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ESSENTIAL INFO
If you purchase a ticket for this course, all the information on this page will be emailed to you with your ticket.
👥 Suitable for: Ages 12 to 17
📍 Venue: Bellingen Public School
📈 Level: Suitable for all skill levels
⏰ Schedule: Mon–Fri, 9am – 4pm (5 Full-Days)
⚠️ Extra info: This course involves excursions. Most excursions are walkable. If not, we've got you covered with the shuttle bus.
Required skills & experience
No experience required
Supplies that you need to bring to class
Camera equipment: A phone or camera (DSLR or mirrorless if you've got it - phones totally welcome)
Comfort essentials: Comfy shoes, a hat, and a water bottle - we'll be moving around a lot
Storage: USB or hard drive to save your work
Snacks: Optional (yes, there might be cake)
Mindset: Curiosity, good energy, and a willingness to experiment
Learning outcomes
Move away from stiff, posed setups and learn to read a room, anticipating fast-paced action and raw, candid emotion in real time.
Utilise the gear you already own—whether it’s a smartphone or a high-end mirrorless camera—by focusing on perspective, available light, and creative composition over technical jargon.
Build the confidence and "creative swagger" required to navigate public, backstage, and street environments, capturing authentic human connection naturally.
Edit photos intentionally to enhance mood, contrast, and feeling, ensuring your final images hit with maximum impact without relying on generic filters.
COURSE PLAN
The week could take a few unexpected turns, so this is an example of what the group might get up to!
Day 1: Crew Assembly & The Instinctive Eye
Morning: Meet the crew, sync your gear, and break down the "on-the-ground" shooting philosophy. Learn how to look for the "unseen" moments.
Afternoon: The First Drop—a fast-paced warm-up shoot roaming the campus, hunting for shadows, angles, and spontaneous energy.
Day 2: Out and about
Excursion to Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens on the shuttle bus.
Snap some shots in nature.
Day 3: The Backstage Pass (Candid Portraits)
Morning: Demystifying portraiture. Learn how to approach people, establish trust quickly, and blend into the environment to capture artists in their element.
Afternoon: Backstage Access—documenting other Camp Creative workshops from the inside out, capturing the focus, frustration, and breakthroughs of creators at work.
Day 4: Editing with Attitude & Curation
Morning: The digital darkroom. Learn the curation secrets pros use to cull hundreds of photos down to the absolute killers.
Afternoon: Deep dive into mobile and desktop editing tools. Learn how to manipulate colour, contrast, and mood to build your signature look.
Evening: Hit the ‘Party in the Park’ event for an opportunity to capture some crowd and band shots.
Day 5: The Final Drop
Morning: Layout and sequencing. Bring your best shots together to design your mini visual portfolio.
Afternoon: Celebrate the week's work with a crew showcase, viewing Camp Creative through the lens of The Shot Callers.
COURSE TUTOR
James Lander
James Lander is a photographer, visual storyteller, and creative collaborator based on Gumbaynggirr Country.
With a style that blends raw emotion and bold colour, he's known for documenting the pulse of live music, capturing powerful portraits, and creating space for youth to tell their own stories through a lens that's real and relatable.
Recently, James has shot major acts like Tones and I, Xavier Rudd, Jebediah, Lime Cordiale, and DMA's - with his work also being licensed internationally. He's created visuals for various groups including Camp Creative, the Bongil Bongil Youth Collective, and Becoming U, helping the next gen of creators build their skills and confidence in and out of the frame.
“Forget fake smiles and posed perfection.
I capture sweat, laughter, tears — unfiltered truth.
Gigs, weddings, portraits — no scripts, just stories.”
