New Westminster Photography Club

Our members and invited guests celebrate the end of our program year with our annual pot-luck party.

Location:

• Queen's Park Centennial Lodge, New Westminster
• Link to PDF Map of Park Area
• Link to Google Map (you should see the lodge marked on the map).

Time: 6:30PM

In Preparation:

• Bring a healthy appetite!
• Remember to bring your item(s) to sell at the auction.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Party: Potluck Dinner -- vittles supplied by our members.
• Silent Auction: Bring something you would like to donate to our auction. This is always a popular way to help raise money for the club's operating costs and helps keep member fees low. You may specify a starting bid. Please remember if your item doesn't sell, that you are responsible for taking it back home!
• Party Fun: We will be having some sort of party activity ... these vary from year to year but should bring a smile to your face.

As our official year starts to wind down, we hold our annual general meeting to elect officers for the coming year.

In Preparation:

• If you wish to volunteer for an executive role, or nominate a member for a role, please contact the president (president@nwphoto.org) before the start of the meeting.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• AGM:

  Candidates for the various club offices will come forward and next years officers decided by member vote.

• The Year in Review:

  We'll have a look back at selected member images set to some toe-tapping music from our various outings over the past year. A fun way to wind down our program for the year -- this is for nostalgia, not critiquing or competitions, so just sit back and enjoy!

  A DVD of the slideshow video will be for sale to members. Proceeds from the sales will go to our equipment fund -- a kind of photographic "bake sale"

  To those members who want a corrected version of the DVD cover, you can get it here (PDF document). Print the page on a sheet of legal paper, then trim to the fine black lines to fit your DVD cases. If you use the thicker, older style of DVD case, trim to the black crop lines on the top and bottom, but to the outside of the printed cover on the left and right. This will fit those thicker cases. My apologies to Lou for the misspelling of his name, and the even more evil mistake of leaving Shona off altogether from the artist list on the back!!

This meeting is a member's night (just in case we didn't get a chance to get to everyone at the March 4th meeting. Members may bring in their images (slides, prints, digital) for review and critiquing by fellow members. Guests are welcome to participate. Don't feel intimidated if you are new to photography! Anyone can have an opinion, and the old adage is true: I may not know art, but I know what I like. What you "like" is usually a well composed image!

In Preparation:

• Members may submit up to 4 images. Send digital images to photos@nwphoto.org by Monday night before the meeting. Guests may submit 1 digital image (or bring 1 slide, or one print). Digital images should ideally be sized to fit the 1024x768 screen size. Prints should be 8x10" or larger. Matting is not required, but prints should have some sort of backing so they will stand up on our easels.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Beyond the Green Square: #3 - What's my line?:

  (15 minutes) Derek will continue his series of short presentations for the "less confident" photographer. We continue our exploration of the "Rules of Composition". If you're a novice photographer, learning the rules of composition will definitely help improve your images. This session we'll deal with one of the most powerful rules a photographer can have in their kit. Lines in an image can greatly influence how the viewer of your photograph feels about your work. We'll briefly discuss some of the most common line elements in photography and their psychological effect on the viewer.

  Since this is also a member's night, you can put your new knowledge to work right away!

• Critiquing session:

  Members view the offered images, offering critiques on what works and what could be improved. The intent of critiquing sessions is to help our members improve their compositional skills by evaluating other peoples' works and receiving feedback on their own.

This meeting will be a teaching night, but with a bit of a twist -- we are asking our members to come forward and teach the rest of us about some of their special interests. We have lots of expertise hidden in the brains of our members, this is a chance for them to share. Each session will be relatively short, 5 to 15 minutes.

We are still working on the agenda, so check back in the days leading up to the meeting for details

In Preparation:

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Do you archive? (David Emery (editor)):

  Many of us have gone digital now. We have hard drives stuffed to the brim with all our wonderful photos.

  But how many of you back that information up? If your hard drive crashed tomorrow, how much of your work would you lose? This segment will cover some tips on creating your own archival process so that a power surge doesn't wipe out your "life's work"!

• Photography Workflow (Jason Hollister (president)):

  With so many people doing digital photography these days, we're probably all in the situation of having a hard drive full of digital photos. Could you quickly find that great sunset image you captured at cousin Bob's wedding reception last summer?

