LEARNING WITH SKILLSHARE

My goal for the year, and really the reason for starting this blog, is to find out more about what I like and invest in growing my skills, achieving my goals and generally make life a little rosier around the edges. I want to improve my photography, but I'm just not a natural picture taker and can't get my head around using my SLR in manual mode. Plus, I'm loathe to lug it around when I'm travelling. I'm a big believer in the idea that the best camera you have is the one you carry with you; for me, that's my iPhone. Actually, Will's gorgeous phone photos from New York made me feel better about starting my blog, because it shows that if you know how to take pictures properly, you don't always have to have amazing SLR images to capture and share enchanting images. I followed a couple of links through the post and found out about Skillshare, an easy and cheap way to pick up new skills. You sign up to digital classes, usually a video or series of videos, with community discussions and peer appraisal. If you have your own skills, anything from photo editing to making a bracelet out of a spoon (!), you can share them and earn money from your classes.

I was interested to know more, so I joined Corey's course for photographing and editing landscapes, which is perfectly timed as I'm going to Siem Reap on Friday! The video class is split into three parts - scouting and capturing locations, editing and post-processiing. I wish he had focused more on actually capturing pictures and composition, but I learned some really great tips for post-processing apps that I hadn't heard of before, and I'm looking forward to giving a few of them a try. (fyi, this Design*Sponge post is super informative for iPhone photography.)

The courses are all $19 and there is currently an extra 20% discount code: SHARE20. With an emphasis on community and sharing, Skillshare is also offering a $10 credit towards classes via this link, and you'll get $10 for every friend you recommend. So why not have a look around, see what you can learn, and earn your own credits! I ended up paying £3.20 for Corey's class, and I have my eye on an inDesign walk through that will perfectly complement a sub-editing qualification I'm taking.

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