FAQ

For whom are these pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es suit­able?


I take pride in mak­ing learn­ing pho­tog­ra­phy prac­ti­cal and straight­for­ward. My pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es are suit­able for peo­ple who want to quick­ly learn the basic prin­ci­ples of dig­i­tal pho­tog­ra­phy in an engag­ing and casu­al envi­ron­ment.

My cours­es are per­fect for new pho­tog­ra­phers look­ing to accel­er­ate their edu­ca­tion and begin­ners who have poured over exist­ing books, videos, and instruc­tion man­u­als and require a hands-on approach.

There are no age restric­tions for par­tic­i­pat­ing in my pho­tog­ra­phy work­shops, but adults should accom­pa­ny chil­dren and pre-teens.

How­ev­er, please exer­cise com­mon sense and know your lim­its. For exam­ple, this mate­r­i­al is too dense for young chil­dren, and the out­door nature of my cours­es may not be suit­able for per­sons with lim­it­ed mobil­i­ty.

What should I know before­hand?


All my group pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es take place out­doors.

The class size is lim­it­ed to six peo­ple in most cas­es. How­ev­er, I reserve the right to tem­porar­i­ly increase the class size to accom­mo­date stu­dents resched­ul­ing from can­cel­la­tions.

What do I need to bring or come pre­pared with?


Mon­i­tor the weath­er fore­cast lead­ing up to your sched­uled course, and dress appro­pri­ate­ly.

Dress warmer than you typ­i­cal­ly would when it’s cold out­side. Cam­era bat­ter­ies deplete faster in cold­er con­di­tions, so bring a spare.

Bring water and sun pro­tec­tion when it’s warm.

Bring your bat­tery charg­er if you’re attend­ing more than one course in a day.

Where is the meet­ing loca­tion?


Gen­er­al­ly, we meet at one of two loca­tions*, depend­ing on the time of year. In both cas­es, the cours­es take place at pub­licly acces­si­ble loca­tions with near­by tran­sit stops and car and bike park­ing.

Between April 1 and October 31:

We will meet in front of The Roy­al Con­ser­va­to­ry of Music (273 Bloor St W Toron­to ON M5S 1W2).

This part of town and the adja­cent Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to cam­pus offer a vari­ety of excit­ing sub­jects to pho­to­graph. The loca­tion is cen­tral and easy to access.

If you’re arriv­ing by TTC, the near­est sub­way stop is St. George Sta­tion (take the exit to Bed­ford Rd.).

The near­est munic­i­pal park­ing is the Green P, locat­ed just north of Bloor St. West and acces­si­ble from Bed­ford Rd if you arrive by car.

* Work­shop 105: Guid­ed Pho­to Prac­tice meets in a dif­fer­ent loca­tion dur­ing this peri­od. Please check the pho­to course page or refer to your con­fir­ma­tion email for fur­ther details.

Between November 1 and March 31:

We will meet inside the Allen Lam­bert Gal­le­ria inside Brook­field Place (181 Bay St., Toron­to, ON M5J 2T3), just by the steps of the old RBC Domin­ion Secu­ri­ties facade.

This loca­tion is in the heart of Toronto’s finan­cial dis­trict and offers var­i­ous sub­jects — archi­tec­tur­al, sculp­tur­al, and new and old. 

If you’re arriv­ing by TTC or GO, the near­est tran­sit is Union Sta­tion. 

If you arrive by car, there are sev­er­al com­mer­cial under­ground park­ing facil­i­ties around the area. How­ev­er, please be mind­ful of traf­fic.

My cours­es have a planned dura­tion of 3 hours with 4 to 7 stu­dents in atten­dance, and we may com­plete the course in 2 or 2.5 hours with few­er stu­dents reg­is­tered. With few­er stu­dents in atten­dance, the qual­i­ty of the les­son and the amount of time allo­cat­ed for stu­dent ques­tions remain unchanged.

