SPECIAL BESPOKE PRACTICUM

CHICAGO NOIR : NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP JULY 11-13, 2025

I spent many a night on the streets of Chicago. And the bars and clubs during a time when the city was Wax Trax and smart bars, and music. I came back many more times from my youth this time a camera was my companion. A camera I found that was left by a tourist I used to scroll through many a rolls of film. I was a student, briefly, at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Mostly I was schooled by the people, by the night, by learning where to be and where not to be.

Now I am offering to give that same opportunity to 5 participants of an exclusive mentorship opportunity, after the daytime festivities and the PHOTOGRAPHY AS MAGIC WORKSHOP at Leicapalooza, five people will join me for an intensive. Learning to use your cameras as I have — in the dark.

You will learn:

• How to use your camera in low light

• How to find the stories of the night

• How to interact with people after-hours

• Included: one critique session and future followup over zoom.

Only FIVE spots available. See you on the street.

BOOK YOUR SPOT NOW

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

“TEACHING MUST BE AN EXPERIENCE TAUGHT BY THOSE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.” – BIL BROWN

Whether working in portraiture, fashion, experimental work or diaristic photo essays, Bil Brown’s visionary imagery captures highly energetic moments and extremities of the conscious world, or the foreboding of prescience — of what is to come. Often using his work as a platform for advanced ideas, social-change, and excising historical reference addressing current events, Brown pushes the boundaries of his visual storytelling as a “concrete-poetry” infused with empathy for our current cultural milieu. Bil’s work excels in long-form essays, exhibitions, books and prints exploring a single subject or theme. Maintaining a recognizable voice across all media. Oft an editorial contributor to magazines and periodicals such as FLAUNT, PURPLE FASHION MAGAZINE, AUTRE, INTERVIEW, SCHON DETAILS, PAPER, The Sunday Times (UK), Le Monde (FR), Mala Fronta DNES (CZ), and founding editor and publisher of Black & Grey magazine. Bil also is the founder and president of the creative agency NINESIXTYNINE, and is often a presenter for LEICA AKADAMIE worldwide.

Bil’s still photography has been exhibited in numerous group and solo shows. His 2018 show at the Leica Gallery LA, in conjunction with the estate of the late Jim Marshall, PROTEST, vehemently documented the 2016-2017 protests following the election of an American President. In 2020, during the global pandemic, Bil started a teaching series with Leica Akademie entitled Fragments Toward the History of Photography. In 2021, Bil’s series MYLAR was made into NFTs and held gallery shows at two galleries in Vienna, Austria and now for the first time is at Tamarkin Camera in Chicago July-September, 2025!

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