Our next to last meeting of the 2014 / 2015 season was attended by 36 members and 2 guests.
• Club President Vince Gagnier reminded us of a get-together at Smitty’s Restaurant on Saturday, May 23, from 12 ’til 2. If you plan on going, kindly let Vince know.
• We were also reminded of a photo-op on May 30th when a gathering of Gray – Dort antique car enthusiasts will meet in front of the Chatham Cultural Center from noon until 2 PM.
• The Club’s planning committee is currently looking for suggestions for this Summer’s Walk-Abouts. If you have an idea for an interesting place the group could go to take pictures, send Vince an e-mail at: vgagnier@mnsi.net So far, we are looking at going to Ojibway Park in Windsor at a date yet to be determined.
• Elections Officer Chris Jorgensen is still seeking nominations for next year’s executive, specifically Secretary and Executive Assistants. If you’d like to run for office or nominate someone, contact Chris at chrisj@mnsi.net
• Carson Plant spoke to us on How To Make Something Out Of Nothing, a tutorial on how to find interesting things to photograph when nothing seems apparent. In his tutorial, Carson taught us to look beyond the obvious, look up, down and behind. Zero in on small details and to shoot things from a different perspective than we usually do. We want to thank Carson for sharing his knowledge and experience and for putting his show together. The next time we’re stuck for something to take pictures of, we’ll ask ourselves, “What would Carson do?”
• Jim Pollock gave The Club his thoughts on How To Avoid And Eliminate Distractions. By taking the time to notice distracting elements in our photographs, we can avoid objects that compete with the main subject for attention. When distractions do show up in our shots, we can use a post processing program to clone, crop or desaturate those little annoyances to greatly improve our final image.
• Vince and Carson reviewed about a dozen of the prints that our members brought in for display and gave several favourable comments. We hope that our members have enjoyed this segment and we encourage everyone to participate next season.
• Keith Blackwell presented a slideshow of photos that he took from a recent trip to Guatemala with a YMCA Youth Group. Although he was forced to shoot photos under severe time constraints and difficult circumstances, Keith still managed to return with a vast collection of fascinating images of the scenery, the people and life in general in this impoverished Central American country. The Club wishes to thank Keith for sharing his experiences.
• Our final meeting of the season will take place on May 26th, when we will host our annual Elections and Awards night. We want to urge all members to attend this important meeting which will help determine the direction of The Club next season. Remember, this is your club. It can’t function without your participation.
If at first you don’t see, look and look again.
Anticipating where the light is going to be can catapult your images to another level.