Ion Paciu
Founder and Tutor - Photoion Photography School™
Ion is a proactive London based freelance professional photographer and member of The Royal Photographic Society. He specialises in architecture / cityscape and portrait photography, plus he also teaches macro, speedlight and studio lighting photography.
Ion's passion for the visual arts developed when he was a young child, where he spent most of his time drawing and observing things in the environment around him; he became fascinated about shapes, colours, textures and quickly realised that there is so much "unseen" beauty that surrounds us.
After buying his first SLR camera, Ion devoted himself to image-making and discovered a passion for photography; particularly architecture and portraiture. Since, Ion has developed a unique teaching style and learning philosophy at Photoion Photography School™ based on what he thinks that constitute the main ingredients of a good photograph: passion, dedication, "seeing" and discovering the beauty that surrounds us.
When I bought my first camera I thought that just pressing the shutter would be enough to take a good photograph. Very soon I discovered that looking through the camera viewfinder is a further step into the world of an unknown and unseen and that the camera is an amazing instrument that teaches your eyes how to see the world without a camera. - Ion Paciu
architecture / landscape / macro www.ionpaciu.co.uk
corporate / portrait www.photoion.co.uk
street portraits project www.peopleididntknow.co.uk
Ben Quinton
Tutor - Photoion Photography School™
Ben is a London based professional freelance portrait, documentary and editorial photographer. He regularly shoots for clients such as the Saturday Telegraph Magazine, Monocle and Guardian Weekend. Originally his background was in painting, often filling his home with canvases, but soon switched to photography.
With a great interest in documentaries, Ben realised that with his camera he could live his own documentary; meeting and photographing all kinds of different people and places. He has travelled extensively, working on projects throughout Africa and Europe. In his personal work he has long been interested in looking at different cultures; how they operate, crossover and sometimes collide. In particular he is very interested in the rapid westernization of Africa.
Ben has always had a passion for teaching photography believing that photography is a great form of communication accessible to everyone; where anyone can share their ideas, beliefs and views of the world and that this is what makes photography such a rich medium.
For me photography set's itself apart from other mediums because of it's grounding in the real. Whether a photograph is an abstract, a beautiful landscape, or a gripping split second moment of drama, it's the photographs relationship with reality that makes it so intriguing making you come back for more.
- Ben Quinton
Denise Felkin
Tutor - Photoion Photography School™
Denise is a freelance creative photographic artist with extensive experience in public visual art installations. She has had over twenty years experience in working in with the public and photographing a variety of subjects; travel, fine art, portraits, music arts and festivals, landscapes and installations. Her work has been seen in arts and music festivals and events around the UK and Spain. Her portfolio reflects this work and also her travels in Australia, South East Asia, India, USA, Canada and Europe
"A good photographer requires the ability to capture the essence of its subject, isolate the subject from its moment, and project it. Communicating the meaning of an event, a relationship, a place, or a personality, is at the heart of what I do."
- Denise Felkin
As a photo trainer Denise is passionate and knowledgeable about her subject and enjoys sharing the expertise she have acquired over the years with a hands on approach, friendly and relaxed environment.
Denise developed her passion for photography in 1988 whilst at Art College. She went on to study photography at the University of Sunderland, and graduated in 1994 with a BA (Honours) Fine Art and trained to be a photography tutor / lecturer at University of Brighton qualifying with a PGCE in Art and Design in 1996.
In recent years, she has officially photographed many music and arts festivals, such as Glastonbury Festival and the Rocket Festival in Spain. This experience has led to her curating exhibitions in public spaces, producing a major body of work in collaboration with Mutoid Waste Co and jointly exhibited within The Rocket Festival, Spain 2007, The Subway Gallery W1, 2007, Brighton Fringe Festival 2009, Glastonbury Festival 2009 & 2010, Brighton Photo Fringe Festival 2010, Endorse It in Dorset Festival 2011 and East London Photomonth 2011
Denise’s creative work is supported by her role as part-time tutor / lecturer / trainer in photography and has spent the past seven years working for City College in Brighton. She has delivered workshops to community groups, taught freelance for organisations such as BBC, Brighton & Hove City Council, Phoenix Brighton, Sussex Wildlife Trust and edited the learners work to exhibition standard and shown it as part of Brighton Photo Fringe Festival in 2008 and 2010 and Brighton Fringe Festival 2012.