AYWMC: 2019 in numbers
In December 2019 A Year With My Camera students around the world completed our end-of-year survey. I have combined the data with my own and the information that Facebook gives me about where in the world people are, gender and age distributions in the groups. These are the results.
Total number of people doing AYWMC in 2019
30, 946 (source: email sign-ups)
This compares to the 100 people that did the first run-through of the course in 2017 and the cumulative total of about 38,000 people who have done the course altogether.
Demographics
Describe A Year With My Camera
In the survey I asked respondents to describe AYWMC in 3 words. These were the most commonly used (largest/darkest font = more often used):
wordc.net
(The somewhat random “bite” appears because many people said “bite-sized”, but the word cloud generator wouldn’t recognise hyphens.)
Some people used a phrase rather than individual words and these were some of my favourites:
“I love it!”
“Perfect for beginners”
“Best thing ever”
“Not a scam”
“Bloody fantastic course”
“Easy to follow”
“So much fun”
One thing that struck me again and again was that people who used the word “challenging” also more often than not also used the word “fun”.
I’m also delighted that words like “supportive” and “friendly” were very high on the list. This is a reflection of the hard work that Judith and Hilary put in to make the Facebook groups a good place to be, but also for the peer support given generously and consistently by members to each other. I always wanted A Year With My Camera to be first and foremost a community rather than a photography course, and the feedback this year shows we are on the right track.
Kit
We don’t talk about gear much in AYWMC, but it’s always interesting to see if the newcomers are catching up with Canon and Nikon:
The app
We launched the AYWMC app in March 2019. Available on Apple and Android it is designed to provide an alternative to Facebook for the community. At the end of 2019 there were 5,112 subscribers.
Book sales
It was a bumper year for book sales - thank you for buying. The book sales are the main thing that keeps me in business and means I can offer the email course for free. Total book sales (Workbooks 1 and 2, the planner and Beginner’s Landscape Photography) topped 10,000 in 2019 alone.
2020
I wish you creative fulfilment for 2020. Ditch the groups that undermine your confidence. Enjoy your own style, your own preferences, your own motivations: be yourself because everyone else is taken. And don’t forget to have fun.
Join A Year With My Camera here
It’s a photography workshop for complete beginners. The email version is free. Join here and get started today.
