Our final meeting of 2013 was attended by 61 members and 8 guests. The Club has now grown to 84 paid-up members.
President Dave Noordhoff announced that the CAPA Nature and Open entries for February 25th will be judged off-site instead of at the meeting. CAPA, the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts, is an organization that promotes the art and science of photography in all its forms throughout Canada. As a member of CAPA, The Chatham Camera Club participates in their Canada-wide photo competitions and we encourage all of our members to submit their work and enjoy the contests as a great learning experience. The next competition category is Altered Reality, to be submitted to Paul Schmoldt at viking@mnsi.net by 8 PM, Friday, January 10th, 2014. This category allows you to manipulate your own photographs using post-processing software to create surreal images, abstract, impressionistic and experimental effects using montages, collages, composites, or any other techniques. There is no limit to what you can do.
CAPA representative Bill Hall of Woodstock was on hand to present a 5th place certificate for our submissions to CAPA’s Fall Digital Nature Club Competition. A total of 31 Clubs participated. In presenting the award to Chad Berry, Mr. Hall complimented the images he found on the CCC website and reminded us that we collected just two fewer points in the last contest than The London Camera Club, which has more than twice our membership. You can see the certificate and the entries that enabled us to win it on our Club Photos page.
Keith Blackwell and Dave Noordhoff reviewed their Exposure / Contrast exercise, which demonstrated the differences in under and over exposing a shot in-camera, as well as the effects achieved in adjusting the contrast in post processing. We wish to thank Keith and Dave for putting this excellent learning opportunity together and encourage all Club members to participate in the next lesson, Effects of Different Focal Length Lens Settings, which will be explained at our January 14th meeting. Remember, you only get as much out of this club as you put into it. If you came here to learn, now is your chance.
Our displayed prints were reviewed by The Earl Of Ink, Les McCracken, with several shots receiving high praise. Some of our members mounted their shots on cardboard which was donated by Maple Art Gallery in Chatham. If you would like to have a couple of these sheets, drop in and see Ken at 554 St. Clair St. in Chatham. There will be no charge to CCC members. Different ways of mounting the print to the cardboard are still being discussed, with some members reporting difficulty using Scotch brand re-usable tabs.
Judging was held for our Novice group’s Night shots, which saw Chad Barry given two scores of 24, while John Rehner achieved a 23 and Mike Moynihan received a 22.
The Intermediate / Advanced members competed in an Open category, where Keith Blackwell led the way with a 24 point entry, Carson Plant, Frank Vadovic and Jim Pollock were all awarded two scores of 23, while Kathryn Parent, Dave Paddick and Mike Blazek also scored a 23. You can see the top scoring shots on our Club Photos page.
Dave Summerfield was our featured photographer in What I Shoot, where he showcased his excellent work in a beautifully assembled slideshow. Congratulations Dave on a job well done!
Due to the upcoming holidays, our next meeting will be held on January 14th, 2014, when we will judge our CAPA Altered Reality shots and display our favourite prints.
Eventually, the initial thrill of using a camera begins to wear off
in exchange for the thrill of creating great images.
