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Meetings

December Speakers - Kimo Williams Postponed

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Normally in December, we do not have a meeting, but have instead our holiday party with a great dinner and a photo swap. This year, well, you know.... So instead of our holiday party, we will have TWO speakers in December, both the same week as our usual meeting date.

For Club Members only: Monday, December 7, at 7 pm: David duChemin, arranged by the West Shore Photography Club, and we are helping to sponsor this speaker. It will be recorded by the duChemin team and the recording available upon request for a limited time only to our deaf members, per agreement with duChemin's agent. Therefore, most of our members will need to see this presentation "live," so mark it on your calendar. A Zoom link to this presentation will be sent to you next weekend.

Illustrated by inspiring photographs from around the world, The Heart of the Photograph Virtual Lecture with David duChemin is a 90-minute conversation (including Q&A time) exploring ten powerful ideas about the creation of more engaging photographs. This webinar will discuss techniques and ways of thinking about the creation of images designed to engage human imagination and emotion, including questions of vision and intent, the use of space and time, the creation of depth, and the use of point of view. David will also discuss mood and mystery, storytelling, and what this all means for our choices of moments as well as more practical considerations, like the more creative use of exposure tools, composition, and more. This will be a compelling lecture with (and about) heart that your club will remember for a long time.

David duChemin is a best-selling author, award-winning photographer, and leading expert in the field of creativity. With over 35 years experience making photographs, his calling is to help photographers make photographs that are more than just sharp and well-exposed. David teaches how to make photographs that light a spark in people, that communicate clearly, that captivate imaginations and grab the attention and hearts of the people who will see them. As an international workshop leader and author of best-selling books like Within The Frame and The Soul of the Camera ( both published in over a dozen languages), he’s taught students this incredible craft on all seven continents.

If you want more, you can get a sense of his teaching on his blog at davidduchemin.com.

You can see his portfolio at portfolio.davidduchemin.com.

And you can listen to his sultry radio voice by listening to his podcast about the joys and challenges of everyday creativity at aBeautifulAnarchy.com.

Open for all members and guests/visitors: Wednesday, December 9, at 7 pm, Kimo Williams Postponed!

Marshall Dupuie and I first met J. Kimo Williams when we walked by his gallery in downtown Shepherdstown, WV. He had a selection of antique cameras in the window, and upon further inspection, we wandered into his shop and met this intriguing man. He is a musician, a composer, a photographer, a proud Vietnam veteran, and so much more. He's hard to describe in a few words, so here are three biographies to choose from: long, medium, and short! A Zoom link to this meeting will be sent to you the weekend before.

In his talk, Williams will discuss:

  1. Finding the Light
  2. Adding your personal narrative (cropping, effects, presentation, mounting etc.)
  3. The shot - What it is and what it will be
  4. Understanding the Home Run (a metaphoric approach to understanding your camera)

You can visit some of Williams' galleries here, including his current "Counties of the Potomac River" series.

Instead of an honorarium, Williams has requested that our club make a donation to his "The Names of Those..." project, to support an art installation that will include a video monitor to scroll the names and dates of death of every US military member who died as a result of their service in Vietnam.

November 11th meeting - David Wolanski

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Although domestic violence is a harsh reality, it is a reality that many face, and that fortunately, some survive. Dover photographer David Wolanski first encountered this reality when he learned that someone he thought he knew fairly well was regularly assaulted by her husband, and she honestly thought that this was how all relationships worked, because it was the life she and others she knew were living. David decided to use his portrait photography skills to help share the stories of survivors of domestic violence by encouraging them to share their stories.

David writes, "For the last several years, I’ve been using my experience doing portraits to do a photo and story project against Domestic Violence and think it’s the most important work I’ve ever done. This presentation is about the 1:4 Project on my website at domesticviolencearoundus.com."

In this presentation, you will see how a personal photography project can truly have an impact on both the photographer and on those who are photographed. Here is a video in which David explains how he was inspired to begin. The Zoom link for this meeting will be shared closer to the date. Club meeting date is Wednesday, November 11, at 7 pm.

