We regret to announce the passing of Club member, Frank Vadovic.

Frank was not only a well liked and much respected part of our group, he was a dear friend to many of us who will be fondly remembered and sadly missed.

Retired from Navistar and a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, Frank also formerly belonged to The Chatham Metal Detecting Club where he served as Newsletter Editor.
As a valued member in The Chatham Camera Club, Frank produced a long string of high quality images that were always admired by his peers. He put together several excellent slideshows at our year end meetings that recapped the highlights of that season. Well versed in all types of photography, Frank was a regular participant in Club photo competitions and was always ready to help out at our functions in any way he could. He was also part of an informal group within The Club known as The Viewfinders, who got together for photo outings during the week.

Frank will always be recalled as a generous, kind-hearted man with a great sense of humour. Always willing to give his time and share his knowledge, Frank’s passing leaves a giant hole in The Club and in our hearts.

A season high 64 members and 3 guests attended our November 8^th meeting.

• Our guest speaker was award winning landscape photographer and author Don Komarechka who presented “The Universe At Our Feet”.

Don revealed some of the methods he uses to capture his amazing images of insects and snowflakes by using a macro lens, extension tubes, a ring flash, a tripod, a spray bottle, and a lot of patience. In place of this equipment, we could also use close-up filters, a reversal adaptor or a long telephoto lens.

His advice for emulating his outstanding compositions included:
– Tell a story
– Find lines, shapes and colours
– Avoid all distractions
– Get close to your subject
– Concentrate on the “fascination factor”
– Rotate your images to find the most pleasing orientation

To learn more about this intriguing style of photography, check out Don’s book,
Sky Crystals: Unraveling The Mysteries Of Snowflakes, available at SkyCrystals.ca.

The Chatham Camera Club thanks Don for his extremely enjoyable tutorial. We learned a lot and had a great time doing it!

• Our next meeting will be held on November 22^nd when Chad Barry and Keith Blackwell will explain How And When To Use Mirror Lock-up. Bring your camera to the meeting if you want to learn this simple but effective method.

The more ridiculous you look while taking a photo, the better that photo will probably be.

Have a look at Don Kormarechka’s discussion on photo stacking.

November’s featured photographer is Herman Giethoorn.

For a brief profile of one of The Club’s longest serving members, see our
Photo In Focus page.

54 members and 4 guests attended our October 25^th meeting.

• Representatives from the Chatham-Kent Public Library explained how we can use apps called Zinio and Flipster to access digital magazines, download movies and take free on-line courses.

• Les McCracken was the featured presenter in What I Shoot, where he entertained the crowd with his stories on why and how he goes about capturing his excellent images. Thanks Les. It’s always a pleasure to hear you speak.

• Several of the large number of prints that were brought in were discussed and admired. The next scheduled print display is November 22^nd and we encourage everyone to show us what you’re been shooting.

• Our next meeting will be held on November 8^th when our guest speaker, Don Komarechka, will present The Universe At Our Feet.

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.

51 members, including 7 new ones, were joined by 4 guests at our October 11^th meeting.

• President Carson Plant introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Russ Salamon. Mr. Salamon, who has been a commercial photographer since 1988, introduced The Club to his light painting technique, which produces very pleasing still life images. To accomplish his results, Russ uses a Canon 5D MkII paired with a Canon 100mm macro lens and employs several different types of flashlights and modifiers such as copper elbows, toothbrush holders, straws and coloured gels. His common settings include ISO 160, f/18 for 10, 15, 20 or 30 seconds and sometimes up to 2 minutes. You can see some of the results that Russ has been able to obtain on his website.

The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank Russ for his time and his extremely informative and entertaining presentation. Our members are very anxious to try this fascinating type of photography.

There are very few good YouTube videos about light painting with a flashlight, but below is one we managed to find.

• Carson Plant reminded The Club that Herman Giethoorn will present Natural Treasures Of Southwestern Ontario on November 12^th at the Jeanne Gordon Hall, 505 King St. in Wallaceburg. For more details, see their website.

