2 visitors joined 55 members for our March 25^th 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 10^th at 7:30 PM (admission $20) and at an Ian Plant Workshop, also in London, Saturday, April 12^th, 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 18^th at 8:00 PM. Finished projects can be sent to Keith Blackwell at KeithBlackwell@xplornet.ca

• CCC competition entries for our April 22^nd meeting are due by April 18^th 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 4^th 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 8^th 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.

Our March 11th meeting was attended by 47 members and 2 guests.

• President Dave reminded us that submissions for the CCC competitions for April 8^th are to be submitted no later than March 21^st at 8 PM. The Novice theme is Shadows and the Intermediate / Advanced category is Weathered.

• The London Camera Club is hosting pro photographer Ian Plant on Thursday, April 10^th ($20) and Saturday, April 13^th ($70). See their website for more details.

• If you would like run or nominate someone for a CCC office for the 2014 / 2015 season, elections will be held at our meeting on May 13^th.

• Mike Moynihan advised us that the annual Wings Of Spring event is now on at Rondeau Provincial Park. They will feature a raptor display by The Ontario Falconry Centre on March 16^th at 1 PM.

• Keith Blackwell and Dave Noordhoff continued their excellent series of Tech Assignments with Emulation of a Famous Photographer’s Style. This time, we are being challenged to research a famous photographer, learn about their methods and try to apply their techniques to one of our own pictures. This is a wonderful opportunity to expand our shooting and post processing skills and we encourage everyone to participate. An e-mail will be sent to our members that will provide more details. Finished projects can be sent to Keith Blackwell at KeithBlackwell@xplornet.ca

Here are some suggestions to get you started:
– The Top 10 Most Famous Photographers Of All Time.
– The World’s Most Famous Photos.
– The World’s Most Famous Photographers.
– 50 Photography Quotes to Inspire You

• Clarke Warner was featured in our What I Shoot segment, where he showed us the quality of the images that his many years of accumulated knowledge enables him to produce. Clarke’s beautiful Nature, Landscape, People and Event photos serve as an inspiration to us all. Thanks Clarke!

• Dave Noordhoff reviewed and critiqued our previous January CAPA and CCC competition entries, and offered some valuable suggestions on how we can achieve even higher scores in the future.

• Les McCracken surveyed the displayed prints and praised several of our efforts. If you have a print that you would like to show, April 8th will be your next chance. Don’t be shy. Your friends in The Chatham Camera Club would love to see some of your work.

Ideally, you should be using your camera as a portal to show others something you yourself are passionate about.

Our Featured Photographer for March is Shannon L’Ecuyer.

A relative novice to photography who juggles a busy family life, Shannon is eager to learn all she can about her hobby. Her knack of choosing interesting perspectives serves her well when shooting her favourite subjects; Nature, Scenic and her children. As a frequent contributor to Club competitions, Shannon is considered “a rising star” by her peers as she continues to gain knowledge and improve her technique. You can see some of her beautiful work on our Photo In Focus page.

A gathering of 51 members welcomed 3 guests to our meeting.

• Club President Dave Noordhoff handed out more photo mounting boards, courtesy of Maple Art Gallery. There are still some left and if you’d like one, contact Dave at dnoordhoff@cogeco.ca.

• Our guest speaker was Adam Harpula, who presented a tutorial on Photoshop Elements. During his lecture, Adam showed us how to:
– add an object to an existing picture using masks
– blend two pictures using Elements’ blend mode
– remove an object from a photo using two photos and a layer mask

The Club wishes to thank Adam for his well organized and concise presentation and we look forward to seeing him again in the near future. Adam will be teaching a night school course on Photoshop / Elements at St. Clair College starting on March 12^th. The sessions are 2 1/2 hours long and run for six weeks. Total cost is $96. For more information, contact Adam at 519-437-2649 or info@LighenupPhotography.com. You can also contact St. Clair College at 519-354-9100 ext. 3260.

Here is an excellent YouTube video about Photoshop Elements.

• Results from the off-site judging of our latest CAPA entries were reviewed. Submissions from Andy Stockdill, Butch Dompierre, Dave Noordhoff, George Gardina, Margaret Manson and Paul Schmoldt were selected for the Nature competition and photos from Melanie Denis, Carson Plant, Jim Pollock, Dave Noordhoff, Paul Schmoldt and Butch Dompierre were chosen to represent The Club in the Open category.

• Judging of the CCC competition for the Novice group’s Food pictures was held, with photos by Chad Barry, Pat Beaton, Dave Stewart and Sherrie Strain receiving top marks.

• The Intermediate / Advanced members were evaluated on their Shadow entries, with Bob Allen, Richard Armstrong, Mike Blazek, Collin Cooper, Doug Cooper, Carson Plant and Jim Pollock gaining the highest scores.

There were several clever and well-executed entries in both of these difficult categories. You can see the top scoring shots on our Club Photos page.

• Our next meeting will be held on March 11^th, when Keith Blackwell and Dave Noordhoff will introduce their next Tech Skills Assignment, Emulation of a Famous Photographer’s Style.

Good equipment helps a good photographer;
it doesn’t make one.

Our February 11^th meeting was attended by 52 members and 1 guest.

• President Dave Noordhoff reminded us that submissions for CAPA’s Open and Nature competitions are to be sent to Paul Schmoldt at Viking@mnsi.net no later than Friday, February 14^th at 8 PM. CCC entries for April 8th are due by Friday, March 21^st at 8PM. Novices are submitting Shadows and Intermediate / Advanced are entering Weathered.