What if I must can­cel or resched­ule?

My com­plete can­cel­la­tion and refund pol­i­cy is found in the Terms of Sale. The fol­low­ing sum­ma­ry is for your con­ve­nience:

  • All sales are final, and no refunds are giv­en if you can­cel.
  • If unex­pect­ed issues occur, you can resched­ule up to 24 hours before your group pho­tog­ra­phy work­shop is sched­uled to start.

What if I’m run­ning late for my les­son?

I rec­om­mend arriv­ing at the work­shop loca­tion ten min­utes ear­ly. This will give you ample time to pre­pare for the ses­sion.

If you antic­i­pate being late, please send me a text mes­sage as soon as pos­si­ble. This helps me stay informed about your sit­u­a­tion.

Out of respect for all par­tic­i­pants, I do not answer my phone after the sched­uled start time. Con­se­quent­ly, I won’t be avail­able to pro­vide direc­tions if you’re lost. How­ev­er, the loca­tions are easy to find using Google or Apple Maps, so you should­n’t have any trou­ble.

The group leaves the meet­ing loca­tion ten min­utes after the sched­uled start time. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, if you arrive after the group has left the meet­ing point, you will be con­sid­ered absent.

What’s your inclement weath­er pol­i­cy?

My out­door pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es take place rain or shine. Mon­i­tor the fore­cast and dress appro­pri­ate­ly for the con­di­tions. I don’t can­cel class­es due to extremes of heat or cold.

If I deter­mine that severe pre­cip­i­ta­tion will adverse­ly affect the learn­ing expe­ri­ence, I may change the meet­ing loca­tion or can­cel the work­shop with a notice of at least 12 hours. If I can­cel a work­shop due to inclement weath­er, I’ll offer all enrolled stu­dents the option to resched­ule to a future date.

How do your pho­tog­ra­phy class­es com­pare to an aca­d­e­m­ic pro­gram?

My group cours­es are delight­ful expe­ri­ences designed for stu­dents’ per­son­al growth and devel­op­ment. They are not aca­d­e­m­ic, there are no com­pe­tence tests, and I don’t offer cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.

Can I take this if I don’t already have a cam­era?

Sure, I won’t stop you. 

How­ev­er, my pho­tog­ra­phy class­es are designed to teach the the­o­ret­i­cal prin­ci­ples and their prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion through struc­tured exer­cis­es. By not bring­ing a cam­era, you’ll miss out on the valu­able expe­ri­ence of my prac­tice exer­cis­es.

I designed the cours­es for dig­i­tal cam­eras that allow some degree of man­u­al con­trol. Please check your camera’s suit­abil­i­ty by con­firm­ing it has the fol­low­ing shoot­ing modes: Pro­gram, Aper­ture Pri­or­i­ty, Shut­ter Pri­or­i­ty, and Man­u­al. If you’re unsure or don’t know where to check, please con­tact me, and I’ll help you fig­ure it out.

Can I take remote/online cours­es?

Our group pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es always take place in per­son.

Please con­sid­er our pri­vate pho­tog­ra­phy lessons for remote/online learn­ing.

What is the scope of your pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es?

Expo­sure Therapy’s pho­tog­ra­phy cours­es focus on build­ing a strong foun­da­tion in pho­tog­ra­phy that will work well with most cam­eras. How­ev­er, to ensure a con­sis­tent and pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence for all par­tic­i­pants, it’s not prac­ti­cal to cov­er every fea­ture of every cam­era. If you have an advanced cam­era and would like to learn about a func­tion that isn’t cov­ered in the group lessons, I’d be hap­py to offer pri­vate pho­tog­ra­phy class­es that explore those fea­tures in-depth. I look for­ward to see­ing you in class!

Stop delaying. Start learning.

There’s no time like the present to start learn­ing pho­tog­ra­phy.
Book the Begin­ner Accel­er­a­tor!