Added to the intensive and diverse course content, the faculty is unmatchable, with an ensemble of award-winning photojournalists. The faculty is fully dedicated to the school and photography, and are not just "once-in-a-while" visiting teachers. Nor are they visual artists from other fields who also double up as photography teachers. The faculty at Udaan concentrate on pure photography. While the instructors at Udaan are leading professionals in the industry, having won top awards and accolades all over the world,(see biodata of the faculty), they are available to the students all through the year. Its an unmatchable combination and a great opportunity for photography students to avail off.

The course begins from the basics of photography and covers all aspects of photography and photojournalism - from handling newest technologies to handling difficult situations on ground, from understanding the dynamism of the industry to handling people. The teaching is a mix of theory and lots of practicals in actual working environment. Its a mix of fun and serious professionalism. To get an absolutely hands-on experience, the students run an online newspaper of their own called the 'Mumbai Weekly'.  This valuable experience provides students a real-life environment of the working of an actual newspaper or magazine. Even during the course, the students start working alongside professionals in the city covering actual news. Apart from covering hard news the students work on powerful documentary work across the country, that are reviewed and developed throughout the year.

To keep with the changing environment in photojournalism, the students are taught the latest and emerging technologies in news gathering, transmission of images and the various forms of display. Keeping this in mind,  the students are  also taught Video Photojournalism and multimedia, which forms an important part of the curriculum.

Eventually, equipped with an impactful portfolio in hand, the students undergo an actual on-job training during their internships with leading newspapers, magazines and news agencies. Udaan prepares its students to meet the challenges of the real professional world of photojournalism

Our former students are working as full-time photojournalists in the Times of India, The Hindustan Times, DNA, Indian Express, India Today, Mid-day, Lokmat, Asian Photography etc and even in world's leading news agency 'Reuters'. 

The documentary photography work of  Udaan students are featured in leading international newspapers, like the Guardian, The Independent etc and have been showcased in the Delhi Photo Festival. Even during the course, student's work have regularly been featured in BBC, AP (Associated Press) , Cricinfo.com. Our students have gone on to win several awards too, including two first prizes in the National Geographic Photo Competition in two consecutive years - one of them winning himself a one-month internship with the celebrated NatGeo photographer, Steve Winters.

Apart from the main faculty, the guest speakers have included acclaimed photojournalists like, Pablo Bartholomew, Alex Majoli (Magnum), Kuni Takahashi, Prashant Panjiar etc.

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For the first time, keeping the future in mind, Udaan is introducing 
3D photography and videos in the photojournalism. With a million
images being shot every second, its struggle is to make your imagery
different and noticeable. But with this striking realism of 3D, which
is seen only in big-budgeted movies, photojournalism and
visual story telling will take an interesting and an exciting turn for the
students of Udaan. We do not want our students to just prepare for the
future, but usher in the future themselves.

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If you wish to become a photojournalist, without doubt we can say, Udaan is the place to be. Real Education for Real Aspirations !

The One-year Diploma in photojournalism begins in Mumbai from 9th September 2019.


COURSE CONTENT


01) Foundation Course (one month)

a) Introduction to photography
b) Understanding photography as a profession - commercial/editorial/wildlife/Travel etc
c) Basic understanding of Documentary photography/photojournalism and commercial
photography and their relationship to each other. Using different styles.
d) Basic Photography (techniques and using camera creatively/understanding light)
e) Understanding digital photography workflow
f) Outdoor Photography / Nature and Landscape photography
g) Understanding all kinds of portaiture - editorial, studio/commercial, fine art etc
h) Basic Photoshop


02) Exploring Creativity (one month)

a) Photography as a fine art
b) Developing a creative eye
c) Artistic understanding of light and composition
c) Using camera to capture mood and emotions and as a tool to tell stories
e) Understanding Documentary photography/photojournalism
f) Understanding commercial photography and basics of artificial lighting
g) Basic types of artificial lights and light modifiers
h) Setting up lights for people photography
i) Natural light portraiture vs artificial light portaiture
j) Understanding flash photography
k) Combining different kinds of lights (natural/artificial, hot lights/electronic flash)
l) Advanced photoshop


03) Emerging technologies (one month)

a) DSLR Videography and editing and sound editing
b) Multimedia
c) Panorama and time lapse
d) Light painting
e)  HDR


04) Specialisation in Photojournalism (nine months)*

a) Introduction to Photojournalism.
b) Career opportunities as a photojournalist. Life as a photojournalist. What it needs to be a successful photojournalist
c) Ethics of photojournalism
d) The Newsroom environment. Working as a professional photojournalist.
e) Working as an independent photographer / freelancing
f) Role of a Photo Editor. Basic Picture Editing in a newspaper /magazine.
g) Art and science of editing pictures. Selecting, cropping and transmitting your pictures from location.
h) On Assignment
i) Introduction to different aspects of photojournalism
j) Understanding your photography gear as a photojournalist
k) Telling stories through pictures. Development journalism through photography.
l) In-depth understanding of Hard News/Spot News/Breaking News coverage. With intensive practicals
(Working with deadlines. Understanding new technologies. Hostile environment coverages like war, riots etc. Covering disasters. Being safe)
m) In-depth understanding and practicals of General News coverage. With intensive practicals
n) In-depth understanding and practicals of Sports Coverage. With intensive practicals
(Different kinds of sports will be included)
o) In-depth understanding and practicals of Business News coverage
p) In-depth understanding and practicals of Off-beat photography (including street photography). With intensive practicals
q) 3D steroescopy in photojournalism (NEW)
r) In-depth understanding of Visual Story Telling and Documentary photography. With intensive practicals
s) Video photojournalism and multimedia
t) Understanding laws and copyrights
u) Safety guides
v) Portfolio development and Resume writing
w) Understanding professional goals, business plans and marketing tools
x) Understanding photography markets
y) Students display their work and share their experience.


05) One-month internship

All the students will be required to complete a one-month long internship in any one of the known, newspapers, magazines or  news agencies to mark the completion of their course and receive their diploma. The best students could get direct jobs in "Indus Images" an in-house news photography agency.
 

* includes annual holidays for Diwali and Christmas