Learn how to take better pictures on your iphone with Brendan O Se, award winning member of Apple iPhone World Gallery

By @SimonCocking

Brendan Ó Sé Photographer from Cork, Ireland. Proud to be part of Apple’s iPhone World Gallery. Winner of Mira Mobile Prize 2015. #shotoniphone6. We featured Brendan previously, so it’s great to see it is now possible to learn first hand from him. Also excited to announce that Brendan will be our roving iphoneographer for Irish Tech News at the Web Summit in November.

So it’s possible to do a photography workshop with you now? 

Yes, I have a couple of Mobile Photography Workshops coming up. On Saturday, 24th of October in Cork’s Glucksman Galleryand on November 28th in the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar in Dublin.

I am really looking forward to these. In July, I gave a workshop in The Glucksman and it was something I really enjoyed. Coming from a teaching background (I am a language teacher and teacher-trainer in U.C.C) allows me to combine my passion for photography with the methodology I employ in my language classes. I place an emphasis on collaborative learning and creating a student-and-learning centred environment with everyone given the opportunity to put what they are learning into practice. When you get a group of people together who share a common interest the learning opportunities are as great from the participants as from the teacher. In the workshop in The Glucksman in July I learned little tips and tricks from the participants too.

How is the session planned?

Well, to begin with we do a fun little mingling activity to get to know each other. We will be together throughout the day and the workshop is very interactive.

Then, I will give a little background to myself and my own photographic journey. A great thing in preparing for these workshops is to look back over that journey and see how I progressed as a photographer. It’s useful to see the first shots I took with an iPhone 4 and see how my style has evolved over the years.

There will be a quick walk through of the iPhone camera; showing tips and tricks. Then we look at some of the great apps out there for mobile photography, with an overview of some of my favourite ones and how to them when shooting and editing images.  Experimentation is encouraged.

We will discuss the most user-friendly of mobile photography apps out there:. Snapseed is a one-stop-shop for mobile photography editing. It got a major update last April and now what you can do with this software is simply amazing, and it’s free!

Again, as we work our way through the different tools and filters on Snapseed the focus will be in allowing everyone to become more familiar with how to use the app and how to apply it to their own photographic style.

I am really excited about is that the best-selling lens for iPhone photography available on the market – Olloclip – has come on board with me for these workshops and has sponsored some prizes for the best images taken on the day. Olloclip has a range of excellent accessories for mobile photography. Their lenses for the iPhone are simple to use. It just clips on to the top of your iPhone and allows you to take your iPhone photography to the next level. There are four different types of lenses available and during the workshop I will be demonstrating how these are used.

The workshop in the Glucksman has lunch provided as part of the package. After lunch we are out and about, putting into practice what we have been learning. I prefer to leave people to their own devices in this stage, but am always available for guidance and feedback if needed.

One-to-one attention will be given to everyone and encouragement to experiment. Photography is fun, particularly post-processing. People can take some of my images that I get on the day and edit them.

Then we will round off the day with little presentations of the photos we have made and over the next few days  I will choose some winners for the Olloclip prizes.

There is a document of the tips, techniques and useful links presented during the day prepared for everyone to take home and we will set up a Facebook group to continue to share our images after the workshop. Mobiography, the most popular e-magazine for mobile photography will feature some of the images created by participants on the day, in their magazine. Both galleries will upload photographs from the day on their websites also.

I am really looking forward to these workshops. If anyone has a question in advance for me, just email me – brendanophoto@gmail.com

What do people need to bring?

The great thing about a mobile photography workshop is that everything you need, from the camera to editing software to being able to share on social media, is all on the one device. All you have to do is bring that smartphone with some of your images that you would like to work on during the day and to have downloaded the free app Snapseed.

Make sure your phone is fully charged and if possible bring along a portable charger. iPhones have few drawbacks, but battery life is one of them.

For information on how to book your place:

The Glucksman Gallery, Cork (Oct. 24th) – Email – info@glucksman.org Phone – 021 4901844

The Gallery of Photography, Dublin (Nov. 28th) – Email Niamh – info@galleryofphotography.ie Phone 01­ 6714654

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