It has been a busy month, competition wise for the SRPS. We held our monthly competition February 13th, and N4C held their annual awards banquet this past Sunday to announce the annual awards. We have a very talented group of photographers in our club. I was very happy to attend the banquet along with Jennifer Marano and her husband Alan, Liz Lawson, Trisha and Joel Brown and Betsy and Gary Waters. I am listing the major awards below and I am attaching the complete list of projected images from N4C.
N4C Annual Awards:
Tamara Krautkramer won Best in Show, Journalism with her Pilgrim images and Betsy Waters won Best in Show, Nature for her Egrets images. Herb Gaidus won a 1st place for his Cellular Absorption image in Monochrome, and Jennifer Marano won a 1st for her Cowgirl images in Journalism. There were many other winning images from our members so please make sure to see all the winners in the attachment at the end of this email.
At our last competition the 1st place winners were:
Creative: B- Pat Carlson, A-Steve Gibbs, AA-Mike Funk, M-Terry Connelly
I hope you are planning to attend our Journalism program Thursday evening. It is being presented by Adrian Mendoza. I don’t know about you, but Journalism is not one of my strong suits, so I am hoping to up my skills in this category of our competitions. Speaking of programs, we will have some excellent programs this year as our Master candidates do their presentations as part of their journey to the Master level. Keep your eyes open for announcements regarding these presentations.
The Board will be meeting March 5th at the LBAGC to discuss a number of issues including our website and incorporating the Forum Steve Ruddy has been working on. There is a lot if interest in this, so I am looking forward to getting the bugs worked out so we can all utilize this valuable tool. If you have an item you would like the Board to discuss, please attend or let me know and I will bring it up for you.
Don’t forget to check the list of field trips Trisha sent out recently, and if you would sign up to lead a trip that will be greatly appreciated. I hope to see you Thursday at our Journalism program.
Congratulations those photographers who took first place in the last competition. They are as follows:
Pictorial: Monochrome:
B. Pat Carlson B. Joel Brown
A. Sherri Oster A. Francis Williams
AA. Bill Stacy AA. Jennifer Marano
M. Anne Abrams M. Tim Allen
Journalism: Travel:
B. Joel Brown B. Betsy Waters
A. Herb Gaidus A. Herb Gaidus
AA. Bill Stacy AA. Bill Clark
M. Tamara Krautkramer M. Terry Connelly
If you haven’t seen the “Year in Pictures” insert in last Sunday’s Press Democrat, please take the time to look at it. They are an amazing series of photographs taken by the Press Democrat’s staff. Certainly, a learning experience for your Journalism entries.
The new President of N4C, Doug Stinson has sent our board a couple of questionnaires to be reviewed for input. The questions deal with items the membership will be interested in. They are very thorough, and I believe, can lead to changes in the way N4C operates and have a positive impact on our photo club and N4C. As soon as Mr. Stinson finalizes the questionnaires, I am sure you will be seeing them, and given the opportunity to respond. I am certainly looking forward to answering the questions I saw.
Below are some photography quotes I thought you may find interesting.
“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” — Don McCullin
“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” — Edward Steichen
“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.” — Andy Warhol
“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” — Dorothea Lange
“You might be a photographer if… Your eyesight from staring at the computer has gone from F11 to F1.8.” – Naman Pokarna’s Photography
Now for some fascinating facts: Believe them or not.
1. Color photography first appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1959. The photo was of an American flag.
2. Founded in 1853, London’s Royal Photographic Society is the world’s oldest photographic society in continuous existence.
3. The thread size of the tripod attachment on your camera is the same as the bolt on a typical lampshade. That means you can pull the shade off any old lamp and have your own jury-rigged tripod. (Who knew facts about photography could be so useful?)
That’s all for now, see you at the next competition.
Our next competition is Thursday evening, I hope to see you there. We are also having a dinner at the East West Café with our judge prior to the competition. If you would like to attend, please contact Bill Stacy as soon as possible, so he can notify the restaurant to expect you.
You should have received a list of potential field trips from Trisha, Joel and Elizabeth. Please make sure to bring the completed form to the meeting or send it via email so they have your feedback. Don’t be shy about leading a field trip, it is easy and doesn’t take much time. I have volunteered to lead the field trip to Preston Castle. I hadn’t heard of Preston Castle, knew nothing about it, but after doing some quick research I thought it would be a fun trip to go on, and hopefully get some interesting photographs. As I get more information, I will pass it on.
