Taking pictures with a cell phone has become a large part of our collective culture, but most people are unaware of how valuable of a tool they really posses in thier pockets.
Lesley Young, a freelance journalist and photographer, said she hopes her smart phone photography workshop will help people realize the abilities of their phones. be held at Forge, a local art space and fabrication shop on Jan. 24.
The workshop will be held at Forge, a photography workshop located at 2493 Broad Ave.
Young and will cover downloading photo apps, smart phone functionality, and printing and organizing smart phone ideas.
The class is $20, starts at 1 p.m. and lasts an hour and a half. Registration is available online. Everyone must bring smart phones to the workshop.
Forge opened January of last year and offers many types of photography workshops. Forge also has a gallery exhibition space, production tools for artistic equipment, a software lab, conference room, and a wifi break area. Entrepreneurship courses and various workshops are offered at Forge.
Forge’s CEO, Elizabeth Lemmonds, said she has watched cellphones replace cameras.
“We went on a family vacation to Mexico last year and realized no one uses cameras anymore,” said Elizabeth Lemmonds, CEO of Forge LLC. “Everyone pulled out their smart phones to take photos once they saw something beautiful.”
She said most students have smart phones and use them regularly. Lemmonds said. “Even photography students will benefit from the workshop.”
Lemmonds said she believed even photography students can benefit from these classes.
Major news publications are not immune to the changing tides in photography. In May of 2013, the Chicago Sun-Times laid-off its entire staff of photographers and decided to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot video.
Camera sales have gone under tremendously since the evolution of smart phones. According to experts, smart phone sales increased by 38 percent and dropped by 36 percent in 2013. Consumers have said their smart phones take better pictures than the digital cameras they have. Some experts predict that smart phones are taking over everyday photography.
“Where we are today, a lot of people don’t realize the pictures you take with your phone are just as good as any camera,” Young said.
The upcoming workshop will be the first smart phone photography workshop at Forge.
“If there is a demand for it, we will definitely offer it again,” Young said.
