If you love photography, or are an aspiring or skilled photographer, you won’t want to miss the Fort Worth Foto Fest. This annual event takes place from May 14 through 22 at Fort Worth Camera. There are dozens of classes, lectures, and workshops to choose from – and some are even free!

Here are a few standout sessions we think you’ll want to check out.

Hidden Treasures of the iPhone

This is an absolute must for anyone who owns an iPhone and is interested in building their photography skills. In this free class, you’ll learn more about how to control your iPhone camera’s settings and configurations, how to adjust the ratios, utilize the timer settings, play with the built-in filters, work with features like slow-mo and time lapse, and change the depth of field. In other words – you’ll learn how to use your iPhone to take professional-looking photographs.

The Birds of Fort Worth

This inexpensive class (just $20) is perfect for all you nature lovers. You’ll get to explore the Village Creek Drying Beds with naturalist Holly Stricklin, seeking out local birds and wildlife for your photographs. You’ll get to practice photography skills including the difficult task of capturing birds in flight. And as an added bonus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about bird identification and behavior for future photography sessions out in nature.

Art Inspiration for Photographers

If you love art, this will be a particularly meaningful class. Art expert Melba Poppe will discuss famous paintings and artwork by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, O’Keefe, and Renoir, to name a few, and how the skills they applied to their canvas can be translated to film. This is a great way to stretch your creativity and enhance your photography.

Drone-tography

You can’t be interested in photography without having at least a passing curiosity about the growing trend of using drone cameras to capture those stunning shots from a totally unique point of view. Whether you love landscape photography, urban cityscapes, or just like to feature your subjects from above, you will definitely want to dive deeper into this subject. Find out all the laws and regulations you need to know about this photography method as well as what to look for in a good drone camera.

If you want to keep up on what’s happening in Fort Worth, be sure to follow the Olympus 7th Street Station blog.