For those of you who are new to our club, a significant part of your dues go to the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center. We pay $30.00 for each regular and associate member and this gives us the use of the facility for 13 meetings. If we use the facility for additional meetings, such as a board meeting, we pay an additional $40.00 for its use. If you have any questions about your dues please contact Cheryl Akers, our very capable treasurer.
Steve Ruddy one of our new members, has volunteered to resurrect our SRPS forum. The forum was used quite a bit by members in the past however in the recent years it has been underutilized. Many of you may not even know we have a forum for your participation. Steve is going to bring this forum back and try to update it to the needs of our current membership. He is currently working on a test forum and when that is ready to go, he will let me know. I would encourage you to visit the current forum, take a look around and send Steve any thoughts you have on how we can best utilize it. This is not only for image critique but for questions about software and its utilization if you have questions on how to do something in a particular software such as Photoshop, Luminar, the Nik collection etc. Steve looks at this as something that will evolve over time as members take advantage of it. Please take the time to visit the forum. You will have to create an account first. Don’t worry it is easy and painless. Take a look around and send Steve your thoughts on ideas as to what you would like to see included as part of the forum. The forum address is srps.proboards.com. Please send comments to Steve at steve@steveruddyphotography.com.
I want to apologize to Tony Reynes for omitting him in my last update, and letting you know he was the first-place winner in the master’s Pictorial category. Tony also does person to person critiques on your images. He told me he did five in the last session and he had not yet received any letter bombs. It sounds as if that is going well. If you would like Tony to do an individual critique, please sign up for one of his available slots.
If you haven’t already reserved your space, please consider attending the N4C Annual Awards Luncheon in Walnut Creek. It is a lot of fun and you will see some amazing print photos on display. It is February 23rd.
Bill Stacy and Liz Lawson are working on having a presentation to the club on Portfolios. The presentation will include the rules, and topics such as the over-all purpose of this new competition, and why you might want to participate in the portfolio competition. Examples of portfolios will be shown and critiqued. We will keep you posted on this important program as details become available.
Lastly, here are some fascinating facts, believe them or not:
1. The word KODAK is totally made up. Unlike Canon, which means a rule or law, KODAK means absolutely nothing. George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, just like the sound of the letter “K” so he created a whole world about it.
2. During the 1800s, one of the most popular subjects for photography were dead bodies (“postmortem photography”) While it was primarily famous people who were photographed, many regular people were also photographed after their deaths.
3. The equivalent f-stop values for the human eye are f8.3 in bright environments and f2 in the dark.
We had a great turnout at our first competition of the year. Thanks to all who attended and submitted images for making it a fun experience for all of us. Our judge, Charles Ginsburgh, did an excellent job as usual, and even did a brief tutorial on water droplet photography at the conclusion of the competition.
Congratulations to the first-place winners in each category:
Pictorial:
B. Joel Brown
A. Steve Gibbs
AA. Gary Saxe
M. Tony Reynes
Creative:
B. Joel Brown
A. Steve Gibbs
AA. Bill Stacy
M. Terry Connelly
Nature:
B. Betsy Waters
A. Guy Miller
AA. Jennifer Marano
M. Marilyn Caven
Best in Show: Steve Gibbs
There are quite a few great field trip ideas for the coming year created by our field trip committee of Joel and Trisha Brown and Elizabeth Springs. I hope you managed to get the list titled Field Trip Wish List 2020. If not, I am attaching a pdf copy for you. Please let the committee know by January 23rd of your desires.
The members nominated as Master’s Candidates have begun to submit their ideas for their presentations to Greg Pech and his committee. We should be seeing some very interesting and informative presentations from these very talented photographers.
Our next competition is January 23rd and will be judged by a relatively new judge, Ouliana Panova. I watched her judge at a Marin Photo club print competition last year. It was her first judging assignment after completing the N4C judging classes. I was quite impressed and suggested to Bill Stacy, our judge’s coordinator, he try to line her up for one of our competitions. So please come out and attend our next competition, I think you will enjoy her style of judging. There will be a dinner before at the East West Café at 5PM if you care to join us.
I may be a bit late to this party, but I recently purchased my first mirrorless camera. I’m a Canon shooter and my primary camera is a 5D mark iv. I had heard one of the benefits of the mirrorless cameras was their size and weight and this intrigued me. I had just returned from a trip to Europe with my son and carried around the 5D, the 24-105 lens, and a wide angle 16-35 for architecture photography. I may have even brought along my Sigma 50mm 1.4 art lens for artsy and low light shots (never happened). After carrying all this equipment around Europe for 10 days and not being able to take the time away from the usual sightseeing to do sunrise and sunset shots I thought seriously about getting a lighter camera.
