Four Female Photographers take photos with their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Canon 5D mark iii Camera on a white background
Alison McKenny sat at her computer editing a Maternity Shoot photograph during a Photography Workshop
Four Trainee Photographers hold their cameras in their hands as they pose for a photo after their Beginners Photography Workshop with Alison McKenny in Suffolk
Six Photographers holding their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Canon 5D mark iii Camera on a white background
Suffolk Portrait Photographer Alison McKenny takes a photo of a model in a wheat field during a photoshoot
Three Female Photographers holding their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Two ameteur photographers practice what they have learnt at Alison McKenny Photography's Beginner Workshop in Suffolk
Four Female Photographers take photos with their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Four Photographers take photos with their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Four Female Photographers holding their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Alison Mckenny takes a photo of two small children during a Family Photoshoot on her farm in Suffolk
Three Female Photographers holding their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk
Four Photographers holding their camera's during a Beginners Photography Workshop in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk

SUFFOLK PHOTOGRAPHY TRAINING,  WORKSHOPS & MENTORING

Have you invested in a fancy camera/DSLR yet you struggle to use it on anything other than Auto mode?

Or have you mastered the basics but are hungry to learn more?

Would you like to be able to take creative control of your camera and produce the sort of images you have always dreamed of?

Are you struggling to edit your photos in the style that you would like using Photoshop or Lightroom?  

If so, then I can help!

I’m Alison McKenny, a multi Award-Winning Professional Portrait Photographer based in Stoke By Clare, Suffolk.

With 13 years as a Professional Photographer,  qualified as a Master Photographer with the Portrait Masters in 2020, and winning ‘Image of the Year 2021’ in two categories with the Guild of Photographers, I have gained a lot of useful knowledge, information, and tips that I can share with you to help you take a massive leap in your own photography skills.

Just keep scrolling to find out more!

Alison x

EXPLORE THIS PAGE

"Not only is Ali's photography fantastic, but she is also an amazing teacher"

“I attended Alison’s Beginners Photography Workshop. I had an amazing day and met some really lovely people.

I was a total novice and had only really used auto mode on my camera. Now I feel so confident to go on to manual mode and actually understand the different settings I need to get the effect I want and how to use light to help enhance my photographs.

It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere in her beautiful home and farm, and she kindly provided us with a delicious lunch and refreshments. I can’t recommend her and this workshop enough for anyone wanting to learn more about their camera and get off of auto mode!

– Amanda 

"Alison makes the technical aspect of the course understandable and is able to show you examples from her own work."

“When I heard about Alison’s photography workshop I had to sign myself up straight away, despite not having any knowledge of how to work my husband’s camera. I’m so glad I did as I came away feeling confident about how to work the camera on the manual setting. The course notes are very detailed and are easy to follow.

She also offers tips on how to achieve a professional photo like hers, which is invaluable. I will now be practicing on my three children all the time and am very excited about the prospect of being able to achieve a great photo with my new-found knowledge.”

– Shelley

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS / COACHING & MENTORING

WHAT TO EXPECT

This training is suited to photographers at all stages of learning, including beginners, semi-professional and advanced Photographers. 
There will be those of you who have a DSLR camera but are using it on Auto but would like to take more creative control to achieve the photos you really want.  And others who may understand how to use their camera but would like to develop their skills further, taking their images to the next level. You might want to work on posing, lighting (studio or natural light), editing, business management or marketing. 

6 HOURS COACHING / MENTORING

Alison McKenny shows the back of her camera during Baby Photoshoot in her Suffolk Photography Studio

£599

6 hour Workshop at my studio or 6 x 1 hour coaching and mentoring calls via zoom

Tailored to your Photography skills and knowledge.

Choose your Topic to discuss:

Taking Creative Control of Your Camera

Using Natural or Studio Lighting

Styling a Shoot

Posing Clients

Post Production

Editing

Business Management

Marketing on Instagram

We will tailor this call around you and whatever you feel you most need to work on.

MIDWEEK DATES ONLY

3 HOURS COACHING

Alison McKenny shows her photos to a Maternity Client during Beginners Photography Workshop on Suffolk farm

£399

3 hours – 1 to 1 workshop at my studio or online

Tailored to your Photography skills and knowledge.

Choose your Topic to discuss:

Taking Creative Control of Your Camera

Using Natural or Studio Lighting

Styling a Shoot

Posing Clients

Post Production

Editing

Business Management

Marketing on Instagram

We will tailor this call around you and whatever you feel you most need to work on.

MIDWEEK DATES ONLY

1 HOUR COACHING CALL

Alison Mckenny takes a photo of two small children during a Family Photoshoot on her farm in Suffolk

£149

1 Hour Coaching Call with me via Zoom

Tailored to your Photography skills and knowledge.

Choose your Topic to discuss:

Taking Creative Control of Your Camera

Using Natural or Studio Lighting

Styling a Shoot

Posing Clients

Post Production

Editing

Business Management

Marketing on Instagram

We will tailor this call around you and whatever you feel you most need to work on.

MIDWEEK DATES ONLY

Beginners Photography Workshop - 29th Nov 2024


 

Perfect for those of you who would like to be able to use your DSLR camera on manual mode, and really take creative control of your images.

I will take you through everything you need to know on how to get to the correct exposure, what aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings to choose, and why! And it doesn’t matter what type of photography you are interested in, we all have to start at the beginning!

