October Club Meeting

Sunday’s meeting was another well attended event that featured participation by 29 of our members in submitting images, attending outings or making presentations. We decided to skip our usual Quick Topic item as we had such a stellar line-up of expert presenters.

 

The evening started with a slideshow of three recent club outings- first our visit to the Picton Yacht Club on a lovely August evening, followed by a nostalgic Cruise Night session at the Belleville A&W and culminating in the majestic Tall Ship Festival in Brockville. As usual, the tone was upbeat with a little humour sprinkled throughout.

Our first presenter of the night was Malcolm Park whose talk entitled – Landscapes to Nightscapes – provided valuable information on how astro-photography images are taken and processed. However, his two slideshows – the first a sequence of superb timelapses of everything from clouds and ice on ponds, all the way to nighttime cityscapes and the second show from his recent trip to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile – had the audience in wonder at the sheer beauty of his imagery.

The second half of the meeting started with an introduction from Ian Dickinson of his long time passion for nature, especially the avian sort. His slideshow, Things with Wings, depicted a large number of different species of birds with a few insects thrown in for good measure, in their natural setting. Each slide was well labelled to identify the species. Fortunately there was no test at the end to see how many we could recognize!

Next on the agenda was a mini workshop on Printing, put on by a very energetic Mike Gaudaur. It was mini only in terms of time as Mike covered the whole gamut of key considerations around printing including Colour Management, Cropping, Resolution and Paper. Everyone there now knows how to properly calibrate their monitors and how and why to use appropriate colour profiles for the specific printer/paper/ink combinations.

The final slideshow of the evening was our September theme challenge – HorsePower. Twenty-one members submitted images ranging from over-powered car engines to white horses on the beach. All of the member slideshows from the October meeting have been posted to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

The themes for the next 60 days were handed down – Transitions for October and Abstract for November. The club outing for October will be held on Saturday Oct 15th (note changed date due to projected rain-out) at the O’Hara Mills Conservation Area. It is a gorgeous location in the forest with an old mill, water wheel, dam, waterfalls, covered bridge, lots pioneer buildings and artifacts and many trails through the woods. Hopefully there will still be some colour left on the trees.

Thanks to all who showed up at the meeting and participate in our various club activities.

September Meeting

We had our largest gathering yet on Sunday with over 40 people in attendance. While I’d like to think it was the wonderful presentations that attracted such a large gathering, in reality it was the chance to get our many dirty sensors cleaned at a very special rate by Douglas Banks. We thank him very much for coming out to our meeting to perform this essential service.

The meeting started with our Quick Topic for the night, namely Sharp Shooting. In putting the material together, it was surprising how many things really contribute towards getting that tack sharp image that we all yearn.

 

The first slideshow of the evening was a compilation of three recent club outings. It commenced with our Milky Way shoot at Ameliasburgh, followed by the annual Pow Wow on the Tyendinaga reserve and culminating in the nighttime stroll along the Moira River in Belleville.

 

We were then introduced to a rather different area of our craft, namely Infrared Photography. The primer explained what it was all about, why you might want to try it and some of the intracacies of the medium. The images for this presentation were taken by Lew Mitz and Judith Bain, both of whom ably demonstrated this creative way of portraying nature’s beauty.

The second half of the meeting started with a breathtaking view of Kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park. Marilyn Sprissler’s slideshow depicted a far away area of the continent that few of us have ever seen. It depicted a serene landscape filled with wildlife encounters.

Next up was a discussion of Digital Editors & Essential Editing Tools that I tandemed with Doug Smith. Doug provided the wonderful images (& colour commentary) from his many trips to all corners of the globe in order to depict the impact of selected editing effects. All three presentations from the September meeting will be posted shortly to our club’s Youtube channel – go to Youtube and search “countyfotoclub”.

 

The final slideshow of the evening was our August theme challenge – Abandoned. We had 150 submissions from 24 members – demonstrating how easy it is to find abandoned items in and around the County. We were even treated to some unique creativity from the estranged mind of Robert Logan. All of the slideshows from our September meeting have been posted to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

The themes for the next 60 days were handed down – Horse Power for September and Transitions for October. We also discussed club outings for September which will start with the Tall Ship festival in Brockville.

Thanks to all who came out and especially to the 35 members who participated during the month in our various club activities.

August 2016 - Better Late Than Never!