The Canon EOS R was not critically acclaimed when it was released. I had read all the reviews, tests and opinion pieces that I could find, and watched most pieces on YouTube. In recent times Canon has updated the firmware at least twice and improved the eye autofocus to where many say it is almost as good as Sony’s. I also like the Canon menu system and find it easier to use than others. As a Canon shooter it would be easy for me to learn. The 24-105 L lens that comes with the camera if you purchase the kit is slightly better than the earlier lens for the DSLRs. One recent improvement was much better stabilization in the lens itself. I later learned from experience it is substantially better, at least in my opinion. I have taken handheld shots down to 1/6 second that were very sharp.
I decided to buy the EOS R with the 25-105 lens, in part because of its smaller and lighter frame and the outstanding lenses that are available for it. The reviews on the other lenses that are available seem to be second to none, although pricey to say the least. The fact there was a $700 discount on the combination certainly influenced my decision.
I have had the camera for about a month or so. It took a few days for me to feel comfortable with the smaller size of the camera body. The button for Back Button Auto focus was in a different location and felt odd initially, not any longer. I don’t use the camera for video, so I wasn’t interested in any of those features. I have found the still images to be very sharp, the colors amazing and, all in all, I can see why some are beginning to give this camera a second look. I like the electronic viewfinder. It keeps me from shooting with the wrong settings as you can see what you will get if you take the shot. One problem I do have, and I am getting better at it, is using the electronic viewfinder while wearing glasses. The camera will start the electronic viewfinder when you put your eye up to it and will turn on the back screen when you take your eye away. With glasses I don’t always get my eye close enough into the viewfinder window to activate the sensor which turns on the viewfinder. I am getting used to this though and it is not as much of a problem.
I have also found the use of the standard EF lens for full frame cameras works seamlessly with use of the adapter. I purchased the adapter with the control ring and have set up the control ring to change my ISO. With the EF lens the control ring is close to the body of the camera and is ergonomically perfect for holding the camera and lens and being able to change my ISO on the fly with the use of the control ring. Speaking of lenses, benefit to this camera is that it has a shutter that covers the sensor when you remove one lens to replace it with another. This really helps to keep dust from getting on the sensor, one problem I have heard other mirrorless camera users complain about. Good thinking Canon.
I have really begun to enjoy this camera and lens combination and carry it with me almost all the time. Practice makes perfect and as I get the camera dials and buttons configured the way I like I think it will be my primary camera for many years to come. Nancy and I hope to travel to Ireland this year and I think this will be the only camera and lens I bring along.
The EOS R is said not to be a good wildlife camera as its frame rate in continuous or Servo mode is too slow, and the electronic viewfinder doesn’t actually show you what you are shooting in real time. My 5D mark iv will be my wildlife camera as it has the optical viewfinder that you can follow animas in real time and it rarely misses focus. It also has a faster frame rate, not as fast as I would like but I can work with it. I think this is one reason the DSLRs will be around awhile as there will always be sports and wildlife shooters. All in all, I am very happy with the EOS R and really enjoy using it.
If you have information about a photography topic and would like to share your experience or ideas, please share them with the members or send an article to me and I will send it out for you and add it to our website for others to see.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you soon,
Thursday night was our annual banquet. We had approximately 50 people attend including judges and representatives from N4C. It was a fun evening and, again, we had way too much food, although I would rather have too much than not enough. We also announced the End of Year winners and advanced those members who qualified. Before I get into that though I want to give credit where credit is due. This club does not run itself, and as the President I only do a small part. There are many others, listed below, who deserve a great deal of thanks for keeping this club operating and being a wonderful place to meet like-minded people, and learn something along the way.
Banquet Chair and Organizer for last night’s event: Elizabeth Springs
Competition Chair: Tara Pavis
The Board of Directors-Greg Pech, Cheryl Akers, Cris Gondak
Advancement Committee: Terry Connelly, Tara, Marilyn Caven
Program Coordinators: Liz Lawson, Anne Abrams, Lynda Stuber and Betsy Waters.
