• After a six week hiatus, 55 members and 3 guests gathered for our first meeting of 2018.

• President Carson Plant welcomed our guest speaker, James Cowie of PhotoTourTrekkers.com who presented a program called The Art Of Observation.

After showing the photos that he and some of the members of his tour group captured in the American South-West, James spoke about how we can improve our powers of observation by showing examples of these steps.
– Keeping it simple.
– Frame the shot in your mind.
– Step outside of your comfort zone.
– Study some of the great names in photography.
– Don’t worry about what others say about your work.

James concluded his portion of the evening by showing more of the outstanding pictures he and his groups have taken in their travels around the world. The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank James for his excellent show and for making the trip from London to Chatham in less than ideal conditions.

• Our next meeting will be held on January 23^rd when
– Mike Blazek and Carson Plant will show the Novice members how to Rack The Lens in preparation for our Zoom Burst competition.
– We’ll have a Used Equipment Buy And Sell period. (Bring in the stuff you don’t use anymore. It may be just what others are looking for.)
– Jeff McDonald will be featured in What I Shoot.
– We’ll review the results of our latest CCC Photo Competition
* Novice – My Canada
(open to anything you feel means / represents Canada to you)
* Intermediate, Advanced, Salon – Rack The Lens
(this topic requires you to take a picture with a zoom lens and adjust the zoom mid picture, while the shutter is open. See This YouTube Video for examples.

Note: Competition photos are to be submitted to Gavin Stuart at: gcstuarts@yahoo.ca by Midnight, Sunday, January 14th

– Print Display. We invite all of our members to bring in a print of any size, any subject, to be viewed before the meeting begins and during the break

“Embrace your failures and understand that they are your path to better photography.” – Joe McNally

As our nasty Winter weather continues, we’ll take a look at
How To Shoot Winter Sports

Our first featured photographer of the new year is Theresa St. Pierre.

To learn about Theresa’s photographic interests and skills, see our Photo In Focus page.

Our December 12th meeting had to be canceled as for the second time in just over two years Club members were locked out of our usual gathering place. The activities planned for the evening have been rescheduled for January 23rd, 2018. Our apologies to the fifty people who braved the snowy roads to attend the meeting. Club executives are currently seeking a remedy to the situation.

• For those who have yet to prepare their images for the January 23rd competition, Rack The Lens, this YouTube video may be of some help.

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• Due to the Christmas break, our next meeting with be held on January 9^th when our guest speaker will be pro photographer and Photo Trekkers host James Cowie who will speak to us about The Art Of Observation.

It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get.

With family and friends visiting over the holidays, now is the time to capture
The Perfect Family Portrait

This month, Photo In Focus highlights Keith Chandler.

To see what kind of photography Keith excels at, check out our Photo In Focus page.

Our November 28^th meeting brought out 57 members and 1 guest.

• John St. Pierre presented a tutorial on Infrared Photography. Starting off with examples from the internet, John explained that these types of photos can be achieved by putting infrared filters on your existing lenses, using Photoshop or Elements to simulate the effect, or having an old camera converted to shoot infrared only. To have a conversion done, John directed us to the website www.lifepixel.com. He capped off his presentation by showing his own infrared photos which are bound to inspire some of us to try this unique and fascinating area of photography. Thanks John! We really enjoyed your demonstration.

For more information, check out these YouTube videos on
The Easy Guide To Infrared Photography.

How To Fake Infrared In Photoshop

• David Barr’s work was highlighted in What I Shoot, where he showed us his excellent collection of macro and nature photos that featured insects, small animals and birds of every description. Well done David. Your work is first class!

• Scores from our second CCC Photo Competition of this season were announced, with Catherine Dawson (23.5 pts), Bill Henry (23 pts), Margaret DeClerk (23 pts) and Julie Fass (23 pts) receiving top marks in the Novice Division for Things That Are Round, while Keith Blackwell (25 pts), Jim Pollock (25 pts), Linda Pepper (24 pts), Gavin Stuart (23 pts) and John St. Pierre (23 pts) had the highest scores in the Salon, Advanced and Intermediate groups who competed in the My Canada category. You can review the top scoring shots on our Club Photos page.