September meeting Via Zoom

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September 9 Meeting, 7 pm, Jennifer King Via Zoom

The speaker for our September meeting is Jennifer King, who will share her presentation on “Photographing America’s National Parks.” The National Park Service has preserved and protected our country’s most beautiful and unique landscapes for over 100 years. The mission and dedication of so many people throughout history has provided all American’s with an opportunity to experience and enjoy nature from the east coast to west, and points in between. The diversity that each of our parks offer photographers and nature enthusiasts is unmatched in the world. It is in these special lands that we experience the best of America and nature.

"Photography is a journey, it's about the destination and its uniqueness. Experiencing America's landscape, is simply the world at its best.”

Jennifer King is an internationally acclaimed landscape and nature photographer with a passion for teaching and inspiring photographers around the world. She draws on her fine art and design background to bring a fresh perspective to nature photography. Her ability to teach composition and inspire creativity is unmatched. See more about Jennifer King at her website, www.jenniferkingphoto.com

Jennifer was named as 1 of 15 Amazing Women to Follow by 500px. She is also the Founder of PHOTOGRAPHY for the FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER ( pfabc.org), an industry wide organization bringing together the biggest names in photography to raise money for breast cancer research.

Visitors are always welcome to attend our meetings. Please send email to info@frederickcameraclique.org to RSVP; you will be contacted with meeting information just before the September 9 meeting date.

August Meeting Via Zoom

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TITLE: Are Photographers Held to a Higher Standard Than Visual Artists?

ABSTRACT: When a photographer captures the image of an object as a picture, the resulting photograph presents the illusion of truthfulness. The photographer is often questioned as to how accurately the photograph represents the object.

Yet when an artist creates a visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture) resulting in a picture, the result is considered to represent the artist's expression of their skill or imagination. No question of its accuracy is raised.

There are many art and photography genres, but they are not treated equally. The photographer must adhere to ethics in nature photography, for example. If an artist captures a bird in flight, they are not questioned as to where the bird was located and how it was treated, was it in the wild or in a conservatory. The photographer might be asked if the photograph is the result of captive animals that are placed in natural-looking settings, or perhaps was baited to come to the setting. Their images can also be eliminated from contests if the animal actions are perceived to be staged in some way manipulated.

The photographer can also be an artist. They can proclaim that they are a performing the actions of a visual artist when they use photography as a medium in expressing their imagination.

Gundars will show multiple examples of photographs that contain questions of truthfulness vs art, and engage us in a discussion of how photographers are often put on the spot to defend their images, and how we as photographers may respond to questions that are raised.

Here is the Zoom link to the August meeting, described below.

https://zoom.us/j/93763270306?pwd=ZFhzRnBid21jUUlYdWhxVnEycUNFZz09

Meeting ID: 937 6327 0306 Passcode: 7NEZMw

April 8th Meeting- Cancelled

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Coriolana Simon has won acclaim for her still life photography, which re-interprets 17th century Dutch still life paintings. Trained as an architect, but also a writer and musician, Coriolana Simon feels the influence of these disciplines in her photography. While she enjoys the magic of macro photography, which can open windows for her into a different visual universe, she remains primarily focused on still lifes. She has long admired the still life paintings by Dutch artists of the 17th century. Not only do they give a detailed view of Dutch culture but many were painted in a style as realistic as photographs. While never copying a painting, Simon re-interprets the original themes with her camera and applies classic composition and lighting techniques to arrangements of her historic objects. To give depth to the undertaking, Simon has studied hundreds of paintings and read extensively on Dutch cultural, political, economic, social, religious, and military history.

View some of Coriolana's outstanding still life work at her website, Time Points Photography.

March 11th Meeting - Critique of Work

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Our annual critique night is Wednesday, March 11. All members are encouraged to submit three photos for critique by member Howard Clark, who will view the images prior to the meeting in order to prepare his comments. We always learn so much from this review of work!

Start thinking about what photos you want to have reviewed. Some people like to show work that reflects a new technique they have tried (studio lighting, black & white, or infrared, for example). Others submit photos they want to learn how to improve. Some will be showing work for the first time and want to know what an independent reviewer thinks of it. The choice is yours. If you are considering submitting some work to our juried summer show, this critique is a good opportunity to show some pieces you might enter for the show.

Howard will discuss each photo so that the entire group will learn from his comments and suggestions. For this critique, prepare three photos for review.