Field Trip Coordinators: Joel and Trisha Brown
New Member & Guests: Jennifer Marano
Exhibition Coordinator: Tim Allen
House Monitor: Terry Connelly and Liz Lawson with help of Dick Weston
Projection Chair: Steve Lowery, Steve Muench, Pat Prettie and Marv Siegal and when needed Cheryl Akers
Keeper of the Scores: Steve Muench
Sound and Webmaster: Nick Allen
LBAGC Reps: Cheryl Akers, Gary Goodenough and Bill Pitcher
LBAGC Maintenance Committee Rep, Dick Weston
Raffle Coordinator: Anne Abrams and Elizabeth Springs
Email List Serv Coordinator: Phil Hann
Mentor Chairman: Tony Reynes
Refreshment Committee: Lynda Stuber, Cheryl Akers and Pam Pitcher
So, as you can see this is a team effort and without this level of participation the club would not be able to function as it does. If I have forgotten, someone please accept my apology.
After dinner we began by announcing the winners of the end of year awards.
Santa Rosa Photographic Society 2019 EOY Winners
CREATIVE “B”
1st Herbert Gaidus Swan Lake
2nd Steve Thomas Playing the Blues
3rd Richard White Sea Sprite Sunrise
HM James Radford Photo Spiralysis
HM Ronnie Rosenbach Black and White with a little Red
CREATIVE “A”
1st Francis Williams Great Egrets Nesting
2nd Gustavo Arizmendi Forbidden Ascension
3rd Sherri Oster The Crooner
HM Lynda Stuber Simplicity
HM Guy Miller Nighttime at Jack London’s Wolf House
CREATVE “AA”
1st Nick Allen True Colors Shining Through…
2nd Nick Allen Deep Distress
3rd Michael Funk Entering Warp Speed
HM Michael Funk Rakes
HM Bill Stacy Bursting Free
HM Marvin Siegel Alcatraz Prison Cell
CREATIVE “Masters”
1st Terry Connelly Orbits Exploding
2nd Terry Connelly City Run
3rd Terry Connelly A Night at the Museum
HM Nancy Goodenough Protest, an Abstraction
HM Nancy Goodenough Ibis Contemplating the Void
HM Nancy Goodenough Breakfast Cocktail
JOURNALISM “B”
1st Herbert Gaidus Great American Eclipse
2nd Mike Felder Love Always has a Place
3rd Elizabeth Springs Sebastopol Street Painting
HM Richard White Lagoona de Santa Rosa Flood
HM Richard White The Spirit of France
JOURNALISM “A”
1st Jennifer Marano Cowgirl
2nd Ellen Storz Boat Contest
3rd Jennifer Marano Round Up
3rd Jennifer Marano Round Up
HM Jennifer Marano Life in the Palouse
HM Jennifer Marano Polo Benefit
JOURNALISM “AA”
1st Tamara Krautkramer Pilgrims
2nd Nick Allen Smoke from Nun’s Fire
3rd Michael Funk Worker…
HM Marvin Siegel San Francisco Fleet Week
HM Phillip Hann Wrestling
JOURNALISM “Masters”
1st Terry Connelly Manzanar Pilgrimage
2nd Terry Connelly Santa Rosa Tattoos & Blues
3rd Terry Connelly The Sermon
HM Steve Muench Kids will Play
HM Nancy Goodenough You Buy from Me-ee
MONOCHROME “B”
1st Herbert Gaidus Cellular Absorption
2nd Jim Radford Indoor-outdoor-cats
3rd Herbert Gaidus The Three Brothers…
HM Lucy Aaron Takeoff
HM Greg Pech Morels
MONOCHROME “A”
1st Steve Gibbs Waterfall
2nd Guy Miller Phillips Gulch Falls
3rd Jennifer Marano A Different Point of View
HM Tara Pavis NO Parking
HM Lynda Stuber On the Boardwalk
MONOCHROME “AA”
1st Tim Allen Passing Through
2nd Phillip Hann Big Dipper
3rd Bill Stacy Metal Stampede
HM Michael Funk Egret Preening
HM Tim Allen Looking Down
MONOCHROME “Masters”
1st Terry Connelly Athens Alleyway
2nd Liz Lawson Ascent Descent
3rd Terry Connelly Culture & Tattoos
HM Steve Muench Unending Faces of Time
HM Jack Florence Sandstone Cliffs
pictorial
1st Betsy Waters Egrets
2nd Herbert Gaidus Great Egret
3rd Herbert Gaidus Bald Eagle
HM Herbert Gaidus 2 Brown Bear Cubs
HM Herbert Gaidus California Brown Pelican…
NATURE “A”
1st Jennifer Marano Bald Eagles
2nd Lynda Stuber Clusstering Monarchs
3rd Tara Pavis An Orb Weaver Spider
