4 Vintage Photography Lessons in NYC

We live in an age not of “photography” but of “iPhoneography.” Most of us are equipped with high-definition camera, capable of documenting a monkey’s birth from 100 feet away, that fits perfectly in our pocket. Big deal. As recently as twenty-years ago, that was impossible. Photography included darkroom development, manipulation of manual settings, and even a makeshift flash! There was no Photoshop, no Instagram, nothing. Here, we’ve documented a group of NYC photography lessons to take you back to photography’s origins.

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  Take Your Camera Off Auto Mode! (Manhattan)

  DSLR Workshops by Okello Dunkley

  Just because you own a DSLR camera doesn’t mean you’ll magically take better photographs than you currently do with your iPhone and Instagram. Ansel Adams wasn’t using a brand new Nikon nor did he have Instagram to sepia-highlight--ruin--a perfect picture. In this class, you’ll master the manual settings of your digital camera. No more point-and-shoot. Things before you shoot. Always.

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  Intro to Black and White Darkroom

  Bushwick Community Darkroom

  Up until fifteen years ago, photographs weren’t manipulated with the help of Photoshop or even MS Paint, for that matter. Beautiful sunset oranges don’t appear in minutes. You can’t simple erase a friend from a picture. And adding reindeer antlers to your teacher didn’t “happen.” These processes took time. A lot of time. In an introductory darkroom course, you’ll experiment with what really goes on in the blackness, using chemistry to create prints from your own negatives. Each subtle adjustment can enliven or destroy any perfect photo. Old school photography.

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  Photography: Portraiture

  Dust Bowl photography at its finest. You know, the pictures of farmers with rigid jaw lines, browned cheeks, and a pitchfork in hand. Since then, portraiture has veered away from the browned-cheeks and taken on a Facebook profile pic purpose. Here, you’ll learn how to use natural light and creative techniques to capture the best possible personal photographs. Maybe it’s your friend saying YOLO or maybe it’s a senior picture for a niece. Highlight the finest features of all!

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  Photography: TTL Flash

  “No flash photography! It’ll ruin the prints.” --Things you hear at every museum, ever. There used to be a time where flash photography was photography. To capture the sternness of an eyebrow, you needed a glaring light capable of blinding a whale. Channel the old days and demystify the technical principles behind flash photography and offer a starry-eyed surprise to every pic. Literally, these people will see stars.

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