The Beginners Workshop will cover the following topics:
* Your camera settings, and how Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO affect your images
* Achieving the correct exposure (so your photos aren’t too bright or too dark)
* Finding the right light. Knowing where to place your subjects to get the most flattering light no matter what the time of day
* How to get your photos in focus
* How to compose a beautiful image and get natural expression from your subjects
I was once a technophobe, terrified of anything that I considered to be too technical, and photography was one of those things. If I can master this, then so can you!

Come and learn from an award-winning, portrait photographer with over 13 years of experience!

Book Now! You won’t regret it!

Only £149

 

The course has given me the confidence to switch off the auto settings and really get the best out of my camera and lenses.

My wife got me the beginners photography course with Alison for Christmas and I did the course yesterday. Alison is a fantastic teacher and photographer, she explained everything so clearly and gave lots of examples. This helped everyone understand the various parts of the course and how our cameras work.

I would recommend this course to anyone who is just starting out, or those like me who have had a camera for years and always relied on ‘auto’ for their pictures.

– David

"It was fun and informative"

“Had a fantastic time at the Beginners Photography Workshop with Ali today. She gave us all some individual time which was most helpful and explained things in a way that was easy to understand.

I would definitely recommend this course to people who, like me, are ‘scared’ to come off of Auto!!!”

Thanks so much, Alison McKenny, it refreshed my memory on how to use the manual settings as well as learning lots of new settings.”

– Becky

MY PHOTOGRAPHY JOURNEY

I started photography when I became a Mum nearly 16 years ago as I wanted to document my boys as they grew and I bought a camera but didn’t know how to use it.  That didn’t stop me as I just put it in auto and tried to capture all the special moments in my boys lives.  However as time went on, I would get frustrated as the images didn’t turn out how I wanted them to.  They were either too dark, too bright, or blurry and it was especially annoying when my boys gave me that magic smile and I knew I’d missed capturing it.

Then 11 years ago I decided to learn how to do it properly by doing a Photography Diploma.  I’d always been put off Photography as I thought it would be too technical and as I am not technically minded, I thought I wouldn’t understand it.  But one month into this course and I was hooked!  I upgraded my camera and bought a DSLR and a proper lens and within a year I had set myself up as a part time Family Photographer.  Two years later and I went full time, giving up a successful 15 year career in Recruitment, and to be honest, I have never looked back.

I am still so passionate about Photography and I invest in more training every year as I just want to keep improving my skills and learning new techniques to perfect my images as much as possible.

My Beginner Workshop clients are often previous clients of mine with small children and like me they want to know how to be able to photograph them properly, capturing all those special moments gone in the flash of an eye.

They want to know how to capture their super speedy toddlers running around the garden to their older children’s sporting activities, how to blur out the background so a messy room doesn’t ruin the beautiful portrait of their little one absorbed in whatever they are doing.   They want to know how to focus on their child so they stand out in the image rather than the other random child sitting closer to the camera.

And then I also train experienced Photographers, from Intermediate level up to Advanced Professionals.   Those who like me understand their camera and how to get the best from it but want to learn the tweaks they need to make to really improve the standard of their work, and help them to improve their editing to stand out above their competition.

If you think you could use some help improving your photography skills, get in touch to see what type of workshop is ideal for you.

 

YOUR QUESTIONS
do you provide models to photograph at your workshops?

For beginner sessions, I don’t provide models as the main focus is getting used to your camera settings so having a model there would just add too much pressure I think. I’m happy to pose for photos if you want a person to photograph, but otherwise I will ask you to photograph flowers or other objects during the workshop.  

If posing or lighting is something you specifically want to work on as part of your 1 to 1 workshop or mentoring workshop, then I’d be happy to provide a model for you to photograph and practise on.   

I'm worried I won't understand? what if i get left behind the others in the workshop?

 Don’t worry, I am not very technically minded myself so I will go through everything in very basic terms that are easy to understand.  I will ask throughout the workshop if everyone understands and if you don’t, please just say.  Everyone learns in different ways and sometimes explaining something from a different perspective can make understanding all the easier.  There is a lot of information to take in during this workshop but we go through it slowly and then put it into practice using your cameras so you can see what we are doing and why.   Also remember, I’m always available after the workshop if you get stuck or just want something explained again and you will get a PDF of the course notes sent to you so you can read through everything again in your own time. 

What do i need to bring to the workshop?

You will need to bring your camera, a card and fully charged battery plus all the lenses that you might have. I’d also recommend bringing your camera’s instruction manual if you have one, just in case we get stuck on how to change a certain setting on different makes of camera.   

Also a warm coat as we will probably go outside at some point to take photos. 

A list of questions that you might have about things that you don’t understand or would like clarification on.  

I will provide drinks, snacks and lunch for the Beginners Workshop and 6 hour Mentoring Workshops.  

I can't make the next set workshop date, can you let me know when you are hosting another one?

I host Group Beginner Workshops usually two or three times a year, so if cannot make the upcoming date but you would like to be added to the mailing list so that you are notified when the next workshop is taking place, please contact me.  

I am not a beginner but would like to work on improving my images? can you help?

Absolutely, if you understand how to use your camera already, I would recommend booking a 1 to 1 coaching & mentoring session, as they are specifically tailored to you, and your specific requirements.  We can have a chat prior to booking in so I know what it is you really want to get from your session and I’ll make sure we go through it all in more detail on the day.

I would love to hear from you, and if you do have any questions at all before booking, please do feel free to contact me using the form below.