About That Silly Guy
Hello my friend! I’m surprised you’re interested in reading about me when all that matters to me is helping you learn photography 😉.
But I’ve heard that sharing a bit about myself can help you build trust, and trust is very important to me.
So here’s my story as a photographer and educator.
First and foremost: my real name is Wolfgang Amri.
Little Wolf
My Early Love for Photography
I bought my first camera at the age of 8 with my pocket money, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Shortly after, my interest in creating videos was sparked. My father worked for Philips and occasionally borrowed a video camera, which I used to experiment with VERY BASIC titles and graphics (with a consumer camera in 1982!).
The Bad Learner
Speaking of little Wolf, we should also talk about his “success” at school (or rather, the lack of it).
Before starting school, I loved learning. Once I was in school, I hated it. But after leaving school and university, my love for learning returned. These days, I even enjoy studying the periodic table of chemical elements!
Why is that important?
Today I know a lot about how people learn best, and I must say that school was the complete opposite.
That’s why my courses are different. I don’t teach the way you were taught at school, but rather with learning science in mind. It is important to me that you enjoy the process and memorize what you learned.
Pro Wolf
Tahiti - The First Professional Steps
Oddly enough, I never considered photography as a profession until I was 27.
In 1999, my wife and I took a trip to Tahiti with mountain bikes and a tent, bringing 65 rolls of film to document our journey. Afterward, we gave slideshow presentations to large crowds.
We enjoyed the shows, but we are what is called “scanner personalities”. If we make something work, it gets a checkmark, and on we go to the next endeavor.
A Creative Detour
Creating My First
Educational Content
While still not seeing photography as a prime career (I studied sports science), I worked as the head of education for a sports-medical technology company in the German-speaking region. Frustrated with the complicated training materials from headquarters, I started creating my own in my spare time. I learned how to create animations and used photos to simplify complex concepts.
This even led to building a website for a company event and eventually producing a user DVD for our products. This video project involved hundreds of menus in multiple languages and marked our first foray into video production, which we did all by ourselves.
Soon, people began asking me to create websites (btw. I created this website completely on my own)—and, naturally, the photos to go with them. This demand for my actual passion led me to rediscover my love for photography.
Educator Wolf
What Drives Me
Despite my work as a photographer, there was still that little boy in me, who liked to play with animations and graphics, and also that guy who wanted to make complex things easy to understand.
Naturally, when people hear you are a professional photographer, they ask you about photography. That’s when I realized that something was wrong with how it’s typically taught.
My First YouTube Course
This inspired me to create a YouTube course. While the feedback was very positive, my presentation skills needed improvement, which I honestly didn’t want to realize back then and the videos didn’t gain as much traction as I’d hoped.
An Amazing Facebook Group
So to promote the course, I started a Facebook group for photography beginners which quickly grew to over 100,000 members.
By interacting with members daily, I discovered what confused people about photography and what truly helped them understand it. This real-time feedback became the foundation for my new teaching method.
The group grew to more than 100.000 members and with the help of an awesome team of moderators* and helpful members**, we kept the groups helpful character and threw the people out who were just there to troll.
When Facebook found out that conflict and arguments kept people longer on the platform than helpful answers (which obviously make people leave and do something else), the group sadly became a victim of the algorithm.
Why Does All That Even Matter?
After answering a gazillion questions in the group and on my YouTube course, I discovered something surprising: the way photography is usually taught doesn’t actually help people understand it!
So, armed with this lightbulb moment, I set out to create a photography course that shakes things up and makes learning photography a whole lot easier (and more fun!)
My Hope for These Courses
By now, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a true “scanner personality,” always seeking new challenges. My strength lies in networked thinking—taking fragmented information and presenting it in an easy-to-digest way. This, combined with a deep desire to help others, drove me to create this course.
I sincerely hope it helps you on your photography journey. If you enjoy it, please consider sharing it—and put on a smile while you do, because smiling is contagious, as my friend Yanni likes to say!
Thanks for reading,
Special Thanks
First and foremost to my wife Birgit for being my soul mate, for letting me work 3 years on a project like this and for even helping me along the way.
*big thanks in alphabetical order to the current admin team of the facebook photography group: Angela, Atif, Chris, Claire, Dianna, Dinesh, Elaine, Elizabeth, Francis, Miles, Osei, Simon, Yanni and to all the team members that have been part of the journey in the past.
**Another big thanks to all the helpful members. I can’t name them all here, but I want to name two. Daniela Stewart, who helped me make most of the course content proper English (don’t accuse her if there are exceptions, as I didn’t send her every single one of the 1000 changes I made😂).
Jo Ronjo. Jo was the good soul of the Facebook group who always had something positive to say when nobody else commented on an image. She promoted my old YouTube course everywhere without me ever asking her. Unfortunately, she passed the rainbow bridge a few years ago. We still miss her, particularly for her genuine helpful, and peaceful personality. The world needs more Jo’s. RIP my friend!