• 54 people, including 1 new member attended our November 24^th meeting.

• President Vince Gagnier reminded us that Dave Noordhoff would like the members to send him some pictures that would be shown on-screen during our breaks. The rest of us would love to see what you’ve been shooting lately. Just e-mail a half dozen or so to Dave at dnoordhoff@cogeco.ca
Remember: This is your club. It can’t function without your participation.

• Chad Barry presented his slideshow Travel To Olympic National Park which featured his beautiful images from a recent trip to Washington State.
Chad also shared his advice on How Not To Get Your Camera Gear Stolen, where he offered some tips on how to avoid his own unfortunate experience.

• The results from our latest photo competition were displayed, with the Novices showing us how they made interesting images out of Flowers. The top scores were Jana Smith (23), Glen Spooner (22), Barb Ferren (22), Mary Ellen Plouffe (22) and Bob Miller (22).

Sill Life / Table Top was the category for the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon members, with high marks going to Mike Blazek (23) and John St Pierre (21).

• Bob Miller was featured in our What I Shoot segment, where he showed The Club a collection of his scenic, nature, people and travel images. Well done Bob! We enjoyed your work.

• Our Twelve Photos In A Year Is A Great Crop feature continued with John St. Pierre displaying his excellent slideshow of Minimalist Photos. John showed us that concentrating on a few essential elements and casting unnecessary things aside can produce some outstanding images. Check out these other examples of Minimalist Photography.

• Our final meeting of this calendar year will be held December 8^th when our guest speaker will be Michigan area nature photographer Dale Vronch
This will be a Toonie Tuesday where we ask those in attendance to contribute $2 to help offset our extra expense.

Once again, 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. We recall the wise words of our own Les McCracken who is fond of saying, “It’s not a picture until it’s printed.” So take a minute and bring in a printed image. I’ll show ya mine if you show me yours.

If you want people to not like one of your photographs, show them two.

A good flashlight often helps focus on close-up objects in dim light. Some cameras have flash assist or focus assist, but these usually don’t help when focusing manually.

• 56 people, including 3 visitors and 3 new members attended our meeting.

• President Vince Gagnier cautioned Facebook users against posting the pictures that they plan on using in a CCC competition. If someone who is going to be a judge sees them, the pictures many not have a much impact as they would if they were being seen for the first time.

Vince also reminded us to check out the Buy / Sell section of the CCC website, where there are always good deals to be had from people you know.

• Our guest speaker was Antony Chodas from Camera Canada in London.
Antony discussed the progression in size of digital camera sensors and how many megapixels we really need to make the common sizes of prints. He also showed us some of the latest trends in photography equipment, including underwater cameras, mirrorless cameras, 360⁰ cameras, ultra-wide and ultra-zoom lenses and instant print systems.

The Chatham Camera Club would like to thank Antony for making the trip from London to Chatham to give his highly informative and entertaining presentation. We encourage all of our members who are in the market for photo equipment to visit CameraCanada.com or their store at 217 Dundas Street in London.

• Herman Giethoorn presented his tutorial on Macro Photography where he showed us different methods of achieving up-close photographs, including Close-Up Filters, Focusing Rails, Bellows, Ring Flashes and Macro Lenses. We were also treated to a slideshow of some of Herman’s excellent Macro pictures. Nice job Herman! Thanks a lot.

• A handful of members brought in prints for display and conversation. We would love to see more people take advantage of the opportunity to show some of your work in a non-competitive environment. Any size, any subject is more than welcome. Print services are available from Wal-Mart and Shoppers Drug Mart on St. Clair St.

• Our next meeting will be on November 24^th when our own Chad Barry will present Travel To Olympic National Park and
How Not To Get Your Camera Gear Stolen.

The results from our latest photo competition will be displayed, with the Novices entering Flowers and the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon groups submitting Sill Life / Table Top.

Beauty can be seen in all things. Seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the photograph from the snapshot.

Dedicated macro lenses are usually prime lenses with the ability to focus very close to the subject. Though most prime lenses can also perform well at infinity, they are optimized for close range work and are used for rendering small objects very large in the frame.

This month, The Chatham Camera Club features the work of Mary Craig.

For a brief bio and a small sample of her portfolio,
see our Photo In Focus page.

• 61 people, including 4 visitors and 3 new members attended our meeting.

• President Vince Gagnier led the entire membership in thanking our retired Welcoming Manager, Margaret Chrysler, for her many years of dedicated service to The Club.

• Vince reminded all of those who enter our Club competitions that their images need to be sized no wider than 1400 pixels and no higher than 1050 pixels. As a review, you can check out our notes on Instructions For Submitting Photos For Competitions.

• Competition Manager Gavin Stuart showed the results of our latest photo competition, which featured several excellent images from each division. High marks in the Novice group in an Open category were given to Paul Chettleburgh (22pts), Wendy Beasley (22 pts) and Mary Craig (22 pts). The high scores in the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon groups for their Flowers shots went to John St. Pierre (25 pts), Lorrie Cooper (24 pts), Steven Taylor (24 pts), Gavin Stuart (24 pts) and Jim Pollock (24 pts). Several others in all divisions had high marks as well. Congratulations to all who entered for a job well done. Our next competition is due Friday, November 13^th at 8 PM with the Novices doing Flowers and the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon members creating Still Life / Table Top.

