The CCC welcomed 42 members and 2 visitors to our second and final Thursday night meeting. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 27th.

Diane Guay and Gavin Stuart have helped co-ordinate a display opportunity for The Chatham Camera Club. Details will be sent by e-mail or facebook.

Our member’s entries for the CAPA Open, and Nature competitions were judged, with many excellent photos being shown. Congratulations to all who entered.

Melanie and Angel told the Club about the recent photography workshop that they attended with our friend Don Martel. You can find out more about Don’s upcoming workshops at DonMartel.com

Carson Plant led a discussion about the member’s Marine Landscape prints that were set up for display.

Judging was held for the CCC’s photo competition for our Novice group in the Purple category and for the Intermediate and Advanced group in the Doorways category. As always, the entries were highlighted by several wonderful photographs.

The CCC enjoyed a full schedule of activities during a rare Thursday meeting.

Club members had the opportunity to buy and sell camera related equipment at our annual Swap Meet, which saw several items change hands.

Veteran photographer Mike Blazek explained the uses of various camera filters, instructing our members on how and when to use Neutral Density, Circular Polarizer and Ultra Violet filters. Vince Gagnier led a demonstration of different models and styles of tripods and tripod heads. Thank you gentlemen. Your guidance is much appreciated.

Herman Giethoorn reported the scores of our latest CAPA entries in the Altered Reality category in which the CCC placed 10th out of 24 clubs. You can see The Club’s submitted shots in our Club Photos page

• Les McCracken – 22 pts
• Jim Pollock – 22 pts
• Larry Kearns – 20 pts
• Gavin Stuart – 20 pts
• Jason Wamboldt – 19 pts
• Paul Schmoldt – 15 pts

Bill Godfrey used his 15 Minutes Of Fame to show his wonderful collection of photos. Bill is blessed with an amazing eye for black and white photography as well as the ability to capture beautiful shots of birds, butterflies and landscapes.

Mike Blazek gave us a look at his well stocked selection of equipment during his turn at What’s In My Camera Bag, which included top-of-the-line cameras, lenses, flashes, filters and carrying systems.

Our next meeting on Thursday, March 15th will feature:

• CAPA Judging: “Open” and “Nature”, 1 entry per member in each category
• CCC Judging and Critique: “Purple” (Novice), 2 entries per member
• CCC Judging and Critique: “Doorways” (Intermediate & Advanced), 2 entries per member

Members are invited to bring in a print in the “Marine Landscape” Category

Club President Dave Noordhoff welcomed one new member and three guests to our February Workshop meeting. He reminded Club members of the upcoming Swap Meet on February 28th.

Carson Plant shared his Photoshop techniques by demonstrating how he adjusts his photos in Adobe Camera RAW, using the various sliders to adjust colour temperature, exposure, brightness, saturation and sharpness. You can view a similar lesson on the YouTube video below.

Chris Jorgensen was featured in our What’s In My Camera Bag segment and showed us the wide variety of gear he uses to capture those amazing rodeo shots.

It was Bob Allen’s turn to show The Club What I Shoot in a brief, but entertaining slide show that contained some of the highlights of Bob’s recent work. Great stuff Bob!

Thanks to all those who brought in their prints for the rest of us to enjoy. As always, we saw some excellent photos and we encourage all members to share their printed pictures in the “Marine Landscape” Category on March 13th.

February’s Photo In Focus features the fine work of Gavin Stuart.
As an Executive Assistant, Gavin’s steady approach has brought many fresh ideas to this year’s Club activities. He is well versed in the workings of his Canon 7D and his knowledge shines through in his excellent flower shots. For a sample of some of his more interesting creations, see our Photo In Focus page.

The Club’s instructional evening, Out Of The Green Box, proved to be an overwhelming success, with most of the membership and six visitors attending. Individual instruction was provided to novice members by more experienced mentors on how to effectively use Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority as well as the proper use of ISO settings. We encourage all members to teach and learn from each other any time the opportunity presents itself. That’s why we’re all here. You can see some pictures from the evening in our Club Photos section.

Butch Dompierre was featured in our What’s In My Camera Bag segment, where he shared some of the equipment and techniques used to capture his terrific images. Thanks Butch!

Long-time member Jean De Bruyn delighted the crowd with her What I Shoot slideshow, which featured a wonderful collection of cityscapes. Great work Jean!

The Chatham Camera club welcomed two new members and one guest.

In our first Improve My Image segment, four of our members were asked to try their hand at improving a couple of images and each came up with different slant using a variety of techniques. Lorie Cooper, Larry Kearns, Margaret Manson and David Summerfield took turns showing how they went about improving a pre-determined shot using their favourite photo editing software. Some of the methods used were cropping, lightening, increasing contrast, cloning out distractions, converting to black and white and flipping a shot horizontally. Thanks to all four for their time and talents and for showing us how some simple editing can greatly improve a basic image.

Print manager Les McCracken reviewed the prints that we brought in and encouraged everyone to participate in our monthly Print Display, no matter what size prints you have.

Martha Gillier was featured in this month’s What’s In My Camera Bag demonstration, showing The Club her amazing collection of fine photo equipment. Thanks for the well organized display Martha!

Butch Dompierre showed The CCC What I Shoot with his slide show of beautiful photographs. His eclectic display showed impressive results in a wide variety of photo topics, giving members of all levels something to aspire to. Well done Butch.