Our final ZOOM meeting of the year featured our Awards Night, where the results from this year’s Photo Challenges were announced.

Excelling in the Novice Division was Gord Myers, who finished first overall. Second place was granted to Penny Rintoul, and third place went to Cindy Taleski.

Top spot in the Intermediate group went to Jeff McDonald. In second place was Jana Smith, and Wendy McDonald took third place.

The Advanced members were led by Mary Craig in first place, Martha Gillier in second, and Butch Dompierre finished third.

The Salon group saw Linda Pepper awarded first, Jim Pollock took second, and Tere Deslippe was the third place finisher.

Photo Of The Year, as selected by the Windsor Camera Club, as well as the Peoples Choice Award, as voted on by Chatham Camera Club members, went to Cindy Taleski for her outstanding photo from the “Through A Window” category.

You can see the results of this year’s awards on our Club Photos page.

Thanks to all who entered this season’s Photo Challenge. We hope that you took advantage of the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience.
A special thanks to Tere Deslippe, our Photo Challenge manager, who put in endless hours of work to provide us with this club feature. We appreciate your efforts Tere. You’re the very best!

If you would like to get a head start on next season’s Photo Challenges, the categories are

• Minimalism
• Flowers
• White On White
• Seeing Red
• Symmetry
• Open (Black and White for Novices, Colour for the rest)

President Cindy Taleski thanked the members of the CCC executive, Pat Beaton, Julie Faas, Barb Ferren, Tere Deslippe, Wendy McDonald, Jeff McDonald, Linda Pepper, Mary Craig and Jim Pollock, for their hard work and dedication to The Club.

Over the summer, The Club is planning several get-togethers that we call “Walk-Abouts”, where we will meet at an interesting photo-op and share our techniques for finding worthwhile subjects, achieving proper exposure, and using interesting compositions to attain the best possible result. Times and dates will be announced by e-mail as they approach. Whether you’re seeking mentorship or companionship, please join us when you can.

• Dave Noordhoff spoke to The Club about The Sunny 16 Rule and how we can apply it in digital photography.

A throwback from the film days, the Sunny 16 Rule says that if we set our aperture to f/16, we can obtain a proper exposure by using a shutter speed that is 1/ the ISO. ie; If our ISO is set to 100, dial in a shutter speed of 1/100 and use f/16 as our aperture, and the exposure should be correct. This will make an interesting experiment for all of us to try. It’s bound to give us a better understanding of how our cameras meter system works. You can see a summery of Dave’s lesson about The Sunny 16 rule HERE
Dave also discussed several different photography exercises to try over the coming months in an effort to stretch our photo creativity.

• How high can your camera’s ISO setting go before we start to see unacceptable grain?
• How slow of a shutter speed can you hand hold before camera shake ruins our photo?
• Break the habit of photographing what we like to shoot and try something out of our comfort zone.
• Experiment with Getting Everything In Focus (Or Don’t) by using aperture settings to change the depth of field.
• There Is More Than One Right Answer to get a proper exposure. Try different settings and see what you get.
• What’s Your Guess? Shoot in one of the Automatic Modes and guess what settings your camera chose.
• The Decisive Moment (Or Place) is the perfect time or angle to take a photo. Experiment with finding that out.

As always, Dave did an exception job in researching is lesson and presenting it in a way that we can al learn from it. Thanks Dave!

• Clark Warner was featured in our What I Shoot segment.

Clarke showed us a sample of his excellent portfolio, which consisted of nature, scenic, aircraft, floral, marine and abandoned building photos. Awesome job Clark. We were expecting your photos to be great, and they were!

• Entries from our final CCC Photo Competition of the season were reviewed. The scores and final standings will be revealed at our next meeting.

• Dave and Keith reviewed some of the “digital prints” that were sent in for display and discussion.
   
We saw some very nice work from our members and our compliments go out to all who submitted their photos. We’ll do this again next season, so keep that in mind over the summer!

• During the “digital print” segment, Jim showed us a couple of images he created using a Twirl Technique.

If you would like to learn how to do this, check out this YouTube video.

• Our final meeting of the year will be held via ZOOM on May 10^th at 7 PM. Plans for our summer Walk-Abouts will be announced, as well as the results from this year’s Photo Challenges. Special citations will also be given for Photo Of The Year and the People’s Choice Award.

