Our first “Walk-About” of 2014 was a huge success, with nearly 40 members on-hand.
Club members and guests broke up into small groups and those who are still early in their photographic journey were able to seek the guidance of some of our more experienced comrades.

Among the topics covered were:
• How to adjust the diopter
• How a histogram works
• How aperture and subject distance affect depth of field
• Understanding the Mode dial
• How to shoot in Manual
• Using the Exposure Lock button

Several of our newer members expressed their gratitude for this learning opportunity and a desire to have repeat lessons in the near future.

Our next “Walk-About” will be held at Keith McLean’s Lotus Ponds on Tuesday, August 19th. See the meeting schedule for details.

Summer Walk-Abouts have been organized at three local venues.
Everyone is welcome to join us.
Check the Meeting Schedule for details.

Next season’s CCC Competition Topics have been determined by The Club Executive:

– Barns and / or Silos
– Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, steel threaded nuts, etc)
– Wheels (from cars, trucks, wagons, machinery, etc)
– People Outdoors (must be taken outside, flash is allowed)
– Urban Decay (old buildings or other neglected structures)
– Open

CAPA photo competitions will include:

– Altered Reality
– Nature
– Open

Check the Meeting Schedule for submission and judging dates for your category.

Remember: Photo Competitions are meant to challenge our creativity and inspire us to move out of our comfort zone and into places we’ve never ventured. They are in no way a reflection of your ability. If someone else doesn’t see your vision, accept it and continue to learn and grow as a photographer at your own pace.

45 members attended our Annual Elections And Awards Night.

• Keith Blackwell presented his Technical Assignment Awards to
– Dave Stewart (exposure and contrast panels)
– Jim Pollock (focal length and lens settings)
– Debbie Venn (emulation of a famous photographer)

• All of our open Executive positions for 2014 / 2015 were filled by acclamation
with the results as follows:

President – Vince Gagnier
Vice-Presidents – Tere Deslippe and Gavin Stuart
Secretaries – Melanie Denis and Angel Rublik
Treasurer – Carson Plant
Executive Assistants – Shannon L’Ecuyer, Reagan Smolder, Chris Jorgensen
Competition Manager – Gavin Stuart

• Two of our retiring executive members, President Dave Noordhoff and Competition Manager Paul Schmoldt, were recognized for their years of service to The Club with a small token of our appreciation. Much of the success we have enjoyed over the past few years can be directly attributed to the hard work that these two gentlemen have provided. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to both.

• Paul Schmoldt and Gavin Stuart presented this season’s
Club Photo Competition Awards

Novice Division
1^st Place – Chad Barry
2^nd Place – Mike Moynihan
3^rd Place – Sherrie Strain and Dave Stewart (tie)

* Most Improved Photographer * – Shannon L’Ecuyer

Intermediate Division
1^st Place – Doug Cooper
2^nd Place – Gavin Stuart
3^rd Place – Collin Cooper

Advanced Division
1^st Place – Jim Pollock
2^nd Place – Carson Plant
3^rd Place – Keith Blackwell

* Most Improved Photographer * – Keith Blackwell

* Photo Of The Year * – “Firemen” by Tere Deslippe

* Honorable Mentions for high scoring photos *

Doug Cooper, Gavin Stuart, Larry Kearns, Lorie Cooper, Margaret Manson, Martha Gillier, Melanie Denis, Mike Blazek, Mike Moynihan, Nicole Maynard, Shannon L’Ecuyer, Tere Deslippe, Dave Noordhoff (2), Dave Paddick (2), Frank Vadovic (2), Keith Blackwell (3), Paul Schmoldt (3), Richard Armstrong (3), Chad Barry (4), Jim Pollock (4), Carson Plant (5).

Thanks to all who participated.

Remember: Photo Competitions are meant to challenge our creativity and inspire us to move out of our comfort zone and into places we’ve never ventured. They are in no way a reflection of our ability. If someone else doesn’t see your vision, accept it and continue to learn and grow as a photographer at your own pace.

If you want something to look more interesting,
don’t light all of it.

Our featured photographer this month is Reagan Smolders.

Combining enthusiasm with technical skill and artistic ability has enabled Reagan to become an accomplished photographer in a relatively short period of time. Her interests include Nature, Scenic and Outdoor Portraits. A frequent contributor to Club competitions, she has chosen to compete in the Novice group, although her work indicates that she is far beyond the “beginner” stage. You can see a small sample of her work on our Photo In Focus page.

50 members welcomed 3 guests to our April 22^nd meeting.

• Mike Blazek has obtained complimentary tickets to Henry’s Photo & Video Imaging Show in Mississauga on May 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th. Tickets should still be available at our next meeting on May 13^th. Some of our members are already planning to car pool to this event and you are most welcome to join us.

