• 47 members and 2 guests attended our first meeting of the 2018/2019 season.

• President Jim Pollock welcomed new members and guests to the 83^rd year of the Chatham Camera Club. The executive committee for current season was introduced.

• Rick McArthur gave a brief summary of his auditor’s report, in which he found The Clubs financial status to be in order.

• Tere Deslippe showed us how to self-critique our photos so that we may see our images as others might see them. For a review, see Tere’s Self Critique notes.

• Jim Pollock presented “Why Enter Our Monthly Photo Competitions” where he reminded the membership that our competitions are use to inspire us to move out of our comfort zone and photograph new and different things. He also gave us some guidelines on judging if we are asked to do so. Remember to not let your personal likes and dislikes enter into your scoring. How difficult an image was to capture, fancy borders and preferences for Black And White should not influence you.

• Jana Smith gave an excellent tutorial on How To Enter Our Photo Competitions. You can review her instructions by clicking this link to: CCC 2018/2019 Competition Themes.

• Mike Blazek and Carson Plant reviewed some of the excellent prints that were brought in for display. If you would like to show us a print of some of your favourite work, any size, any subject, your next chance will be on October 23^rd. We’d love to see what you’ve been shooting.

• The evening was capped by What I Shoot by Jean De Bruyn, where she showed us some of the beautiful bird photos that she has been able to capture from her backyard and while on vacation. Well done Jean! We loved your show.

• Rick McArthur shared a bad experience he had with a Black Rapid strap breaking at the connecting joint, causing his camera and lens to fall to the ground. Rick advised us to use caution if you use this type of strap.

• Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 9^th when our guest speaker will be Fine Art photographer Wayne Fisher. You won’t want to miss this one.

Never delete one photo from your camera card. Always format the card after you have downloaded your pictures onto your computer and backed them up on a separate drive. Deleting one picture could corrupt files on your card.

The best images are the ones that retain their strength and impact over the years, regardless of the number of times they are viewed.

What is a Stop?
The Common Currency of Exposure Explained

The complete schedule for the upcoming 2018 / 2019 season is now available on our Meeting Schedule page.

A good crowd of around two dozen Chatham Camera Club members gathered at the Erieau Marina to photograph the boats and some local models. Our thanks to Mary and Tere for coming up with the idea for this unique photo shoot. A special thanks goes out to Keith for setting this up and for his generous hospitality. We managed to dodge the storms and a good time was had by all. A few photos from the evening can be seen on our Club Photos page.

If you missed this event, we have one more in store at the Essex County Heritage Museum on Sunday, September 2nd. See the meeting schedule for details.

A group of about twenty photographers attended The Chatham Camera Club’s second Walk-About of the summer at the home of our friend, Chris Pidgeon. We were privileged to shoot a wonderful group of young people in various costumes in a variety of situations which provided us with unique photo-ops. Our thanks to Chris for her hospitality and to the models who were such a delight to work with. A few shots from the event have been added to our Club Photos page.

Our third and final get-together will be held in August and members will be notified by e-mail and the date and time will be posted on our Meeting Schedule page so that new and prospective members can join us.

Our first summer Walk-About for 2018 was held at the Buxton National Historic Site And Museum. Over two dozen Club members were in attendance to photograph this beautifully restored heritage site.

If you couldn’t make it to this event, our next get-together will be held on Tuesday, July 17th. See the Meeting Schedule page for details. Pictures of the Buxton outing are on our Club Photos page.

Here are next season’s competition themes.

October
Novice: Open Black & White
(any subject, black and white, not sepia)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: Streetscapes
(the visual elements of a street, including the road, adjoining buildings, sidewalks, street furniture, art, murals and installations, trees and open spaces that combine to form the street’s character)

November
Novice: Streetscapes
(the visual elements of a street, including the road, adjoining buildings, sidewalks, street furniture, art, murals and installations, trees and open spaces that combine to form the street’s character)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: Harvest
(agricultural harvest photos from any time of the year. The category may include related photos taken at the International Plowing Match)

January
Novice:Harvest
(agricultural harvest photos from any time of the year. The category may include related photos taken at the International Plowing Match)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: In the Rain
(Anything goes, as long as the photo involves rain.)

