Editors Note: This episode was originally distributed through TWiP – This Week in Photo, and the YouTube Video above is through the TWiP YouTube Page. Please be sure to subscribe to their YouTube page, and visit their site to check out all of the TWiP shows.

Chris Smith is like very few other photographers I know. A high school physics teacher for 17 years, Chris left the security of that world to teach photography and run Out of Chicago full time.

Out of Chicago is one of the things that grew from Chris’ photography blog, along with his book. In 2014 Out of Chicago held the first annual Out of Chicago Photography Conference, which has since grown to be the largest photography conference of its kind in the midwest, attracting photographers from around the world. Some of the best photographers, and more importantly photography educators, teach at Out of Chicago. People like Art Wolfe, Rick Sammon, Bryan Peterson, Valerie Jardin, Matt Kloskowski, Frederick Van Johnson, Elia Locardi, Thomas Leuthard, Bill Fortney, Tim Wallace, Julia Anna Gospodarou, Scott Bourne, Jimmy McIntyre, Lindsay Adler, Jen Rozenbaum to name a few. What is that group photo like?

Before you start thinking Chris is all Chicago all of the time, let me point out that Out of Chicago is much more than just the Out of Chicago Photography Conference. Leading workshops around the country, and the popular Out of Moab conference in Moab, Utah, Chris is an all around photography leader.

His book “The Photographer’s Guide to Chicago” covers 100 of the best locations in Chicago, and how to photograph them. The 1st Edition can be found on Amazon, and the updated 2nd edition is available on the Out of Chicago website.

Join photographer, educator, and businessman Chris Smith and me as we discuss the Out of Chicago conference, and his wonderful black & white image “Above the L”, on this episode of Behind the Shot.

Web: outofchicago.com

Personal: csmithchicago.com

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I've posted a short review of the tilt shift lens that I borrowed a week or so ago. \u00a0You can read it, here<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\r

Out of Chicago Photo Walk #3<\/strong><\/p>\r

Don't forget that our next photo walk is May 5th at Chicago's Museum Campus<\/a>.<\/p>","created_timestamp":"1334415117","copyright":"Chris Smith","focal_length":"17","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"1","title":"Outside the Tiny Chapel","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Outside the Tiny Chapel" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

This is the view from the outside of the tiny chapel in the old Theological Seminary Building at the University of Chicago.  If you plan to shoot at the University of Chicago, read my tour of the Theoligical Seminary. For this image, I used the Canon 17mm tilt shift lens to try to keep the verticals straight by using the shift function rather than tilting the lens up. To me, it looks as though the two pillars in the center are splayed out as they move to the top of the image.  But according to the grid lines in Lightroom they perfectly vertical. I think this must be some kind of illusion because our eyes expect the pillars to converge when we look up at them.

Canon 17mm TS-E f/4 L Review

I’ve posted a short review of the tilt shift lens that I borrowed a week or so ago.  You can read it, here.  

Out of Chicago Photo Walk #3

Don’t forget that our next photo walk is May 5th at Chicago’s Museum Campus.