Award-winning photographer Don Hinds will host a workshop in Cookeville Monday aimed at helping local photographers take the next step toward turning their craft into a profession.
Hinds is a recipient of the “Best Commercial Print” award by the Professional Photographers Association of Northern Illinois. Hinds said he has been in photography for 50 years.
“I had a friend, and he said he was going to go buy a camera, and I said, you know, maybe I would get a camera too, so we went to the camera store, and the little girl sold us each a camera,” Hinds said. “So that was the start of it.”
Hinds said he opened a photography studio in Geneva, IL, after returning to college, and his career quickly gained momentum from there. While technology has evolved significantly over the years, Hinds said one lesson he learned early on still holds true today: strong composition is essential.
“You need good composition in order to have a good image,” Hinds said. “You need to have an eye for things that normal people don’t look at. When I was younger, I didn’t look at things. And after I got into photography, I would notice things and see things that, you know, you didn’t normally really look at.”
Hinds said he will go over headshots during the workshop. Hinds said headshots are important for businesses and websites.
“We’re going to teach them how to do a nice headshot, and we’re going to give them the opportunity that I will take their headshots if they don’t have a camera, and we hope that they will learn something new that they haven’t learned before,” Hinds said.
Hinds said it’s the artistic side of photography that has fueled his passion for the craft throughout his career.
“I wanted to be creative, and there were times that I slowed down after I retired,” Hinds said. “For about three years, I didn’t do anything, and then I got into a camera club in Fairfield Glade, and then I got into a camera club in Cookeville, and I got inspired again. So now I’ve been working pretty heavily on images again.”
The workshop will be located at the Cookeville Art Studio on Monday and will start at 7pm.