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Photography Classes Chicago

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Discover the art of capturing the perfect shot with a wide range of photography classes in Chicago. Learn the fundamentals, master advanced techniques, and gain the skills needed to excel in this creative field.

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Photography Tips & Techniques: Flash Photography

Chicago Botanic Garden

Photography is the control of light. Most cameras now have a built-in flash to add light when needed. Learn where, when and how to brighten a scene with flash. External flash units welcome, but not required. Students should have a working knowledge of their own cameras.   Note: The School’s CEUs=3 hours

(122) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Photography Tools & Techniques: Selecting & Using Lens

Chicago Botanic Garden

Photography Tools & Techniques: Selecting and Using the Proper Lens During this seminar, students will learn the differences among focal lengths of lenses and how to select the appropriate lens for each particular subject. Other topics include matching the lens to the light level, depth of field, and how to obtain maximum image sharpness, as well as using the hyperfocal length setting with manual focus. The School’s CEUs=3 hours

(122) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Photographing Water Lilies

Chicago Botanic Garden @ 1000 Lake Cook Rd, Chicago, IL

Discover how to capture the beauty of the waterlilies and other aquatic plants found at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Learn which camera settings are best for capturing floral colors, soft focus, and water reflections. Begin with classroom instruction and then go out into the Garden to practice these concepts. A tripod and polarizing filter suggested, but not required. DSLR cameras only, no phones.

(122) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules
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Explore Art Private Group Events

Explore private group events and team building activities ranging from cooking to art, escape rooms, trivia, and more

Explore Art Private Group Events
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Lectures in Photography: Vik Muniz

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 618 S MICHIGAN AVE, Chicago, IL

Vik Muniz is a contemporary artist from São Paulo, Brazil. Early in his career, Muniz focused on sculpture before turning his practice fully to photography and drawing. His work has been exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Tate Modern in London, and many others.  Lectures in Photography are co-presented by the MoCP and the Photography Department of Columbia College Chicago.

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Zen & the Art of Photography Lecture

Chicago Botanic Garden @ 1000 Lake Cook Road, Chicago, IL

Acclaimed photographer Douglas Beasley will talk about how photographs can better reflect our own experiences and beliefs, including spiritual beliefs, rather than be a mere testimony to where we went and what we saw. Through examples from his past work, including images from his book, Earth Meets Spirit, and from his extensive worldwide travels, he will show how photographs can have more meaning, more depth, and can go well beyond a travelogue....

(122) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Photography - Middle School

Magical Minds Studio @ 110 Madison St, Chicago, IL

Photography techniques keep evolving, but many things remain the same. Students will look for light, shadow and composition as they create their images, as photographers have always done.  *All students must bring a digital camera or phone for this class.*

(2) All levels 11 - 14 years old
No upcoming schedules
$105

6 sessions

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Memories Moons and Imagination

Chicago Botanic Garden @ 1000 Lake Cook Road, Chicago, IL

Join photographer and storyteller Eddie Soloway for an entertaining and inspirational presentation designed to open you up to the beauty right in front of our noses...and deep inside our hearts.

(122) All levels 18 and older
No upcoming schedules

Lecture in Photography: Zanele Muholi

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 618 S MICHIGAN AVE, Chicago, IL

Zanele Muholi is a photographer and visual activist whose work creates a record of black lesbian and transgender communities in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Muholi received an MFA in documentary media from Ryerson University in Toronto, and in 2009, was named the Ida Ely Rubin Artist-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   Her work was featured in the 55th Venice Biennale and the V&A Museum, London. Most recently...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Print Viewing: Found Photography

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 600 S Michigan Ave, Illinois City, IL

MoCP curatorial assistant Shawn Rowe will lead a guided viewing of works from the museum’s permanent collection that explore themes of war, identity, and displacement.  Works by photographers Anthony Haughey, Curtis Mann, Rachel Papo, and others will be discussed in terms of the unique processes and approaches used in visualizing conflict.

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Out of the Box: You and Your New Camera

The Morton Arboretum @ 4100 Illinois Rte 53, Lisle, IL

Learn to use your new DSLR camera. Get familiar with the basic features and functions of your camera and have the opportunity to practice under the guidance of an experienced photographer. Gain the confidence you need to begin your journey as a nature photographer! Prerequisites: None Supplies: Please bring your fully charged DSLR camera and manual to class with you.

