Tuesday 6 February 2018

Super(Bowl) Sunday in Review



Nothing like a bit of inclement weather to identify the real hard core photo enthusiasts in our group!  Neither the nasty weather, nor the competing Super Bowl could keep 30 avid members from attending last night’s session.  My role for the night was to be time keeper and I must admit that I didn’t do a very good job as we certainly ran into overtime – aah but what wonderful images!!!

We started the meeting with Derek Figuiera taking the quick topic entitled Trap Focus.  He discussed a little known technique for setting up your camera to automatically trip the shutter when something enters a narrow focus zone.  It sounded very useful for situations where you could predict where your subject was likely to land – such as photographing birds at feeders.

The first slideshow of the evening was our club outing on a very cold Sunday in January to Wellington Beach that was attended by 24 of our compatriots.  The imagery was quite diverse and creative for such a relatively short walk. It was really surprising to see some of the things that Wellington Beach has to offer –  swans, ducks, vole, otter and even a walrus!  Take a look for yourselves.










One of our recent recruits, Dave Robinet, has been a professional photographer for many years and we asked him to talk to us about one of his specialities – Sports Photography.  Dave provided us with a pretty good idea of a typical work day – starting at 5 am and finishing near midnight, all the while shooting many thousands of jpg images that must be almost immediately uploaded to the web!  He demonstrated the gear he uses and some of the techniques he uses to get those “money shots” that are so highly sought after.

Our second half commenced with a four part slideshow from Janice Ruggles-Bolton that covered a multitude of excursions she made during 2017.  It started with a cruise along the Danube, then off to a road trip of Alberta, BC and the Yukon. Following that, she took us on a photo excursion of the Faroe Islands and ended up with a tour of Wales and Iona (Scotland).  What is this girl running from???

Next up was John Dufour who talked to us about the Human Visual System and how our brains interpret multiple stimuli to produce visual images.  He also discussed what constitutes a Great Photograph – emotion, intrigue, story-telling, ... - and how we can use our cameras to produce an “aesthetic” result.



Our final slideshow of the evening was a rather lengthy one with the interpretation of our Frozen theme challenge from 32 of our compatriots.  This really is a must see collection of images with some great use of natural light on our frigid surroundings.  These along with our Wellington Outing images have been posted to our public Facebook page – go and take a look!

The theme challenge for February is Line, Shape, Texture & Rhythm – picking up from Bert Jenkins talk about Freeman Patterson’s approach from last month.  The March theme challenge is Fifty Shades of Grey.

Thanks to those who made it out last night and also to the 35 people who contributed images to last night’s meeting in order to make it such a success.





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