In yesterday’s post about “formal” learning in retirement, I mentioned that I am interested in photography. I confess that it is, in part, a holdover from a coworker, Alan, who retired a few years ago. He was taking a full-fledged photography program somewhere local, with tests, and portfolios, and credits, oh my. And the results were stunning. My nephew did a full program with the local college in Ontario, also with stunning results.

Most of the stuff I have seen out there is at a place like Henry’s or individual photographers offering courses. I didn’t even know there were local “full programs” related to photography. The idea of better approaches to photography is compelling, whether it be for landscapes, nightscapes, astrophotography, fauna or travel. I should at least see what is available, no?

Local programs

From what I can tell, the largest local program is offered through SPAO. Originally called the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, SPAO followed the path of other acronym-based orgs that kept the acronym-like name and dropped the breakout of the actual words. So they’re just SPAO now.

They advertise as a college, regency and gallery all in one, although I guess I am mainly interested in the college component. They offer a 2-year college diploma in photographic arts and production, which they state is the only one of its kind in Canada. Which no doubt is true as almost everything else I see is photography only, and tends to run a single year or a year and a bit. If they are even standalone full programs instead of “minors”. But I digress.

The program (https://spao.ca/diploma) is split across the two years, with 7 “courses” in the first year (although some are more workshops than courses). Five of them are genres — landscape and architecture, still life, portraiture, documentary, contemporary + experimental — plus another two for community engagement (aka projects) and an “intro to creative outcomes” (aka portfolio presentation). Year 2 is more advanced planning and implementation of techniques.

Now, here’s the thing. I looked at the full program; I read all the course descriptions. And for the 13-15 courses? Almost none of them interested me more than about 20% of the content. Put differently, in each course, I was attracted to only about 20% of the description. Which helps me realize that is NOT what I’m interested in doing. Yes, I want to take better photos, but I’m more interested in going from random amateur to gifted amateur, not professional. So do I even need a diploma?

But wait, there’s more…SPAO also offers some “recreational” classes. For example, starting in the winter, there is a “Digital Photography I” class that runs 10w, but at a cost of $500 per course. 30 hours worth of class time, no indication if they do anything outside the lab itself.

There are also DP II to go beyond the basics, darkroom techniques, bookmaking, etc. I might like the first couple, not sure if my interest would sustain me to the more technical ones.

Other options

There is a ton of stuff online including a decent one through The Great Courses. Sticking with it is a bit of a challenge, a bit non-interactive of course, but the price and access are better. I really like the ones through TGC or master classes. Plus, there are a few others online that offer a course here or there for $100. Or even just really long and involved options through a hundred YouTubers. That is a rabbithole all on its own.

I do, however, need to separate out the three parts of the photography world.

The first is planning the shot, composition, etc. I know some basics, but it would be great to do hands-on with a photographer here in Ottawa. I followed a couple from MeetUp who regularly do outings with models, such as two or three models in five or six costumes or changes for a theme — wedding, cosplay, etc. — out at a location like ruins, forest, etc. While the online courses can teach the theory, it’s hard to apply it to a real-world scenario. Same concerns with lighting.

Then there is the actual shot-taking. I’m fine learning many of the technical elements from YouTube or online courses.

And, finally, there is the post-processing. Just about everyone defaults to assuming everything is done in Adobe, and well, I hate Adobe with a passion. I have a whole course that I bought some time ago for processing everything in GIMP. Not qutie Adobe-level, but it will get the job done. Oddly enough, I suspect that is the astrophotography work that will teach me the most.

As I said in the title, it can be a very deep rabbithole, even just on YouTube or Reddit. But starting with the formal big program, I realized that my interest is not deep enough to sustain a two-year program. I want something simpler. Which means I don’t need to figure out if I retire with an educational support package, photography will not be the study area.