Film Stills Academy Accelerate your Film Stills Career

Ready to become a film stills photographer?

The Film Stills Academy is the leading provider of online film stills training.

  • Becoming a film stills photographer gives you the opportunity to add an exciting niche to your photography career, to work with talented actors and directors, to get amongst the action on set, and see your pictures used all around the world.
  • The movie business can feel like an impenetrable closed world. It's competitive. But with the Film Stills Academy training and support, you can learn all the inside info you need to take concrete steps towards achieving your goals.

If that sounds exciting to you, let's get started. 

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Learn the Lingo

Being on a film set can be an exciting and daunting experience. 

To help you understand exactly what's going on around you on set, we've put together a 10-page glossary of tips, terms, and phrases.

Nail these and you'll look like a seasoned pro!

Sign up to receive your free PDF download here. 

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Hello, I'm Nicola

I’m a professional film stills photographer and I have worked on some huge films, including the latest Bond movie No Time To Die. But it wasn’t always that way.

In my late twenties, I was living in my small home town in New Zealand, busy not being a photographer and wishing I was one.  I had studied photography but never really followed it through.

One day I suddenly lost all hearing in one ear. I had scans and they said it might be a brain tumor. Luckily it wasn’t, but the doctors couldn’t tell me why it had happened.

Afterward I made a decision. I wasn’t going to live a safe life anymore.  I realized that at any moment your life can change.

I left my lovely little home town, with my camera, for the UK, and started shooting weddings, editorial and traveled shooting for various charities.

I also started shooting for free on short films, and slowly built my portfolio and networks. It took me a while but I got there.

I am still deaf in one ear, and I feel thankful every day for it (I’m always grateful it wasn’t an eye!). It continues to wake me up to the fact that life is for stepping outside your comfort zone and backing yourself.

I try to live by it still with how we raise our two kids for example and taking them on lots of adventures.  They often travel with me to my international jobs, but that is for another story.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of what I know with you and inspiring you to reach your potential too.

Testimonials

Rich Lowe Photographer, Melbourne, Australia

Since finishing the course I've shot two short films and I start on a feature soon. I feel so fortunate and lucky to have been able to learn all that insight from such a detailed, life-changing course.

Jax Photographer, New Zealand

This course has been exactly what I have been looking for as a professional photographer wanting to know more about this area of the industry - absolutely perfect and very grateful to connect with you Nic, thank you so much for delivering such an amazing course with absolute heartfelt knowledge.

David Gennard Photographer, UK

This course doesn't just fast track you, it propels you on a hyper-speed journey into the world of film stills photography. Nicola's wealth of experience, along with the array of excellent guest speakers, has given me the knowledge and the confidence to get on set and shoot without fear.

Greg Allen Photographer, UK

A big thanks to Nicola for the FSA Fast Track!  I was asked ( last minute) to shoot stills for a TV pilot and arrived on set with confidence and was able to follow and anticipate most of the happenings on the set!  Without the class, I would have been absolutely lost.

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Why train with the Film Stills Academy?

Benefits and Perks of training with FSA:

  • Online Training, comprehensive video training covering all aspects of film stills photography within your own training hub.
  • Training workbooks for each module, and assignments to complete.
  • Live 1-2-1 Session: Get personalised, individual advice and mentoring about your work and your situation and next steps.
  • Flexible Learning: Complete the course in the comfort of your own home, fit it in around your lifestyle.
  • Weekly Group coaching zoom call with Nicola to answer all your questions.
  • Insider Info: Access to incredible guest speakers
  • Community: Exclusive access to the course FB group, where you will be able to continue to be part of a community of other photographers. This support is so important and often one of the surprising benefits of doing the course according to our previous students.
  • Graduation Certificate

Follow Film Stills academy 

Stay updated with FSA news, Nicola's latest work, and on set stories, via Instagram

Fast track your film stills knowledge, and save yourself years of trial and error!

Take the Film Stills Fast Track Self Paced course