Information About James Rex - Exeter teacher

Personal Description:

How do - I'm Rex

I'm a seasoned professional wedding, event and portraiture photographer.

Chronicling events in people’s lives – the faces and emotions in all their joyful resplendence – as events unfold one second to the next is my favourite photographic subject.

My inclination in work has always been to do what I love, to totally absorb myself into it but to keep things relaxed. This is a mindset and work ethic I acquired in the music industry. My life is very busy with family and friends, I surf, play music and write a lot. I try to make every day count for something and this attitude shows in my wedding portfolio. Every moment counts thus capturing yours in a fun, natural and un-fussy way is my mission.

When I started out as a wedding photographer I soon met a charming and seasoned professional – Mike Riley. Having seen what I could do with a camera, Mike put me in touch with the UK's number one wedding photographer – Paul Rogers – who was looking for an intern. After coming to one of my music shows Paul saw my potential and snapped me up saying, “if you can take pictures half as well as you can play music Rex, I can retire!” That’s praise indeed although he hasn’t retired just yet.

Paul trained me up and made me the photographer I am today. His work with the Times Newspaper have made him world renowned as a photojournalist. His training and mentoring are what I hope to pass on to you.

Teaching Experience:

I have years of experience teaching both one on one and in group settings. I really enjoy teaching in a workshop style and keeping things as practical and fun as possible. I strongly believe a hands on approach to learning and going about that in a group setting. You can learn from me as well as your fellow students.

Weather you just want to learn the basics, improve your holiday snaps or are a seasoned professional looking to further up your game, I can facilitate your goals.
My key areas of experience include, documentary style/photojournalism, portraiture, wedding and event photography, street photography, still life and flash photography. In each of these areas I offer a practical, social and fun learning environment with technical and theoretical knowledge to back it up.

Teaching Approach:

My approach is same for one-on-one sessions as it is for groups. I try to group people together according to their ability and learning goals. So you wont be thrown in with a group wanting to learn about flash photography if you're just getting to grips with the basics and vise versa.

Everything I do is practical. We'll start in classroom and then head out into the world armed with our cameras to put what we've learned in to practice. We'll then return to classroom and analyse our efforts on a computer screen. If we're studying flash photography, we'll have to stay indoors, at least to start with. Using this approach, we'll build your knowledge and experience peace meal over time and have great fun while doing so.

My aim is to break down the technical jargon and make what many think of as an impenetrable hobby as accessible as possible. While I don't offer any official qualifications, I can certainly give you additional support if you're studying GCSE, A-Level or degree level photography. As you progress, the technical side of things will come into play more and more. As your confidence builds, we'll start looking at more theoretical ideas to apply to your craft.

Ultimately, I want you to be able to take pictures like I can.