Photography Classes in Batavia, Geneva, & St. Charles
Digital Photography Made Simple
Learn To Photograph the Things You Love Most!
Our photography classes help you photograph the things you love most.
If you’ve been looking to learn photography in Batavia, Geneva, Saint Charles, and the Fox Valley area, Creative Eye Workshops™ offers a photography curriculum that is powerful and inspires photographers of all levels. Convenient and efficient, our classes are structured to accommodate people with busy schedules.
At Creative Eye Workshops™, we teach the fundamentals so students have the ability to think on their feet. We also work on confidence building, so that students don’t doubt themselves. And, like our name suggests, we provide you with the tools and the guidance to help you discover and express your creative eye.
Don’t Just Take Our Word For It
Your teacher and internationally-published photographer, Mike MacDonald.
We understand that our students exhibit all levels of ability and many may be afraid of their cameras. That’s why we concentrate on building confidence as much as we do knowledge.
Paul, photographer from Geneva wrote, “I took several courses from Mike and each workshop gets better than the last. Mike explains everything to his students in a simplistic way that they ‘get it.’ I recommend to everyone that he is the guy that will make your photos go from ho hum to ‘Wow.'”.
Sarah wrote, “For someone like me, who previously used my digital camera on all automatic settings and was fearful of the ‘unknowns’ my camera had to offer, I find myself now in this wonderful place, feeling totally at ease with my camera and having the time of my life exploring and finding my own personal style.”
Classes for All Types of Photography & Subject Matter
Creative Eye Workshops™ offers a diverse curriculum of photography courses that accommodates different levels of photographers and photographic subject matter. Amateur and skilled photographers, alike, can benefit from our curriculum by improving their artistic and technical skills. We provide courses in photo composition, digital camera classes, nature photography workshops, and Photoshop Elements courses. Additionally, we offer private photography lessons and class combos that save you money.
We Teach the Fundamentals of Photography
We are primarily focused on teaching the fundamentals so that our students can photograph whatever they want, empowering them to think on their feet and make pictures under “real world” conditions. In our classes, you will learn technical and artistic aspects of photography, including many advanced photographic techniques. And, after completing our courses you’ll be ready to photograph anything you want: nature photography, your kid’s soccer games, maybe even start your own baby photography business.
Our more advanced classes include classes in photographic exposure, Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, digital printmaking, and landscape and nature photography.
Peter, on the importance of learning the fundamentals: “I took several courses with Mike and I must say he provided me with just what I was looking for: a good basic foundation of understanding that I can use to develop my own technique and style. This is so much better than simple technical training which leads to just memorizing and mimicking someone else. When you truly comprehend what you are doing, you end up always prepared for dealing with the situation you face which leads to more satisfying results.”
Gain the confidence and knowledge to take perfect pictures when it really counts.
Building Confidence & Knowledge Together
When it comes to beginners, a focus on building confidence is just as important as building knowledge. Beginners can start with a digital camera class designed to free you from the shackles and disappoinment of the auto and point-and-shoot modes and a basic, yet insightful, course in photographic composition. Click here to find out which classes we suggest.
After completing our core photography curriculum, students should confidently be able to apply what they’ve learned to any area of photography they decide to pursue.
Advanced Teaching Methods & Hands-on Learning
Our hands-on photo outings help students practice what they’ve learned in class. Here are two intrepid students at our springtime outing to Starved Rock State Park.
Intuitive visual presentations and hands-on lessons are standard teaching tools at Creative Eye Workshops™. We’ve created customized graphics and insightful computer animations to help students more easily absorb the material. We even provide comprehensive class notes of each lecture, allowing students to re-read the material between sessions or long after the class is over. During each class, students also receive supplementary emails to help summarize or solidify recent lessons.
Practical Classes that Focus on the Needs of Busy People
We help busy people learn photography by thoughtfully developing practical and efficient classes that don’t require extended time commitments. For example, instead of holding long classes, we’ve broken them down into a series of shorter ones to accommodate people with busy schedules. Learn which classes are right for you.
Joe wrote, “I have been taking DSLR pictures of birds, nature, and landscapes for many years and occasionally came up with a few really good ones. I took a few classes with Mike and now I now am using my camera to take nature photographs and not just pictures. The classes provided very valuable and practical advice with immediate results.”
The classes we’ve created are practical and efficient. That’s because we teach you what you need to know, when you need to know it, rather than frustrating you with tons of irrelevent information that you’re not ready for.
Accomplished Photographer, Inspirational Teacher & Coach
Mike MacDonald, the founder of Creative Eye Workshops™, learned photography all by himself. Like most people, it started as a hobby. However, it wasn’t long before Mike established himself as a nationally published photographer when, just eighteen months later, his article about how to photograph ice was featured in Outdoor Photographer Magazine. (Click here to read another of Mike’s articles.)
“I tried two other photography courses before I found Mike; his approach to teaching is unique, but amazing. Concepts are presented in a manner that is easy to understand and helps the student learn quickly. I originally planned to just take an introductory course, but learned so much I ended up signing up for nearly every class he offered. Thanks to Mike I now have my own photography business, specializing in dance photography.”—Michele W.
As a teacher, Mike uses his communication skills as a comedian and writer, and his organizational and analytical skills as a programmer and mathematician, to simply present and poignantly convey even the most difficult technical and creative ideas. But, if that weren’t enough, Mike is also an inspirational figure, bursting with passion, inspiring students to take their love of photography to the next level.
Photography Classes Easily Accessible from Batavia, Geneva, & St. Charles
From Batavia (Geneva, Saint Charles, etc.), consider taking Kirk Road south to I-88, then east to I-355 south. Exit at 63rd Street/Hobson Road (unattended toll) and turn left (east) at the top of the ramp. In a half-mile, you’ll reach Belmont Road, where there’s a Walgreen’s, Mobil Station on the corner. Turn left (north) and quickly get into the left lane because, in just a few seconds, you’ll see us on the left in the middle of the block. Our address is 6200 Belmont Road.
If you have questions about Creative Eye Workshops™ or want to know which classes may best fit your needs, just email us or phone 630-852-8448.