The Zollverein coal mine and industrial complex in Essen, Germany, has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 2001. In 1986, work in the mines was stopped. In 2015, Dutch documentary photographer HJ Hunter travelled through the raw post-industrial landscapes of Belgium and Germany. The photographs reveal the impact on an area and its residents if large industrial companies close and the local economy has to reinvent itself. Once Upon a Time can be ordered in bookshops or online at the author’s website. All photographs: HJ Hunter

Following this, Jack began conducting research, upon which he uncovered the transformation the city was going through. Such change was mainly being driven by the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium, which has funnelled masses of money to the area. But, Jack quickly realised this financial gain wasn’t exactly being consciously utilised. “New high-rise flats were constantly being built down the road but I started to wonder who could afford them,” Jack says. “To me, the stadium resembled a UFO that had landed on the high street. I started to use it as a metaphor for gentrification and the worry people have of being priced out of the area.” Residents of Tottenham weren’t taking such changes lightly, however, and Jack encountered numbers groups and individuals fighting such inequitable gentrification.

It was important for Jack to avoid a “candid street photography approach”; instead, he wanted to get to know and collaborate with the people he photographed. “I was very aware that though I had grown up in the area, I was now coming at the project from an outsider’s perspective,” Jack identifies. The photographer leads our attention to a photograph of Ken, the estate in the background blurred, the image puts Ken centre stage, as he gazes into the lens of the camera. A prominent activist, Jack explains that Ken has dedicated his life “to fighting police injustice and racial profiling” and is chair of Haringey’s Independent Stock and Search Monitoring Group. After taking his photograph Jack spent the day with Ken at the local police station going through records of previous stop and searches in Haringey, “looking for irregularities in how the police are conducting themselves”. This is perhaps what makes the series so powerful; it evokes a the feeling that behind every portrait and every landscape image lies a complex story.

While White Hart Lane deals with difficult and disheartening issues, Jack really hopes that the series is one that overall exudes a sense of hope. “In times of uncertainty and social unrest, it can be easy to feel helpless,” he says. “However, this project has only shown me the good in people and the feeling that we are so much stronger when surrounded by others.” Ideally, after viewing his series, Jack hopes people will come away with a new appreciation for the communities that surround them. “The only way we can hold on to a place’s identity is to first acknowledge and celebrate it,” he ends.

Gone are the days when learning photography required considerable money and time in various courses. With the amount of internet penetration, you can access free online photography courses from anywhere in the world and learn the art of capturing memories right from the comfort of your home.

OR are you simply looking to improve your skills further in the art of taking pictures?

Whatever the case, we assure you that you have come to the right place!

Keep reading to learn the much-needed DSLR photography courses for Nikon and Canon, available online at no cost. You will become a great photographer in no time as you fine-tune your skills at the lens through these extremely well-curated lists.

We have also mentioned the difficulty level and the time taken to complete each course so that you can invest your time wisely and make a much more informed decision.

Kickstart Your Online Photography Today with these Free Courses!

1. Basics of Photography: The Complete Guide

Duration: Approximately 6 hours

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

This course is a masterclass since it teaches you to take better photos by understanding your camera. The course starts by explaining the physical elements of the camera, like the lens, body, and CPU, to the intricate settings of the camera. This course will make you the master of your digital camera.

This course covers all the bases, from taking raw photos to turning them into a masterpiece by editing and enhancing the image.

Many free online camera photography courses, such as Nike and Canon, but only some courses tell you the basics.

This course is very content-heavy and is in a written format, so taking notes and sitting with your camera in hand is advisable to follow through quickly.

2. Your Road to Better Photography

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

Level of Difficulty: Intermediate

This course offered by Udemy is specifically designed for someone who feels trapped operating their DSLR in just auto mode and fumbles when switching to manual mode because there are so many terms, like ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc., that seem so intimidating.

This course is not just all videos; it also includes a field assignment so that its easy for you to grab the concepts taught and use them in the real world.

The only requirement for this course is having the camera in hand, which makes sense since it requires a field project to be completed.

3. Commercial Photography: Still and Moving Image

Duration: Approximately four weeks

Level of Difficulty: Intermediate

This course, offered by Norwich University of the Arts, is for all commercial photographers who want to take their photography skills to the next level and increase their earnings exponentially.

This free online photography course help aspiring photographers learn the art of mastering still image and moving image photography. Expert and highly successful commercial photographers teach the course with years of experience and expertise.

4. Creativelive On-Air Classes

Duration: Variable

Level of Difficulty: Depends on the session

Creativelive platform is a boon for all the creators out there! The diversity of courses available on the platform is astonishing, ranging from music, art, and craft to photography. There are also live sessions and events performed every day on this platform, most related to photography.

Even though some courses are paid, the live events and the seminars are free for everyone and will be valuable additions to your photography skills. Check out the upcoming events and RSVP to save your seat for an incredible learning experience.

