and take part in our very own photography course, run by
Gemma Varney, a local photography tutor, here at The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth. We
have a fantastic amount of wildlife, nature, landscapes and of course, our wonderful donkeys
to harness your new photography skills on.

The Course Content

This course will teach you how to use your camera and the basic principles of photography.
Within this session we will use your camera’s semi-automatic and manual modes to take
photos with sharp backgrounds, blurred backgrounds, to get fun light trail photos, to show
movement and to get crisp, ‘frozen’ photos of moving subjects.

The course will also cover the following points, which are incredibly valuable for creative
control when practising in photography:

 Shutter Speed
 Aperture
 ISO
 White Balance
 Lens Markings
 Camera Buttons and Functions
 Depth of Field
 Capturing Movement (frozen and blurred)
 How Auto Mode Limits Creativity
 Exposure Basics

For the practical session, you will get the chance to visit one of the donkey shelters to put
everything you have learnt into practice. You will have a go at taking a variety of
photographs, applying the skills and settings you will have learnt earlier in the day.
The final part of the day will entail reviewing the photographs you have all taken in the practical
session. You will receive worksheets to reinforce your learning, and you are welcome to contact
Gemma after the course with any specific questions that you might have.

Important Information

You will be met at the Main Entrance at 10.00am and the course will finish at 3.30pm.
Please bring with you a camera with P, S, A and M modes on the mode dial.

A buffet lunch will be served and refreshments will be provided throughout the day but
please bring a bottle of water to carry around with you for the practical session, and any
medication that you may require.

You are welcome to explore the Sanctuary after the course finishes if you wish.

Booking

The course costs £70 per person, with limited spaces available so please contact the Events
Team early to secure your booking.
For further information and to book:
Telephone: 01395 573156
Email: events@thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk

Learn how to take high quality photographs to represent your business on Instagram, Facebook, your website and other social media platforms. We will consider the following topics to assure the best and most appropriate photographic content is produced for your company:

• Understanding light, sources and how to modify light
• How to use your camera in and out of the studio
• How to embed keywords in to your images for higher SEO rankings
• How to photograph members of staff and lifestyle images
• The basic principles of photography
• How to use appropriate lighting equipment
• How to gain consistent photographs for multiple images i.e. catalogue images/product photography
• How to tell your company's story through photography
• How to work with colour schemes for visually attractive profiles that fit your brand
• How to set up a scene for effective photographs
• How to work with and source models (if needed)
• What equipment is appropriate to you and what not to use
• How to set up a studio within your workspace
• Equipment list - what you need to fulfil your requirements
• Image analysis for improvement and recreation
• and more.

A half day session is 3 hours, you will receive worksheets to reinforce your learning and we will learn at your pace. This session is taught as a one to one session but can be modified for a group if you have multiple employees who would like to attend also. The session fee is £139 for one attendee at y studio and includes all pre-planning, worksheets, the session itself and any communications before and after the session. Fuel costs may be incurred depending on your location.  A full day session (6 hours) is £270.

Please get in touch through the enquiry form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Some example Instagram accounts from previous training clients and a couple of screen shots from our own account: