New “Photoshop Gym” outperforms online learning

Haggerston Photoshop Gym. Pic: Joshua Poncil

Haggerston Photoshop Gym. Pic: Joshua Poncil

The Photoshop Gym is an hour-long workout for your Photoshop muscles offered by The Proud Archivist in Haggerston.

The weekly sessions teach students the fundamentals of Photoshop and how to apply those skills in the workplace. The organisers have identified a market for alternative and cheaper ways to learn Photoshop, as official courses can be prohibitively expensive.

Lead tutor Peter Strauli said: “Online learning is a growth industry but has its limitations. There’s still a need to learn with others, to be inspired by and to inspire, and to be able to ask questions and get answers. And I think physical space comes into it too.”

He believes his method of one-to-one teaching is much more effective and builds a stronger bond between student and teacher.

“In my experience, learning is done best in short bouts and with time to practice and digest the new info in between.”

Strauli also thinks using YouTube videos to self-teach skills is not the best way to gain knowledge of dense subjects.

He said: “If you’re interested in Photoshop, you probably need it for work. You want to spend as much time designing or taking pictures as possible and as little time sitting through YouTube videos waiting to hear a useful titbit of advice.”

Strauli believes online learning at home is too prone to distractions such as social media and household tasks. He said: “You know, if you are learning online at home, where you also need to do your dishes and update your Facebook timeline and watch a movie… it all becomes a little blurry.”

Strauli had been tutoring for several years before he started the Gym. He continues to teach one-to-one sessions and has plans to teach larger workshops in the future.

“If you know you’re going to be in a space once a week where all you need to do is learn, then that can focus the mind like nothing else.”

Morning sessions of the Photoshop Gym take place on Wednesdays from 8:30am to 9:30am and cost £8, which includes a complimentary breakfast. Mid-morning sessions are from 10:00am to 11:00 am and cost £10.

“I wanted the price to be equal to what you might pay for an hour of yoga or a workout at a boxing gym,” Strauli said.

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