Frequently asked questions

Who I am ?

It was thanks to a gift from my grandparents at the age of 14, a Miranda reflex REII camera, that I took my first steps in photography. My interest grew and grew, turning into a real passion in the early 1990s. Even then, architecture was my favourite subject. I spent almost three years photographing the inner courtyards of Parisian buildings, discovering many unusual places and getting to know my city better, which I tirelessly criss-crossed, always on the lookout for new places to photograph.

It was in 2005 that I began to take an interest in digital technology, which had been revolutionizing the photographic industry for several years by then. I acquired my first digital camera, a Nikon D70, along with several lenses. The digital file, which replaces film, can be easily developed on a computer. So I began to take an interest in Adobe Photoshop, which I would study again and again, to try and add a personal touch to my images. As you can see from my pictures, I don’t always try to represent reality, although I always start from real scenes. After many years spent photographing mainly in color, it’s thanks to black & white that I now express myself most often in my work. I like to work with strong contrasts and varied light effects, in order to create images with a strong visual impact.

It was around this time that I began to showcase my work more widely on the Internet, thanks to emerging photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, to name but one of the most emblematic. However, I was soon looking for a more personal way to share my work. Curious about communication technologies, I decided to create my own website, without any knowledge of the subject. From there, I also created a photo blog, enabling me to communicate and above all share my passion, with tutorials and numerous subjects about Paris. In 2016, I obtained a professional title as a web graphic designer.

Armed with this long experience in the image industry, I decided to take the plunge and set up my own business in this field. For several years now, I’ve been offering my services to companies and individuals. In addition to my main activity of training, I regularly work with companies for which I mainly take architectural photos, and more particularly interior photos. More recently, I have also specialized in product photography. My mastery of image correction and retouching enables me to deliver work that my customers appreciate.

In 2021, I gave my first course in English. Since then, I have taken part in several international conferences, mainly in the United States, which have enabled me to develop an international clientele. This has also enabled me to develop collaborations with photographers/trainers who specialize and set standards in different fields. These collaborations take the form of online workshops.

To date, I have given over 1000 courses in 28 countries.

If passion is the word that comes up most often when I talk about photography, it’s also the way I get involved in all my projects.

Differences between this English-only website and my main website

I’ve created this website to provide a better user experience for my English-speaking visitors and students.

I offer training courses in English and French. To avoid any confusion, this website only contains my complete offering in English.

The ordering process is fully optimized in English, including the emails you receive when placing an order (confirmation, download links when purchasing a video tutorial, invoice).

You can visit my main website by clicking on this link:

https://www.duchensphotographie.fr/en/

There you will find reviews, a chat feature to communicate with me directly, subscribtion to my newletter, and more.

You can also place your orders on my main website, but as mentioned above, this English-language website is better optimized.

The final difference with my main website is that the URL is shorter (duchensphoto.fr).

Account questions

– You can only create an account when placing your order at checkout.
Please note that it is not mandatory to create an account to place an order.

– You have an account on my main website, but it does not work here.
This is normal because the two websites are completely separate. You will therefore need to create a new account on this website if you wish to do so.

Prices inclusive of tax and exclusive of tax

Prices for orders placed in France and the European Union are calculated in Euros, including VAT.

Prices for orders placed outside Europe are calculated in Euros excluding VAT.

For your information, prices excluding tax are indicated in parentheses for each course.

Video tutorial purchase

Video tutorials and replays are available for purchase on the website.
Replays follow live online workshops.
Before going on sale, they are optimized and cleaned up (removal of hesitations, dead time, etc.).

How online purchasing works:
Tutorials and replays are available for download as soon as your order has been placed and payment received (almost immediately if you pay by bank card or PayPal).

You will receive an e-mail just after payment. This contains the download links (usually video(s) and exercise files).

Check your spam folder if you don’t see this e-mail.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if anything has gone wrong. I’ll send you the links again.

How online Photoshop course work
  • Photoshop courses are one-to-one.
  • They are delivered live, by videoconference, using the Zoom application (free), which enables communication via the Internet.
  • Thanks to the screen-sharing function, the course is very easy to carry out.
  • In order to optimize the duration of the course, I will propose, if necessary, to contact you a day or two before the fixed date, so that we can connect with Zoom and check that it is working properly.
  • For your information, a video, recorded live during the course, will be sent to you after the course, via WeTransfer.
How online workshop work
  • Online workshops are group classes.
  • They are delivered live, by videoconference, using the Zoom application (free), which enables communication via the Internet.
  • Thanks to the screen-sharing function, the course is very easy to carry out.
  • The Zoom link is sent few days before each session.
  • For your information, a video, recorded live during during each session, will be sent to you after the class, via WeTransfer.
Online payment and secure browsing

This website site uses an SSL certificate (identifiable in the address bar of your web browser by the presence of a padlock and the https protocol). Data exchanges are therefore secure. Paypal transactions are made directly on their site and are also secure.