News and photo tips:  Our Journal "Exposure"  |  Our Blog  |  Resources |  OAK PARK Classes


New Session Begins:
Week of Sunday September 12, 2010


Free Parking! – Map our location here

Photo I: An Introduction

Our Next Photo I Classes: Register Now!
Starts Sunday, Sept 12 at 2:30pm Limited!
Starts Monday, Sept 13 at 7pm Register
Starts Tuesday, Sept 14 at high NOON Register
Starts Tuesday, Sept 14 at 7pm Register
Starts Wednesday, Sept 15 at 7pm Register
Starts Thursday, Sept 16 at 7pm Register
Woman Smoking

What will I learn in Photo I?

Photo I is a comprehensive class about the fundamentals of photography. While digital imaging is new to photography, "digital" refers only to the way the image is captured and stored. Digital chips replace film. Most of the other facets of photography are more than 150 years old.

In Photo I you will learn about correct exposure, what makes the "right exposure" and why. You'll discover the meaning of shutter speeds and f-stops, how to stop motion or let a "subject's motion" blur in just the right way. You will also learn about "depth-of-field": how much of the picture you should have in focus and how to use "out of focus" in just the right way.

In Lab you will learn the right way to burn a DVD to save your images permanently. Also in Lab you will learn how to convert your color images to black & white and how to print using a high quality, archival, ink-jet printer. The computer program we use to manipulate photographs is called "LightRoom." It is a program you can afford, and it is much less complicated than Photoshop.

Photo I does not teach Photoshop. In the Lab there is at least one teacher for every five students/computers.

In Photo I you also will learn about composition for photography and ways to approach the "critique" of photographs-your own, and the work of others.

One of the many unique features of Photo I is Richard's distinctive three-week assignment, "The Psychological Relationship between the Subject and the Photographer." Richard created this assignment in 1970 and has spent 40 years with more than 12,000 students fine tuning the principles and critique. (All other versions of this assignment are shallow imitations of the real deal.) This assignment will teach you about ethics and law in photography, and about the subtleties of what happens when you point a camera at someone or someone points a camera at you.

Each week, you'll get a "shooting" assignment, and in each Lab, a corresponding "print" assignment.

After completing Photo I, each student who attended all of the classes and Labs should be able to reliably photograph and print with success and confidence. 

Photo I lays the proper foundation for the more technical Photo II and Photo III classes.

The seven weeks go by fast, but Richard gives you his trademark guarantee: Laughter Will Be Heard and Learning Will Occur  ;-)

Read our mission statement here

Class Details

Student Level

Beginner

Course Length

7 weeks

Start Time

7:00pm

Instructor

Richard Stromberg

Cost

$400 (first class free)

no lab fee to be waived

Prerequisite

None

Curriculum

Weekly overview

Location

4001 North Ravenswood Ave.
First Floor

Free Parking

Map our location