Having spent 25 years in this industry, this word crops up constantly – in every seminar that I train, the key thing I have to deal with is people’s lack of confidence in themselves and their ability to sell their pictures.

Well the good news is that I understand because I’VE BEEN THERE TOO!

I too was that fraud!  The person who didn’t really know what they were doing with a camera, but just loved taking pictures and working with people.

When I first started in photography I thought I wasn’t good enough; I thought I needed to know all about the technical side, and I felt a fraud for taking pictures without really understanding my camera.

I bought big cameras, tripods, lights, went on courses – tried everything, until one day I just realised that it wasn’t about what I didn’t know – it wasn’t that I was wrong – I was just different.  That light bulb moment changed my life – I gained the confidence and belief in myself to do what I FELT was right and I’ve never looked back since.

The first seminar I ever went to was in 1988 – it was a week long and held in Tunisia.  I was so scared to go that I took my husband with me, so that when all the other photographers found out I didn’t know what I was doing, I would just be able to have a holiday!

I spent a week learning all sorts of things (some good, a lot bad) and then at the end of the week I put a picture into a print critique – it was totally slated, and I was absolutely gutted.  I left the room, holding back the tears, to pack and go home – I fully intended to give up photography because I felt totally useless and stupid – my belief and dreams had been shattered in the time it took for someone to tell me “the horizon line wasn’t straight” in my picture.

Fortunately for me I met a highly respected photographer coming out of the lift and he said to me “by the way – I think that is a fantastic picture.”  If he hadn’t said that to me, I would not be where I am today.  I owe my confidence to that person – he taught me that different people have different opinions, and he gave me the confidence to believe in myself.

The following year I went back to the same course, determined to show them I could do it – and I won 4 of the top 5 prizes – losing out on the 4th prize to a picture of a bottle of Harpic toilet cleaner! (no – I have no idea either!)

Do you want to know why I think so many people lack confidence in this industry?

Well I’m going to tell you!  I think it’s because it has always been taught by technical men!  THERE – I’VE SAID IT!

Before I get bombarded by lots of fantastic male photographers – I am not saying that every man is a techy – but in the past, most of them were.  Photography has traditionally been taught as a highly technical subject, and photographers have been led to believe they can’t take a picture unless they have tons of equipment and know everything about it.  Many photography books and courses are totally boring, and you have to wade through so much stuff, you fall asleep and become disinterested.  Amazing for a subject which is actually very creative, being taught in such a non-creative way.

20 years ago I was virtually the only woman on the seminars – I was totally confused by the condescending attitude of many of the teachers, to the way I took photos.  They told me I had to have a tripod and lots of lenses – and I spent lots of money trying to do it their way – but it NEVER FELT RIGHT.  Even people in camera shops made me feel crap because I asked them questions and they laughed at me for the simplicity of those questions.  Camera shops haven’t changed a bit – they are still the same today – full of scary looking equipment and nothing to do with the dream of photography.  If I ran camera shops I would do it completely differently (but that’s a whole new ballgame!)

It was only when another photographer (a nice, non-techy man!) suggested I just do it my way and get on with it – that things started to change for me – I abandoned all my unnecessary equipment and went out and shot pictures the way I wanted.  I got the best camera I could afford and learnt how to set it up easily so I didn’t need to change it – which allowed me to concentrate on WHAT I was photographing, rather than what I was photographing WITH.

I learnt to believe in myself by listening to my clients – THEY ARE THE PEOPLE THAT COUNT – not other photographers and critics.  My clients LOVED what I was doing – so surely that was enough?

Crucial fact that I’ve learnt from teaching photographers – MEN AND WOMEN LEARN IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

I have found that MOST men love researching on the Internet – they will spend hours looking for the right site/camera/review/blog, etc. and learn from everything they read.  They usually want to know EVERYTHING about a camera before they buy it.

I have found that MOST women do not like learning like this.  They want someone to point them in the right direction, tell them what works best, and then they can just get on with it.  They don’t want to know anything about their camera other than that they can trust it, it is easy to use and it does the job they want it to do.

A lot of men are now also learning like this…

It’s for these reasons that I have invented a new course –

CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP FOR GIRLS (AND OTHER NON-TECHY PEOPLE)

Bring on the revolution!  Let’s change this industry – I’ll show you how to gain confidence – so you will never look back.  You will believe that you can do it – because YOU CAN DO IT!

If you lack confidence, then this course will change your life, and there will be no stopping you.  I am not a timeshare salesman – I am a person who totally believes in photography and the wonderful hobby or career it can be – sharing this knowledge with you is paramount to what I do – the more people that gain confidence in themselves, both men and women; the more great photographers there will be out there, and the more people there will be who want to have their photographs taken – it’s all about market awareness – but we need YOU to be out there to help us create it.

I look forward to meeting you!

For more information on the Confidence Workshop for Girls (and other non-techy people) – CLICK HERE

With most compact cameras you have to fiddle about in the menu to change the settings, which is fine for holiday snaps etc.  But with the G10 you can just dial the wheel on the back and set the camera to F2.8 (if you are on AV on the top), and throw all your backgrounds out of focus when shooting people. You can also change the iso on the top, in miliseconds,  for different light situations.

I was asked to test this camera while I was out in Key West, so got on my bike and cycled around the island, G10 in bum bag, looking for suitable subjects! Even though I love my big SLR cameras and always use them professionally, I just would not have lugged them around with me on a bike, and I really have to know I am going on a shoot to take them with me.  So having the G10 with me at all times means I capture everything I see, even when I’m not expecting to be using my camera!

Charlie and Chris were on their gap year from France, travelling round America, when I caught up with them strolling down the street.  I asked them if they fancied doing a shoot for 10 minutes by the side of the road;  they agreed and we got some great results!

In the shots above and below, you can see how out of focus the palm trees are in the background, because I am shooting on F2.8, not normally something you can control easily on a compact camera, giving the image the feel of having been shot on an SLR.

I love the way I can get in this close to the shot too, just by zooming in normally, but without the distortion you can get on a normal compact camera.  Please note the washing out of the whites is done deliberately in photoshop, because I like the effect it has of drawing attention to his face, not because the camera blows out the highlights (it doesn’t)!

I really don’t think you can tell that these images were taken on a compact camera, because I have used the camera in exactly the same way I would use my SLR.  I have set it to AV and used F3.5 and F2.8 to soften out the background.  I have then just done what I normally do, enhanced them very slightly in photoshop with curves, or altered the saturation to create a black & white, or hand coloured look.

So the point I am really making is that it’s not always practical to carry around an SLR, which is often frustrating when you’re suddently inspired by something you’d like to shoot.   But you can keep a digital compact with you at all times, and never miss the moment!

There is a new G11 out now, priced at around £600 – but if you search you can get the G10 on the internet for about £300 at the moment, so not much more expensive than your average compact camera.

It’s also great for landscapes, abstracts and everyday things you see around.  I love having the versatility of a small camera, that takes pictures like my SLR.

And reviewing a camera is a great excuse to go up to people and get some great shots for your portfolio! It’s a hard life!

I would love to hear your comments on this camera. Share with us it’s little gems and tell us what you like about it! Send a low res shot if you can to annabel@annabelwilliams.com or add your comments below