Join award-winning street photographer Steve Simon for an unforgettable weekend of living and breathing photography in one of the world’s most visual cities, CHICAGO.
This is a mentorship workshop where Steve meets with each participant prior to the start for a one-on-one Zoom meeting assessment of your portfolio and a tech check to discuss gear and best ways to use it regardless of your system brand. We make tweaks to enhance your speed of response which might include back button autofocus, Auto ISO, Easy Exposure Compensation, frame rate and playback options along with other best practices all designed to simplify your process and build your muscle memory so the technical fades to the background and you increase you success rate.
This will be an intimate 3-day weekend masterclass (limited to just 6 students) is designed to maximize both the learning experience and your ability to create a unique and powerful portfolio of imagery from Chicago.
The pre-workshop personal zoom session and portfolio review insures each student is ready to maximize the shooting part of the workshop when we arrive on location. One more pre-workshop Zoom Group session and lecture and we are ready to maximize our workshop experience.
In Chicago, we begin with a meet, greet and lecture followed by an ice-breaking photo walk in the area close to the hotel. We then share a fabulous meal at one of Chicago's landmark pizza restaurants for authentic Chicago deep-dish and great conversation.
We wake up Saturday Morning with the much heralded Chicago Architectural Cruise to get great shots from this unique floating shooting position.
You will explore the vibrant, visually rich places and neighborhoods Chicago is famous for and shoot from great vantage points for capturing Chicago's architecture, urban landscapes, cityscapes and we will visit some hidden gems.
What’s Included
The workshop fee is for tuition only, you will have to book your own transportation to and from Chicago as well as your accommodation while there. The welcome dinner, and Architectural Cruise are included in the price.
What to Bring:
- The weather in Chicago can get fluctuate this time of year. Average temperatures range from mid- 70’s during the day, cooling down (low 60’s) as the sun goes down. It can sometimes rain of course, which could be great for our images. So dress to be warm and comfortable.
- This is a digital workshop, so a Mirrorless, DSLR, High-End Compact or rangefinder camera (or phone) can all work. Having a back up body is always a good idea.
- Fast prime lenses are ideal, or at least one wide-angle zoom. Lenses in the classic range for street photography: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm will all work (based on full frame camera) and fast lenses f2 or faster offer more flexibility. For longer reach, particularly on the Architecture Cruise, a zoom in the 70-2-300mm range would work well. Ultra wide lenses and longer telephotos can be great for capturing the amazing urban cityscapes and details.
- Two or three fully-charged batteries & charger.
- More memory cards than you think you will need and a card reader.
- Your own laptop for image editing and note-taking.
- A flash is optional but bring one to experiment with flash on the street.