• Thanks to all of those who brought in a print for the rest of us to admire and discuss. The talent and diversified interests of our Club members never fails to impress. Our next print display will be held next January 23^rd.

• Our next meeting will be held on December 12^th when Mike Blazek and Carson Plant will show us how to Rack The Lens in preparation for our Zoom Burst competition. We will also be having a Buy/Sell event where members can offer their surplus camera gear for sale. If there’s some photo equipment you no longer need, now is the time to let the rest of us know about it.

If a great image relies on Photoshop,
maybe it wasn’t all that great to begin with.

As the temperature drops, it’s a good time to review
How to Take Care of Your Camera in Cold Weather

Our November 14^th meeting was attended by 56 members and 1 guest.

• After welcoming those assembled, President Carson Plant introduced our guest speaker, 11 Star Master Photographer Juraj Dolanski.

Starting off with an audio/visual show called Frozen Art, Juraj showed us how to create fascinating works of art by photographing frost on a pane of glass. He then went on to demonstrate how he uses close-up filters, reversing lenses, bellows and macro lenses to capture his excellent images. His hands-on demonstrations gave us a brief introduction into the world of Macro photography and taught us some new methods to try out during the long, cold winter. The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank Mr. Dolanski for sharing his time and talent and for making the journey from Hamilton to Chatham. For a review of Juraj’s program, see his Holy Macro Summary.

For more, check out Tony Northrup’s YouTube video on
Macro and Close-up photography

• Our next meeting will be held on November 28^th when two of The Club’s most accomplished photographers will be featured. John St. Pierre will present a tutorial on Infrared Photography and David Barr’s photographs will be highlighted in our What I Shoot segment.

• We invite all of our members to bring in a print of any size, any subject, to be viewed before the meeting begins and during the break. C’mon, we know you have a photo you’d just love to show us. Now is your chance.

To consult the rules of composition before making a picture
is a little like consulting the law of gravity before going for a walk.

For better Macro photos, have a look at this article on
Maximizing Depth of Field Without Diffraction

November’s subject for Photo In Focus is Catherine Dawson.

To learn more about Catherine and her photographic journey be sure to see our
Photo In Focus page.

Our October 24^th meeting brought out 62 members and 2 guests.

• President Carson Plant reminded everyone that the proper e-mail address to use when submitting CCC competition photos is gcstuarts@yahoo.ca (There’s an extra “s” at the end of Gavin’s name.)

• Carson announced that the auditor’s report from Dave Noordhoff found that our financial statement, as provided by Treasurer Reagan Smolders, is correct.

• Carson Plant introduced our Guest Speaker, Adam Harpula who presented his tutorial on Posing And Lighting. Adam gave us some tips on how to get our subjects to relax in front of the camera, general posing techniques, as well as off camera lighting, both with flash and continuous lights. Great job, Adam! We all learned something valuable tonight.

For more on posing people, check out this YouTube video.

• Mary Craig was front and center in our What I Shoot segment, which featured her excellent nature, still life, architecture, scenic, floral and people photographs. Thanks Mary! We enjoyed your show.

• The results from our first CCC Photo Competition were revealed, with Julie Faas, (22.5 pts), Jana Smith (two scores of 22 pts), and Bill Henry (22 pts) leading the way in the Novice Division, while Steven Taylor (24 pts), Tere Deslippe (24 pts) and Martha Gillier (24 pts) had the top scores in the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon groups. You can see the top scoring shots of the night on our Club Photos page.

• A nice variety of prints were on hand for all to view and admire. Your participation is much appreciated and we encourage everyone to take part. The next print display will be on November 28^th.

• Several new items have been added to our Buy/Sell page. Check out some of the bargains offered on good, used equipment available from your fellow Club members.

• Our next meeting will be held on November 14^th when our Guest Speaker will be Master Photographer Juraj Dolanjski who will give us an insight into Macro Photography.

The size of the watermark-signature on a picture is usually
inversely proportional to the talent of the photographer.

Check out this article on
How To Pose People For Group Portraits