52 members attended our April 28^th meeting.

• Club President Vince Gagnier reminded The Club of a photo-op on May 30^th when a gathering of Gray – Dort antique car enthusiasts will meet in front of the Chatham Cultural Center from noon until 2 PM.

• The Club is looking for a volunteer to audit our books. If you can help, please contact Vince at vgagnier@mnsi.net. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Treasurer Carson Plant for all of his hard work and dedication this year. His efforts are much appreciated.

• Elections Officer Chris Jorgensen is seeking nominations for next year’s executive, specifically Secretary and Executive Assistants. If you’d like to run for office or nominate someone, contact Chris at chrisj@mnsi.net

• Mike Blazek presented his much anticipated tutorial on
How to pose people for formal and informal portraits.

Using knowledge accumulated from his many years as a portrait photographer, Mike used two models to show Club members how to make our subjects look their very best in a variety of situations. Using a 6^ft umbrella, a 3^ft umbrella and a white paper backdrop, Mike showed us how to position people in slimming poses and where to place hands and arms so they stay in proportion. He also gave us the camera settings he uses for his studio work as f/11, 160/second, ISO 200, with a suggested lens of 40mm to 50mm for full length poses and 105mm to 135mm for head and shoulder shots. We want to thank Mike and his assistants, Sonya and Eric, for a presentation that we can all put to practical use with our own friends and families.

A brief recap of some group shot poses can be seen in these YouTube videos.

For more information, check out this web page on
12 Common Photography Posing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• The final entries for this season’s CCC photo competitions were judged, with the Novice group showing their Urban Decay shots and the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon members displaying their Open category photos. The scores will be revealed at our Elections And Awards Night on May 26^th.

• Club members were treated to Carson Plant’s slideshow of the pictures he took in Newfoundland last Summer. The beautiful lighthouses, coastlines, boats and scenery made many of us wish we could take similar vacation to The Rock very soon. We all enjoyed the show very much, or as they say in Newfoundland: She was some pretty. We were havin’ a time, eh, b’y?

When people ask what is the best equipment to use, tell them “Your eyes.”

As a photographer, you must learn to embrace light in all its forms, not just when it is gloriously epic.

 

52 members and 6 guests attended our April 14^th meeting.

• President Vince Gagnier congratulated Club member Herman Giethoorn for his successful Ontario Nature photography show in Sarnia.

• We were reminded of the upcoming CCC Brunch on Saturday, May 23^rd from 12 until 2 at Smitty’s Restaurant in Chatham. If you plan on going, kindly let Vince know.

• Paul Schmoldt announced the results of the most recent CAPA competitions:
– For the OPEN competition, the CCC finished 12^th out of 24 clubs.
– In the NATURE competition we placed 18^th out of 22 clubs.
– The LIGHT competition saw The Chatham Camera Club finish 15^th out of 24 clubs.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

• In what has become a nearly annual event, professional photographer Don Martel visited The Club and presented his program on Visual Design. Don gave us advice on what to think about before you push the shutter button. He went on to discuss the benefits of different metering modes and the types of light we may encounter during any time of day. In conclusion, we were treated to some of his photographs from a recent trip to Africa. For those who would like to learn more, you are invited to attend Don’s workshop in London on May 9^th. For more details, visit www.DonMartel.com.

The Chatham Camera Club wishes to thank Don and Evelyn Symons for their visit and we look forward to seeing them again in the near future.

• There were several excellent prints set up for viewing along the meeting room walls. We encourage all of our members to show the rest of The Club what you’ve been shooting by bringing in a print, any size, any theme, for display and discussion. Your last chance to do so during the 2014 – 2015 season will be on May 12^th. Don’t be shy. Show us what ya got.

• Our next meeting is April 28^th when Mike Blazek presents: How To Pose People For Formal And Informal Portraits and Dave Noordhoff will discuss the results of his Tech Challenge #3: Image Stabilization. In our final competition of the season, the Novice members will show their Urban Decay pictures while the Intermediate, Senior and Salon shooters will compete in the Open category.

Behind every successful photograph lies a string of failures.

Retaining control of the exposure by way of controlling ISO, aperture and shutter speed is what separates a snapshot from a photograph.

Our featured photographer for April is Dave Stewart.

Since taking up photography in the Spring of 2013, Dave’s natural artistic skills and his vivid imagination have enabled him to capture images from unique and interesting perspectives. The back yard of his rural home is filled with beautiful gardens that provide many opportunities for Nature and Wildlife photos. A businessman and painter by trade, Dave and his wife Joyce own and operate The Healthy Habit, which offers nutritional supplements and natural products. Have a peek at some of Dave’s outstanding work on our Photo In Focus page.

48 members and 4 guests attended our March 24th meeting.

• President Vince Gagnier informed us that our own Herman Geithoorn will be presenting a show called Ontario Nature Photography at the Sarnia Library Theatre on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend.

