If you want to take a picture as beautiful as this image of this Nepalese child, you can either hope for some extraordinary fluke of light, timing, subject matter and hardware — or you can sign up for The Jack Picone Photography Workshops. Award-winning Australian documentary photographer Jack Picone — who took this shot — leads these intensive , one-week courses for dedicated amateurs hoping to take their photography to the next level. Held two or three times a year in various Asian cities (the next is scheduled for Kathmandu in July 2011), the courses have previously featured guest lecturers such as the legendary photojournalist Tim Page and celebrated war photographer Philip Jones Griffiths. There are no more than 12 to 16 participants at a time, and all are thrown in at the deep end — tasked with producing a professional-quality photo essay by the end of the week. To help them, there are robust discussions, sessions of one-on-one tuition and nightly show-and-tells, during which each day’s images are critiqued. Fees range between $2,400 and $2,700. It isn’t cheap, and does not include accommodation and flights — but, there are hobbyists and those obsessed with photography who spend infinitely more on fancy equipment but still can’t produce an arresting image.

Don’t be one of them.

For more information, mail Jack,  jack@jackpicone.com and visit http://www.jackpicone.com

Original article by Liam Fitzpatrick published in the Global Advisor section of TIME  magazine.