First Rolls — A Beginners' Week, London
Five days from auto to intention: exposure, focus, and light taught by walking London, with the camera-buying advice saved (deliberately) for Friday.
The workshop
The beginner workshops assume nothing and condescend to no one, and London is their ideal campus: parks for light, markets for timing, museums for weather insurance, and the river for everything at once. Lars Petersen teaches one control per day — by Friday the camera is yours, operated without looking, which is the entire foundation.
Bring whatever camera you own, including a phone. The buying advice comes Friday afternoon, after your pictures have told you what the money is actually for.
Lars Petersen
Copenhagen · Editing · Lightroom & print
Lars ran a pre-press studio for fifteen years before teaching. He treats editing software as a darkroom with better ventilation, and the print as the only honest proof.
- One control per day — the pace that actually sticks
- Phone-to-camera parity: technique first, shopping last
- Three printed photographs to leave with
- The Friday buying surgery, agenda-free
- Any camera at all — phone included, sincerely
- Comfortable shoes for gentle miles
- No prior knowledge; curiosity does the carrying
- Five days' teaching
- All exercise materials
- Final prints
- A written next-steps plan per participant
- Coffee, structurally
- Accommodation and travel
- Lunches (market stalls are the syllabus)
- A camera — deliberately
- Travel insurance if travelling to attend
Accommodation
Not included; the workshop meets daily on the South Bank, reachable from every London budget.
Meals
Not included, except the closing tea and the market-stall fieldwork you'll eat anyway.
Getting around
A Zone 1–2 travelcard covers the week.
South Bank, London, United Kingdom
“Fifteen years of auto mode ended on Tuesday morning by a lamppost. By Friday I understood my camera better than my car, and I've owned the car longer.”
“I did the whole week on my phone and never felt second-class. Bought a used camera the Saturday after — knowing exactly why — and the buying surgery saved me from two expensive mistakes.”
Questions, answered
Am I too much of a beginner?
No such position exists here. The group is all beginners, the pace is set by questions, and the only prerequisite is showing up curious.
Should I buy a camera before the week?
Please don't — bring what you have. Friday's surgery exists so the purchase happens after your pictures have opinions. The money always spends better afterwards.
4 seats remaining.
Departures are deliberately small and tend to fill from the newsletter. Booking places no charge — we confirm your seat personally, then arrange payment.
