An honest review of The Institute of Code 10-Day Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp
8 Minute Read | Written by The Way To Wherever
We’re ALWAYS looking for ways to improve, develop and up-skill our photography abilities & business skills, and since well before we became professional photographers we’ve had Institute of Code and their Photography Bootcamps on our radar.
In November 2022, after almost five years of considering the bootcamps, we decided to invest in ourselves, head back to Bali and enrolled in their very first Advanced Photography Bootcamp!
So, is this a scam? Is it the best photography bootcamp around? Should you do it?
We’re going to give you the full inside scoop on our experience during the bootcamp, starting with some info about what’s included & why we finally enrolled despite having photography knowledge and a bit of a portfolio already!
If you’re trying to figure out how to start a career in photography, looking for an alternative learning path or just interested in learning photography skills, we know you’ll find some interesting things below.
First up…
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What is Institute of Code?
The Institute of Code (IOC) is an independent education provider, built with the mission of reinventing what school, education environments and modern-tech learning can look like.
IOC was founded by two Australians who wanted to change the way everyday people could learn new skills, build careers and work from anywhere while doing what they love, providing curriculums on Web Development, Photography and Social Media Management.
In short, the education they provide is a combination of zero to hero, comprehensive digital bootcamps, intensive in-person bootcamps in an all-fulfilling environment with private chefs and luxurious accommodation, and consistent, thorough, long-term business mentorship programs.
Check out their website here to read more detail about them and what they offer, including online coding bootcamps and digital marketing bootcamps. 2023 scholarships are also now open to receive $1000 off any of their digital or Bali bootcamps for 2023.
Before we get into our experience with the Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp, we’ll give you the rundown of our history with IOC, and where we were at with photography before discovering their courses.
So, why did we take Institute of Code’s Advanced Photography Bootcamp in Bali?
The answer to that question takes us back a few years, to when neither of us had ever even held a ‘real’ camera! We discovered IOC long ago while searching for great online courses to learn billable skills with photography that would allow us to pursue our passion of travel. We discovered IOC and found that throughout the year they’d run free photography-in-a-weekend and website-in-a-weekend courses that gave people like us a taste of their courses. We jumped right in and found that their alternative, intensive and experience-lead teaching methods really spoke to us and we loved what we were learning.
They now have online short courses that let you test out whether IOC is right for you, for both Web Dev & Photography, and you can reinvest the small investment you make on these Foundation Courses back into a Digital Course if you decide to invest in yourself further.
At the time, being budget-conscious backpackers, the free courses were perfect as it gave us that itch to learn more about billable skills that would allow us to travel full time. We started to do some more independent research on photography through other platforms like YouTube & Skillshare and started practicing with our first DSLR, and found that whilst we developed a super basic skill level, we were lacking a comprehensive understanding of the different components of photography. Things like manual settings and the why behind them, what really makes great composition and how to get the best results from our gear were basic components that these platforms just weren’t covering.
Fast forward to May 2021, with our sights set firmly on pursuing travel photography, we decided to sign up for IOC’s 8 Week Digital Photography Bootcamp. Although a big investment in ourselves, our positive experiences with the Photography-in-a-Weekend & Photography Foundations courses combined with our desire to launch our photography business made this a pretty easy decision.
This changed our lives, seriously. We went from travelling full time and not getting work with any travel brands, to landing collaborations with hotels & brands all over the world. We had never learned so much in a such a short time, and with the always-accessible online modules, still to this day we revisit the course.
“If you learned photography from that course, and already had some good portfolio work, why did you do the Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp?” Glad you asked! The 8-week digital bootcamp took us from complete beginners, through every trial and tribulation you could (and couldn’t) expect while learning photography, to a point where we were pretty comfortable with a camera, in a range of scenarios.
But what we wanted was to double-down on our tradability, boost our business offerings and turn our semi-pro passion into a full-time career. We had goals to work in a more commercial capacity and turn our collaboration projects into serious money making opportunities.
The Advanced Photography Bootcamp covered exactly that. It was an immersive course that added commercial projects in our portfolio, provided opportunities to work with experienced models, and facilitated ongoing 1-on-1 mentorship. It seemed to be exactly what we were after.
Now in January, reflecting on even just the first 30 days after completing the bootcamp those three things have COMPLETELY changed the game for us. Landing four-figure projects less than a month after putting what we learnt to practice.
Below we’ll give you the inside scoop of our time at Institute of Code’s 10-day Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp.
Learn photography with pro’s
We recently attended The Institute of Code’s 10 Day Advanced Photography Bootcamp in Bali to learn all things photography & business, launching us into the world of paid photography.
