Oguzhan (Osan) Altun is a freelance photographer based in Geneva, and one of the founder members of the Geneva Photo Club. He specializes in landscapes, portraits and event photography.
His passion for life shows in his photos with vibrant colors and an edgy style. He continuously strives to show something special about his subject and push the boundaries every time.
His teaching style combines 10 years of training experience in corporate life with contagious passion for photography and the best training materials available online on the net. He is crisp, to the point, and focused on getting the participant practice what she/he learned.
His portfolio is available at his website Altun Photography and his latest work in instagram (@altuno) and on his Facebook page.
By Oguzhan (Osan) Altun, Swiss Photo Club
Happy new year to all our followers, from me and our team: Joan, Quim & Jean-Baptiste (JB)! We wish you a great 2023 with lots of beautiful memories and their beautiful photos captured by you.
With this blog article, I wanted to share with you some big changes that we did in 2022 and our plans for 2023.
It’s the first time we do this. Let me know if you find it interesting (or not!) and of course if you have any recommendations / ideas.
New Website
We are finally on swissphotoclub.com: a single website for all the regions and countries where we exist. I will spare you a description of the administrative changes, but here are the advantages for you:
- See all classes in all cities at one place, especially a great advantage for members or if you are looking for a specific course in any city.
- Practice workshops listing with photos: Easier to find your workshop.
- Early bird discounts for courses: You will see that future classes are slightly cheaper.
- Much faster load times
- Immediate delivery of gift voucher orders (we used to prepare each manually).
- Photo Awards: Upload your photos directly instead of having to send us later by email.
- See your registrations and orders in your account.
There are still some bugs here and there, plus a few server issues that we are working on. Please keep on reporting if you see anything, we will keep on fixing them and adding new features in 2023.
By Oguzhan (Osan) Altun, Swiss Photo Club
You’ve started to take some nice photos with your phone, and you get compliments from your friends and family… Now you feel like you would like to take the next step and learn how to use a proper camera to take even better pictures. As a photography school that educates more than 2000 students every year, we put together this guide of how to learn photography for you.
Many people give up after a while because they make choose wrong classes, too many “free” online guides and videos. Don’t repeat their mistakes! Read this article now to discover the best way how to learn photography.
Decide on your goal
Do you want to start a new hobby? Become a pro? Exhibit your photos? Take better photos of your newborn?
It will be much easier to make choices if you’re already clear on what you want. In many cases, it’s a good idea to start with a beginners workshop, even if you know some basics from past experience. This can help avoid one common trap, where people stall later in their photography journey because they skipped ahead, without ever mastering the technical skills that are taught in the beginner level.
Choose the correct sequence of courses
Once you decide which photography school is right for you, you must then select which course(s) to sign up for. First, you must consider two factors:
- Determine your level
We recommend our online test to get an idea. In our observation, many people who think they are intermediate level still benefit a lot from a comprehensive beginners course. If you already know what you want, you can skip this step. - Determine your availability and budget
Half / full day workshops usually take place on a weekend, in a very concentrated form. Choose this format if you’re already very busy and just want to check your interest level before committing more hours. You will learn a lot from a good one-day course, but they require you to practice regularly afterwards to retain what you learn.
By Oguzhan (Osan) Altun, Swiss Photo Club
You decided to make the first serious step to improve your photography, now wondering how to choose the best school.
Consider these questions to find the best program for your goals.
There are several options available in almost all cities:
- Online video courses and articles
- A single independent photographer
- A non-certified school in your area
- A certified school in your area
Here is a quick comparison of each option:
By Oguzhan (Osan) Altun, Geneva Photo Club
The most frequent question that we receive from our students is : “I’m new to photography, which camera / lens should I buy”?
Buying a camera and photography equipment as a beginner is a difficult task – with so many offers and information, it can be really confusing. So we have prepared the following buying guide for the beginners, with prices that you can find in Geneva and Switzerland.
In this guide, we will suggest a complete kit for three different budgets for beginners. The prices are based on toppreise.ch current prices for Switzerland and can change over time. The same equipment will probably be more expensive in big retail stores like FNAC or Mediamarkt or InterDiscount – however you might get even better deals if you follow their promotions.
Of course buying a better camera / lens does NOT make you a better photographer:) Make sure to check our photography courses to learn how to use you camera and take better photos.
