WOODINVILLE, Wash. — It's a perfect blend. Taking photos....and tasting wine.
It began as a happy accident: Christiana Childers, a portrait photographer, was teaching a beginning photography class that got rained out.
"So I thought, let's just go wine tasting," she said. "That would be a lot of fun!"
Turns out wine and cameras are a perfect pairing.
Now, her Cork and Click classes at Patit Creek Cellars sell out regularly. Her goal? To get people off their camera's 'Auto' setting.
"We found the wine tasting really helps with that!" Childers laughed.
Childers said that Cork and Click typically teaches beginners. Beginners like Beck, who confessed to being a complete rookie:
"I'm learning how to turn it on."
Aperture and shutter speed just seem more fun with a nice Reisling.
"There's something about photography that can be really intimidating. The terms are intimidating, the numbers are intimidating, so I want to really help dispel that anxiety and I find that it really helps to just sit around the table and have a glass of wine together," Childers said.
The winery setting also provides plenty of inspiration.
"I'm learning a lot, I'm really excited, I had no idea what the word 'aperture' even meant before I sat in that room," said Kelsey, one of Childers' Cork and Clicks students, showing off her recently snapped lilac photo with some excitement.
These new photographers learn how to stop action, shoot action and adjust depth of focus while shooting everything, from wine being poured to Childers' husband leaping off a picnic table.
"The Aha Moment, when I see that light go off in people’s eyes and they say 'Oh that is so fun for me!" when it just clicks -- that is so rewarding to see that," said Childers.
Her number one tip for taking good photographs is this:
"There's beauty all around you, and if you're paying attention you'll find it."
And sometimes, you find that beauty in a glass of Pinot Noir.
Cork & Click Studio | (425) 780-5221 | 14344 Woodinville-Redmond Rd NE Redmond, WA 98052
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