  Jason will walk us through some ideas on how to organize our collections, with some live demos of one such workflow tool: Lightroom.

• Shooting Raw (Jason Hollister (president)):

  Ok, you've bought that new digital SLR, you've picked up a decent lens, and you're shooting the best images of your career. But are you still shooting in JPEG? If so, you're not getting the most out of that camera. Jason will go over why you should consider ALWAYS shooting in Raw mode and what benefits you get from Raw when you get back home and step into the darkroom (or in this case Adobe's Lightroom).

• In the Zone (Keith Griffiths (VP)):

  Years ago when everyone was worshipping Ansel Adams, everyone used the Zone method of exposure that he endorsed. Years later, many people have forgotten about using zones for exposure. Keith will remind us of this very practical approach to photography when you want to get your exposure "just right".

• Your Best Tips and Techniques... (YOU):

  Now's your chance to shine ... we're still looking for members to step up and talk about their favorite topic. Or maybe something new they've learned recently that they would like to share. This is your chance to educate us! Fancy multimedia presentations are not required. If you're passionate about something, just stand up for 5 minutes (or 10, or 15?!) and tell us about it.

  Members wishing to discuss a topic should contact Jason (info@nwphoto.org) ASAP (we know this is short notice this time). If we get more submissions than we have time for, well maybe this will become a semi-regular idea for future years.

Our club vice-president, Keith Griffiths, will tell us something about one photographer's search for a "style".

In Preparation:

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Beyond the Green Square: #2 - The Golden Rule:

  (15 minutes) Derek will continue his series of short presentations for the "less confident" photographer. Tonight we begin to explore the so-called "Rules of Composition". If you're a novice photographer, learning the rules of composition will definitely help improve your images. This session we'll start with what is probably the most fundamental and well used rule in photography. This "rule" was discovered by almost every ancient culture on Earth, and has influenced architecture and paintings for centuries ... but just what do credit cards and the reproduction of rabbits have to do with photography? Come and learn!

• Keith's take on Photography:

  Keith will treat us with samples of his photographic works and anecdotes about his own path through the world of photography. Keith is vice-president of our club, and also president of the Burnaby Photographic Society with decades of experience (he won't tell us just how many) with the various technologies arising from photography's evolution. It promises to be an interesting talk.

This night is scheduled as a competition selection night for the upcoming Fraser Valley Invitational competition.

We will also select our candidates for Crescent Beach B&W Print Competition.

In Preparation:

• Members are permitted to submit up to 4 candidate images for the Fraser Valley Invitational. This is a digital only competition. Members, please send your candidate images to photos@nwphoto.org at least 24 hours before the meeting. (i.e. by Monday night)
• Members are permitted to submit up to 2 candidate prints for the Crescent Beach competition.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Selection for Fraser Valley Invitational:

  We will select for the Fraser Valley Invitational. This year's theme is "Light". Those images best interpreting that theme will score better with the judges (or so one would hope?!?!)

  Images should fit a 1024 (max horizontal) by 768 (max vertical) pixel frame.

• Selection for Crescent Beach B&W Print Competition:

  We will select for the Crescent Beach B&W Print Competition.

  • Prints must be Black and White only, no tinted or toned prints, subject is choice of the photographer (inappropriate nudes will not be accepted)
  • Minimum print size 64 square inches (e.g. 8x8" prints minimum). Maximum print size is 16x20"
  • Outside dimensions of mat and backing must be 16x20". Smaller or larger entries are not accepted
  • Mats must be single white window mats. No frames. No foam core backing.
  • Prints must be mounted on firm 4 ply backing to stand up to frequent handling
  • No artist identification on front of print; label with title and photographer's name on upper r/h back of mat.
  • For complete list of rules, see this pdf file.

  Guests need not shy away from selection nights. This is the time when our members trot out their very best images.

This meeting is currently scheduled to be a workshop night. We will practice the technique of working with mylar to create abstracts and distorted images.

In Preparation:

• To participate remember to bring your camera equipment. Tripods are strongly recommended!

