Having spent the last few years pointing and clicking away at boats with my camera permanently set to fully automatic I decided it was about time I went on a course to find out what all those other buttons and settings on the camera actually do. As a result I spent an overcast and often wet week in late November at West Dean College in Sussex doing a photography course with sculptor, painter and photographer Howard Coles. It was a fascinating week and here are a selection of the images I took during our various excercises.