TY Photography - Tim Durham

"When it comes to taking photographs, your first 1000 are the worst." This year, Tim Durham, returned back to the picturesque setting of Loreto Balbriggan to help transition year students perfect their photography skills in a specially designed workshop in our school. Four packed photography workshops for one big TY group means lots of individual practice and many pictures. On the 10th and 11th October 2019, I was given the wonderful opportunity to take part in the first of four workshops for our year group.

On the morning of the workshop we spent our time learning the theory of photography - what made good photos interesting, and what to avoid when taking photos on our own. Then, in the afternoon, we applied what we learned by taking photographs out and about in Balbriggan. When taking our own photos, we were given the following tasks:

- taking five mystery photos (usually extreme close-ups of subject).

- ten photos in black and white.

- five 'leaning tower of Pisa' photos (where you seem like you're interacting with your surroundings, like pretending to hold up a bridge or grab a cloud, etc.).

- five reflection photographs.

My personal favourites were photographs from the mystery task - a task which involved you trying to figure out what the subject was from each picture .

All in all, the photography workshop experience was really enjoyable. Tim Durham is not only a great teacher but also a very interesting man. One story of his that stuck in my mind was of his four year trip cycling across Africa to visit his grandmother! He showed us some amazing photographs from his travels on this vast and beautiful continent and it was on this trip that he decided photography was what he wanted to do in life. 

Alll the students who attended this workshop had a fantastic time and we learned so much. I hope all the students who visit the workshops in the next few months have as much fun as we did!

Written by Ruby Markey

Edited by Lia Mulcahy and Madailéin Hopkins