• Chris Jorgensen continued to solicit nominations for next year’s President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Executive Assistant. If you or someone you know would like to run for office, kindly let Chris know ASAP at ChrisJ@mnsi.net

• Congratulations to Club members Val and Bob West, who have had several of their photos printed in this year’s Beautiful Bruce Peninsula Guide Book. You can obtain a free copy of the guide from the official website at www.BrucePeninsula.org

• CAPA representative Bill Hall was on hand to present a Certificate Of Merit for finishing 5^th out of 22 clubs in this year’s 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. It was The CCC’s third Top Ten finish this year, the first coming for our placing 6^th in last Fall’s Nature competition, the second for February’s 8^th place finish in Altered Reality.

• Herman Giethoorn announced the results of February’s CAPA Open and Nature competitions. Entries by Butch Dompierre, Carson Plant, Dave Noordhoff, Melanie Denis, Paul Schmoldt and Jim Pollock enabled The Club to finish 12^th out of 35 clubs in the Open category. Photos by Andy Stockdill, Butch Dompierre, Dave Noordhoff, George Gardina, Margaret Manson and Paul Schmoldt lifted us to 13^th out of 29 in the Nature competition. Once again, we finished in the top half of photo clubs from all across Canada.

A big round of applause goes out to all who entered CAPA competitions this year. We had our best showing in recent memory and the results speak volumes about the degree of talent our little club has within its ranks.

• Keith Blackwell reviewed and critiqued the twelve entries in his TECH SKILLS ASSIGNMENT 3, Emulation of a Famous Photographer’s Style. This exercise helped us gain insight into how accomplished photographers went about developing their style and succeeded in the extremely competitive world of professional photography. Many thanks to Keith for designing and overseeing this project. We look forward to doing it again next year.

• Judging was held for our final CCC competition of the season. The Novice group submitted several clever and interesting Weathered shots, while the Intermediate and Advanced members competed in the Open category. The top Novice score went to Catherine Dawson, the Intermediate group was lead by Doug Cooper. Tere Deslippe and Jim Pollock had top marks in the Advanced division. Our Competition Manager, Paul Schmoldt, wishes to thank all participating members for their entries through a most successful competition year.

• Our next meeting will be held on May 13^th, when we will feature our annual Awards and Elections.

To get results you’ve never had,
go somewhere you’ve never been
and try something you’ve never done.

A turnout of 57, including one new member, was on hand for our April 8th meeting.

• President Dave Noordhoff announced that Kathy Davidson has agreed to fill the position of Auditor.
• Chris Jorgensen is still accepting nominations for the offices of Club President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Executive Assistants. If you or someone you know would like to run for office, kindly let Chris know ASAP at ChrisJ@mnsi.net
• There is still time to submit your Emulation Of A Famous Photographer projects to Keith Blackwell at KeithBlackwell@xplornet.ca. The exercise will be reviewed at our April 22nd meeting.

• Dave Noordhoff gave a valuable and long overdue tutorial entitled
Crop and Full Frame Sensors and Their Effect on Different Lenses, where he explained the different sensor sizes available in Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Pentax cameras. The YouTube video below summarizes Dave’s presentation.

• The Club was treated to an excellent slide show by Larry Kearns for our What I Shoot feature. Larry’s images included many beautiful photographs that used a wide variety of special effects, selective colouring and Black and White. Congratulations Larry on a job well done!

• Les McCracken reviewed the many fine prints that were put on display by Club members, handing out several well deserved compliments. Thanks to all who exhibited their work this season. You have influenced and inspired many others to achieve your level of excellence.

• Judging was held for our Novice group’s Shadows entries, with shots by Helen Heath, Chad Barry, Debbie Venne, Olivia Childs, Mike Moynihan, Barb Ferren and Sherrie Strain achieving top marks.

• The Intermediate / Advanced shooters were evaluated on their Weathered shots, with Mike Blazek, Martha Gillier, Tere Deslippe and Jean DeBruyn achieving the highest scores.

• Our final competition will be held at our next meeting on April 22nd, when the Novice challenge will be Weathered and the Intermediate / Advanced topic will be Open. See our Meeting Schedule page for more details.

• A special reminder: If you have any photo related equipment that you would like to buy, sell or trade, let us know at Jim@JamesPollock.com and we’ll add it to our Buy – Sell page.

You never get to a point where you know 100% of everything there is to know about photography and that’s what makes it such an exciting hobby. Those who let on they know it all are really just Fauxtographers.

The Chatham Camera Club’s featured photographer for April is Chad Barry.

Although his intense interest in photography is comparatively recent, Chad has vigorously pursued both the imaging and post-processing aspects, and has invested significant time (and funds) to order to reach higher and higher standards. An experienced workshop provider and instructor in the self-defence art of Bojuka, Chad is always willing to share his increasing knowledge of image creation with members of The Club. We look forward to watching his continuing growth in photography and wish him all the best, wherever life takes him. You can see some examples of Chad’s images on our Photo In Focus page.