This last month, every Thursday, Olympus has been setting up camp ground floor at Topshop presenting a series of photography workshops on everything from street style to flatlays and how to shoot a city. Free, the sessions booked up fast…

I’ve been having a great time on hand to give advice and support the speakers – Olympus amabassador photographers like Jay McLaughlin and bloggers like In The Frow and Mademoiselle Robot. Last week’s workshop was led by the lovely Laetitia (Mademoiselle Robot) who tutored her groups on How To Shoot a City – attendees either brought their own camera or borrowed an Olympus Pen E-PL7 to use. I tagged along, doling out help and advice as needed as well as getting in a few shots of my own.

As I’m more of a detail obsessive and cropped shots rather than the big picture (this is what I love about Laetitia’s photography, she captures cityscapes and colours in a way that really conveys a sense of what its like to be there) I stuck to my safe place and helped out with the 45mm lens, figuring out depth of field and blur and identifying points of interest. Although I did snap a candid street shot of Topshop’s Nat which I really liked! I always feel quite nervous snapping street photography but you can get some great shots. When shooting street style at LFW, I tend to approach and ask to photograph someone so the results are more posed, but there is something so charming about candid shots! The Pen’s flip-out screen makes it extra easy to peer down but not look like you’re takings pics! 

“Making that jump from never feeling that confident on full Manual… to realising, ah, it’s just another dial to turn…!”

I also learnt something too! Making that jump from never feeling that confident on full Manual because I’m not that hot on shutter speeds – I often shoot Aperture Priority if I’m under pressure – to realising, ah, it’s just another dial to turn…! All you need to do is move the shutter speed until the exposure is where you want it. While the optimum is considered 0, I always like to shoot a bit brighter at 0.7. Funny how we get stuck in our ways, innit?

Find out more on what’s been happening on social #topshopsummerschool and #topshopxolympuspen. There are two more weeks of workshops to go with people like Disney Roller Girl and Pandora Sykes, but unfortunately all the places are booked, so fingers crossed they’ll be more in the future!