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” – Robert Frank

The 10 Best Lenses for Travel Photography

• Meeting host Julie Faas introduced our guest speaker, Chad Barry

Chad spoke to us about “How To Critique a Photo”. Chad went through a series of images that were sent in by our members and gave helpful suggestions on how they might be improved. The tips ranged from using a more effective crop, removing distractions and lightening and darkening selected parts of the photos. The Chatham Camera Club would like to thank Chad for his informative and entertaining presentation.

• Our next Zoom meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 26^th 2022.

– Dave Noordhoff will tell us about The Sunny 16 Rule and how we can apply it in digital photography. He will also discuss several different photography exercises to try over the coming months in an effort to stretch our photo creativity.
– Clarke Warner will be featured in What I Shoot
– We will review our April Photo Challenge results
– For our “digital print” segment, all members are asked to submit a photo of any subject for display and discussion. Kindly send them to Dave at dnoordhoff@cogeco.ca. Regular Club sizes of 1400 pixels wide / 1050 pixels tall are requested.

“Unless you really need it, your extra money is better spent on going somewhere really cool to make images, and not on cameras, lenses, bags, filters, and flashes.”

• Our own Dave Noordhoff lead a discussion on what lenses to use when shooting Landscape photos.

Dave explained how lenses of different focal lengths affect our field of view. This was followed by two YouTube videos by Mads Peter Iverson and Mike Smith. As always, Dave did a superb job!

• Entries from our March Photo Challenge were reviewed with Cindy Taleski (24 pts), and Penny Rintoul (21.5 pts) getting top marks for the Novice Division’s Bridges category. High scores in the Intermediate, Senior and Salon groups for their Paths And Walkways photos went to Tere Deslippe (24 pts and 22.5 pts), Linda Pepper (23 pts x 2), Clark Warner (22.5 pts) and Jim Pollock (23 pts and 22.5 pts). Congratulations to all! You can review the top scoring shots on our Club Photos.

• Julie Faas took the spotlight in our What I Shoot feature.

Julie showed us her impressive collection of Floral images, augmented by her Landscape and Nature photos. She received many messages of high praise for her excellent work.

• Dave and Keith reviewed the “digital prints” that were sent in for display and discussion and once again we were treated to some very creative photos by our members. Our next print display will be held on April 26^th and we would love to see a couple of your favourite photos, any size, any subject. Kindly send them to Dave at dnoordhoff@cogeco.ca. Regular Club sizes of 1400 pixels wide / 1050 pixels tall are requested. If you don’t know how to size your photos, send them anyway and they will be resized for you.

• Our next ZOOM meeting will held on April 12^th when pro photographer Chad Barry will speak to us about “How To Critique a Photo”.

“The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong.” – Susan Meiselas

Lens Distortion in Photography: A Quick Guide

• Meeting host Julie Faas introduced our guest speaker, Kas Stone.

Kas gave a presentation called “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”, where she told us how she would go about titling a photo for public display by describing the visual content or meaning of a photograph. The Chatham Camera Club would like to thank Kas for her fascinating lecture. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. To see more of her beautiful photos, be sure to visit her website at KasStone.ca

• Our next Zoom meeting will be held on March 22^nd 2022

– Dave Noordhoff will discuss what lenses to use when shooting landscape photos.
– Julie Faas will be featured in What I Shoot
– We will review our March Photo Challenge results
– For our “digital print” segment, all members are asked to submit a photo of any subject for display and discussion.

“It’s an illusion that photos are made with the camera. They are made with the eye, heart and head.” – Henri Cartier Bresson

A Comprehensive Guide to Spherical Aberration.

• Meeting Co-ordinator Julie Faas introduced Keith Blackwell, who shared his thoughts on How To Take Better Black And White Photos.
For more on how to produce compelling black and white photographs, check out this YouTube video.

• Gavin Stuart was our featured photographer in this month’s segment of What I Shoot.

Gavin’s impressive collection of scenic, nature, and abstract photos should serve as inspiration to us all. Thanks Gavin. Your show was excellent!

