Courses & Workshops
Learn photography in a hands-on, inspiring way with MOCHI Studio. From structured courses in food and product photography to themed creative workshops, each session is designed to help you grow your skills, build confidence, and create strong images in a welcoming environment.
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"Everything necessary for an entry into the profession of E commerce was presented in this class."
—Student in PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY I
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Mo is a fantastic addition to the school (Chicago Photography Classes). He's a natural teacher, cares about his students' development, and knows his stuff. The class was challenging in the best way. 10/10.
—Student in PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY I
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"I loved this class so much that I would like to see a Product Photography II !"
—Student in PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY I
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Thought it was a great intro class & would love to see a follow-up class offered.
—Student in FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
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The clear, step-by-step organization of the curriculum was exactly what I needed. I’ve seen significant improvement in my photography and feel much more confident in my process.
—Student in FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY I
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This is one of the best classes I've taken at CPC. Loved the way Mo structured each class and the progression of topics/assignments over the 7 weeks.
—Student in FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY I
NEW
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Food Photo Class
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Starting Sep.1st
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Tuesdays 7-10pm
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NEW * Food Photo Class * Starting Sep.1st * Tuesdays 7-10pm *
WORKSHOPS
Shoot & Taste is a playful food photography workshop series. Each edition is built around one dish and one mood — and ends with everyone eating it.
You’ll learn how to capture beautiful food images in a friendly, hands-on environment: simple guidance on light, color, and composition, plus the styling details that make a plate read well through a lens. You’ll take part in the final styling moments — arranging the finishing touches, adding the last elements, composing the scene — and then shoot it yourself.
You’ll shoot, you’ll taste, and you’ll leave with a handful of images you’re proud of and a new sense of how approachable food photography can be.
Shoot & Taste
The Product Atelier
The Product Atelier is a hands-on workshop series. Each edition takes on a single type of subject and the lighting challenge that comes with it — glass, white backgrounds, chrome, seasonal styling — and works through it from setup to finished image.
The series is built for photographers who want to develop real studio skills: people comfortable with their camera who want to understand light rather than copy setups.
The format is the same every time. Mo builds a few lighting setups in front of you and explains the reasoning behind each choice — where the light goes, why it's shaped that way, what changes when you move it. Then the studio is yours. You shoot with the setups in place, try variations, and leave with a set of finished images you made yourself.
Every other subject waits for you. Food doesn't.
This six-week course is for photographers who know their camera and want to shoot food that looks professionally made. We start where the subject cooperates — light, angle, and composition on dishes that stay put — and move toward the ones on a timer: steam, melt, wilt, foam, ice, condensation. That's the actual skill. Not lighting a plate beautifully, but making the right call in the four minutes before the plate stops looking like itself.
Each session pairs a focused lecture with hands-on shooting, and you'll rotate through photographer, stylist, and art director so you learn to give direction as well as take it. Homework comes back to critique the following week. The last week is yours alone with me — your project, your portfolio, the business side, or whatever you're still stuck on.
The emphasis throughout is on why a choice was made. Not which setting to memorize.
You'll learn to:
Pick your angle, lens, and settings from what the dish actually is — height, layers, gloss
Light for texture and translucency, from one window to a controlled studio setup
Kill the wrong reflection and keep the right one, on sauce, glaze, glass, and cutlery
Style for the lens, not the table — hero selection, moisture, garnish, deliberate mess
Work the clock: prep, order of operations, and what to keep in reserve
Retouch with restraint and make a set of images read as a set
Product Photography Course
Most product photographers know their camera. Fewer know how to make a client say yes.
This six-week course is built for photographers who have the fundamentals and want to work commercially. We start with light on simple surfaces and build toward the hard ones — glass, metal, gloss, liquid — where you stop lighting an object and start building an environment for it to reflect. Each week's assignment sets up the next, so the difficulty rises with you.
Every group session pairs a focused lecture with hands-on shooting. You'll work from real briefs, make real decisions, and defend them in critique. You also get a private thirty-minute session with me to go through your own work, one on one. The emphasis throughout is on why a choice was made, not which setting to memorize.
It's a demanding class. That's the point. You'll leave with a mini-portfolio of client-ready images, a method you can apply to any product put in front of you, and a clear sense of what separates a nice photo from one someone will pay for.
You'll learn to:
Read a client brief and translate it into a shot plan
Light everything from a single-source setup to multi-light arrangements for reflective and transparent products
Style and compose images that carry a brand's voice
Make a set of images read as a set — the hardest part of shipping commercial work
Break impossible frames into two easy ones and combine them
Retouch, color correct, and prepare a full e-commerce delivery
Prerequisite: comfortable shooting in Manual mode. Not sure? Reach out and we'll figure it out together.
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September 5th : Summer Burst
October 3rd : Fall Edition
October 31st : Halloween Special
November 28th : Chicago Winter Comfort
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September 19th : Bottle Lab
October 17th : Perfect Packshot
November 14th : TBD
December 12th : Season Special
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5 group sessions
One 30-minute 1-to-1
In person Class
Intermediate
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5 group sessions
One 30-minute 1-to-1
In person Class
Intermediate
