Photography Education

Momma Quit Her Day Job: Almost 5 years ago!!

August 6, 2018 By Andrea Leave a Comment

My Latest Venture...

I've been excited yet nervous to share my latest venture with all of you! (If you are unfamiliar with my last two updates, you can check out the first one here, and the second one here.) It's one of those things that once you put it out there, there's no turning back! I'm nervous because there are no guarantees, but I am excited because I really believe in what I'm doing. I've decided to write, record, and sell online photography classes geared toward the beginner!

It all started with a rejection letter...

Well, it wasn't really a rejection letter but I didn't get the job. In hindsight, the job itself doesn't really matter, but it was what that rejection led me to do that does. I decided that I didn't really know much about online marketing (a lot has changed in the five years since I left Microsoft, plus I was always in sales executing someone else's marketing plan!) As a result, I signed up for B-School which is an online business program by Marie Forleo. I didn't really have an end goal in mind when I signed up, I just knew that I'd learn something and I knew it would benefit my photography business.

At the same time, I was teaching my photography class here in the hood. In case you don't know me, I've been teaching a beginner photography class since 2011. It all started when I asked my best girlfriends if they'd be willing to donate to my Team in Training fundraising account in exchange for a camera class. They overwhelmingly said "yes!" and thus my love of teaching began. This year's class sparked something in me. They were enthusiastic, excited to learn, and literally gave high fives when they had a breakthrough. It was so much fun to watch. One of my students said something that really stuck with me. They said "you have such an ability to explain a really complex subject and break it down into something that's so easy to understand." What a compliment!

So you want to teach?

After that class, I started to think that I'd like to teach more. I was toying around with a lot of ideas. Teaching my class at the library (no bueno...you can't do for profit classes there,) teaching AP photography (then I found out it was a part of 2D Art...THAT'S not going to happen,) or continuing as-is but adding more classes.

The last option had some pitfalls:

Not everyone can attend on Thursday nights when I'd been the classes.
Inevitably, something would come up on Thursday and they'd miss 1 or more lessons.
Even the students who never missed a class could use a refresher now and then. Especially if it's been weeks or months since they took the it.

Where B-School Meets Teaching

I am a learner. If I could take a class every week, I would. I was poking around through the resources section of B-School and realized that I could teach online too! In fact, there are many affordable platforms out there to get started quickly and very professionally.

I began to really think about this and realized that I have a proven product (I have taught, rewritten, and revised for 7 years!) I have students who loved the class (many of whom are now amazing photographers because they continued to study, practice, and grow.) The curriculum is written. I have the equipment and know-how to record and edit my own videos. I just took a very thorough online marketing course...certainly I can figure that part out (right?) The actual cash money cost is very low. So all I would be out is my time.

The Big Girl School is Born

When I teach, I always say things like, "get out your big girl camera," or if I see someone out taking pictures with their iPhone I say, "hey, where's your big girl camera?" When thinking about naming my class, I wanted something memorable and something that felt like me. "Learn to Use Your Big Girl Camera" was a natural fit. The Big Girl School leaves the option open to add more classes down the road continuing to use the Big Girl moniker.

I decided that taking my class online was a viable option. I would be able to serve more people (women specifically but not exclusively!) Presently, I'm able to teach 10-15 people once or twice a year. With an online photography class, I can teach that many each month or even more. And bonus, my dining room chairs won't be in the basement for months at a time.

Much of what I teach can be found in bits and pieces online. However, when you don't know what to look for, it can be very overwhelming. I'll teach only what you need to know to get up and running quickly. Most importantly, I will give you assignments to begin USING your Big Girl Camera.

How can you help a big girl out?

I would LOVE and APPRECIATE it if you could share this information with anyone who fits the following statements:

Is in the market for a Big Girl Camera...
Has a Big Girl Camera and has no idea how to use it...
Has a Big Girl Camera and tried it once, got frustrated and threw it in a drawer.
Uses a Big Girl Camera but wants to learn how to take it off of Auto.

You can learn more about "Learn to Use Your Big Girl Camera" here.

Not quite ready? Sign up for helpful tips and tutorials here.

Join the private Facebook community here.

Like The Big Girl School on Facebook, and follow me on Instagram @thebiggirlschool

In the community I will be answering questions and looking for student photos to share. Each week on Instagram we will post ideas to get you out shooting! Sometimes, an idea is all it takes.

If you are in the market for a camera, I wrote a FREE course, "Which Camera Should I Buy?" which includes a 20-minute video explaining the key features you need to know when purchasing an entry level DSLR, and a downloadable resource guide, and camera comparison chart to help you stay sane when shopping. You can take the FREE course here.

Thank you so much for the love and support you all have shown me!!