We finally managed to get in our August meeting that had been postponed due to a tiny critter infestation at our Library clubhouse. Well all had been thoroughly fumigated and our session went off without a (h)itch!

The meeting started with a discussion of the Raw file format and why photographers prefer to Shoot in the Raw. The material has been posted to our Youtube page.

The first slideshow of the evening was actually an amalgam of four smaller club outings that we had over the past several months but had not yet had chance to view. It began with the macro workshop held at Spindle Tree Gardens located near Tamworth. That led into the Night Photo Shoot that started at the Harbour and then migrated to Picton's main drag. Following that, airplanes flew from the Trenton Air Show that was held in late June and our initial show ended with Canada Day Fireworks from various locations around the area.

We had another instalment of our What, Why, How segment with Robert Logan and Adam Nogrady doing the honours. The first half was closed out by Glen Dobson who displayed all our club member submissions to the CliC Photo Show that got selected for hanging. After tightening the noose, he also showed the final 4 major category winning images.

The second half started with our Presqu’ile Marsh Boardwalk outing slideshow, which was attended by nine of our members. It was followed by an introduction to the works of Six Contemporary Master Photographers which Margaret & I collaborated on. The six photographers we selected included Sebastiao Salgado, Annie Leibovitz, Andreas Gursky, Steve McCurry, Cindy Sherman and Nick Brandt. Each has a very different style and focus. Their images are truely masterful!

The final slideshow of the evening was our July theme challenge – Main Street. We had submissions from over 20 members, who demonstrated great street photography techniques and decisive moment catches. All of the slideshows from our August meeting have been posted to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

The themes for the next 60 days were handed down – Abandoned for August and Horse Power for September. We also discussed club outings for August which will be held on Wed August 24^th for a Night Shoot at the Picton Yacht Club and on Tuesday August 30^th for a Belleville Cruise Night session.

Next month’s meeting on Sept 11^th will feature camera sensor cleaning by Douglas Banks. This is great opportunity to get our sensors professionally cleaned at an incredibly low price for all DSLR and CSC camera owners.

Thanks to all who came out and especially those who participated during the month in our various club activities.

Regular Meeting Deferred by One Week

For the past 3 1/2 years, neither rain, snow, sleet nor hail has had an impact on any of our meetings.  Well the tiniest of insects - yes the almighty FLEA - has caused the closing of the Wellington Public Library for the weekend while a significant fumigation process takes place.  Apparently the little critters came out of no-where, so to speak.  None yesterday and everywhere covered today!

In concern for the safety for our members, we are postponing our scheduled Aug 7th meeting by one week until Sunday August 14th (7pm) - same place and time as normal. Please mark the new date on your calendars.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Third Annual Print Exhibit

 

We held our third annual Print Exhibit at our July meeting last Sunday evening. Twenty-two individuals submitted a total of 39 prints for the membership to assess and enjoy.

Before we started appraising the displayed prints, we ran through the basics of Print Evaluation, providing a simplified scoring scheme for all to use. It was surprising how quickly we managed to complete the evaluations – a considerable improvement on last year.

The first slideshow of the evening was from our club outing to the Dunes Trail at Sandbanks Provincial Park. Fifteen members attended the outing and 14 contributed images to the slideshow. We are lucky to live in an area with such beautiful and interesting areas in which to hike.

The next agenda item was a review of Street Photography, including the legality of that activity in Canada. We even had a very short Youtube slideshow which provided some interesting and creative ideas for street photography shots. All this fits very well with our theme challenge for the month of July which is entitled Main Street. These images will be due in very early the first week of August, so get shooting!

The major slideshow at the July meeting was for our June theme challenge - Furr & Feather. We had over 200 image submissions from over 30 individuals – now that’s great participation! Both of the slideshows from our July meeting have now been posted to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

While the majority of us were enjoying the slideshows, Bert & Margaret were beavering away, inputting the evaluation scores into a spreadsheet and sorting the results. In the end, we identified the top 10 images as selected by the members and had a quick peak again at those submissions. No prizes and no winners, just great printed images for us all to see! Actually, everyone who brought in a print is a real winner on our scoresheet – thank’s ever so much.

