Pine Grove School of Photography

Name: Pine Grove School of Photography
Address: bloomingdales centre second floor, Port Elizabeth, 6070, ZA
Telephone: +27731744444

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Pine Grove School of Photography

Learn photography is a dynamic Port Elizabeth based private photography school situated at the bloom

We are an independent photography school and the brain child of Pine Pienaar, an ex-NMMU faculty of Art and Design lecturer. The school specializes in photography short courses, workshops, Photoshop and weekend getaways for beginners and serious amateurs. The courses include practical workshops that will enable students of all ages to make the shift from theoretical book knowledge to hands-on prac

tical experience. The courses are designed to provide an easy-to-understand and user-friendly learning experience that will enable students to produce stunning photographs with a high level of consistency. The lecturers are professionally trained photographers with university accreditation and extensive experience in a wide range of photographic fields as well as teaching. The schools approach to teaching photography encapsulates an integrated teaching method that includes camera knowledge, composition and visual communication. The school is currently branching out into overseas photography tours, the first being planned for Spain during September this year. Also in the planning phase is an advance course suitable for students wishing to take up photography as a career. The advanced course will include high-end professional work such as food photography, architecture, motor vehicle and advertising still life. About Pine

Pine lectured photography at the Port Elizabeth Technikons School of Art and Design (currently the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) for over 20 years. His vast knowledge of photographic processes, both commercial and fine art, together with his extensive experience in working with students (both beginners and advanced) makes him highly sought after as a lecturer. During his final years of lecturing at the university Pine specialized in astronomical photography. In this capacity he worked at the Boyden Observatory photographing deep space objects such as galaxies, nebulae and globular clusters. His easy manner and fluid way of teaching makes him hugely popular and much in demand as a photography lecturer, and mentor.

14/06/2016

Hi all. Pine Grove School of Photography will be out of action for a while as Pine recovers from surgery. An update will be posted when new information is received. Thank you all for your understanding, support and prayers.

18/04/2016

We offer courses for beginner and advanced amateurs.
All courses include practical hands-on workshops -
conducted by professionals with art school training and years of experience.

Our courses will help you to -
Demystify your camera controls
Take stunning photographs time-and-time again
Use your camera to its full potential

We also offer –
A wide variety of workshops and weekends away

For detailed information email us at: [email protected]
Or call us on 083 7474 924
Or leave a message with your email

22/03/2016

Learn to get the most out of your camera
And take stunning photographs time-and-time again

We will teach you camera controls, composition and lighting
The course has a large practical component
And includes two hands-on workshops
As well as a constructive feedback class

Course fee – R1 490 (Bring a friend and qualify for a R200 rebate)
For detailed info and dates: [email protected]
Web site: pinegrovestudios.co.za
Facebook: Pine Grove School of Photography
Cell 083 7474 924 / 073 174 4444

You may also want to enquire about our
- 11-Week Advanced Course
- Workshops
- Weekend fieldtrips

16/03/2016

Washing pegs and “padkos” for the future.
I met a man who grew up on a farm in the Karoo. When his parents died his brother took over the farm. Some time later his brother and his wife became the victims of a farm attack and the farm was sold to a neigbour. Since then the house stood derelict.

In time the memory of the sad events that surrounded the place faded and the man decided to visit the house of his youth one last time. By then the house had turned into a ruin and the decay of time had changed what was once familiar into a stranger from the past.

He wandered from room to room looking for keepsakes but found only sadness so he left and stood on the steps overlooking the backyard. Near where a pomegranate once grew he saw an anchor pole that he identified as the remains of the washing line.

As his thoughts drifted he suddenly remembered with the clarity of a Karoo morning his mother’s voice. He would watch her hanging washing out to dry and she would entertain him with stories. One such story involved the clothing on the wash line. A dress became a witch without a head. Shirts became men with no legs.

Later they would sit on the backdoor steps in the morning sun and watch the clothes performing a dance in the morning breeze. And she would make hot sweet tea and his favourite – hertzoggies (jam tartlets).

After he told me his story he slipped his hand in his jacket pocket and took out two weathered washing pegs. “I found these near the old wash line,” he says, “because they reminded me of my mothers laughter and drinking sweet hot tea and eating jam tartlets on Karoo mornings”.

I looked at the washing pegs in his palm and realized that for him they were a footpath to his past and “padkos” for the future.

Note
“Padkos” – An Afrikaans term that translates as “road food”.

Note to photographers
I posted the story on a photography site because photography is a visual communication tool. I has many applications one of which is to co-represent stories. I feel is of value to photographers to realize that in addition to recording events and taking pretty pictures photography can also be used as a vehicle for supporting story telling.