You will be emailing the images as attachments to Cam, and she will place them in a secure folder on her website so that Howard has time to look at them before the meeting. You can send the images however you want, and Cam will size them appropriately for the review. Jpegs are preferred, as Tiffs will likely be too large for email.

Please email your images to cam.miller@comcast.net. Put Critique in the subject line. The deadline is Friday, March 6, in order to give Cam enough time to get all the photos sized and loaded onto the website and to give Howard enough time to review them.

Please number your photos in order of preference with LastName#1, i.e. Smith#1.jpg, Smith#2.jpg, etc. Or, in the body of the email message, describe which photo is your first preference, your second, and your third. If we receive more images than Howard can possibly review in a reasonable amount of time at the meeting, the review may be limited to your first and second choices

January Meeting - Mel McNamara, digital book making

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Besides making prints or posting our images on social media, there is a whole world of digital book making out there to explore! Mel McNamara will be sharing a number of resources and "how to's" for making a quality digital book using templates from various websites as well as using the book module built into Lightroom.

Mel is an avid photographer of places, people, and events. She started her photographic journey in college with her first film SLR camera and built a darkroom in her parent’s garage. She is accomplished in Photoshop, Lightroom and InDesign. Mel loves to travel and create books of her adventures, she also enjoys designing cookbooks for people using their loved one’s original recipe cards.

Mel graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. She has a Masters degree in Library Science from Catholic University and a Masters degree in Educational Media from Boston University. Mel is a retired Library/Media Specialist and Educational Technology Resource Teacher having worked for the Howard County Public Schools in Maryland.

Mel teaches the following class for Capital Photography Center: Creating Books with Lightroom's Book Module.

December Meeting - Holiday Party

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In lieu of a December meeting, there will be a holiday party for members only on Wednesday, December 11. It is our club tradition to have a holiday social event in our usual meeting room at the Delaplaine, which will be decorated for a party! This annual pot-luck supper is always a lot of fun. We will have a slideshow of member images, dinner and dessert, and then a fun photo swap.

For the dinner, please sign up at the link below for what to bring for the dinner. We will provide cold shrimp and cocktail sauce, water, ice, and all plates/cups and utensils. Please bring main dish items, side dishes, and desserts. Use this link to indicate how many will be in your party as well as what you will bring. RSVP by Monday, December 9. Signup Genius for Holiday Party

The Photo Swap: For the photo swap, if you are bringing a print, it should be matted and suitable for framing. New! If you prefer to bring a "photo gift," such as a mug, a calendar, a tote bag, an ornament, or a set of notecards featuring one of your photos, that's acceptable, too! Wrap your photo gift with no identifying info on the wrapping, but please do include your name inside, preferably by signing the mat if a print, or a note inside a photo gift. Place your wrapped photo gift on the gift table at the party, and we'll go over the rules for this fun swap at the party. Participation is voluntary; you do not have to bring a photo gift to come to the party, but the more we have, and more "thieves" we have during the swap, the more fun it is!

Best Five Images: During the holiday party, we will show your best or favorite images of 2019 and show them off in the annual holiday party slideshow! Send your images to Gundars Osvalds, who will create the slideshow to be show at the party. If you want to size them, choose 2400 pixels on the long side, 72 dpi, and sRGB colorspace. If you would prefer just to send them to Gundars, make sure they are no larger than 3 mb each. Gundars will take care of any resizing needed. Rename your files with your name, please, so that Gundars can keep them together. Ex - CMiller-1.jpg, CMiller-2.jpg, etc. Deadline for sending images is Tuesday, December 10. gundars.osvalds@gmail.com

November Meeting - Harold Ross

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November 13th

hroldross.jpg

The November speaker will be Harold Ross, a master "sculptor of light." Check out his website and put November 13 on your calendar.

Join photographer Harold Ross for an information-packed presentation on Sculpting with Light, a technique that he has been perfecting for almost 30 years. Harold will show you how his vision and his method of light painting can transform the ordinary subject into something extraordinary. His lighting technique reveals remarkable detail, shape and dimension in his subjects. This lighting cannot normally be “seen," as it involves a building up of light over time and over multiple captures. The photographing of one image can take minutes or even hours to record.