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Mylar Images:

  Mylar, it says... but what is that, and what's it got to do with photography? Mylar is thin plastic sheet, with a polished metallic coating. Objects placed on it, or seen at the end of a tube, will appear to twist and warp into fantastic shapes.

  Change the lighting, distort the sheet or tube, and you have a totally different image. It's like magic, and the picture possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Peter says don't miss this one...

  You can see a couple of examples of mylar photography online in an article/gallery on Ira Cohen, considered the father of mylar photography.

This meeting is a mixed critiquing bag. Scheduled to be a member's night as well as a competition selection night.

For the member's night portion we discuss images (digital, prints, slides) submitted for critique. The benefit is to learn strengths and weaknesses of our images when being considered for competition (or hanging on our walls!).

We will also be selecting our entries for the BC Print Challenge.

In Preparation:

• Note: with the competition selection also happening this night, we are limiting members to 3 images for review (they may be prints, slides, digital, or any combination of 3 images). Images may be prints (8x10 or larger), slides or digital (1024x768 pixels). Guests may bring 1 image. Digital submissions should be sent to photos@nwphoto.org at least 24 hours before the meeting (i.e. monday night)
• Members are permitted to submit up to 2 candidate prints for the BC Print Challenge. For complete list of rules, see this pdf file.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Critiquing Session:

  Now it's time to bring and show the pictures you've had hiding in your memory cards, stored away in your digital archives or in print form. You're invited to bring up to 6 images, in whatever form and tell us about them, if you wish. Then, if you would welcome some of our comments on them, they would be available too.

  This will be your show, and your opportunity to see what pics the rest of us have been taking. We have several competitions and challenges to select for soon, so why not give us a preview of your work?

  Guests are welcome to participate. Don't feel intimidated if you are new to photography! Anyone can have an opinion, and the old adage is true: "I may not know art, but I know what I like". Well, what you "like" is usually a well composed image! Taking part in the critiquing process, you'll quickly learn all the buzzwords that help you explain to others what there is to "like" about a composition.

• Selection for BC Print Challenge:

  We will select for the BC Print Challenge.

  • Prints may be B&W or colour, subject is choice of the photographer
  • Minimum print size 80 square inches (e.g. 8x10 prints minimum). Maximum print size is 16x20"
  • Outside dimensions of mat and backing must be 16x20". Smaller entries are not accepted
  • Mats must be single white window mats. No frames. No foam core backing.
  • No artist identification on front of print; label with title and photographer's name on upper r/h back of mat.

  Guests need not shy away from selection nights. This is the time when our members trot out some of their very best images.

  Want to come see our chose entries at the Print Challenge? See our news page for time and location of the BC Print Challenge.

Siggi Rohde will give us a session on collectible cameras. Have old cameras gathering dust now that you've gone digital? Maybe they're not junk, they're collectibles!

Siggi will bring examples and give advice. If you have any old cameras lying around that you would like an evaluation on, bring them in.

In Preparation:

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Collectible Cameras (Siggi Rohde):

  Siggi Rohde will talk to us about the history of our art, as seen through the "lens" of collectible cameras.

  Siggi is vice-president of the Western Canada Photographical Historical Association, and Show-Chairman of their annual Camera Swapmeet, with 40 years of know-how and an avid interest in collectible photo equipment.

In this meeting we launch two new series. In the future they will typically be 15 to 20 minutes in length focusing on a single topic. You will often see them as a "warm up act" for our main speakers at a meeting.

These series will be designed to follow our ideals of "a little something for everyone" over the course of the year -- tidbits for both beginners and more experienced photographers.

In Preparation:

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Beyond the Green Square (Derek Carlin):

  Derek will launch this series aimed at photographers who are getting started and are still a bit unsure of themselves when it comes to taking control of their camera.

  The thrust of this series will be taking your camera off automatic (the "Green Square" on many Canon models).

  Tonight's first session will start at the beginning. "Taking Control" -- a quick concentrated look at the basics of exposure, and how each of the basic controls of your camera affects the final image and understanding just what all those automatic modes are doing.

