Great Start to 2018

Even inclement winter conditions couldn't stop forty photo enthusiasts from coming out and enjoying some really wonderful imagery, submitted by 35 of their fellow members. What fantastic participation! We thank you all for sharing with us.

Keeping with the outside conditions, our first item (the Quick Topic) for the night was a discussion of Winter Photography. It stressed safety, comfort and offered numerous shooting tips for various winter scenarios.

This was followed by the first slideshow of the evening – our walking tour outing in Picton on November 11^th, entitled Our Town. The show opened with Remembrance Day ceremonies near the Picton Cenotaph, while the latter portion displayed the town of Picton and its many attributes.

The featured speaker for the night was Bert Jenkins who, not long ago, spent 8 days with several of Canada’s premier photographers - Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant. Bert discussed the course he took near Shamper’s Bluff in New Brunswick on the beautiful shores of the Bay of Fundy. He discussed Freeman’s approach (line, shape, texture, hue & tone) and how it had changed and enlivened his own photography.

Our second half commenced with a warm slideshow from Doug Smith, depicting the tropical paradise of Costa Rica. As Doug put it - in Costa Rica, even he became a successful bird photographer. Doug’s images were rich in colour and oozing texture in the rainforest foliage.

We had so many submissions to our open theme challenge, entitled Anything Goes, that we broke it into two sections. Images from far away places, as well as much closer to home, graced our big screen. The images were impressive and we would recommend that you take a second look at these photographs which have now been posted to our public Facebook page (along with the Picton outing images).

One more item was on the agenda. We asked members to bring in some interesting/useful photographic gear or ideas and share them with the group in a Show & Tell segment. We got to see many helpful items from a light cube to a Roto light, camera carrying paraphernalia, cameras (old & new), tripods and much more. Thanks to those who participated this time around.

Our meeting ended up with doling out the theme challenges for the next 2 months – Frigid for January and Line, Shape, Texture & Rhythm for February.

2017 CFC Awards Gala

This year we moved the venue for our Awards Gala and Gourmet Pot luck to the Parish Hall at St Mary Magdelene Church.  In retrospect - what a very wise move it was!  We had an exceptional turnout - many more than we could have accommodated at our Wellington Library clubhouse.  As well, the fully equipped kitchen, meant our food was keep toasty warm throughout.  Our many volunteers transformed the room into a festive bistro.

The evening commenced with two slideshows. The first was from a Night Photo-Shoot held at Point Petre in late September, where we were anxious to capture the Milky Way and other celestial phenomena. The second slideshow was entitled Fall Fiesta - our theme challenge for the month - which was both colourful and rich in variety. The two image sets have been posted to our Facebook page.

The food tables were so appetizing!. The variety of superb entrees and delicious deserts was incredible. Needless to say, no-one left the premises hungry.

In hour two, the Dynamic Duo - David Gilbert and myself - took to the stage to recognize and reward some fantastic imagery from our members. After reviewing 3249 images submitted from 58 individual members over the course of the past 12 months, the very best images were assigned to 20 separate categories. Four contenders were chosen for each award category. The judges presented their rationale for choosing each of the images. With great drama, the winners were announced and trophies were awarded. Half way through the presentation, a slideshow was aired that capsulized everything our Club has done in the past 12 month (Dec 2016 - Nov 2017). It was surprising how much we have all accomplished in the past year.

At the end of the evening, the club recognized it's coveted award - the 2017 Photographer of The Year. This year, the award was presented to a truly great photographer and most worthy winner – Chris Ward. Chris' name has now been engraved on our Club Trophy.

The award categories and individual winners are:

Award	Winner	Image Title
Floral	Deb Walters	Standing Tall
Abstract	Daphne Creasy	Liquid Cascade
Wildlife/Animal	Marilyn Sprissler	I've Got My Eye on You
Monochrome	Alan Jenner	Underneath
Exotic Landscape	Ellen Koteen	Seaweed Harbour
Candid/Portrait	Ramesh Pooran	Fair Ride
Funniest Image	Leonard Buffett	Loch Jenner Monster
Water Motion	Mike Gaudaur	Angry Sea
Feathered Friend	Ian Dickinson	Migrant
Nightscape	Dave Tugwood	Forest Mills Falls
Architecture	Margaret Liddon	Marilyn Buildings
Shadow/Silhouette	Larry Tayler	Going Home
At Close Quarters	Doug Smith	Fungus Among Us
Slideshow of the Year	Bert Jenkins	The Other Sandbanks
Urban Scene	Mike Montgomery	Rest Stop Below
Local Landscape	Dave Tugwood	Super Moon Bus
Use of Colour	Mags Kandis	TomaToes & Toes
Mode of Transport	Gail Hamilton	Ghost Ship
Use of Light	Terri Korkush	Misty Morning
Winter Scene	John Dufour	Frozen

Congratulations to all our 2017 CFC Award winners. The full Awards Presentation will soon be available for viewing on our Youtube channel.