Andrea Linn Photography the Big Girl School

About Andrea

Andrea is a personal branding photographer who helps female entrepreneurs, and small business owners bring their brand to life. She is based in Cumming, Georgia but you can find her shooting from coast to coast.

Shooting for a Cure 2014

December 15, 2013 By Andrea Leave a Comment

Many of you have asked if I am going to do another camera class and that time has come! Tim and I are both running the New Orleans Marathon (me) and Half Marathon (Tim) in February and we are again raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have really enjoyed teaching the classes so I thought that now might be a good time to do another one. You may be getting a camera for Christmas and don’t know how to use it, or you may have a camera and want to learn more about it and need a year end tax deduction…it is a win-win!

Here’s the lowdown…this is a 4 week beginner level class to help you get to know your dSLR camera. You will learn what all those buttons mean, how to achieve different looks for your pictures by using different apertures and shutter speeds, and how to control your camera in any situation versus being at its every whim. This class will also help you to “see” any situation differently and it will also help you take better iPhone pictures just by applying the principles that you learn.

Classes will be in January on Thursday evenings @ 7:30 p.m. in my basement. The cost is $125 100% tax free donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Date of the classes are as follows:

1/2

1/9

1/16 (no class)

1/23

1/30

You will need your camera (to get the most out of class, a dSLR camera is preferred but certainly not mandatory,) and your camera manual. We will have a weekly lesson and a homework assignment that we will share with the class the following week. This will help you retain what you learn.

To secure a spot in the class, please make your donation to http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/mardigra14/tferenchik

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about it, please email me at aferenchik@hotmail.com.

This will be my 4th Team in Training event and 4th camera class! I look forward to everything that we’ll accomplish. I would also be willing to do a Friday morning “intermediate” class if we can get at least 5 people together. Please email me if you are interested.

Shooting for a Cure

October 28, 2011 By Andrea 4 Comments

I have been wanting to write this blog post for some time. I am very excited to share the work of my students from my first beginner photography class! The idea came about when my friend Anita mentioned that there were so many photography classes but she really wanted something in person. She said that she learned better when someone explained it to her. So I thought long and hard about it. I’ve taken many classes over the years and felt like I had enough knowledge to teach people how to use their cameras. How many times have I heard “I bought this fancy camera and I have no idea how to use it?” or “I bought this fancy camera and my pictures don’t look any different?” So then it became, do I do this for free (no!) or do I charge (that’s kind of weird to charge your friends!)? At the time, I was raising money for Team in Training which benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I decided that I would do it but I would require a donation to Team in Training. I got great feedback for this idea and thus the class began. We did a 4 week in-person class that covered all of the camera settings, creative use of aperture, shutter speed, and touched on full manual. We finished our class with a field trip down to this really cool community south of Atlanta called Serenbe for a photo field trip to put our skills to the test. We had a great time. We also had a contest for an Amazon gift card to see who could come up with a name for the class. We had some GREAT ideas but ultimately, we chose “Shooting for a Cure” which my friend Jennifer Parsons came up with. I also gave a “consolation” prize to my friend Mallory for coming up with the whole charity tie in to the name. I felt like the name was generic enough that it could be used for any charity and it was also generic enough that it could be used for classes or photo shoots or any photography related fundraiser. It was perfect! Jeanine Linder who made my Andrea Linn logo, also made the Shooting for a Cure logo. She is so amazingly creative and so nice to work with…I absolutely love her ideas! I am hoping to do another class in the January timeframe (details to come soon) as well as some Fall photo shoots to raise money for the Spring season of Team in Training. I have been blessed with a full time job and I feel like this is a great way to combine my love of photography with my desire to raise money for great causes. I hope that this is something that can be ongoing and can grow in the future.

Now I am happy to feature my student’s great photos from class. I was so proud of them. Everyone eagerly participated, did the assignments, and shared their work. We are looking forward to more field trips in the future where we can continue to practice and grow our skills as well as just have a great time!

In Anita’s words: ” The first one (flower), I chose because I took this picture in manual mode. A month ago, I wouldn’t have been able to choose my own settings. I would have relied on the automatic ones to do it for me. My purpose in taking his class….beyond the fact that it was for a great cause, was to be able to achieve this! My second one I love because it was such a fun day and we got to use everything we learned leading up to that day. One of the things that I have taken away from this class is that there are “snapshots” and then there are “photographs”….and this one is a photograph, that tells a little bit about what kind of day we were having….FUN!”

Here are some more great images from Jennifer…

And my friend Mallory:

Finally, I wanted to share my favorite photo from our trip to Serenbe. If you want to see the rest, you can check out My Flickr:

Next week I will be sharing more pictures from class, details on my next photography class as well as opportunities to get your family pictures taken for a great cause! Stay tuned…