  Future shorts will cover basic compositional "rules", case studies of tricky subject matter and all those things the older members sometimes take for granted and forget that the rest of us haven't learned it all yet! Learning these topics also helps you to understand the comments and critiques given to your photos when they are reviewed at the club or in competition (if a judge tells you to "open up a half stop", do you know what settings you can change to do this? --- there's more than one way!)

• The Outer Limits (Shona LaFortune):

  Shona will be leading a second series, for those photographers who are looking to try new techniques.

  The focus (pardon the pun) of this series will be "altering reality" in a variety of ways with an emphasis on better expressing the "art" aspect of your photography.

  This first session, by way of introduction with examples will show various in-camera, on-camera and PS techniques to alter reality.

At this meeting the club will select its entries for the 2008 North Shore Challenge.

For more information about the North Shore Challenge, see the item on our announcements page.

In Preparation:

• Send digital images to photos@nwphoto.org at least 24 hours before the meeting. Members are limited to a maximum of 4 images. Maximum dimensions for submissions are 1024x768 pixels, see the announcement for more details on file naming, etc.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• North Shore Challenge Selection: Images will be reviewed by the club, voted on by members and our 10 entries selected.

This is a workshop meeting.

In Preparation:

• To participate in Graydon's workshop, remember to bring your camera equipment. Tripods are strongly recommended!

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Table Top Images (Graydon Roberts):

  Graydon Roberts to give a hands-on talk on Table-tops/Close-ups/Glassware photography.

  Graydon is planning to bring lights and set-ups. If Graydon's past workshops are any indicator, participants should be prepared to get some knockout images.

• North Shore Challenge: If you wish, we will be starting to collect candidates for our entries in the North Shore Challenge.
• North Shore Challence Tickets: Peter will be taking names and money for North Shore Challenge tickets for those who want to attend. $15 per person

Our annual Christmas party. Open to guests and members. Contact Tatia (treasurer@nwphoto.com) to sign up. Cost: $30/person

Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Queen's Park Centennial Lodge (same building as the Arts Centre)

In Preparation:

• Bring a healthy appetite!
• Bring an inexpensive (under $5) wrapped gift. (indicate if the gift is gender specific)
• Bring in your best unwanted (photographic?) stuff.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Eating: Our catered meal out. Details TBA.
• Gift swap: A fun little anonymous exchange of presents.
• Silent Auction: One of our annual fundraisers
• I Didn't See What You Saw (Grace, David, Agnia): Three short slideshows showing London, England (& beyond) from different perspectives. This alone is worth the price of admission!

This meeting will be a seminar meeting

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• How to Improve your Image:

  Guest speaker Wes Bergen, who writes a PhotoShop column in Canadian Camera will present "How to Improve your Image" - showing simple ways to tweak your pics.

  Most of what he will show us can be done in Photoshop Elements as well as the more advanced versions.

Members! Bring in your prints for the club entry for the Delta Print Challenge. Most of this meeting will be devoted to selecting the club's entries for the competition.

In Preparation:

• See announcements for matting and print size instructions

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• Delta Print Challenge: The club will be selecting its entries for the DPC.

It's halloween (well, almost). Time for some good fun and fright. Members, bring out your "scariest" shots that will send people running for the door! All media welcome (prints, digital, slides)

Come as your favorite ghoul, phantom, bunny, or (dead!) photographer. (it's been hinted that there might even be a door prize for best costume!)

The gruesome twosome have been stirring their cauldrons and are promising thoroughly upsetting treats at break time. (watch out for missing fingers!)

So come one, come all ... but remember to bring your heart medication!

If you have prints for entry in the Delta Print Challenge, you may bring them to this meeting. Final club selection will happen during the Nov. 6 meeting.

In Preparation:

• Send digital images to photos@nwphoto.org at least 24 hours before the meeting. Currently we have no limit on the number of entries people can bring, since some might have trouble finding "scary" photos. We may not get to see everything if we run out of time, but this is for fun and discussion, not critiquing tonight.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• Photo Forensics (Derek): This will be a kind of pop quiz in keeping with the Halloween spirit. Ghosts and spirit photographs have been turning up for years. Are they real? or wild imagination? We'll look at a few images that claim to be those of real spirit energies at work. We'll practice our detective skills and our knowledge of photography to see if we can determine the truth. By the way, not all of the images have definitive explanations (ooooh!! spooky!) -- draw your own conclusions.
• Scary shootings: Be prepared to be terrified (or mildly amused?) as our members bring out their "scariest" creations. Who knows what sort of Franken-graph Monster will appear this night.

