Will someone Recommend a good online photography course?

[halesr]

BetterPhoto just added 3 year-long tracks to their courses. Here is a link to the information.

http://www.betterphoto.com/photography-class-tracks.asp

The cost varies for each, but is around $2000 for each year-long track. The information lists which classes will be covered in which months and who the instructors will be. You will also track with a cohort of students which could be a plus as over time you will get to know each other and build a collegial relationship.

This post is purely for information. I get nothing from BetterPhoto for bringing this to your attention.--Rene

[steveprice]

I am semi-retired and I work the rest of the time teaching digital and traditional photography, including Photoshop here in the UK, in the commercial sector. I guess online courses may suit some peoples learning style but I think the courses refered to above are expensive, especially as they are run on-line, which ought to make them cheaper.

I agree, there is nothing that you cant learn from books, magazines and resources like pbase that you can learn on one of these on-line courses. Photography, from a thechnical perspective is essentially very simple, with only a few guiding principles to understand and apply.

The creative aspect is partially in you at birth, but if not then like me you learn to be creative like any other budding artist, by spending hundreds of hours looking at hundreds of photos a day and reproducing the ones that interest you. Thats what I make my students do. In the process your own style, and your own pictures will emerge; you wont be able to keep them down.

If you have done one of these courses I would be very interested to know why you chose that route. And if you are thinking about doing such a course what about it that appeals to you.

Cheers
Steve Price

PS I have nothing to sell. I am just curious.

[cfrederick]

Hi Everyone,
Thank you for all the responses and sorry its taken me so long to reply. I did try the 20D betterphoto.com class taught by Jim White. It was good and I met some other students that have helped me tremendously! We are still writing and asking questions even though the class has ended. Jim also recommended a travel photography class that I would like to take this spring if time permits on betterphoto.com Am losing my job and moving continents!
I also looked at the NY institute but it was mainly aimed at film photographers and only sends you an insert on digital photography. So I will wait on that one and see if they update their course or gear it more towards digital.

I have also put together some photography links from free internet sites that have learning tutorials, PDF files, and more. I am going to teach a digital photography class for beginners on how to integrate photography into the classroom. So I've been hunting around the internet looking at all kinds photography sites! One site always leads to others! My list is getting very comprehensive but will be great to use and pull things from as I teach the class.

Again thanks for all the suggestions! I plan to try out some of your other ideas. I have read some books and hope to use and read more of the sites on the internet. I also like the idea of finding a good pro photographer and seeing if I can be a helper or hang out....I live in a foreign country and language is a barrier for me but am working on it! LOL Phil your expressive Travel Photography site is Excellent and I do refer to it from time to time. Even found a photo you took in Austria similar to one of mine! Great Site! Thanks for all your efforts.
http://www.pbase.com/cfrederick