If you want to land 4+ figure brand deals in photography & content creation, we recommend checking out the 10 Day Bootcamp to fast track your success.
Learn more here
Our experience with Institute of Code’s Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp
The tin says, “everything you need to build a thriving business”, in “a campus like no other.” So our expectations were pretty high. Well, we were totally blown away.
From the second we got out of Bali International Airport the experience began. We were met by one of Institute of Code’s drivers who helped us with our bags and got us to the villa safely, where we were greeted by the founders, Tina & Emilio and shown around the property.
We’d spent most of 2022 in Bali, and even after experiencing some of the most beautiful accommodations on the island, we knew instantly that the environment the team had prepared for our intensive learning here was unrivalled.
As the sun began to set on day 0, and students arrived from all over the world, we got to know each other over some cold drinks and our first taste of what would become some of the best eating experiences we’ve ever had! This might sound far-fetched, but hear us out, the private chef-prepared meals at the bootcamp blew our mind almost as much as the learning.
The learning started hard and fast on day 1, we sat together and chatted about where we were at with photography, what our goals were and the things we were most excited to learn during our 10 days at the Bali Bootcamp.
That afternoon we had a bit of fun with some photography challenges around the villa to get us warmed up with achieving certain effects through manual settings and prepare for day 2 and the first of many sunrise shoots.
We could go through day by day and provide a description of what we did, what we learnt and our thoughts, but we figured we’d rather tell you instead.
Watch below to hear from us, exactly how each day of the bootcamp looked.
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How we felt leaving the Bali Bootcamp
As you heard, the 10 Day Bali Bootcamp is intensive to say the least. Sunrise shoot followed by sunrise shoot, long days in the villa, masterclasses with professional photographers, business brainstorms to nail down our next steps, the days are truly jam-packed. But what did we walk away with that we didn’t have before?
With each day spent in a perfectly crafted environment, it was pretty easy to get into an optimal flow state where learning was easy. It meant that there were no distractions to hinder our learning (except for endless puppy kisses from the resident pets), our minds were open and ready to soak in everything IOC had to throw at us.
By the end of 10 days, this looked like years worth of photography portfolio experience in a neat package, ready to showcase to potential clients. The team had prepared every shoot, every model and every shoot transport, saving valuable time so that we could take what we had learnt about branding, photography skills & aesthetics from the digital course, and shoot.
To have almost 15 portfolio-perfect shoots done in just 10 days, with zero distractions, is truly a remarkable experience and one unlike anything else. For us to have done this outside of the Bali Bootcamp would’ve easily taken us months of fumbling around trying to work things out. Check out some of our images below of what we captured on the bootcamp.
One thing we considered before the bootcamp was, “Won’t everyone have the same portfolio as us?” Having been there now, we know that the IOC mentors are keen believers in everyone embracing their personal style and niche, and shooting for that throughout the experiences at the bootcamp. If you want to focus on fashion photography on an adventure shoot, there’s no problem with that. This meant everyone left the bootcamp with shoots perfectly suited to their growing business, and no two were the same.
Is it any good & is it right for you?
If you have a dream to pursue either a career or side-hustle in professional photography, regardless of your age, gender, location, skill-level, we say yes.
Coming from a place of skepticism, just like many people have when looking at education offerings like this, we’ve come out the other side with the knowledge, experience, portfolio and mentors in our corner. The perfect recipe that we didn’t even know we needed to successfully launch our commercial photography business. Just look at our before and after bootcamp shots below. We can’t believe how much this bootcamp allowed us to level up our portfolio and create a photography business worth hiring.
Institute of Code’s courses are built for everyone, with a mix of digital & in-person courses to fit whatever stage of the journey you’re at, and after taking almost all of the photography offerings they have, can honestly vouch for the quality and practical application of the skills they teach. If photography isn’t what you’re after, check out their web development (digital & in-person) and marketing (digital & in-person) courses instead. You could even get paid to learn to code.
But we want to touch on something, who this course is NOT for. For us, and for many it’s the perfect combination to fast-track and propel your business, but it definitely requires an open mind and a wicked work ethic.
From what we’ve covered in this blog, we hope you can see the value gained from learning through Institute of Code’s courses, but like any entrepreneurial endeavour you’re going to need to bring the heat when all is said and done.
While Institute of Code’s Advanced Photography Bali Bootcamp teaches you everything you need to know, it’s up to you to put pen to paper (or hands to keyboards), and apply those skills to succeed.
That’s It!
Hopefully we’ve answered any and all questions about Institute of Code’s Advanced Photography 10-day bootcamp!
Have more questions? Completed an IOC course before? If you have anything on your mind at all about the courses, or want to chat in more detail, leave a comment below or get in touch through our contact page to talk more!
