MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS
NICK SINNOTT Owner, Director & Instructor
Nick Sinnott is the Owner and Director at Richard Stromberg’s Chicago Photography Classes. He has taught all levels of photography for 10 years and has written the curriculum for several classes including the popular Drips, Drops and Illusions Workshop and Lightroom In-Depth 7-week Class. As a photographer, he enjoys photographing landscapes, sports, architecture, real estate and his family of 4 children and amazing wife.
Joyce Wang Education Coordinator & Instructor
Originally from sunny Florida, Joyce has called Chicago home since 2018 and believes the move is an upgrade, regardless of what snowbirds might say. Joyce is an avid traveler and enjoys capturing beauty around the world with an architectural focus. A pharmacist by training, Joyce has always had a passion for education and coaching and has held various teaching and tutoring positions over the years across STEM, foreign languages, and music. Joyce is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her passions for education and photography at CPC and is excited to join the managing staff!
DENISE ORLIN Events Coordinator & Instructor
Denise has been involved in professional photography for the past 25 years working as a studio manager for two commercial photographers, studying at Harrington College of Design and at RSCPC, and teaching Photo 1 and 3. As a former student, Denise has a special appreciation for the learning environment and the supportive community at RSCPC. She is involved in the Women’s Roundtable and volunteers with FreshLens Chicago. Denise’s photographic focus is on Fine Art Photography. She is always looking to capture an emotion-evoking moment in time. Denise searches for images of beauty, symmetry, and irony in everyday life.
RON PORRAS IT Manager & Instructor
I have always been fascinated with photography even as a small child. I started with Chicago Photography Classes in 2008 as a digital lab instructor. Intrigued with the film prints I wanted to learn the process of developing prints in the darkroom. I started teaching as a darkroom lab instructor a few years later. I enjoy taking photos of landscapes, urban decay, and city scrapes. Heidi Levin and I co-teach Photo IV, the Show Class together, and I am the instructor for the lab portion of the Digital Boot Camp.
HEIDI LEVIN Instructor
I helped my late husband, Richard Stromberg establish Chicago Photography Classes in 2019. I had taken classes with Richard at different centers where he taught and was a lab instructor in dark rooms for about a dozen years. Together we built RSCPC into the the premier photography school in Chicago. My own photography work centers on landscapes, with lots of flowers as well. Along with Ron Porras, I teach the Show Class and Photo IV.
KAMBUA CHEMA Instructor
I am a Chicago based photographer, instructor with focus on headshots, portraits, and travel photography workshops. I have loved photography for as long as I can remember. My camera has provided a sense of solace and joy everytime I press the shutter. I picked up a film camera over 20 years ago and I have never looked back. Having lived my life in Kenya and then the States, I assimilated quickly, always being drawn to people then to photographing them. This has made work as a headshot, portrait, travel photographer very fulfilling and incredibly rewarding. My strongest foundation in photography was built at Richard Stromberg's Photography Classes. As a student to an instructor, I have loved sharing my passion every chance I get. I honestly can't imagine my life without Photography. There are so many beautiful moments in life. Taking the time to really see the fabric behind the lens, is truly remarkable.
WENDY LOVE Instructor
A former journalist and communications executive, Wendy loves photography for its power to tell stories that connect us all. Her photographic experience includes journalistic assignments, event photography, sports action, family sessions, and portraits. A Photo 1 teacher since 2014, she has photographed more than 50 events over the past four years, for groups including Landmarks Illinois, Meeting Planners International, Rotary Club, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Thresholds, and Imerman Angels. Wendy’s personal work is primarily street photography, inspired by her travels and local wandering. Her photos have been featured online, in print, and in several group exhibitions over the past five years.
SHARLENE CHAPMAN Instructor
I was born and raised in Chicago, and I am still exploring this wonderful city through my lens. Photography is one of my passions. I love to capture the essence and complexity of life. Teaching is another passion, being able to help students grow and learn more skills as a photographer is rewarding to me. I am extremely happy and honored to be apart of this amazing school.
JOHN GRANATA Instructor
John Granata has shown and sold his images throughout the United States and internationally. An accomplished printer in his own right, he has expanded on his Columbia College Chicago Bachelor of Fine Art Degree to include a Masters Degree from Concordia University, in order to share his passion for photography. John has taught his Fine Art Printing Method to hundreds of photographers, many of whom have become internationally recognized.
