2 visitors joined 55 members for our March 25th meeting.
• President Dave Noordhoff reminded The Club that world-renowned nature photographer Ian Plant is slated to appear at The London Camera Club on Thursday, April 10th at 7:30 PM (admission $20) and at an Ian Plant Workshop, also in London, Saturday, April 12th, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (admission $60 if pre-registered, $70 at the door).
• Our final Tech Skills Assignment, Emulation of a Famous Photographer’s Style is due April 18th at 8:00 PM. Finished projects can be sent to Keith Blackwell at KeithBlackwell@xplornet.ca
• CCC competition entries for our April 22nd meeting are due by April 18th at 8:00 PM:
– CCC Novice Theme; Weathered: to wear away or change the appearance or texture of something by long exposure to the atmosphere; of rock, wood, steel or other material to be worn away or altered by such processes. NOTE: Weathering on humans is not allowed
– Intermediate/Advanced Theme; Open: not Monochrome (must be colour. You name it, anything goes). Two entries per member.
• Chris Jorgensen was appointed Nominations-Elections Officer
• Our CAPA representative, Herman Giethoorn, announced that The Chatham Camera Club finished 4th out of 22 in the recent Humour competition. Entries by Butch Dompierre, Dave Noordhoff, Frank Vadovic, Dave Stewart, Mike Moynihan and Jim Pollock helped push The Club to our highest ever finish in a CAPA Competition. A certificate of merit will be presented at a later date.
• Tere DeSlippe introduced our guest speaker Steve Gettle, who presented a tutorial called Composition and Lighting: How I Build a Photograph. During his show, Mr. Gettle offered some tips on how to achieve better photographs:
– The art of photography lies in the composition
– Before you take a picture, decide what you want to communicate
– Decide what to include and what to exclude from your picture
– Fill the frame
– Control the background
– Decide if you want a horizontal or vertical picture
– Use the rule of thirds
– Use an anchor point
– Use visual paths to lead the eye through the picture
– Use site lines to draw the viewer’s eye
– Three subjects are often better than two
– Don’t centre your subject
– Diagonal is usually more interesting than horizontal
– Complimentary colours are often more interesting
– Use positive and negative space to balance the picture
– Decide how to use front, side and back lighting
– Dull light makes for a dull subject
– Harsh light gives too much contrast
– Use depth-of-field to control the background
– Use focus points to isolate your subject
– Use shutter speed to freeze or blur motion
Following the break, Mr. Gettle showed The Club A Wilderness Year, a sample of his remarkable portfolio which had the entire audience captivated. His nature and scenic photos were simply stunning and gave us all a new level of excellence to try to achieve. The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank Steve for his time and talents and invite everyone to visit his website at www.SteveGettle.com
• Our next meeting will be on April 8th when we will judge the Novice group on their Shadow entries and the Intermediate / Advanced members on their Weathered shots.
A good photograph has an even blend of three main features: Composition, Lighting and Subject Matter. A photographer’s role is to control these aspects as best we can.