PHOTO TRAINING OVERSEAS - 26th JANUARY - 2nd FEBRUARY 2010

18/06/09

Simon John is one of the most exciting and entertaining speakers on the lecture circuit today he is one of a rare bread of innovators in social photography who has an exceptionally lateral thinking mind that operates 'outside the box' of normality, hence his most unusual and sometimes - to some - quite bizarre take on wedding and portrait imagery. If you want to have your eyes opened and see how an experimental mind can create something quite unusual out of what you may see as an otherwise boring or repetitive opportunity then you need to see how and why he sees things the way he does. Simon will be one of the main 'Master Class' tutors on Photo Training Overseas in Antalya, Turkey 26 January - 2 February 2010.

Simon has been a professional photographer since leaving school in 1983 and is probably one of the most celebrated practitioners in the UK. He attained a Fellowship of the British Institute of Professional Photography - BIPP - at a prestigious ceremony in the House of Commons in 1996 and later went onto to become the outright winner of 'Face 2000' a nationwide joint photographic competition held during and to celebrate the Millennium year. He has no less than ten Kodak Gold Awards to his credit and is clearly regarded as a leader rather than a follower. He is very much in demand as a photographer and one of his most recent commissions is taking him around the world on the five star 'Crystal' cruise liners shooting creative portraits for very wealthy American passengers. He is one of a select band of top UK portrait specialists involved in this enterprise. In fact Simon will literally be flying in from Rio De Janeiro - Brazil via Paris then onto Turkey to conduct his 'Master Classes' for PTO at the end of an intensive Caribbean tour.

To obtain a flavour of this quirky image creator then you may find it quite entertaining visiting his website at www.simonjohn.co.uk

In Egypt last January one of the main speakers was Simon's protege - Kelly Hearn - a young lady who was a clear favourite with delegates - this time we have the 'Master' who is in fact an excellent teacher and motivator who is also a very approachable and likeable person. So if you want to take your wedding photography to another level and stand out from the crowd then you need to spend time with this superbly talented photographer.

Other 'Master Classes' will be conducted by - Marko Dutka - Fashionable Portraits with a distinct difference in outdoor locations. Su Kaye - photographing objects for art - clearly a potential new sales avenue. Guy Gowan - the doyen of Photo Shop techniques. Mike Brookes-Roper - one of the latest Fellows of the BIPP demonstrating Press, PR and Marine images that really catch the eye. Morag Macdonald - an enthusiastic documentary style wedding photographer from Bristol. And of course the egregious Bjorn Thomassen recently featured with his stunning beauty and model portfolio images.

A rotation system of workshops will be in operation ensuring small manageable groups attending either all the speakers Master Classes or those selected by individual delegates - as nothing is compulsory on PTO. In the evening there will be informative business building seminars full of inspiration and ideas to increase and improve your business. These seminars will be conducted by - Phil Flowers - How to use and increase your portrait sales using Pro-Select software. Anita Mason - excellent promotional ideas to help you see new avenues to generate new business in social photography. Paddy Clarke - Ireland's Master of Marketing who runs one of, if not the most successful social photography studio in Ireland along with his talented daughter Emma who has won many accolades on previous PTO photo competitions. New for next year is a Digital Competition where delegates can submit their images on CD or DVD for an initial assessment, the selected short listed images will then be printed free of charge to delegates for final judging in Turkey by new laboratory sponsors One Vision. Magnificent trophies - sponsored by SWPP will be presented at the glittering formal Gala Awards event at the end of the week. A digital critique will be held as the first evening seminar. Full details on the PTO website at www.pto-uk.com

PTO are delighted to welcome a selective group of sponsors who will all have representatives present at the event and they include BIPP; Elinchrom; Fujifilm; One Vision; SWPP; The Flash Centre and Towergate Camerasure. Another fantastic benefit of PTO is that delegates can bring along their images in any form to be assessed by an expert regarding their own particular level of work should they be interested in obtaining advice on professional qualifications - this service is free of charge and is on an informal one-to-one basis which makes it extremely valuable.

So if you want to join the annual pilgrimage out of the miserable UK weather in January and enjoy some top quality education, fun and unbelievable networking opportunities then sign up now and take advantage of a fee free monthly payment scheme. Delegates will also be provided with a set of four valuable monthly discount vouchers off the cost of professional laboratory services.

A £100 deposit secures your place on what we believe to be the best value and finest week of photographic training available anywhere in the world today