The February Photo Challenge entries were reviewed with Cindy Taleski (23.5 and 22.5 pts), and Jeff Dease (23 pts), scoring top marks for the Novice Division’s Looking Through Windows category. The Intermediate, Senior and Salon groups’ Bridges photos provided high scores to Linda Pepper (24.5 pts), Mary Craig (24 and 22 pts), Jim Pollock (23 pts x 2), and Tere Deslippe, Carson Plant, Martha Gillier and Jana Smith, all with 22.5 pts. Congratulations to all who entered. Your images continue to impress. You can see the top scoring photos on our Club Photos page.

• Dave and Keith reviewed the digital prints that were sent in for display and discussion, and as always, we saw many excellent images taken by our members. The next digital print display will be held on March 22^nd and we would love to see a couple of your favorites, any size, any subject. Just e-mail them to Dave at dnoodhoff@cogeco.ca

• Our next meeting will be held on March 8^th when our guest speaker will be Kas Stone of KasStone.ca, whose topic will be “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”.

“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.” – Irving Penn

• Wendy McDonald asked us to kindly send in some photos for Chad Barry to discuss during his presentation on “How To Critique a Photo” on April 12th.
– Rename your images to include your name.
– Resize your images to our club sizing: 1400 x 1050 max for horizontal (landscape) and 1050 max x 1400 vertical (portrait)
– Forward your images to : ccc.picsubmissions@gmail.com with Chad Barry Critique as your Subject line.

• Meeting host Julie Faas introduced our featured presenter for the evening, Dave Noordhoff.

Dave showed us another of his comprehensive tutorials, this time on how to use Topaz Sharpen AI, Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Gigapixel. He reviewed the various settings for each of these excellent post processing programs and showed us how to use them effectively. The Club thanks Dave for his time and his talents. If you would like to try any of these products, visit the Topaz website.

For a quick review on what each of these programs can do, check out these videos.

Topaz Sharpen AI

Topaz DeNoise AI

Topaz Gigapixel

• Our next Zoom meeting will be held on February 22^nd 2022
– Keith Blackwell will teach us how to take better Black And White photos
– Gavin Stewart will be featured in What I Shoot
– We’ll review the February Photo Challenge Results
– Our “digital prints” will be displayed for all to enjoy. All members are invited to submit a photo of any subject for display and discussion to ccc.picsubmissions@gmail.com Regular Club sizes of 1400 pixels wide / 1050 pixels tall are requested. If you don’t know how to size your photos, send them anyway and they will be resized for you.

“Prizes and honours seldom stimulate creativity.” – Freeman Patterson

ZOOM Co-Ordinator Julie Faas welcomed everyone to our January 25^th meeting.

• Club members were treated to a slideshow by Herman Giethoorn.

Herman’s show featured a wide variety of birds, turtles, snakes, frogs and animals that he has photographed at Point Pelee. He also showed pictures of some of the Park’s points of interest, including streams, paths, beaches, the lookout tower and the DeLaurier House. Thanks Herman, we thoroughly enjoyed your presentation.

• Entries from our first CCC Photo Challenge of the new year were reviewed, with Stacy Arnold getting the high score of 22.5 pts in the Novice Division’s Lakes And Riverscapes category. Top marks in the Intermediate, Senior and Salon groups for Through A Window went to Mary Craig (23.5 pts and 22 pts), Jeff McDonald (22.5 pts), Tere Deslippe (22.5 pts), Barb Ferren (22.5 pts), Clarke Warner (22 pts), Bill Henry (22 pts) and Jana Smith (22 pts). You can see the top scoring photos on our Club Photos page.

• Bill Henry was featured in our What I Shoot segment.

Bill showed us an impressive collection of floral, abstract, scenic, nature, macro and lens ball photos. Thanks Bill. Your show was awesome!

• Dave and Keith reviewed the “digital prints” that were sent in for display and discussion. As always, we saw some wonderful pictures from all genres of photography. Our next “digital print” display will be held on February 22^nd and we would love to see a couple of yours, any size, any subject. Just e-mail them to Dave
at dnoordhoff@cogeco.ca using the regular club sizes. If anyone would like to see how Mary accomplished her fence removal in front of the caged lion, check out this YouTube video by Anthony Morganti.

• Our next meeting will be held on February 8^th when Dave Noordhoff will teach us how to use Topaz Software, Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, Gigipixal and Adobe Super Resolution

Photography is a language more universal than words.