February
Novice: In the Rain
(Anything goes, as long as the photo involves rain.)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: Framed by Nature
(use nature/natural elements to create a photo that is naturally framed)

March
Novice: Framed by Nature
(use nature/natural elements to create a photo that is naturally framed)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: Interesting Furniture
(indoors or outdoors. May not include wall lights, sconces, ceiling fans, etc are not included unless they are part of an overall room shot, but they cannot be the central focus)

April
Novice: Interesting Furniture
(indoors or outdoors. May not include wall lights, sconces, ceiling fans, etc are not included unless they are part of an overall room shot, but they cannot be the central focus)

Intermediate, Advanced and Salon: Open
(anything goes)

The list of Summer Walk-Abouts has been added to our Meeting Schedule page.
These events are available to members and non-members alike at no charge, except for the July 17th shoot which is for members only.
For June 12 and August 14, please feel free to bring along family members and guests and enjoy an evening out with your Chatham Camera Club friends.

Our final meeting of the season was attended by 44 members .

• Club President Carson Plant thanked the outgoing executive for all that they have done for The Club over the past two seasons. A special thank-you went out to Patricia Kral, Mary Craig and Debbie Venn for preparing the coffee and snacks for our breaks.

• Incoming President Jim Pollock also thanked the former executive and assured the membership that the current executive is already planning new and challenging events for next season.

• Gavin Stuart announced this season’s CCC Photo Competition awards.

Novice Division
1st – Bill Henry
2nd – Wendy McDonald
3rd – Jeff McDonald

Intermediate Division
1st – Mary Craig
2nd – Reagan Smolders
3rd – Bob Miller

Advanced Division
1st – Tere Deslippe
2nd – Linda Pepper
3rd – Gavin Stuart

Salon Council
1st – Keith Blackwell
2nd – Jim Pollock
3rd – Carson Plant

Most Improved Photographer (according to last year’s vs this year’s scores)
Debby Venne

Best Photo Of The Year (as judged by the Windsor Camera Club)
Jim Pollock – My Canada

Maligne Lake, Alberta

Honourable Mentions (for scores of 23 or better)

Bill Henry – Give Me Space
Bill Henry – Give Me Space
Bill Henry – Things That Are Round
Bill Henry – Rusty
Butch Dompierre – Open Black and White
Carson Plant – Open Black and White
Catharine Dawson -Things That Are Round
Catharine Dawson – My Canada
David Barr – Rusty
Gavin Stuart – Open Black and White
Gavin Stuart – My Canada
Jana Smith – Give Me Space
Jana Smith – My Canada
Jean DeBruyn – Rusty
Jeff McDonald – Rack The Lens
Jim Pollock – Give Me Space
Jim Pollock – My Canada
Jim Pollock – My Canada
Jim Pollock – Rusty
John St Pierre – Things That Are Round
John St Pierre – Give Me Space
John St Pierre – My Canada
Julie Faas – Open
Julie Faas – Things That Are Round
Keith Blackwell – Rust
Keith Blackwell – My Canada
Keith Blackwell – Open Black and White
Keith Blackwell – Open Black and White
Keith-Blackwell – Rack The Lens
Laura Jasper – Rusty
Linda Pepper – Open Black and White
Linda Pepper – Canada
Margaret DeClerk – Things That Are Round
Margaret DeClerk – Rusty
Martha Gillier – Things That Are Round
Martha Gillier – Rusty
Paul Schmoldt – Give Me Space
Paul Schmoldt – Rusty
Paul Schmoldt – Rusty
Steven Taylor – Things That Are Round
Tere Deslippe – Things That Are Round
Tere Deslippe – Give Me Space
Tere Deslippe – Rusty
Tere Deslippe – Rusty
Wendy McDonald – My Canada
Wendy McDonald – Rack The Lens

Thanks to all who participated in the photo competitions this year. We hope it was a valuable learning experience and one which helped you grow as a photographer.

Pictures of the Awards Presentations are now available on our Club Photos page.

• Club officers for the 2018 – 2019 season were announced as:
– President: Jim Pollock
– Vice-Presidents: Ric Aarssen
– Treasurer: Julie Fass
– Secretary: Barb Ferren
– Executive Assistants: Tere Deslippe and Mary Craig
– Competition Managers: Helen Heath and Jana Smith
– Welcoming Manager: Catherine Dawson
– Facebook Page Co-ordinator: Kathryn Parent
– Website co-ordinator: Jim Pollock

• We will gather over the summer for three “Walk-Abouts” that will be announced by email and on our Meeting Schedule page in the near future.