JEFF SILVA Instructor
Jeffrey Gabriel Silva is an award-winning photographer who is passionate about teaching the art of photography. He has exhibited his fine art landscape work at numerous art festivals around the city, covered events such as the Chicago Jazz Festival, and has taught numerous courses at Chicago Photography Classes and FreshLens Chicago. When he’s not teaching or freelancing you’ll find Jeff on set as a movie director or cinematographer as he currently pursues an MFA in Directing degree from DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts. Be it still or moving images, capturing and best expressing the story that emerges from any scene is at the forefront of what Jeff strives and loves to do.
ANGIE MCMONIGAL Instructor
Angie is an award-winning fine art and commercial architecture photographer based in Chicago. She brings a detailed, thoughtful perspective to her work, whether for clients or through the workshops she leads. Having grown up surrounded by nature yet fascinated by the big city she’s called home for nearly two decades, she brings the meditative calm of her upbringing to a terrain that’s always transforming. Focusing more frequently on bold architectural details rather than sweeping cityscapes, her photographs celebrate those unexpectedly iconic elements hiding in plain sight. An award-winning fine art photographer, Angie’s work has been internationally exhibited and published. Most recently, her Urban Quilt series was accepted into Catherine Edelman Gallery’s Chicago Project. She frequently works with art consultants, designers, architectural firms, and private collectors.
THOMAS BOCK Instructor
Thomas Bock is an experienced photographer, living in the city of Chicago, with a diverse range of photography skills, from concerts and events to portraits, documentary and street photography. He is an obsessive organizer and thus, has a knack for organizing and editing with Lightroom, as well as printing and framing. He is also a freelance web designer specializing in WordPress, Squarespace and WooCommerce, social media and SEO. Waving the geekdom flag high, he hangs his shingle by day as a civil engineer, currently focused on utility infrastructure projects in the power, solar and fiber optic network industries. Thomas is a born and raised Illinoisian, and has had multiple stints living in Chicago, in addition to Wisconsin and Montréal, with his wife, 3 children, French Canadian cat Terra Inca Reine de mars and newly added black shepherd / lab mix from New Mexico, Oswaldo Solis, the don of Taco. When not doing engineering, photography or web freelance work, he can likely be found pressed up against a stage somewhere taking photos for lostinconcert.com, for which he is Chicago Editor / Webmaster / Photographer / Writer, or in a studio somewhere recording guitars, experimenting with synth sounds or producing music in Ableton Live. He’s also on an eternal quest to locate the best tacos in Chicago.
ERIC MARSH Instructor
"Hello! My name is Eric and ever since I was a little kid photography always interested me. To be able to capture a moment in time, and to convey the depth and emotion of the moment, the contrast and the colors is an artform I have always admired. My journey in photography has become a practice about slowing down, shifting your perspective and finding new ways to look at the world both near and far, internal and external. It inspires me to stop, be in the moment and appreciate what is around me with gratitude. I hope it inspires you to do the same!"
VANESSA LUNA Instructor
Vanessa Luna, a Freelance Photographer pursuing Photography at Columbia College Chicago. From learning how to use a camera at FreshLens Chicago, to becoming a Photo I instructor at Chicago Photography Classes and FreshLens Chicago. Setting the foundation for her love of teaching, after working with middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults of all ages, she is now working towards becoming an Early Childhood Learning Educator.
DAN SCOTT Instructor
Dan teaches Photo 1 at Richard Stromberg’s Chicago Photography Classes. Prior to that, Dan was a lab volunteer and lab instructor for Photo 1 students. Dan was born and raised in Glens Falls, NY, a small town located at the base of the Adirondack park and near Lake George, NY. He graduated from Glens Falls High School and attended St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY. Dan graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration, majoring in both Management Science and Marketing.
ANGEL NIEVES Instructor
Angel is a Chicago native wedding photographer. He started photography in 2009, during his freshman year in college. From there he did night life and portraits. In 2014 he met his mentor who introduced him to wedding and event photography. Angel has now been doing portraits and weddings for 7 years.
Erica Ruyle Instructor
With a background in cultural anthropology, Erica's view of the world is shaped by her insatiable curiosity to discover what drives human experiences. This comes through in her philosophy and approach to photography. While Erica delves into many different photographic genres, street photography (including street portraiture) is a favorite. It allows her to freeze fleeting and authentic moments of human experiences and culture, not only celebrating the myriad facets that make us human but allows us to preserve them as vivid stories that share the richness of everyday life. She believes there is always more to uncover, more to learn, and more stories to tell and share together. Erica loves sharing and educating and has taught everything from university anthropology courses to classes on creativity and understanding visual language to market and research professionals. She is excited to share her love and experience of photography with you! Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including “Face to Face,” “The Street,” and “In-Between Moments.”