5. Professional Family Portraits

Duration: 2 Hours

Level of Difficulty: Expert

This course offered by Craftsy is the holy grail of the branch of photography that is known for being the hardest to master since it requires working with families and many different people from all walks of life. Its always challenging to capture the true essence of a family in a single photo. Therefore, this free online photography course is explicitly taught by Kirk Tuck, keeping family portraits in mind.

To be more specific, the course spans over 5. videos. Also, the course has a bonus section, FAQs, and even an area of class discussion where students can freely discuss and ask their doubts, if any.

6. Canon DSLR Photography: Getting Started with Your DSLR

Duration: 4 hours

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

Among all the online photography courses available, this is the single most free online photography course specifically for Canon. The course is extensive in coverage, i.e., illustrating 39 lessons for around 4 hours, teaching you the basics of almost everything you need to get started with your DSLR camera.

This course will not teach you the fundamentals of photography or the creative side of photography. Instead, it focuses on the technical specifications of your Canon DSLR camera and how you can achieve the maximum out of it.

7. Cambridge in Color

Duration: Not Applicable

Level of Difficulty: Depends

It will not be wrong to say that this website is the Wikipedia of the photography world. The content is text-based (primarily), written very lucidly with crisp explanations surrounding all the topics regarding camera and photography. The site is easy to navigate, and the topics are covered for beginners and experts alike!

This site also sports a section of recent additions of fresh tutorials so that your knowledge remains the latest.

8. Free Photoshop Tutorials – Phlearn

Duration: Not Applicable

Level of Difficulty: Depends

Other than winning the most complicated name to pronounce award, this platform doesn’t deal with photography directly but with the auxiliary part of it like Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, etc. Even though this site is not entirely free, 450 well-detailed free resources are available that you can utilize immediately. The site’s unique selling proposition (USP) is small tutorials on everything related to the above platforms, making it a one-stop solution for all your needs. For instance, a tutorial on how to delete a photo on Photoshop, create or highlight shadows, etc., has gained enough likes from the viewers.

9. World of EOS

Duration: Approximately 2 hours

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

This YouTube channel World of EOS is the official channel of Canon Australia. The content there is reliable, covering photography and cameras’ philosophy and technical aspects, especially the Canon. There are 26 lessons with a 3-minute average length, so the content is easy to grasp and implement practically. Canon’s free online photography course also has expert interview sessions such as Craig Golding, Chris Bray, etc.

10. Lectures on Digital Photography by Marc Levoy

Duration: Depends

Level of Difficulty: Expert

This technical course covers the core theories and maths behind photography. It is not designed for the general public but only for someone who is hardcore into photography and deeply relates to the subject. The course spans over ten weeks, starting from the introduction and ending with an explaining the history of photography.

Besides the course, this site offers comprehensive coverage of everything related to digital cameras, such as how digital cameras are made, a complete breakdown of what is inside a digital camera, etc.

The instructor, Mark Levoy, is a professor at Stanford and was also awarded the title of Distinguished Engineer at Google. He is well versed with all the concepts at hand since he uses them daily as a VP in Adobe.

There are Enough Free Online Photography Courses Available!

It’s for you to decide which one suits your requirements the most. Photography is a creative skill, one that requires a free mind and also an analytical mindset.

But its a myth that art and creativity are something we are born with, and we cannot hone them further.

You can take your photography game to the next level by taking the above courses with the utmost attention.

So grab a camera, and capture the world with all its finer perfections and imperfections!

In the series What it Means to Be Here, PhotoVogue artist Jeanette Spicer encompasses photographs, mixed media and videos to engage with the absence of the lesbian gaze and the long history of patriarchal constructs that shape our ideas of the female form.
Spicer captures the intimacy between lesbian, bisexual and queer women throughout her community of lovers and friends. Her series emphasizes a sense of ordinariness and reverence for sex, pleasure with agency and spontaneity, calling into question the lack of lesbian representation within the photographic medium.  
Historically considered as places of isolation and confinement for women, the interiors of her work represent independence and a reclaiming of ownership, while the exteriors, sometimes shot in gay male cruising sites, offer an opportunity to explore these sexual playgrounds dominated by men and wonder why women don’t have these spaces. 

Read our Q&A with the artist to learn more.

When did you start working on the series What it Means to Be Here? How was the idea born?

I started working on the series What It Means To Be Here in 2018. The idea was born from a previous series about my first girlfriend. I was coming to terms with being a lesbian at that time, about ten years ago, and as I have gotten older and evolved, I realized that this awareness could come into my art. With this in mind, I began asking friends, lovers and people I knew from my community to be a part of this project.

How much is this project connected to your personal life?

This project is my personal life. The people in my work are a mix of friends, lovers, mentors and family. Even though some subjects come into and out of my life, and sometimes, back again, they have all meant a great deal to me not only as people, but their willingness to give me their time in the name of lesbian, bi and queer female representation. As a lesbian, particularly as a lesbian artist, I look back to the photographic/artistic history of my community and find very little. I don’t want to undermine or discount the incredible, moving and necessary work that previous generations of lesbians have made, but we are written out of, invisibilized and pushed to the margins in general, and even more so in the art world. Because of that, I feel a responsibility to represent my experience, for myself, my community, my elders and the future generations.