Post Course Reflection

I attended a Landscape Photography course conducted by Mr Chen Yiren from Phocus on Friday and Saturday. It is really a wonderful, enriching and enlightening session as I picked up a lot of things from him.

At first, I was a bit skeptic and also not knowing what to expect to get out of this course when I first sign up. But as I was quite amazed by some of the local landscape photos that he took, so I decided to give it a try as I find that my photography skills has reached a stagnant stage, a plateau and I was hoping to get a breakthrough somehow.

After I signed up for the course, I was quite eager and looking forward to it. On Friday (27/08), I went to the Camera Rental Center where the lesson was conducted. The whole session was very interesting as Yiren, the instructor shared his works and also how he took those shots. He explained the concept of composition which I was particular interested in because I realised that I need to work on that to improve my photos. I also asked him about some compositional issues as I hope to gain more in-depth understanding on what works and what don't.

On Saturday (28/08), we were blessed with good weather as we head out to Lower Seletar Reservoir to take some shots. Yiren was there to guide us and help us when needed. After taking the shots, we met up again at 5pm at Thomson Plaza to do some photos critiques. From the critique session, I was able to understand my flaw and shortcoming. It is really good as he provided first hand account on how to improve my shots.

After the critique session, we head over to Lower Pierce Reservoir for our sunset shoot. The sunset is really beautiful that day. After the whole session, we show Yiren the shots again and he did some brief critiques. As of again, he pointed out my weak areas and it become so obvious to me. I am really thankful that I attended this workshop. Really worth the money. I was hoping for a breakthrough and I found it.

Over the last two days, I did quite a bit of reflection on the course and I happened to come across something that caught my eye. A quote by Galileo Galilei, "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." I think this is so true... Through this course, I found my weakness in myself, and knowing the weakness is half the battle won.

Hope that I will continue to improve and take really good landscape photos to share with all.