The image was de-focused and otherwise manipulated to prompt the viewers in seeing it as a signifier for supporting the theme rather than an image of a “real” house. It is after all not the house where the events described occurred. When putting the story together the nursery rhyme “There was a crooked man” came to mind. I subsequently found that placing the house at a slight angle supported the theme better. The vehicle was left on purpose for obvious reasons. Likewise the white stone in the foreground - for me it draws attention to the foreground and to the faint footpath. It also supports the idea of a foreground, a middle ground and a background. I told the story more or less as the events occurred, but with some artistic license.

Normally I would not explain myself, but this is a photography site and photographers tend to favour sharp focus and accurate colour that for them becomes synonymous with the “real” – which off course it never is.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile,
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And the all lived together in a crooked house.
Mother Goose

07/03/2016

The crosses of Spain
You will find them near villages overlooking fields of dreams. Summer grass grows beneath them and wilts in winter. They stand in silent testimony to the agony of men and women who cannot speak for themselves. They are the crosses of Spain. Stone voices from the past that reminds us that freedom is never free and that sometimes dreams are worth dying for.

In memory of those who fought and died in the Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

23/02/2016

Beginner's Photography Courses
Our courses will teach you to use your camera to its full potential -
And take stunning photographs time-and-time again
The course consists of:
Camera controls, menus and composition
An outdoor practical workshop with a professional photographer
An indoor practical workshop with a professional photographer
A constructive feedback class
Course fee – R1 490 (Bring a friend and qualify for a R200 rebate)
For more information – [email protected]
Web – pinegrovestudios.co.za
Facebook – Pine Grove School of Photography
Cell – 083 7474 924 / 073 174 4444

22/02/2016

The fierce and beautiful world
When the second bull was killed I turned to M – she was in tears and I was in shock at the violence of death and the pleasure that the crowd derived from it. The glory was for the matador. The bull received none. But bullfighting is ingrained in the culture of the people. In Spain, I discovered, that life and death are actors on the same stage.

These photographs were displayed at the entrance to the plaza de torros in Salamanca. Some were taken in the stockades were the bulls waited and some in the arena.

These are some of the best and most powerful photographs that I have seen. This is the photographer’s way to instill beauty where sometimes there is none. For me it is also a way to honor the bulls. As long as these photographs are admired these bulls will live.

I never found out who the photographer was. We left early.

15/02/2016

The man from Kaba and the American space program
I photographed him a few years ago with a point-and-shoot. I do not remember his name but his story stayed with me. He lived alone in one of the old traditional houses (Sun baked bricks and mud plastered). The hand down corrugated iron was a later improvement. Sections of the interior were covered with old newspaper partly for insulation and partly for décor.

One of the newspapers had an article on the American space program. I asked him about it, but he said he knew nothing of it. “The heaven” he said “is where God lives”.

I walked away wondering about the strangeness of Africa. A man living in a desert town near the tip of Africa and the Americans exploring the stars above, and an old newspaper linking the two.

17/01/2016

11-Week Advanced Photography Short Course
Learn to use your camera to its full potential
and take photographs like this.
The course has 7-practical on-hands workshops that includes:
• Night photography workshop - mastering low light
• Sunset seascape workshop
• Studio figure workshop
• Studio portrait and ballet workshop
• Fill flash workshop – using flash in daylight
• Light painting workshop
• Day trip to Steytlerville – natural light character studies
Course fee – R3 490
For more info – [email protected]
Web – pinegrovestudios.co.za
Cell – 083 7474 924

05/01/2016

Beginners Photography Courses
The course consists of four classes covering the following:
Camera controls, menus and composition
Outdoor practical workshop
Indoor practical workshop
Constructive feedback
Course fee – R1 490 (Bring a friend and qualify for a R200 rebate)
Contact us for info at: [email protected]
Web site: pinegrovestudios.co.za
Facebook : Pine Grove School of Photography
Cell 083 7474 924 / 073 174 4444

24/12/2015

To all our students, friends and family have a blessed Chrismas and a great new year.

21/12/2015

Gift vouchers are available for all our photography courses and workshops. Give a gift that will grow in value and that will be appreciated for years to come.
One-day know-your-camera workshop - R600
Beginners course – R1 490
Advanced photography course – R3 490
Contact us at [email protected] for details

Address

Bloomingdales Centre Second Floor
Port Elizabeth
6070

Telephone

+27731744444

Website

http://www.pinegrovestudios.co.za/

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