HM Lynda Stuber Western Scrub Jay
HM Guy Miller Big Horn Sheep
NATURE “AA”
1st Michael Funk Great White Egret
2nd Bill Stacy Kodiak Brown with Cubs
3rd Patricia Prettie Sandhill Crane
NATURE “Masters”
1st Marilyn Craven Cedar Waxwing
2nd Marilyn Craven Brandt’s Cormorant…
3rd Terry Connelly Mating Elephant Seal
HM Nancy Goodenough Camouflaged Aoudad
HM Terry Connelly Lupines
PICTORIAL “B”
1st Greg Pech Geometric Sky
2nd Herbert Gaidus Trees Huddling before the Storm
3rd Ronnie Rosenbach Textures
HM Lucy Aron Violin Maker
HM Lucy Aron Staghorn
HM Betsy Waters Red Poppy Emerging
PICTORIAL “A”
1st Steve Gibbs Soft Vineyard Sunrise
2nd Guy Miller Bristlecone Pine under Milky Way
3rd Guy Miller Nightime
HM Tara Pavis Through the Wormhole
HM Tara Pavis The Beginning of Blueberries
PICTORIAL “AA”
1st Michael Funk Sentinels of Wacker Drive in Chicago
2nd Bill Stacy Outrage
3rd Nick Allen Threading the Needle
HM Gary Sax Super Moon
HM William Clark Camel Handlers
PICTORIAL “Masters”
1st Jack Florence Late Afternoon
2nd Nancy Goodenough Pink Cadillac
3rd Jack Florence The Crest of Sand Dune
HM Marilyn Craven Cactus Flower
TRAVEL “B”
1st Mike Felder The Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso
2nd Richard White Staff Cottages
3rd Herbert Gaidus Sliding Sands
HM Herbert Gaidus Eureka Dunes
HM Herbert Gaidus Hike to Yosemite Diving Board
TRAVEL “A”
1st Francis Williams Beggar & his Monkey
2nd Guy Miller Stormy Day at Stonehenge
3rd Guy Miller Vatican City
HM Tara Pavis Milan, Italy
HM Sherry Oster Bryce Canyon
HM Sherry Oster Lower Antelope Canyon
TRAVEL “AA”
1st Trisha Brown Red Barn Below Steptoe Butte
2nd William Clark The Douro River
3rd Bill Stacy Camel Herder
HM Nick Allen Storm on the Eastern Sierra
HM William Clark Mansanto, Portugal
TRAVEL “Masters”
1st Nancy Goodenough Alone…China
2nd Terry Connelly Sarlat, France
3rd Nancy Goodenough Life on the Chao Phraya River
HM Nancy Goodenough Early Morning
HM Jack Florence Sand Dunes of Death Valley
Master’s TRAVEL Best in Show
Nancy Goodenough Alone…China
FIELD TRIP WINNERS:
1st Michael Funk Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds @ Wine Country Air Show
2nd Ronnie Rosenbauch Bodie House
3rd Bill Stacy National Heirloom Festival
The end of year advancements were announced by Greg Pech as the Chairman of the Advancement Committee:
B to A:
Herb Gaidus, 1st Place, total score 231 (Automatic)
Greg Pech, 2nd Place, total score 191 (Automatic)
Rick White, 3rd Place, total score 183 (Clustered within 5% of 2nd Place; next highest score of 143 was 20% below 2nd Place)
A to AA:
Tara Pavis, 1st Place, total score 206 (Automatic)
Jennifer Marano, 2nd Place, total score 181 (Automatic)
[The Rules state: “In the event there is a cluster of top scores, all members represented in that cluster will be advanced, provided they have met the minimum submission requirements.” The AC considered 3 additional members with scores clustered from 155 to 146, which is 14-19% below 2nd Place, and concluded that these were too far below the 2nd Place finisher to qualify for advancement as “a cluster of top scores”.]
AA to Masters Candidate: (new rules below recently approved by member voting)
Based on the updated rules for Advancement, there are 3 methods by which a member can advance to Masters Candidate:
1. Achieve First, Second, or Third in AA Overall Point Average TWICE within a four-year period. Minimum 2 years to meet this requirement.
2. Achieve First, Second, or third in AA Overall Point Average AND win a first place in one of the categories
in the End of Year Competition (section 6) within a four-year period. Minimum two years to meet this requirement.