• Our next meeting will be held on October 25^th when representatives from the Chatham-Kent Library will be on hand to tell us how to access free photo magazines on line. Les McCracken is sure to entertain as our featured speaker, and our first photo competition of the year will be reviewed.

The more passionate you are about photography,
the better your results will be.

When shooting with a medium-quality lens, try to optimize the aperture to create the sharpest photos possible. Many “kit” lenses are typically sharpest from about f8 to f11.

October’s featured CCC member is Linda Pepper.

Learn more about Linda and her passion for photography
in our Photo In Focus section.

Our September 27^th meeting was attended by 43 members and 14 guests.

• Standing in for our Club President, Carson Plant, Tere Deslippe introduced our 2016 executive and committee members. You can review the list on our Executives page.

• Reagan Smolders read the auditor’s report on The Club’s finances which came with a recommendation that we be more prudent in our spending on expensive guest speakers.

• Gavin Stuart presented a competition orientation that showed how to enter our monthly Club photo competitions, which included how to size our pictures and where to send them. The instructions can be found on The Club’s Photo Competition Instructions page.

• Jim Pollock thanked those who brought in a print for display and encouraged the rest of the membership to take part in the monthly event. Jim went on to explain the scoring guidelines set out by CAPA (Canadian Association for Photographic Arts) and showed some examples of pictures and the scores they should receive.

When judging or preparing a photo for competition, consideration should be given to:
– Technical (is it properly exposed and in focus) 0 to 3 pts
– Composition (was it taken from a unique perspective) 0 to 3 pts
– Achieving Purpose (does it fit the category) 0 to 2 pts
– Visual Impact (is it appealing to the eye) 0 to 1 pt
– Subject Matter (is it an interesting subject) 0 to 1 pt

Overall scoring should fall within these guidelines:
– Poor to Extremely Poor: (with serious faults) 1, 2, or 3
– Fair: (with possible minor faults) 4 or 5
– Good: 6 or 7
– Excellent: 8
– Outstanding: 9 or 10

• Tere Deslippe informed The Club about the digital magazines that we’ve agreed to sponsor at the Chatham-Kent Public Library. With a library card, you can download them from the library website at www.CKPL.ca. A library representative will be on hand at our October 25^th meeting to explain how to access these magazines on-line.

• Several of the printed pictures that were brought in for display were discussed, with some of the makers explaining their process. Your next opportunity to show one or two of your favorite prints will be on October 25th. We encourage everyone to participate.

• Linda Pepper treated those in attendance to an entertaining slideshow of her photos from Antarctica and the Norwegian Arctic. Great job Linda! We loved it.

• Entries for our first photo competition of the year are to be sent to Gavin Stuart by midnight, Sunday, October 16^th.
The categories are Black And White for Novices and Clouds and Waves for Intermediate, Advanced and Salon

• Our next meeting will be held on October 11^th when our Guest Speaker will be Commercial And Fine Art Photographer Russ Salamon

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.

A “‘fast” lens (one with a wide maximum aperture) is called so because the wider aperture allows for a faster shutter speed. Stopped down, it will let in the same amount of light as any other lens.

The Chatham Camera Club is currently gearing up for our new season, with several exciting guest speakers lined up and many new in-house tutorials planned.

We Meet at Evangel Community Church, 76 Sandys St. Chatham from September through May, on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 7 pm. Enter the meeting room through the back door of the church, marked by our Chatham Camera Club sign. Guests and Visitors are always welcome!

The Chatham Camera Club is a great place to learn from fellow photographers or from the professionals that we bring in as guest speakers.

Our workshop topics for the season include: How and when to use mirror lock-up, Painting with light, How to clean your camera’s sensor, Off-camera flash and several others.

Our Main Meetings include Travelogues, Photo Competitions and Critiquing.

Seasonal dues are $40 for a single membership and $60 for couples, which covers all meetings, including Workshops with guest speakers. You may attend two meetings without charge to see if you are interested in joining. Membership for students currently attending high school, college or university is free.

If you want to become a better photographer, we invite you to come and join us on September 27th at 7 PM.