Tonight is a member's night -- members will bring in images for review, this time for projection.

In Preparation:

• Submit digital images to photos@nwphoto.org by 10PM the evening before the meeting. If you are at the meeting early, we can also accomadate JPEG images brought in on USB thumbdrives, SD, Compact Flash, or CD/DVDs if we can get them copied to the projection machine before the meeting starts.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• Member Projection: Having had a night for prints, tonight's meeting will focus (pun intended) on projected media. Members may bring in slides for projection. Members may submit up to 3 images for projection.
• Tech Spot (tentative) - Making Panoramas: If time permits, Jason will review the process of creating (seamless!) panoramas.

Many of you asked for more chances to show and discuss your work. We hear you, and this is the time to bring out some (2 or 3) of those prints you’ve been keeping to yourself since last season. This time there will be comments - come and find out what other members have to say about them.

Note: this session is specifically for prints -- which can have quite different qualities from projected images. So if you have digital images for review, take them to WalMart or CostCo for printing if you don't have a photo printer at home. 8x12 prints are quite reasonable in price these days, many places charging less than $5.00.

In Preparation:

• Remember to get your prints done ahead of the meeeting! If using a lab service, make sure they will be ready in time!
  Prints must be at least 8x10 so people in the room can see them. They should be mounted on cardboard so they stand up properly on the easel (any firm cardboard will do, even the sides from cardboard boxes)

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• Tech Spot: TBA
• Print Night Presentations (club members): Prints will be shown, appreciated and evaluated. Practice your critiquing skills as well as see what others are doing with their photography.

Tonight's meeting we will focus on helping each other, with thoughts on what to look for in a photo (and thus what to look for in your own photos) as well as turning an eye to "judging" and what to expect when you enter a competition.

In Preparation:

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• Styles of Image Evaluation (Shona LaFortune):

  Shona has offered to give us a presentation on the Styles of Image Evaluation. I’m sure that won’t be as heavy as it sounds, but more a way of helping you comment on other members’ work.

  For instance, what you might say to point out the strengths and weaknesses of an image - how to suggest what you think could have made it stronger, without judging it as "good or bad, right or wrong". Comments of this kind can help you improve on your own work.

  Shona is a photographer with years of experience. But she also puts on programs for, and volunteers as, an evaluator for various camera clubs in the lower mainland and BC. She also coordinates the CAPA "Learn to Judge" evaluator training program.

• Photos on Canvas (Mary Ann):

  New member Mary Ann has discovered the new technology of printing photos on canvas. Depending on the process used, the images can be much more vibrant and alive than traditional prints. She will do a "5 Minute Talk" to tell us a little about her experiences so far with this new print medium.

Have you traveled to "far-away places" in the three months since we took our summer break? Did you stay local, heading for the lake or cottage at weekends - or did you just hang around the garden or the neighbourhood, soaking up sunshine?

Whatever took your fancy I’m sure your camera wasn’t on vacation, so let’s see some of those summer shots, wherever they were taken. Prints, digital or slides - it makes no difference. Four to six would be about right.

This won’t be a critiquing session, so we promise not to comment on them unless you invite us to do so.

In Preparation:

• Submit digital images to photos@nwphoto.org at least 24 hours before the meeting.

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Agenda: (subject to change)

• Welcome Back!!
• Officer Reports
• Announcements
• 5 Minute Tech Spot (Jason): Camera and sensor cleaning.
• Themes (Shona and Peter): With all the changes in our website this summer, you may have noticed we’ve updated an old learning technique with an online twist! Shona and Peter will remind us about "assignment shooting" (now called "Themes"), what it’s all about, what are its goals, and how we plan to use our web site to have some fun.
• Web site updates (Derek): Our club web site has gone through a bit of a transformation over the summer (and more changes are coming!) Derek will briefly update us with how to use some of the new features to our best advantage.
• Photo Viewing - Digital
• Photo Viewing - Slides and Prints