3. By Advancement Committee evaluation
The following 5 members qualify for Masters Candidate:
Tony Reynes – By AC review, Board-assigned Committee recommendation to, and approval by the SRPS Board
Nick Allen – 1st place average score in 2018 and 2019 (also first place EOY in 2019)
Tim Allen – 3rd place average score in 2018 and EOY 1st place in Nature and Pictorial 2017 (also first place EOY in 2019)
Tamara Krautkramer – 1st place average score in 2017 and 3rd place average score in 2019 (also first place EOY in 2019)
Anne Abrams – 3rd place average score in 2016 and 2017
Don’t forget to pay your dues if you pay January through December. Due to the change we made earlier if your dues are due in the middle of the year you have some time left. It is important that you keep up on your renewal date. If your dues are in arrears, any images entered into a competition will not be judged. It is easy to pay on our website, just click on the member tab and hit the drop down menu for Dues.
I also want to recognize Richard White for his volunteering for the Competition Chair for 2020 and hopefully beyond. Let’s all make his job easier by reviewing the rules prior to entering any competition and thank him for taking on this job.
Last night on ABC 7 News I saw Gustavo Arizmendi’s photo of the moon in the clouds. Great image Gustavo! It is fantastic to see one of our member’s work recognized and shown to the entire Bay Area.
I want to wish all of you a Happy Hanukkah, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
As we approach the busy holiday season, SRPS is approaching a fun time of year. This Thursday, November 14th we have our field trip competition where the members get to choose the winners. It is an entertaining evening and I hope most of will be able to attend.
On November 25th, the Monday before Thanksgiving, we will preview the images from the End of Year competition. You should have received an email from Jack Florence telling you about this and letting you know about the judges for this competition. The winners will be announced at the annual Banquet. Also, at this meeting we will be holding a used equipment sale. If you have any equipment you are willing to donate, all the proceeds from the sale will go to our renovation fund to help fix up our meeting place. So, please dig though the gear you don’t use any longer and bring it to the meeting on the 25th. You get to save some space in your home or studio and the club gets the benefit. A win-win for sure. I will be bringing quite a few black frames with white mats for your images. You won’t see these types of frames and mats at such bargain prices.
December 12th is our annual Banquet. The festivities are being put together by Elizabeth Springs and will be catered by King Falafel of Sebastopol. Don’t forget we each get to bring either and appetizer or dessert. You can even bring your own beverage to whet your whistle while the End of Year winners are announced. The price of this amazing event is $25.00, and we suggest you pay by check. We will of course take cash.
Also, if your membership begins in January please consider paying your renewal by check, it is easier for Cheryl to keep track of who paid. You can bring this along with your dinner admission and take care of it all at once. Of course you can also pay your dues on the website by going to www.santarosaphotographicsociety.org and clicking on the Members tab.
At our Board meeting on Saturday we discussed a number of issues. The professional photographer’s membership, and advancement to master candidate being the priority. The vote outcome was 25 YES votes and 12 NO votes. The changes to the competition rules will be made and distributed to the members as soon as they are complete. The wording in the beginning of our bylaws will also be changed to reflect the vote outcome. Once the latest scores are tabulated those eligible to move to master candidate will be notified.
The Board also discussed items to be explored in the new year. One that garnered a lot of support was targeting certain skills on field trips for the upcoming year. Topics suggested were macro photography, portrait photography (want to be a model?), slow shutter speed, panoramas and night photography. If you have any other ideas for this sort of field trip please let Trisha know.
The Board also sought to institute a mentoring program, something that has been talked about for quite sometime. Tony Reynes has accepted the position of Club Mentoring Chair. He has been a judge and has critiqued for a number of years at his last club in Chicago. His first program will be to set up a monthly remote image critique for dues paying club members. If you are interested you can contact him at tonyreynes@gmail.com. Submit an image for review along with your phone number and a time slot you would like to be contacted. He will accept or offer and alternative open time slot. He will then call you at an agreed upon time and date and give you up to ten minutes to discuss your image. The first window for this program will be on December 15th between 5PM and 6PM. As you know, at our competition nights the critiques are not personal and the maker doesn’t always receive the type of feedback they would like nor do they have an opportunity to actually discuss the image. If this works out hopefully some of our Master photographers will join in to enable much wider feedback and a greater opportunity for learning.
Lastly the idea of making Master in individual categories such as Journalism, Wildlife, Pictorial etc. was discussed. Don’t worry if you are a Master now you will be a Master later if this idea ultimately comes to fruition. At this point this is just an idea and will be looked at next year.
It has been awhile since I last wrote so here goes with some information. First, I want to congratulate Liz Lawson and Ronnie Rosenbach for their Best in Show images in our last two competitions. Outstanding work by excellent photographers. It is always a pleasure to see all the images submitted to our competitions.
