The other weekend, I attended a Design Elements in Photography class as part of Learnapalooza Chicago. Learnapalooza is a day-long event of free classes on everything from knife skills to tarot cards to bee-keeping. The first day of classes took place at Wicker Park, which is where I headed on a very rainy Saturday morning.
Here’s a little taste of what you may have overheard between myself and our instructor as we started the photography class:
- Instructor: What kind of camera do you have?
- Me: I have this red one.
- Instructor: Try adjusting your ISO and then playing around with the aperture.
- Me: What are those things?
Needless to say, I’m slowly but surely learning how to actually use my Nikon D3100 (and yes, it’s red). Regardless, the class was really less about the technical aspects of a DSLR camera, and more about how to recognize and capture design elements in your surroundings to create some really cool photos. And I must admit, Wicker Park was the perfect place to spot elements like form, texture, pattern, color and contrast.
And my favorite part of our short walk through the neighborhood was the street art on walls, alleys and garage doors.
If you missed the first Learnapalooza, there will be another event later this month in Lakeview. Check out the website for the latest updates.
Agatha Kubalski 