A couple of weekends ago, my friend Sarah and I found ourselves in Woodinville for a little wine and photography class. Yep, you read that right. Cork & Click Photography Classes teach photographers of all ages in the Seattle area, and while you learn, you get to sip wine. It sounds like the perfect way to learn if you ask me!
After discovering Cork & Click Photography classes, reading more about founder Christiana, and finding a great deal on Groupon, we signed right up!
Cork and Click Photography Class Review
Christiana of Cork and Click offers photography classes that are friendly to photographers of all skill levels. Some attendees had some photography experience. Others had never touched their cameras. And then a few of us were just a little rusty on some of the technical aspects and wanted to brush up.
We started off going over the basics like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I think sometimes we forget half of learning is to actually practice these things! As seen above, we did a fun little demo with pouring wine to practice shutter speed to capture motion.
Another fun little factoid I learned? How to set my focus point! Sounds so basic, but so many of us did not realize there was a button for this on our cameras that allowed us to manually select it. One of those things that after you learn it, you’ll always be sure to use it!
The class also encouraged practice, practice, practice. I took full advantage of the opportunity to shoot my unsuspecting classmates. Like the blogger meetup at Trophy last week, taking a lot of photos was totally socially acceptable and even encouraged. These people understand me, clearly. :)
With the wine still flowing, we talked a lot about composition, including the rule of thirds. We also discussed how to tell a story with our photographs. Additionally, we had the opportunity to peek inside Christiana’s photography bag to see what she totes around.
Thanks to Christiana, I learned the importance of UV Filters, which protect the expensive glass (lenses) on your camera. Obviously some amazon shopping was in order for me, so I stocked up on UV filters, a dust blower, and a new lens hood to prevent lens flare. I also decided to order a custom leather camera strap and a new camera case to encourage me to carry my camera more often, and make my camera my own.
The most valuable lesson of all though from the class?
Take your camera with you everywhere! You just never know when the perfect photo opportunity might strike, and you can’t be taking photos if you don’t have your camera. Of course, you can always utilize your cell phone, which I’m sure is why she now offers iPhone and Android photography classes. But, nothing is quite like having full control of the shot with your DSLR.
Have you ever felt like you’ve missed out on a great photo op? Would you ever take a photography class like this?
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I need to take a photography class! I just bought a new lens for my Nikon and I have no idea what I am doing! I miss all types of photos because I only have my iphone on me.
me too! i’m trying to get better about packing my camera with me everywhere.
all i understood was wine. haha! seriously, sounds like fun – i only have a point and shoot, boring, i know, but fancy cameras scare me!
haha! i used a point and shoot for a longggg time, then i bought my DSLR and its just so much more fun! its definitely an investment though!
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This class sounds like such fun! I like wine and my photo skills could use some work so… yeah. I get nervous about carrying my DSLR camera around with me so I’m sure I’ve missed tons of interesting photo ops. Maybe I’ll start small and bring it with me to the park one day.
that’s a great idea! i’m definitely not brave enough to take it everywhere because i don’t want to be the crazy girl with the camera, but small steps! :)
wow! these photos are awesome! my favorite is the first one! and now i need some wine!
haha, i know right? wine and photography was seriously a great combo!
I’ve done an online class but I would love to take one in person and wine included doesn’t sound half bad either ;)
it was definitely great to take an in-person class. i had read a lot of books, but having someone show you and and point things out is really helpful!
Sounds like such a fun way to learn more about photography! :)
Ever since camera phones, I’ve always had a camera with me. I’ll take my proper camera out when I know there’s something special I want to capture, but otherwise I have my trusty little phone for snaps. :)
Away From Blue
phones are so great for quick snaps! i use my iphone for everything :)
Ever since I bought a big (and better) camera to replace a smaller digital camera that broke, I find that I use it less, which kind of defeats the purpose of owning a better camera. It is just hard to want to carry my larger camera around in my purse with me because it’s so bulky. Your course looked like so much fun. Taking pictures and drinking wine are both great separately, so combining them would be something up my alley!
oh totally, i’m looking for a new bag just to make carrying around my camera with me easier!
i took a class at a local community college when i first got my camera and i was so helpful. but just like you, i need to just bring my camera with me more so i can keep practicing!
totally, i need to get in the habit of bringing it everywhere so that it’s just normal!
Photography is so fun, and exciting for me. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I just got my first stylish camara bag, which I will be sharing soon on my blog. :))
xo,
Tania
http://inspiremyfancy.blogspot.com
ooh, i can’t wait to see your new camera bag! i’ve totally been on the look out for a new one. :)
As a former student of Christiana, I can’t encourage you enough to take one (or more) of her classes! It’s a blast, to say the least! Her ‘Get Off Auto’ approach is a wonderful, fun way to learn some initial functions of your camera and give you the confidence to get out and take photos! She makes sense of the ‘technical’ jargon and takes the fear out of changing settings! Such a relaxed, hands-on, ask all the questions you want way to learn…. grab your camera and some friends…. and of course, enjoy the wine!
i couldn’t agree more, Cheri! really enjoyed her class and i’m looking forward to attending one of her photography field trips!
Girl that looks SO SO FUN!!! I wanna join!
it was so fun, too bad you’re not closer! :)
Wow this is such a good idea for a business. I’m a photographer & would love to teach people how to use their cameras! So often people buy nicer cameras and have no idea how to use them so just put them to Auto! What a waste. I hope you learned a lot – if you ever have questions don’t hesitate to ask me!
xx
it was great to get a refresher on the basics, and i was able to be reminded of a few things i forgot (like how to adjust the on camera flash). i also liked speaking to a “real life” photographer, who does it as a business. when you read someones book, often times some of the real life aspects aren’t adequately explained, and there’s nothing like getting “hands on”! you should start a class of your own! i bet there are bloggers in your area that would benefit :)
The entire time I was in Europe I was thinking about everything from that class. My pictures are so much better because of it. I kept playing around with aperture and stuff while I was taking pictures. I would take a picture of Bryan with something in the background and then another with the background blurred out and show them to him all proud of myself. I can’t imagine the pictures I would have taken without that class!
oh that’s so awesome, i’m glad it helped! can’t wait to see some of your photos from your trip! :)