ISO1200: Learning Done Differently!

ISO1200: Learning Done Differently!

Portrait Photography Education for Aspiring Professionals

ISO1200 Education is a free microlearning platform about Portrait Photography. We curate no-fluff content from working pro-photographers. In short: We skim the fat for you.

Learning From Working Pros

To paraphrase the great Joe Edelman: “Your BEST shot… It’s your NEXT Shot!”.

“Lesson learned”-knowledge only sticks when you have actually done some practice yourself. “Theory-only” and the infamous “shortcuts” just won’t do it. Yet, you need to start somewhere…

“Lesson learned” and “experience gathered” are best imparted by working pro-photographers. Those photographers and educators provide you with “real-world value”. “Been there, done that. Countless times.” – this type of hero.

We proudly collaborate with contributors/individuals whose bread and butter is to earn an actual living with their photography, demonstrating their professionalism, competence, social skills, and business conduct day after day.

A New Vibe

We take on a new educational responsibility within the photography community and partner role for the industry.

Our mission is to help you learn new photography skills effectively. We also highlight new chances during the crisis and in a post-pandemic world.

A New Library

Acquiring new skills is best supported if resources are organized helpfully. Our methodology helps to emphasize, deepen and cover subject matters from different angles.

There is a tremendous wealth of fantastic free video content available. But it’s hard to follow, and piecing a successful learning path together is quite a task.

We strive to build an easy-to-understand, holistic, educational one-stop shop about portrait photography.

Our Job

We search, find, assess, and curate the right topics in just a suitable amount for you. We are building an ever-growing digital library into the most effective resources platform.

In short, we systematically provide you with the fundamentals and facets of portrait photography. No information overload, no fluff.

Integrity

We are committed to presenting you with the right dose of accurate information. We base our picks on our experience and/or carefully applied due diligence. Every time, all the time.

We ask for and get permission for every single 3rd-party content piece we curate, share, and talk about. We painstakingly follow global & individual copyright rules and netiquette.

Respect

We respect your unique goals & precious time. We provide a positive learning community and supply you with no-fluff, actionable education that you can follow at your own pace.

We respect every single educator out there. Fundamentally. We are wowed by these individuals, their creativity, passion, combined energy, and the global rise of knowledge-sharing.

Meet Your Pro Photographers
Join #ISO1200team

That’s Us

Dan Hostettler, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief ISO 1200 Education + Jose Mata, Co-Founder, Creative Projects
Dan Hostettler, Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder
  • Profession: Pro-Photographer, Author, Educator, Producer – in short: Creator
  • Education: Formal photography training at the School of Visual Arts Bern, Switzerland (Class of 1995)
  • Languages: German (native), English, French

Dan is of Swiss origin and resides in Spain.

Dan is an internationally published, established, award-winning people & portrait photographer with over 25 years of experience.

Dan’s passion for traveling, cinema, and visual adventures translate into a high degree of creativity.

Dan’s expertise & angle for ISO1200/Education

Working pro for people & portrait photography, commercial production work, creative concepts, gear geek, programming, writing, project management, and strategic focus.

José Mata, Creative Projects & Co-Founder
  • Profession: IT Professional
  • Education: Degree in Economics
  • Languages: Spanish (native), English

José (aka ‘Mat’) is of Spanish origin and lives in the North of Spain.

José’s passion for photography dates back decades. He is influenced by following “the hero’s way”, meaning his projects’ protagonists seek freedom by solving personal, social, or cultural problems.

José’s approach to mastering light creates a distinct cinematic look and visual storytelling for all his pictorials.

José’s expertise & angle for ISO1200/Education

Founder of ISO1200/Magazine (est. 2010), excellent knowledge about the global sharing economy (online photography industry), infinite personal connections with working pros.
Creative projects, relationship management

Dan Hostettler, Editor in Chief ISO 1200 Education
Dan Hostettler, Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder
  • Profession: Pro-Photographer, Author, Educator, Producer – in short: Creator
  • Education: Formal photography training at the School of Visual Arts Bern, Switzerland (Class of 1995)
  • Languages: German (native), English, French

Dan is of Swiss origin and resides in Spain.

Dan is an internationally published, established, award-winning people & portrait photographer with over 25 years of experience.

Dan’s passion for traveling, cinema, and visual adventures translate into a high degree of creativity.

Dan’s expertise & angle for ISO1200/Education

Working pro for people & portrait photography, commercial production work, creative concepts, gear geek, programming, writing, project management, and strategic focus.

About ISO1200 Education - Jose Mata
José Mata, Creative Projects & Co-Founder
  • Profession: IT Professional
  • Education: Degree in Economics
  • Languages: Spanish (native), English

José (aka ‘Mat’) is of Spanish origin and lives in the North of Spain.

José’s passion for photography dates back decades. He is influenced by following “the hero’s way”, meaning his projects’ protagonists seek freedom by solving personal, social, or cultural problems.

José’s approach to mastering light creates a distinct cinematic look and visual storytelling for all his pictorials.

José’s expertise & angle for ISO1200/Education

Founder of ISO1200/Magazine (est. 2010), excellent knowledge about the global sharing economy (online photography industry), infinite personal connections with working pros.
Creative projects, relationship management

Back Story

2020: A New World

The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives: Our daily routine, work, collaborations, doing business, enjoying hobbies, and accessing education.

On top of that, budgets got stripped down, productions were postponed, or work evaporated altogether. Additionally, private expenses have been limited; we put any non-essential costs to the test. Frightful times and a mixed bag of financial challenges are in all of our futures.

Of course, the pandemic will be over one day, but a new reality and adjusted behavior will be here to stay.

A Reset for Dan (with the help of José)

2020

A few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, Dan had to close his recently opened (2019), not-yet-at-all-established portrait studio for good. The Czech Republic went into a 2-month lockdown (March to May 2020), and talks about a 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) wave were looming on the horizon while studio operating costs were about to get out of control. The future for Dan’s brick & mortar business (aka studio) was unclear, and a hard stop was the safest decision to take (the Czech Republic just came out of a 2nd, 6-months-long super-strict lockdown, btw.).

Back in April 2020, Dan & José got creative (well, via Zoom). José, being a long-time friend of Dan’s, was keen to talk about a new online venture: ISO1200/Education. An evolution of the original idea of ISO1200/Magazine.

While analyzing the industry, it immediately became clear that an awful lot of photographers would be badly financially hurt by the pandemic and, respectively, by the measures and lockdowns that were implemented to stop the spread (some still come into effect today).

Equally, on the same level, everyone who wanted to convey photography as a hobby or study faced new challenges.

Although a truly valuable bunch of other e-learning platforms exist (that we respect a lot!), we found that it’s time and necessary to build and open up a completely free layer of organized photography education.

So, the brainstorming began…

2021

Fast forward: here we are with our offer for you.

After 20 months of writing concepts, digging and selecting the first batch of free content, programming, making contact with contributors, beta testing the platform, producing all the missing pieces (aka glue), … – on November, 1st 2021 we went live.

Hurray!

Meet Your Pro Photographers
Join #ISO1200team