The meeting ended with identifying the themes for the next 60 days – Main Street for July and Abandoned for August. We also discussed the club outing for July which is on Saturday July 16^th  11am at Presqu’ile Provincial Park – The Marsh Boardwalk.  In addition, we are planning a couple of mini shoots – to take advantage of the great weather while we have it! On Wed July 20^th we plan to meet just before sunset and stroll along the Moira River (and adjacent areas) in Belleville for a night photo opportunity. Also, on Tuesday July 26^th, the Milky Way will be optimal for a special night shoot – so do put that date in your calendar as well. More will be sent on these events as we get closer to the above dates.

Thanks to all who came out and especially those who participated during the month in our various activities.

June Meeting - My Camera, My County!

Our June meeting was well attended by a patient and understanding group while we waded through some technical issues caused by our beloved (not) projector!

That said, we were able to transciend these issues to see some really outstanding photography. Dave Tugwood’s presentation – My Camera, My County – showed our little island in ways seldom seen and also depicted waterfalls and lakes that few even knew existed. His images demonstrate an artistic eye and a willingness to experiment with different perspectives along with effective use of varying forms of lighting.

Prior to Dave’s material, I delved into the Basics of Macro Photography, giving people timely reminders of how to get the most out of getting close to tiny subjects at this outdoorsey time of year. Margaret then took this concept in a slightly different direction with her short compositional piece on You’re Not Close Enough. Sandwiched in between were a group of five members (David Gilbert, Anna Lam, Jan Swenson, Leonard Buffett and Lew Mitz) who each took one of their images and told us a little bit about it in the What, Why, How segment of the Agenda.

Of course, the centrepiece of all our meetings are the many member images shown at the session. Our monthly outing slideshow featured images from the Sheffield Conservation Area. The monthly theme challenge was Rebirth which received a sizeable number of creative entries. The outing and theme images have been uploaded to our public Facebook site for your viewing pleasure.

Once again, a number of outings and activities have been earmarked for the month of June in order to take advantage of the good weather while its here. Our formal club outing will be held on Saturday June 12^th at the Dunes Trail in Sandbanks Provincial Park. We are also planning on having a number of other events during the month including an additional Night Photography Workshop, a macro session at Spindletree Gardens in Tamworth (Saturday June 18th) and we’ll point our cameras towards the skies at the Trenton Air Show (June 25/26). More information will be provided as these get firmed up closer to the dates.

Our club challenge for June is entitled Furr & Feathers while the July challenge is entitled Main Street.

Our upcoming meeting on Sunday July 10^th is our annual Print session where each member is asked to bring in two printed images that are at least 8”x10” in size. The images ideally would have been taken within the past 2 years. They should not be watermarked or otherwise identifiable. The prints should not be framed, but rather matted or placed on a board for display purposes. Time moves along quickly so we suggest you “start your engines” and get printing!

Thanks to all who came out and especially to the many people who participated during the month in our various club activities.

Review of May Meeting

 

The May meeting provided us with a refresher course on a number of areas that will make our Spring photography all that much better. Alan Jenner brought in a plethora of photographic equipment that he uses for capturing our avian friends. His Basics of Bird Photography talk set everyone up for the annual bird migration season which will be in full bore in the next few weeks here in Prince Edward County. A technical discussion on DSLR Focusing Mechanisms along with a video presentation of the very useful Back ButtonAutomatic Focusing mechanism provided a good lead-in to Alan’s bird photography discussion.

Of course, the centrepiece of all our meetings are the many member images shown and discussed throughout the session. Doug Smith showed us some breath-taking views of China and South-East Asia. Our monthly outing slideshow featured images from the Menzel Nature Reserve and the Marlbank Ghost Town – both north of Deseronto. The monthly theme challenge was Reflections and we received a large number of highly creative entries. In addition, we recapped another Night Workshop that was held at Lakeshore Lodge, on the shores of Lake Ontario, earlier in April. We also had a number of our members talk about their impressive images in our new What, Why, How segment. The outing, theme and workshop images have been uploaded to our Facebook site for your viewing pleasure.

 A number of outings and activities have been earmarked for the month of May – we need to take advantage of the milder weather while we can. Our formal club outing will be held on Saturday May 14^th at the Sheffield Conservation Area.  We also hope to have a number of other events during the month including an additional Night Photography Workshop, a trip to the PEPtBO birding area and the opening of the Ameliasburgh Pioneer Village.

 

Our club challenge for May is entitled Rebirth while the June challenge has also been assigned, namely Furr & Feathers.