May Meeting - Nikhil Bahl, Techniques For Creating Dynamic Images

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Nikhil Bahl will be the speaker at the May 8 meeting, presenting Techniques For Creating Dynamic Images. While a great light display can lead to attractive images a good photographer does not rely on great light to create compelling images. From capturing energy and motion to the serene and surreal, Nikhil will talk about techniques and ideas that you can use to create dynamic images. Nikhil will also give you insights into how and when these techniques are best applied.

BIO

Nikhil Bahl is a full time professional photographer, author, educator and and environmentalist residing in the Washington D.C. area. Drawing continuous inspiration from nature, Nikhil adopts novel approaches and seeks meaningful interpretations: to create photographs that transcend the commonplace, reflect deeper insights, and convey an enchantment of the subject’s beauty.

An offshoot of Nikhil's fine art photography and love of nature is his documentation of wildlife behaviors and habitats. As a volunteer with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, his goal is to portray environmental stories with an artistic appeal, so his photographs educate and motivate about the imperative of conservation.

Each year Nikhil leads numerous photography tours and instructional workshops in the United States and abroad. His teaching encourages participants to advance beyond ordinary photos and develop their own style and vision. Nikhil is a popular speaker at photography clubs, expos and industry events. He authored the acclaimed ebook, Creative Interpretations and writes articles on the creative and technical aspects of photography. His work can be viewed at www.nikhilbahl.com.

March Meeting: A Critique by Patricia Stockman

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The March 13 meeting will be a critique of member photos by local fine art photographer and instructor Patricia Stockman.

In the past, members have brought photos to the meeting, and we never were sure how many we would get. One meeting we had less than 20; last year we had more than 50.

This year, we are changing things up a bit. Each member may submit up to three photos for Patricia to review in advance of the meeting. The images should be sent as digital files to me, and I will place them on a website in a secure folder. Patricia will have access to the folder so that she can review the images, prepare some remarks, and be ready with comments for the meeting.

Critiques are not a competition. They are a learning experience. Patricia may suggest ways to improve the composition. She will study the exposure and focus. She may suggest a new crop or turning the image to black and white. You may want to submit images that you are just not sure about. Sometimes you feel that "something is there," but are not sure how to make your intention for taking the photo clear. Others may submit work that is new to them: compositing images, black and white, infrared, portraits of people, etc. Still others may be considering entering their images in a photo competition and want feedback on how to make them the best they can be.

During the meeting, all images will be displayed one by one on the projector, as Patricia comments on them for all to hear. Even if you do not submit any images yourself, you can learn a lot by her comments on work she sees from others. However, I hope you do...

Please send me up to three images before March 10, no larger than 5 mb each. If you want to prep the images at 2000 pixels on the long edge, 72dpi, and sRGB colorspace, jpg format, that's great. If you have no idea what all that means, just send me three images no larger than 5 mb each, and I will take care of the rest. There will be no need to bring the digital images to the meeting, too.

If you would prefer to bring prints to the meeting instead of submitting digital files, please email me with that information. Patricia can do a review of prints at the end of the meeting, with lights on, for all to see.

Send your digital images as attachments to cam.miller@comcast.net. I will take care of adding them to a secure location for Patricia

About Patricia

Local photographer and instructor Patricia Stockman will offer a critique of member images at the March 13 meeting at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center. Members should have received an email instructing them how and where to send their digital images for review. Check the forum for a review of the information.

Patricia has been a photographer for over 20 years, and currently resides in Frederick, MD. Formal education as a traditional photographer has taken her through B&W film processing and printing; while her work experience has taken her through color film processing & printing, photojournalism, and studio portraiture work. Most recently, Patricia’s teaching career has widened her view of subject matter and digital techniques in her own art.

For the past 12 years, Patricia has been teaching high school Digital Photography and Computer Graphics classes with Frederick County Public Schools. She is also adjunct faculty at Mount St. Mary’s University, teaching Digital Photography.

Involved with the arts community, Patricia is now a member and Vice-President of TAG/The Artists Gallery. She served on the Board for Artomatic@Frederick for all three events, and strives to involve her students in the arts community. Additionally, Patricia shows her photographic works throughout the region and into NYC. Recently, Patricia was honored with receiving “Best in Show” at the 2018 Cumberland Valley Photographers Juried Exhibition, as well as other awards.

