The camera magazine, PhotoPlus - the Canon magazine, runs a monthly feature called The Apprentice. This involves sending a reader out as an apprentice with a Canon professional to improve their photo skills. The subjects vary from month to month and a few weeks ago I answered a post on Instagram whereby the magazine was looking for a reader to be the apprentice for 25th March for a day in Dorset on landscapes and seascapes. I got selected to be that apprentice and the local professional recommended a hotel to me.
The Kingston Country Courtyard hotel is in the village of Kingston, which is just South of Corfe Castle and consists of beautifully presented rooms in converted barns etc. It looked good online when I decided to book it, but I still wasn't prepared for just how impressive the room was when I checked in.
Now, that part was impressive, but so was the service even ahead of my arrival. I received a phone call on Saturday evening asking if I would require dinner on the Sunday evening. I wasn't sure at that stage and the mobile signal was lousy in Llandudno. I phoned them back just before I left Llanberis on Sunday lunchtime and estimated that I should arrive in time for dinner.
However, my scenic route drive from Llanberis to Dorset took longer than I had originally expected and according to my satnav I was only going to arrive around 8.30pm and that was the time of their last table sitting for dinner. So, I phoned ahead and advised of my expected arrival time and discussed dinner arrangements. I was offered serving of my dinner in my room after arrival, so I listened to the menu options and made my selection and was told it would be ready for soon after I arrived.
I duly arrived there at 8.30pm, checked in and was shown to my room. A few minutes later, dinner was delivered. The food was fabulous and so was the service, that on top of me being totally amazed at the place that I had booked. I was lucky enough to have a large room (the bed was queen size), with a lot of space, and a walk in shower. Everything was spotless and beautifully presented and I discovered in the daylight the next morning that that description would also be apt for the grounds. Breakfast was offered for a variety of time slots and I booked it for a relaxed start to my Monday ahead of what was likely to be a busy day.
The forecast for the Monday was showery to start with and possibly clearing a bit later on. For the 3rd day in a row for the locations I was at, the forecast was wrong. The Canon professional for my day was locally based Jack Lodge, a pleasant surprise as he is someone that I already followed on Instagram as I liked his photos that had appeared on my feed from time to time. We had arranged to meet at midday and 'chase the light', but the better than forecast start to the day meant that our meet up was brought forward by an hour. Good call Jack, local knowledge certainly paid off as we met up in sunny conditions - meeting up also with Dan who is the Deputy Editor for the magazine.
Now, I cannot reveal further details of this day until after the feature is published in the magazine next month - but I will say that it was an awesome day, an absolute blast. We 3 got on well, had a good laugh and plenty of conversation as we visited various locations and discussed compositions and settings. I learned a lot from Jack, about what to look for - he says there's always a photo or two to be had - about settings and what my camera could do that I wasn't maximising and unexpectedly I learned that my 100-400mm zoom that I use a lot for Motorsport is actually very useful on landscape and seascapes (something I had not previously considered).
Jack was patient as well as obviously knowledgeable and easy to talk to, I was encouraged to suggest compositions and to have an opinion or an idea.
I will be able to add photos to illustrate this post when the magazine has been published, and not before that. It was one of my instructions and I would not dream of doing different to that anyway. Publication date is 25th April, so after that I can add photos here and expand the write up to include more detail.
We met at Corfe Castle and took some shots there, looking across a field to the sunlit castle with passing clouds giving lovely balance to the shots. Here I learned that my 100-400mmm zoom that I use for Motorsport photos is actually very useful on landscapes as well. Plus I learned about using different modes and settings on my camera.
Then we headed off to Peverill Point, Swanage, where it turned out to be extremely windy and freezing cold with it. Here we explored catching waves crashing over rock formations, while playing with shutter speeds, some shooting on burst rather than single shot and finally onto handheld photos with the 100-400mm lens to catch wave motion shots.
A little foray into Wareham Forest was next up, with Jack favouring a particular tree where the roots are exposed on the track that leads deeper into the forest. Interesting conversations on lead-in lines and composition here.
The final stop was Kimmeridge Bay, where we took a variety of shots just by moving very slightly. we weren't hopeful of an actual sunset cos of the cloud cover, so we concentrated on various other shots. My favourites from the day were taken here.
More write up to follow
To summarise then, my Dorset experience was really incredible - fabulous hotel, an awesome day with Jack and Dan and quite a lot of great photos that you can see in a few weeks time. Jack is a wonderful guy to learn from. He gets his points across, but encourages interaction rather than just him saying do this and that. Knowledgeable and articulate would sum him up, I would recommend his tuition. Plus he offers one to one online tuition on photo editing.
You can view Jack's photography and learn about his workshops and tuition on his website at:- http://www.jacklodge.co.uk/
View more about Kingston Country Courtyard on their website at:-
Follow PhotoPlus - The Canon Magazine on Instagram at:-
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