• CAPA Representative Herman Giethoorn announced that The Chatham Camera Club finished tied for 8th place out of 26 in the recent Altered Reality contest, with Carson Plant receiving an Honourable Mention. Once again, The CCC finished in the Top Ten. Great work everyone!

• Dave Noordhoff reviewed our Tech Skills Assignment #2, where we experimented with the effects produced by different focal length lens settings. Some of the things we learned from this exercise were:

Focal Length and Depth of Field
– the longer the focal length, the shallower the DOF.

Focal Length and Portraits
– short focal length and close proximity to subject results in a distorted image.

Focal Length and Perspective
– using a short focal length will cause objects in the background to appear farther away.
– using a long focal length will cause objects in the background to appear closer

Focal Length and Field of View
– a long focal length will produce a narrow Field of View
– a short focal length will produce a wide Field of View

Special thanks goes out to Dave and Keith Blackwell for putting this “must know” lesson together.

• Bob West was featured in our What I Shoot segment, where he showed us his beautiful sunrise / sunset shots as well as his spectacular star trails and wispy cloud pictures. Congratulations Bob, the Club loves your work.

• Judging was held for our Novice group in an Open competition, with shots by Shannon L’Ecuyer, Mike Moynihan and Chad Barry receiving top marks. The Intermediate and Advanced members competed in the Food category, with Gavin Stuart, Frank Vadovic, Keith Blackwell, Richard Armstrong and Larry Kearns receiving the highest scores. You can view these excellent works on our Club Photos page.

• Les McCracken and Dave Noordhoff perused and commented on the wide variety of prints that our members displayed and made several favourable comments. As always, great job gang! Keep up the good work.

• Our next meeting on February 25th will feature Adam Harpula’s tutorial on Photoshop Elements

You won’t grow as a photographer unless you make mistakes and learn from them.

Our featured photographer this month is Clarke Warner.

Clarke first joined the Chatham Camera Club in 1979. Back in those film days, he often experimented with various table-top set-ups and cutting edge shooting methods. After ten years, he took an extended break, but re-joined The CCC in 2007. His easy-going manner and willingness to help others has earned him many friends. The proud owner of one of Canon’s finest lenses, Clarke excels at Nature and Scenic photography and says he enjoys shooting “Everything but weddings.” You can view some of Clarke’s work on our Photo In Focus page.

A gathering of 60, including 3 guests, braved the chilly weather to attend tonight’s meeting that featured guest speaker, Gary Toth of the Welland Camera Club.

Mr. Toth presented his Introduction to HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography, where he showed his amazing collection of HDR images, both on-screen and in poster size prints. Taking us through his process from capture to processing, Gary explained step by step how to produce these brilliant photos in Photomatix and Capture NX2. The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank Mr. Toth for sharing his time and knowledge in this unique and fascinating area of image creation. You can see more of his work at ItJustClicks.com.

You can view a Beginner’s Guide To HDR in the YouTube video below.

• Our CAPA entries for the Humorous category were judged, with photographs by Jim Pollock, Dave Stewart, Mike Moynihan, Dave Noordhoff, Frank Vadovic and Butch Dompierre receiving top marks.

If you would like a transcript of tonight’s meeting, you should have taken notes.

With our five week “Winteruption” behind us, it was great to re-connect with old friends and meet some new ones at The CCC’s first meeting of 2014. The Club welcomed 3 visitors and 2 new members to our gathering of 63.

• Keith Blackwell and Dave Noordhoff presented their Tech Skills Assignment #2: Effects of Different Focal Length Lens Settings. You can download the instructions by clicking Review The Lesson and then How To Submit . This project is designed to help us expand our knowledge of photographic techniques and Keith and Dave have given a considerable amount of time and effort in putting it together. We encourage everyone who wants to be a better photographer to participate.

• The Chatham Camera Club’s own “Duke Of Display”, Les McCracken, reviewed and critiqued the many fine prints that our members brought in. As always, the group showed their outstanding ability to capture unique images in a wide variety of scenarios. Keep up the great work gang!

• Dave Paddick was featured in our What I Shoot segment, where he showed his prowess in capturing Nature, Landscape, Action, Portrait and Enhanced images, as well as his stunning Weather photos. Great job, Dave!

• Our entries for CAPA‘s Altered Reality category, which were judged before the meeting, were reviewed by Paul Schmoldt. Creative efforts by Carson Plant, Gavin Stuart, Mike Blazek, Frank Vadovic, Dave Stewart and Keith Blackwell were selected for submission. There were also several other fine entries that were worthy of representing The Club. Congratulations to all who participated.

• Last Autumn, several of our members spent a week in Algonquin Park, capturing nature at its finest. Thanks to the efforts of Frank Vadovic, Club members can see some of the highlights of that outing in the video below.

• As an extra treat, we were able to look back at our season so far in a slideshow assembled by Paul Schmoldt, which included candid shots from some of our meetings. Thanks to Paul and everyone who provided their photos. It was fascinating to see how much younger we all looked last year.

• Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 28^th, when guest speaker Gary Toth will present his introduction to HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography. This is one session you won’t want to miss. To help off-set the cost of bringing in a lecturer of this stature, a donation to the CCC of $2 is kindly requested.

You will be remembered for the images you create, not for the gear you use.