• Tere Deslippe was featured in our What I Shoot segment, where she showed us a brief sample of her portfolio. Her unique crops and compositions, coupled with tasteful post processing, have produced a series of excellent nature, scenic, portrait and table top photos that impressed the entire audience. Well done Tere! Her slideshow was created in a free program called FastStone, available at www.FastStone.org.

• Carson Plant was our first member to present 12 Photos In A Year Is A Great Crop, a phrase first coined by famed photographer Ansel Adams. Carson showed us a dozen of his favourite images that he has taken recently, proving that it takes great attention to detail to capture an average of one great photo per month. As always, great job Carson! You never fail to impress.

• Dave Noordhoff continued his series of Tech Tips by explaining how to read a Histogram. Dave’s enlightening tutorial was much appreciated by many of our members who brought their cameras to the meeting so they could follow along. As a review, you can view or download a copy of Dave’s Presentation. You don’t need to log in, just give it a few seconds to load. You can also see the YouTube video below.

• Our next meeting will be on November 10^th when our guest speaker will be Anthony Chodas from Camera Canada and Herman Giethoorn will present his tutorial on Macro Photography. We’ll also feature another print display, so if you have a printed shot you’d like to share with the other members, we’d love to see it.

Nobody takes a picture of something they want to forget.

A wide-angle lens provides a wider angle of view than what you can see with your own eyes. On a full-frame or film camera that’s any focal length wider than about 40mm. On an APS-C camera that’s focal lengths wider than around 25mm.

Our meeting was attended by 70 people, including 11 guests and 9 new memebers.

• President Vince Gagnier announced that Margaret Chrysler is retiring from her position as The Club’s Welcoming Manager. A special thanks goes out to Margaret for her many years of not only welcoming new members and guests, but also for making sure we all had our CCC name badges on. Her smiling face and kind demeanor will be greatly missed. In her absence, Kathy Gagnier has agreed to fill the void, at least on an interim basis.

• Congratulations to Barb Ferren for having one of her photos included for the 2016 C-K Today calendar.

• Toronto area photographer Sean Howard presented his tutorial on Photographic Fine Art. After his entertaining story about his long road to professional photography, Sean detailed his technique for printing his photos on wood. You can follow Sean on his Podcast, newsletter and Blog as well as downloading his free book at www.SeanHoward.ca

• Several members brought in prints that were displayed before the meeting and during the break. Everyone is invited to participate at the next opportunity on November 10^th. Any size, any subject is more than welcome. Show the rest of us what you’ve been shooting.

• Our next meeting will be on October 27^th when Dave Noordhoff will explain the Depth Of Field Preview Button and the Histogram. Tere Deslippe will be showcased in our What I Shoot segment and Carson Plant will present Twelve Photos In A Year Is A Great Crop. We’ll also have our first Photo Competition of the season which with feature entries by the Novice group in an Open category and Flowers from the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon members.

Take pictures to express, not impress.

Assemble a lightweight, easy to use photography kit to take on less serious outings. Spontaneous, simple photography can make an old interest fun again.

Our first featured photographer this season is Doug Cooper.

Be sure to check out our Photo In Focus page to learn more.

If you’re looking for a reason to get out and shoot some pictures, have a look at
40 Of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken.

Tuesday September 22^nd

59 members and 11 guests kicked off the Chatham Camera Club’s 81^st year of operation.

• President Vince Gagnier announced that for this year the executive has decided to forego our membership in CAPA, (Canadian Association for Photographic Art) in favour of joining PSA (Photographic Society of America). More information on The Club’s interaction with this organization will come in the following months.

• Keith Blackwell showed The Club a new line of CCC embroidered shirts, hats, hoodies and jackets.

In case you didn’t get one, you can print your own Order Form by following this link and clicking the “Print” icon at the top of the page.

If you have further questions, you can e-mail Keith at keithblackwell@explornet.ca
Special thanks to Keith for co-ordinating this great project.

• Dave Noordhoff explained the contents of the new CCC Members Handbook.
Follow the link to the CCC Member’s Handbook to view or print if you wish.

• Jim Pollock presented “Why Enter CCC Contests?” in which he addressed some member’s reasons for not participating in our monthly photo challenge. Everyone is encouraged to enter, not to see who is the best photographer, but to move out of your comfort zone and into new areas of photography you may not have explored before. This year’s categories are Flowers, Still Life, Cityscape, Open (in colour), Fill The Frame and Open (in black and white). Check the meeting schedule page for details and dates for your division.

• Our Competition Manager, Gavin Stuart, reviewed the final 2014 – 2015 season competition results.

• The Club was treated to Frank Vadovic’s slideshow of member’s photos from this Summer’s Walk-Abouts. As always, great job Frank!

• Our next meeting on October 13^th will feature Toronto area photographer Sean Howard and his tutorial on Photographic Fine Art. Visit his website at www.SeanHoward.ca

• We will also feature our first Print Display of the season where you are encouraged to bring in a print of any size, any subject, to be viewed before the meeting begins and during the break.

There will always be some people who criticize your photos. Ignore those who try to rain on your parade just because they don’t have a parade.

Dirty filters will not only blur photographs, but will also transfer dirt to the lenses you screw them onto. Clean your filters and any cases you store them in whenever you clean the rest of your camera gear.