Our annual banquet is coming December 12th. Social hour begins at 6PM. Plan to bring an appetizer or dessert. The cost of this year’s event will be $25.00 per person. For this incredible value you will get to see winning projected images, have a wonderful Mediterranean dinner along with everyone’s appetizers and desserts. Oh, and don’t forget the best part, socializing with like-minded people who share your love of photography! I want to thank Elizabeth Springs for taking charge of this event. She will be posting sign-ups and will have more information at our next meeting. Our next meeting by the way, will be at the reception for our exhibition “Our World Through Many Lenses” at the Finley Community Center on October 24th from 5-7 PM, I hope you all can make it. If you have any question about the banquet or want to lend a hand please contact Elizabeth at eldsprings@gmail.com.
If you were at our last meeting you know I mentioned I was contacted by Hunt’s Photo and Video. This is a company that competes with Adorama and B&H. Hunt’s is the primary vendor at all the PSA conferences. They come highly recommended by Joan Field of N4C. I encourage you to check out their website www.huntsphoto.com. They offer free shipping on all orders over $50. If you have any questions, please contact our representative for Hunt’s, Noah Buchanan. His direct number is 781-462-2356 and his email address is nbuchanan@huntsphoto.com.
It is time to begin looking through your images from the 2019 field trips. You should have received the list of the field trips we have taken as it was sent out by Trisha in the last day or so. Tara will be opening up the field trip competition soon so keep an eye out for her announcement.
Lastly, Tara won’t be able to be our Competition Chair next year and we need someone to take her place. This is a vital position in our club and one we need filled if we are to continue with our competitions. Please, if you want to see our club continue with competitions consider volunteering for competition chair. If you have any questions about this, please contact Tara for all the information necessary.
That is it for now, I will keep you updated on our membership vote on the changes to our bylaws and rules regarding advancement to Masters Candidate.
I can’t believe it has been over a month since my last update as to what is happening at SRPS. With this in mind, I have a lot to bring you up to date on. The Board met last Friday to discuss a number of issues that are important to all of us. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to address the entire agenda, though here are the highlights of items discussed.
1. We are in need of a new Competition Chair, as Tara will not be able to continue in the position next year. This is a vital position in the club, and will be a member of the Board of Directors. Below are the general duties of the Competition Chair, and if you are interested I encourage you to contact me. Most of what we do as a club revolves around competitions, so you can see we can not let this position go unfilled.
Competition Chair – Organizes the monthly and End–of-Year competitions. Appoints
and serves on the Review Committee. Has the authority to disqualify images from a competition if they do not conform to the guidelines for the category(ies) entered. Oversees tabulation and publishing to the membership of competition results; maintains competition records for five (5) years; orders ribbons and trophies as needed; prepares annual Awards Dinner program; submits an annual budget request and all expenses to the Treasurer. Also serves on the Advancement Committee and keeps the Vice-President informed concerning members who meet the requirements for advancement. (See Competition Rules, Section 4.0.) May be appointed to serve on the Board. (See Board of Directors, Constitution and Bylaws.)
2. It was brought to the Board’s attention we are primarily a club of amateur photographers. Members who become professional photographers after being in the club can continue to compete and advance per the competition rules. We recently had two professional photographers join the club. Due to the excellence of their work, it has created an uneven playing field for those who have participated in competitions for years, trying to move from AA to Master level. The Board discussed this at length due to the impact on other members. It was decided to form a committee of four to come up with an alternate path to Master level for these professional photographers. The idea of “professional Affiliate” was discussed and the committee will present options to the board and ultimately to the membership for a potential rule change. If you have any thoughts on this matter please contact one of the committee members so they can hear your ideas. The members of the committee are Greg Pech, Tony Reynes, Tara Pavis and Nancy Goodenough.
3. Fund Raising: You may or may not know we are one of many groups that meet at the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center. As one of the participants we have been asked to raise $5000 as our part of an improvement project at the facility. Painting, carpeting and other updates that will enhance the experience of the facility for us and others. We have started to do this with the 50-50 drawing. The 50-50 has proven to be popular and we will continue do it at each of our meetings. This will only get us so far though. We also have a simple way you can donate to the club via PayPal or Credit Card on our website to make a TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation. Go to our website www.santarosaphotographicsociety.org and click on the member tab. Scroll past the membership renewal tab and at the bottom of the page you will see a tab to enable you to donate to the club. Remember this is TAX DEDUCTIBLE. Your help is appreciated.
Additionally, we will be holding a used equipment sale in November at our end of year competition. If you have equipment you no longer use or need, and are willing to donate it to the club to be sold, let us know. We will use these funds to raise our portion of the improvement project costs.