• In a return visit to The CCC, our guest speaker, Stan Buell showed The Club his captivating pictures of Galapagos and Africa in a thoroughly entertaining slideshow. His amazing underwater shots of fish, plant life, turtles and birds were interspersed with video clips of encounters with different varieties of sharks. Stan’s African pictures featured images of fascinating and often dangerous wild life along with native people and beautiful sunsets. Following the program, Vince Gagnier presented Stan with a pair of CCC coffee mugs along with our sincere thanks for an outstanding presentation.

•  In this month’s CCC Competition, Intermediate / Advanced and Salon members showed their shots of Urban Decay.
Mike Blazek, Tere Deslippe, John St. Pierre, Jean DeBruyn and Carson Plant obtained the top scores.

The Novices showed their fine efforts to capture People Outdoors.
High marks were awarded to Margaret DeKlerk, Regan Smoulders, Steven Taylor, Wendy Beasley, Jana Smith, Glen Spooner and Bob Miller.

• The evening’s final segment featured Frank Vadovic’s slideshow from last Fall’s annual trip to Algonquin Park. Contributing to the pictures were Chad Barry, Carson Plant, Mike Blazek, Vince Gagnier, Clarke Warner, Keith Blackwell, Dennis Warwick.

• Our next meeting is April 14 when professional photographer and long-time friend of The Club, Don Martel will be our guest speaker.  Members are encouraged to bring in a print of any subject, any size, for display, however, because of time constraints, these photos will not be discussed, critiqued or otherwise dissected.

• Just a reminder that there is a good selection of used cameras, lenses and accessories for sale on our Buy / Sell page.

Learning how to take photos is easy. Learning how to take great photos is considerably more difficult.

Waiting is a much under-rated photographic skill. Be patient, watch what happens and be ready when it does.

38 members and 1 guest attended our March 10^th meeting.

• Club President Vince Gagnier reminded us of a get-together at Smitty’s Restaurant on Saturday, May 21^st, from 12 ’til 2. If you plan on going, kindly let Vince know.

• The Club’s planning committee is currently looking for suggestions for this Summer’s Walk-Abouts. If you have an idea for an interesting place the group could go to take pictures, send Vince an e-mail at: vgagnier@mnsi.net

• Dave Noordhoff presented his Technical Challenge on Image Stabilization.
The challenge involves assignments in which participants will investigate how forms of optical stabilization help keep their images sharper, how well they can do without it, and techniques to at least partially remedy camera shake.
For a review of the presentation, download Dave’s Notes.

• Competition Manager Gavin Stuart reminded us about our next CCC Competition on March 24^th.

– Novice – People Outdoors (must be taken outside, flash is allowed)
2 entries per member

– Intermediate / Advanced and Salon – Urban Decay
(Deteriorating structures in a town or city setting. No barns or farm buildings)
2 entries per member
All entries should be sized 1400 pixels Horizontal, 1050 pixels Vertical Maximum for ultimate projection impact – jpg format. Image may be smaller.
Submit CCC entries to Gavin Stuart at gcstuart@mnsi.net
by Friday March 13 – 8 PM

• Carson Plant and Shannon L’Ecuyer reviewed some of the excellent prints that were brought in for display and made several favourable comments. Remember, we’d love to see some of your favourite work. Any size, any subject is more than welcome. Your next opportunity will be on April 14^th. Don’t be shy. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

• Paul Schmoldt announced the results of the off-site judging for the latest CAPA competitions. Pictures chosen for the Open category were taken by Reagan Smolders, Carson Plant, Chad Barry, Gavin Stuart, Paul Schmoldt and Jim Pollock. Images chosen to represent The Club in the Nature category were submitted by Butch Dompierre, Carson Plant, Dave Stewart, Margaret Manson, Patricia Kral and Jim Pollock.

• Vince Gagnier showed us his amazing time lapse photos and explained how he went about capturing them. Watching a series of photos showing how a butterfly hatches was truly fascinating. Thanks Vince for a job well done.

• Our next meeting will be held on March 24^th when our guest speaker will be Stan Buell whose topic will be Galapagos and Africa. Don’t miss this one!

The camera is just a tool. It is not responsible for the picture.

Some Digital Camera History
1969 – George Smith and Willard Boyle invented the charge-coupled device (CCD), the image sensor that’s the heart of all digital cameras, at Bell Labs.

1975 – Smith and Boyle demonstrated the first CCD camera with image quality sharp enough for broadcast television.

1981 – Sony introduces the Pro Mavica, the first commercial electronic still camera which recorded images as magnetic impulses on a compact two-inch still-video floppy disk.

1986 – Kodak scientists invented the world’s first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels that could produce a 5×7-inch digital photo-quality print.

1987 – The first issue of Electronic Photography News is published.

1990 – Logitech came out with the Dycam Model 1 black-and-white digicam, the world’s first completely digital consumer camera.

1990 – Adobe introduced Photoshop 1.0

1994 – Kodak releases a 1 MB compact flash card.

1994 – Apple markets the QuickTake 100 camera, the first digital camera for the consumer-level market that worked with a home computer via a serial cable.

