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Caption: AN EVENING WITH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
And the lessons I learned
Caption: Last September, National Geographic's YourShot team came to Chicago. The meet up started at Mike Hettwer's - one of the magazine's photographers - condo.
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Caption: Just in case you wondered what kind of view an NG photographer has...😉
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Caption: Another view
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Caption: After a portfolio review, we headed to Millennium Park for a photo walk. Our first destination was The Bean where Mike started giving us direction on how to shoot.
FIRST LESSON...
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Caption: Focus on people.
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Caption: LESSON #2: When you find a person to focus on....
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Caption: GET CLOSER
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Caption: LESSON #3: Look for a unique perspective.
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Caption: After The Bean, we headed to Crown Fountain.
Caption: I saw a group of girls playing in front of one of the towers and approached them to take their picture.
For the record, I was pretty nervous asking them.
And for the record, they were **ECSTATIC** for me to take their picture.
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Caption: LESSON #4: Don't be afraid to approach & ask strangers to take their picture. [Mike seems to think this is easier for female photographers to do. I'm not quite sure about that, but he's the professional.]
Caption: We left Millennium Park to capture the sun setting on the city.
[You probably know what the next lesson is...😉]
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Caption: LESSON #5: Shoot during Golden Hour (aka the period right after sunrise and before sunset).
Caption: We walked toward the Chicago Theater. When we arrived, I captured the shot shown on the next page.
Later, Mike commented that I should have taken another shot without the cab.
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Caption: LESSON #6: De-clutter your shots.
Caption: I had another engagement to run off to and had to leave the group at the point. But wow, what a cool evening it had been!
On my way to the el, I noticed an alley with an interesting light show and remembered hearing about this set up produced by Activate Chicago.
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Caption: Pretty cool, right?
Caption: After the meet up, I posted several pictures to NG's YourShot website. I was surprised that more people from the meet up - many of whom had taken AWESOME pictures - didn't post anything.
LESSON #7: When a meet up is organized and there's a place to share your work afterwards, take that opportunity as a way to get your work critiqued and to stay in touch.
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Caption: One last thing about this story....
Two months later, one of my pictures was featured on National Geographic's YourShot page. 😮
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Caption: This one. ☝🏼️
LAST LESSON: Shoot what catches your eye. (Sometimes you have to wander from the group to do this.)
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Caption: 📷
Want more tips?
Flip to the next page for Mike's Cheat Sheet, which contains general photography tips as well as those specific to certain Chicago spots.
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Caption: FIN. Thank you for reading!