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.

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.