(15) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules

High School: Intro to Digital Photography

Evanston Art Center @ 1717 Central St, Evanston, IL

Learn to the basics of digital photography! Students will experiment with automatic and manual settings on a DSLR camera. They will understand how to properly adjust the camera’s exposure, shutter speed, and aperture to achieve different results and become a more confident photographer! Students will also learn basic photo editing using Adobe Photoshop. At the end of camp student’s will print their favorite images. Notes: We will provide...

(83) Beginner 14 - 18 years old
No upcoming schedules
$370

5 sessions

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Introduction to Digital Photography and Workflow

Evanston Art Center @ 1717 Central St, Evanston, IL

In this course you will develop the photographic workflow necessary to progress to advanced techniques and methods through the usage of a DSLR camera and Adobe Photoshop. You will learn the "what, why, and how" of photographic manipulation and post-production. This course also introduces seeing, thinking, and creating with a critical mind and eye to provide understanding of the construction of photographic form and meaning. Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate...

(83) Beginner 18 and older
No upcoming schedules
$370

12 sessions

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Ekphest

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum

Referencing  Presidential Moon, 1969 (from the Anachronic Series) by photographer Adam Schreiber, Elshtain will present a short performance of poems centered around the image of the moon, the amplified sound of typewriter keys, and the human voice. The photograph by Schreiber is of a sculptural representation of the moon housed in the basement of the LBJ presidential library. In collaboration with Mikey Peterson, a Chicago-based video-audio...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules

Video Playlist: Rashayla Marie Brown

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum

Rashayla Marie Brown presents a night of videos and performance featuring a new installment of her ongoing series The Unholy Trinity of Me, Myself, and I. Brown’s performance takes the form of an academic lecture, weaving together the autobiographical with the historical through photographs, video, and elements of drag. The performance will be followed by a 30-minute talk-back session with Brown answering questions about the...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules

Lectures in Photography

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 618 S MICHIGAN AVE, Chicago, IL

Anne Tucker, formerly the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has recently retired to pursue new projects after having been with the museum for 39 years. Named America’s best curator by TIME magazine in 2001, Tucker was the museum’s founding curator of photography, and expanded the collection from 141 works in 1976 to 29,000 works by 4,000 artists. Tucker has curated numerous shows throughout her...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Lecture: Bruce Cumings

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 600 S Michigan Ave, Illinois City, IL

Bruce Cumings is chairman of the history department at the University of Chicago. His first book, The Origins of the Korean War, won the John King Fairbank Book Award of the American Historical Association, and the second volume of this study won the Quincy Wright Book Award of the International Studies Association. In 2003, Cumings won the University of Chicago's award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, and in 2007 he won the Kim Dae Jung...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Panel Discussion: Iman Issa, Basim Magdy, & Onur Öztürk

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum

Exhibiting artists Iman Issa and Basim Magdy will join Curator Karen Irvine and Onur Öztürk, professor of art history at Columbia College Chicago, for a discussion on monuments and monumentality, and their links to language and photography. Originally from Turkey, Öztürk focuses on art and architecture, and archaeology of Ancient Rome and the Islamic world.

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules

Video Playlist

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum

Video Playlist is a recurring series of one night public video screenings programmed in response to MoCP exhibitions. For Disruptive Perspectives, Video Playlist presents a night of moving image works from artists and writers who turn traditional modes of popular storytelling into a platform for producing queer and intersectional entertainment.

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules

Lecture: Richard Mosse

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 600 S Michigan Ave, Illinois City, IL

Richard Mosse’s photography captures the beauty and tragedy in war and destruction. His most recent series, Infra captures the ongoing war between rebel factions in the Congo. The Infra series is marked by Mosse’s use of Kodak Aerochrome, a discontinued reconnaissance infrared film. The film registers chlorophyll in live vegetation, with the results rendering the lush rainforest into a beautifully...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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Lecture in Photography: Christian Boltanski

Museum of Contemporary Photography Colum @ 600 S Michigan Ave, Illinois City, IL

Christian Boltanski is one of France's foremost artists whose installations challenge basic assumptions of what constitutes an artwork. Since the 1960s, he has worked with the ephemera of daily life and human experience, from obituary photographs to rusted biscuit tins, to examine the transitory nature of our life on earth. He employs lights, candles, shadows, and imagery of death in a body of work that is about memory and loss and the relation between...

(3) All levels 16 and older
No upcoming schedules
Free
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