This blog post has been a long time in coming. But before I make the announcement I want to share something.
Photography to me has been one of the most amazing learning experiences of my life. I started out without even having a camera. I actually used to play “photo-studio” when I was just 5 years old. A gal that babysat me and my siblings would play it with us…..we posed each other, added props (all the knick-knacks laying around the room) and pretended to crank this camera (apparently our invisible camera had to be wound up with a huge crank?) I loved it. My babysitter got bored with it really quickly.
When I was 12 I got my first little film camera….it didn’t even have the option of shooting in manual. I could only light things to the best of my ability and hope it turned out. With no clue what I was doing – I hung sheets up in my bedroom, dressed my poor little sisters up in tutus and attempted to take photos of them using only window light. The images are less than amazing. But I LOVED them.
When I was a teenager I can remember taking my camera with me everywhere. I once I remember taking photos all the last week of school of our fun and craziness – sumu suit fights, bowling and bonfires. I was very frugal and wanted to get it all on my one last roll of film. Sadly I opened up my camera after all of this and discovered there was no film in my camera. I cried.
About a year after that I had my son (I started young….what can I say!) and as a birthday gift that year I was given my first digital camera – it’s been a love affair since then. However I didn’t get from “first digital camera” to “professional photographer” all at once. That was the real journey there – I’ve had a lot of help and put a TON of effort into it. I couldn’t be where I am today without the help of other professionals out there. The photography community I discovered is one of the most giving communities of people out there. I love it!
Keeping with the spirit of giving that goes with being a photographer I’ve tried my absolute best to help others out with their own photography journeys. Unfortunately (or fortunately…depending on how you look at it) I am one busy lady! My business always keeps me on my toes and working my tail off. I love it, but it leaves me little time for family and friends and even less time to respond to the dozens of e-mails I get asking me questions about photography and photoshop. SO…….this is where my big announcement comes into play!
Starting in August I’m going to be offering beginning and intermediate level photography classes!
As of right now, I’ll only be offering the first “Beginning-level” class. I’m going to wait and see how the response is before I add more classes, but I would imagine an intermediate and some more beginning classes will soon follow!
The first class is going to be held at my studio Monday August 9th, August 16th, and August 23rd from 7:00 to 8:30 in the evening. This is going to be a first come, first serve type of thing, and I’m only going to be able to take a small handful of students due to space limitations (my studio is only 1000 sq. feet).
In the Beginning class we will be covering the subjects:
1. Getting out of Auto (full instructions on shooting in manual, the photographic triangle, and “which settings” to use for your photos)
2. Finding the light (outdoor photography).
3. Working with available light and on camera flash (indoor lighting).
4. Interacting with your subject.
5. Composition.
All the classes will include me as your instructor with 4.5 hours total of interactive instruction, handouts of all the subjects we will be covering in detail, homework assignment for the in-between weeks, 1-2 mini-shoots (either in my studio or downtown) for practice and a mini-critique session in the last week.
It is not required, but I highly recommend that all attendees own or at least have the ability to borrow a DSLR, as most of the instruction will involve shooting in manual which is difficult to do with a point and shoot camera. If your not sure what a DLSR is, it stands for “Digital single lens reflex” in other words it’s a digital camera with a detachable lens or lenses – examples would be cameras like the Nikon d40, d90, d200, d300 etc, or the Canon Rebel XT, XS, 30d, 40d 5d etc.
Being that I am a “homeschool grad” I have a slightly different approach to teaching – this will not just be a “Jessica telling you how to take pictures” class, this will be us all interacting with each other, discussing, practicing, etc. I hope to cater to all learning styles – the visual, the auditory, and the kinesthetic, by speaking, showing and doing. My goal is that you can all not only learn something new and fun, but also create some friendships and perhaps even your own photographic community of sorts.
The intermediate class with be covering things like shooting in raw, photoshop and lightroom workflow, techniques for portrait editing, beginning-level off camera lighting, posing and more! However I’m not going to announce all the details of that one yet – let me get through the first one first!
Want to sign up? Cost for the class will be $55, and this includes everything listed above, plus access to me throughout the class for all of your questions! Call me at 360-431-9265 or e-mail me at jessicalemmonsphoto@gmail.com to get signed up today! 