4. We are examining our options when it comes to our insurance. We have coverage for our members and the facility. We are examining any way possible to save money on our premium costs. Greg Pech is looking into this. When the Directors of the LBAGC meet in September we will find out exactly what is required, so we only pay for what is necessary.
5. Student Affiliates: The Board also discussed student affiliates as a way to encourage later membership and promote the art of photography, and our club. This will also provide us with another reason to maintain our tax deductible status. Items discussed were no entry into competitions, ability to attend field trips and meetings to learn the art of photography. The affiliate would also have to be 18 years or older. If you have any other thoughts please let me know.
6. Don’t forget to get your photo information to Tim Allen for the exhibition at the Finley Community Center. Our October program meeting will be attendance at the reception for the exhibition. I’m looking forward to seeing everyones work. Don’t forget, get in touch with Tim if you have any questions, time is running short.
I’m sure I am forgetting something but will send out another update at a later time.
I trust you are all having a wonderful summer and taking advantage of our beautiful weather, to get out and enjoy yourselves. I have seen a few images on Facebook that appear to have been taken on our clubs recent field trip to the coast. Always a great place to visit and take photographs.
I want to congratulate Adrian Mendoza for his Best in Show image from our last competition. His view of a meeting between then Sheriff Giordano and a fire survivor on a Day of Remembrance was truly a strong and compelling view of a very sad time.
I want to also congratulate our members who entered images in the Four Seasons of Sonoma County Photography contest. Timothy Allen, Lucy Aron, Guy Miller, Steve Muench and Ronnie Rosenbach. If I missed someone’s name I truly apologize. The images selected will be displayed on screens during the playing of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, performed by the Santa Rosa Symphony at the Green Music Center. Congratulations to all of you.
Please don’t forget, Phil Hann and Dick Weston will begin presenting an Introduction to Photoshop Layers at our next program night on July 25th. The presentation will take place from 5-6 PM just prior to our regular program night. No laptop is required, just bring yourself. The program night is Jak Wonderly presenting on Developing Portfolios. If you are not familiar with Mr. Wonderly’s work please visit his website www.jakwonderly.com and you will see what an amazing photographer he is.
On Monday evening I had the opportunity to attend the Marin Photo Club’s print competition with Marv Siegel. I hadn’t been to a print competition before, so as a member of a club who doesn’t do print competition, I was eager to see how it went. The following is from the Marin Photo Club website:
“Creating a print image presents a new and more complex challenge to the photographer. The digital image now needs to be translated onto a photographic paper, where small flaws which may escape the eye on a projected image are now noticeable. Choice of paper, calibration between monitor and printer, and the maker’s choice of mounting and presentation are all factors in the success of the print. Winning prints from this competition move on to the monthly competition of the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C).”
I was amazed at the excellent quality of the prints submitted by all levels of photographer. The prints are submitted on mats with a minimum size mat being 11×14 and the maximum size 16×20. The prints can also be presented mounted directly on to foam core. The images are placed on an easel with a light directed on the image to enable proper viewing. The same categories we have are in place for the print competition. I noticed immediately the judge went right up to each image and got a very close look. Not something we do with projected images. During a break I went and looked at some of the images and I can see why the close look is necessary. The amount of detail in most of the images was incredible. I truly enjoyed my visit and time at this print competition.
One other item about the Marin Club and something that perhaps we can discuss for our club. In addition to each of the competition categories we submit, they have an alternate subject. This night it was “Wheels.” The images don’t get forwarded to N4C but they are good for club points. There is a different alternate topic each month. For more information on Print or Alternate image presentation please contact Marv Siegel when you see him at our meetings. He is a member of both clubs. Thank you Marv for bringing me along.
During my tenure as a member of SRPS I have seen many judges both good and not so good. With this in mind I want to tell you about the judge for this print competition. Her name is Ouliana Panova Ph. D. She is a new judge for N4C and just finished the judges’ course. What impressed me with this judge was the enthusiasm she brought to each and every image she judged. I can only describe her comments by comparing her remarks about an image to the manner in which Chef Gordan Ramsey describes each food item as a thing of beauty as he uses them in a dish he prepares. Her comments were on point, she took her time, and when there was a flaw or problem, she felt detracted from the image, she addressed it in such a way so everyone could learn and not feel slighted in anyway. If we ever have the opportunity to have her judge our competition, I am certain you will be amazed at what she brings to the table.
OK, I know I was a bit wordy today, but I am off to the Midwest and the East coast for a couple of weeks and won’t be at the next meeting.
