What are Sessions?
LensCulture Sessions bring together top photography instructors and experts with talented photographers from around the world in a lively, social learning experience. Sessions meet weekly for instructor-led critiques and discussion. Each student is provided with their own online gallery to upload work for critique and discussion. Upon completion, instructors curate work from students and publish it in the LensCulture Sessions Gallery.
Why are Sessions different from other workshops?
Sessions is an online learning platform designed exclusively for photography. By leveraging recent research in online education, we have created a social learning environment that fosters interactive engagement and peer-to-peer learning with small groups of students. This learning approach has been shown to be as effective as traditional classroom teaching.
Sessions' key benefits are:
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Present your work: learn how to effectively present your work to experts and peers.
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Get constructive feedback: receive critical feedback from your instructor and fresh points of views from other photographers.
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Learn from experts: access the best photography instructors and learn a wide array of creative and professional development topics.
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Connect with talented photographers: become part our global creative community of serious, committed photographers from around the world helping each other move forward in their careers.
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Access exposure opportunities on LensCulture: have your best work seen by LensCulture's huge global audience and prepare it for the next level.
What is a typical group size for Sessions?
Each session will typically have between six to eight participants.
Are there opportunities outside of the sessions to connect with fellow students?
You can access the session outside the meeting hours with the instructor and connect with your peers of the same group via the platform to do a video chat and discuss your projects.
Who can participate?
Session leaders reserve the right to try to match participants who seem compatible with the level of the program and with each other. Each workshop description indicates who it is designed for "Who Should Participate".
How do I show my work?
Upon registration, you will be provided with your own online gallery to upload work for critique and discussion. Once you have created your photographic projects by uploading images to your online gallery, you will be able to submit any of these projects to the session and show it to your instructor and your peers.
What are the photo specifications for uploading?
Sessions is an online learning platform designed exclusively for photography. For best results, upload the highest-quality JPEGs, sized a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side but up to 2000 pixels is even better. Maximum size is 10MB. The file name should be under 50 characters.
Are Sessions recorded?
All meetings of sessions are recorded and will be made available to every student of the group. In case you miss a meeting, you will be able to review the recording of the previous meeting and catch up on any assignments or valuable advice.
These recordings will not be published to the public and will be deleted 1 month after the end of the workshop.
LensCulture reserves the right to use parts of these recordings for promotional purposes.
By booking a session with LensCulture, participants agree to allow their likenesses to be used for promotional purposes and in media; participants who prefer that their likenesses not be used are asked to identify themselves to the LensCulture team.
How do I sign up to Sessions?
On the Session Detail Page of your interest, click on the "Register" button of the group that you would like to join.
In some cases, the instructor will teach the same online workshop content to different groups on different dates and times. Please make sure you review the Full Schedule for each group and select the one that works for you.
If the schedule doesn't work for you but you would like to be informed about future openings for the same session, send us an email and we will keep you updated.
What is the deadline for registration?
The deadline for registration is 5 day before the beginning of the first meeting..
It is important that you log in before the first meeting to familiarize yourself with the platform and make sure your have uploaded your projects properly.
What if I want to cancel? Will I get a refund?
Enrollment is limited in Sessions, so once you have registered, your participation is important to us - we are counting on you to attend. If you must withdraw from a session, we provide the following refund policy:
- Cancel more than 15 days before the start of sessions and we will refund all the entire registration fee.
- All fees are non-refundable if you should choose to withdraw from a session less than 15 days prior to its start date.
- In the event of a medical emergency, please provide a physician’s note stating the nature of the emergency, and LensCulture will issue you a credit that can be applied to future workshops.
Can I change to a different group of the same session?
If the same Session is offered for multiple groups in different dates and times, you can change from one group to another that best fits your schedule at least 15 days before the start of the session.
You cannot change groups less than 15 days prior to the starting date.
What if I miss one meeting?
There are no refunds for missed meetings. However, you will be able to review the video-recording of the missed meeting to catch up on any assignments or group discussions before your next meeting.
Can a session be cancelled?
LensCulture reserves the right to cancel any workshop up to one week prior to the start date, in which case a full refund will be issued. A minimum of six students is required to run a session.
Can session meeting be changed?
During the period of the online workshop, a meeting may need to be rescheduled. A make-up session will be scheduled within the term or added to the end of the course. You will be notified about the change in advance.
What forms of payment do you accept? Do you accept PayPal?
You can pay for your entry with PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express. We're sorry, but we cannot accept bank transfers or payments by check at this time.
How do I know that my payment went through?
Upon registration and payment, you will receive a confirmation email and a summary of your payment.
I can't login to my account.
Go to https://www.lensculture.com/forgot_password and enter the email address you think you signed up with. We'll send you a password reset link.
What's required to participate in a Session?
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A good internet connection
When you register for a session, you will be invited to test your internet connection. Please run the test to make sure you have the required bandwidth to participate in Sessions.
What's good? At least 2 Mbps download speed and 0.5 Mbps upload speed (500 Kbps). Faster is better.
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Google Chrome browser
Chrome delivers the best quality experience for all the features of Sessions at this time. If you don't have it, download the free Google Chrome Browser here.
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Mac or PC with a webcam
Notebooks and desktop computers are fine, but iPads and tablets will not work. If you have two screens, please use the screen with the webcam, otherwise, you will be looking off to the side in the Session (awkward).
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Headset or earbuds
We strongly recommend using earbuds or headphones. Even if the quality of the built-in audio on your Mac/PC is great, you will be surprised how much background noise is picked up. Headsets are highly recommended — all the people in your Session will appreciate it. Earbuds that come with an iPhone work great!
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Quiet location
Locating yourself in a quiet location for the live Sessions really helps everyone focus on the conversation and photography.
How do I get assistance?
Feel free to contact us on support@lensculture.com if you have any questions regarding LensCulture Sessions.
