Certificate in Photography in Christchurch

The first assignments are about controlling the camera, and Hagley Park is where most Christchurch students do them. The Botanic Gardens give you a fixed subject in the Peacock Fountain and the Avon for shutter-speed work, big trees and open lawns for depth of field, and, in late April and May, autumn colour that makes the white-balance and colour assignments a pleasure rather than a chore. The Gardens are free, flat and central; you can do a whole module inside them.

For composition, drive up the Port Hills. From Victoria Park or the Summit Road the city lays itself out as a grid on the Plains with the Alps behind, and the assignment about simplifying a frame becomes about choosing between the mountains, the city and the sky. On a clear morning after a southerly you will see why Canterbury photographers talk about light the way other regions talk about scenery.

Christchurch's sunrise is the easiest in the set: New Brighton faces due east over the Pacific and the pier gives you leading lines and a long-exposure subject in one place. For the low-light module, the rebuilt centre around Cathedral Square, the Bridge of Remembrance and the Terrace is well lit and safe, and the nor'wester sky at dusk is a subject in itself.