Our next meeting will be on January 7th, back at the Wellington Library location. Our theme challenge for December is Anything Goes. The January theme challenge is simply entitled Frozen – I understand the weather is about to turn on us very shortly!

Thanks for everyone who came out to our annual Gala event. Each year it seems to get bigger and better! I'd like to offer a very special thanks to Margaret and all her helpers who created a great festive atmosphere for our special night.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

November 2017 Meeting Now in the Books!

We had an excellent turnout at our November 5th meeting along with continued great participation from our membership which saw 31 individuals contributing to the meeting’s success.

First up on the agenda was Mike Montgomery whose quick topic for the night entitled Solarisation resurrected memories of days long ago in the darkroom when you accidentally flipped the wrong switch!  Mike put a modern day twist on the technique – another creative tool for a photographer’s kit bag.

The first of many slideshows for the evening was from our recent Fall Tour of the Rideau Lakes area.  At most times of the year, this area has great scenery, but it is really in its glory in Fall with all the vivid colours.

In deference to my frugal ways, I presented an agenda item called Cheap Thrills – identifying a lot of useful gadgets and photo-related artifact that can be had “for a song” – if you know where to look! 

The final piece in our first half was an enticing slideshow from Daphne Creasy from her recent trip to Iceland.  It depicted a country with some very modern ideals while steeped with a rigid natural beauty.

After introductions of five new members, the second half commenced with the Daphne’s next port-o-call from her recent trip – a guided photo excursion to the small northern Faroe Islands.  This is an area few of us even knew existed. The haunting music and stark images gave us a good appreciation for the area’s beauty and serenity.

Next up on the agenda was the What, Why, How segment where creative images from John Dufour, Joe Leduc and Derek Figueira were displayed and discussed.

Our theme challenge slideshow Urban Life featured submissions from 24 of our members.  It’s really surprising how many globetrotters we have in the club, with images from many cities the world over!  These images have been uploaded to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure (along with the Rideau Lakes Tour slideshow images).

The theme challenges were handed down for the next 60 days - November’s theme is Fall Fiesta while December’s theme is entitled Anything Goes.  

The club outing this month will occur this coming Saturday, Nov 11th in Picton starting with the Remberance Day service at the Cenotaph, followed by a walking tour of historic Picton. 

Our next meeting will be our December 3rd Awards Gala & Gourmet Pot Luck to be held in a more spacious location – the parish hall at St Mary Magdelene Church in Picton.

October Meeting Recap

At this month meeting, I finally got to discuss the oft-deferred "quick topic" item of Auto ISO. It is a very useful tool for variable light situations and one that isn’t used as often as it should be. All the details are on our Youtube channel for your review.

The first slideshow of the evening was from our recent club outing to Legacy Vintage Building Supplies in Cobourg.  This is a very unique location, where useful and not-so-useful things abound the shelves, walls and fields surrounding the facility. It allowed us to zero in on the many fine details and textures.

The feature item in our first half was a talk by Larry Tayler entitled Taking it to the Street. Larry’s relaxed presentation style allowed him to provide us with the benefits of his learnings from photographing people in the urban environment, along with many interesting stories of his experiences as a street photographer. Larry’s provocative images provide us with great fodder for our upcoming theme challenge – Urban Photography.

The second half of the meeting started with a slideshow from Alan Jenner of the wildlife on display at Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec. This is a wildlife park with great access for photographers to many members of animal kingdom naturally resident in Canadian forests.

Ramesh Pooran was our lead speaker in the second half of the evening, with a discussion of Time Lapse Photography. He presented many time lapse examples along with an explanation of the equipment needed (intervalometer), the process and some tricks of the trade. In addition, he displayed some imagery of the Solar Eclipse from a recent trip to Shawnee, Wyoming.

Our theme challenge slideshow Play Fair at the Market featured submissions from 21 of our members. The show included a number of colourful images taken at night at various recent fairs. These images have been uploaded to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure (as have the Legacy Building Supplies & Antiques slideshow images).

The theme challenges were handed down for the next 60 days - October’s theme is Urban Life while November’s theme is entitled Fall Fiesta. The club outing this month will occur on Saturday, Oct 14^th. It will be a fall colour driving tour of the Rideau system north of Kingston.

As usual, special thanks go to all who came out and especially to those who participated during the past month.