1995 – Canon introduces the EF 75-300mm F4-5.6 IS lens, the first lens with image stabilization.

1999 – Nikon’s D1 becomes the first digital SLR. It had a 2.74 megapixel sensor and sold for $6000.

2000 – Canon released the EOS D30 with a 3.25 megapixel CMOS image sensor.

2004 – Canon markets their first “full frame” DSLR, the 1Ds II that featured 16.7 megapixels.

2006 – Nikon discontinued most of its film cameras and manual focus lenses. Canon follows suit shortly after.

2007 – Nikon introduces their first “full frame” DSLR, the D3. It has a 12 megapixel sensor.

2008 – The Nikon D90 became the first DSLR camera to record video.

2012 – Nikon debuts their 36 megapixel D-800 camera.

2015 – Canon announces their 50.6 MP cameras, the 5DS and 5DS R.

Our featured photographer this month is Helen Heath.

Helen is the “unofficial photographer” for the Chatham Maroons Junior B Hockey Club, where shooting is a challenge due to the safety netting and well-worn glass around the Memorial Arena. She also enjoys taking candid shots and street photography. Most of her time is taken up by her full-time position with the Chatham-Kent United Way and a busy family life. Although she claims to be “still finding her stride”, Helen continually turns out quality photos, a few of which you can see on our Photo In Focus page.

Our February 24^th meeting brought out 42 members and 1 guest.

• President Vince Gagnier reminded us of the upcoming photo-ops being offered by other area camera clubs. CCC members were notified of these events by e-mail.

• Club members Chad Barry and Dave Noordhoff were chosen to test and review a pair of photographer’s gloves called Heat 3 Smart Gloves for Outdoor Photography Canada magazine. For those serious shooters who don’t let a little thing like Winter stop them, be sure to read Chad and Dave’s review.

• Dave Noordhoff’s Tech Talk featured a tutorial about
Flash Synchronization and High Speed Flash
You can see a brief summery of Dave’s lesson in this YouTube video

• Our February CCC Competition featured the Novice group’s Wheels shots,
with Reagan Smolders (24), Steven Taylor (23), Debby Venne (22), Jacquline Gruszka (22) Diane Donkers (21), Barb Ferren (21), Mary Craig (21), Bob Miller (21) and Margaret DeKlerk (21) achieving the highest scores.

• The Intermediate / Advanced and Salon shooters showed their People Outdoors photos, with Lori Cooper (24), Larry Kearns (24 & 23), Butch Dompierre (24), Frank Vadovic (23), Melanie Denis (23), Chad Barry (23), Keith Blackwell (23), Carson Plant (23) and Jim Pollock (23) scoring the top marks.

• Our next meeting is on March 10th when Dave Noordhoff will present his Technical Challenge on Image Stabilization. You are also encouraged to bring in a print for display, any size any subject.

Creative photographers don’t wait around for better weather. Bundle up and take full advantage of this time of year.

When changing the flash power, it’s important to remember that you are not actually altering the amount of light a flash emits. The light burst a flash fires is constant. When reducing your flash power, you are actually just changing the duration of time of bursts of light the flash emits. So, increasing your flash’s power means you’re making the flash stay lit just a bit longer.

44 members and 2 guests attended our February 10th meeting.

• Paul Schmoldt and Herman Giethoorn presented the results of our latest CAPA entries in the Altered Reality category. Despite submitting some quality images, The Chatham Camera Club finished a disappointing 19th out of 23 clubs. We’re sure to improve on that result with our Open and Wildlife Nature entries which are due to be sent to Paul at
Viking@mnsi.net by Friday, February 20^th at 8 PM. If you have some good images that fit these categories, now is the time to participate.

• Bill Godfrey was our featured photographer in What I Shoot.

Known to his Camera Club friends as “The Master Of Black And White”, Bill’s excellent presentation proved that he excels in much more than just monochrome images. Combining long lenses and a canvas blind has enabled him to capture some of the best warbler and water fowl shots that we’ve seen in The Club. Bill also puts his superior composition skills to good use to get what are truly inspiring shots of the U.S. and Canadian coast lines. Bill’s beautiful slideshow gave us fresh incentive and heightened our anticipation of Spring so that we may try to emulate his exemplary work. Thanks Bill, for a job well done.

• Dave Noordhoff investigated Noise Characteristics Of Your Camera.

Dave showed us the effects that different ISO settings have on an image. If you would like a copy of Dave’s PDF, simply send him an e-mail at
Max.at.gppa@gmail.com

• Gavin Stuart and Dave Noordhoff reviewed several of the prints that were brought in for display and asked the makers how they went about capturing their images. If you would like to show your friends at The Club some of your favourite pictures, your next opportunity will be on March 10^th. Remember, you are welcome to bring in any size print of any subject.

Always focus on the photographs you will take in the future and forgive yourself past errors.

When photographing a lot of people, someone is almost always bound to be blinking or striking a strange pose. The more people in your photo, the more photos you should make to ensure good results.