Of her own work, Patricia writes, “I combine my traditional background with the technology of Photoshop to create images grounded in the fundamentals of art with a contemporary, surreal twist. I place a strong emphasis on the use of texture, color and the interaction of various subjects in one scene. Elements, such as the division of space, suspended pathways, and the repetition of symbolic objects are recurring themes in my work that suggest the past, present and future within a narrative construct.”

February Meeting Moved to February 27th

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The February Meeting has been moved to February 27th

Don't forget that our February meeting will be on the THIRD Wednesday of the month, February 20, and it will be at 7 pm at Frederick Community College. Member Gundars Osvalds will be presenting the story behind the images he captured as a 16-year-old aspiring photojournalist in the now gone Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Charlottesville, VA. These historic photos are some of the only images of people at work and at play in the African American community. His photos will be on exhibit at FCC during the month of February.

The presentation will be in the theater at the Visual Arts Performing Center, the same building where we have our summer exhibit. ASL interpretation will be provided. Because this event is free and open to the public, we could use some volunteers to help with staffing the refreshment table, to sell exhibit catalogs, and to give some technology assistance. Please let Cam know if you are willing to help.

Here is a link to a PDF flyer about the meeting/event. Please share this with other people and organizations you know would be interested in both the history and the photography that Gundars will share.

Vinegar Hill

January Meeting - Interior and Exterior Architectural Photography

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After seeing this presentation, you will never look at a photo of an interior office space built of steel, concrete, and glass in the same way again. Your brain will be spinning with the effort it took to manage glare, reflections, space, shadows, and lighting.

We will be shown samples from a variety of the Chris's assignments over many decades of working as an architectural photographer. This will include a discussion of various approaches and techniques related to architectural photography and how to deal with creative challenges including composition and lighting.

Chris has been a commercial photographer for over 30 years with a special concentration in architectural photography. His work includes a particular emphasis on composition, location lighting, and accurate rendering of color. He also brings to each assignment an extensive knowledge of post-production editing techniques to enhance the captured image.

Chris’s expertise both with camera techniques and digital editing allows him to combine the client's desires, the subject matter, and his creativity to produce the finished photograph. His work had been the recipient of numerous industry awards in the field of architecture.

www.spielmannstudio.com

October Meeting - Peter Foiles, Lofoton Islands, Norway

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Member Peter Foiles will speak about his recent photo trip to Norway.

The Lofoton Islands: Next item for your photography bucket list.

The Lofoton islands are an archipelago off the coast of Norway north of the Arctic Circle. One of the oldest and largest cod fisheries in the world, it has also in recent years become a favorite for photographers. From quaint fishing villages and mountainous landscapes to one of the best spots to view the Northern Lights, there is much to photograph. I will be showing the results of my February trip to Lofoton and give some background on the area as well as some tips on how to photograph the Northern Lights.

September Meeting - Jan Exler, My Photo Passion & Odyssey

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Jan Exler will be the featured presenter at the September 12 meeting. His talk, “My Photo Passion & Odyssey” will feature 100 of his all-time favorite and award-winning photos. He’ll also speak about "Competitive Freelance Photography," online sites, and contests where he posts his photographs, as well as his favorite venues to capture award-winning images in the Baltimore and Delmarva areas.

Jan is a competitive, freelance photographer who was a high school educator for 35 years in Baltimore City. He has served on the Maryland State Board of Acupuncture for the past eight years.

Jan picked up a camera for the first time in 2012 to document his Wounded Warrior son's recovery in the Richmond VA hospital. His photography has been published in National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Maryland Public TV's “Capture Outdoor Maryland's” coffee table book, GURU Shots International, Chesapeake Bay Foundation's 2019 calendar and the Baltimore Sun papers.

Thanks to social media, his photography has been “followed,” “liked,” and commented on by folks in 132 different countries around the world!

Jan Exler's current galleries include: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/763559/ and

https://gurushots.com/janexler/photos

July Meeting Photowalk Assignment

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Photo walks are popular, and small towns offer many familiar things to photograph, such as window displays and patterns in brick sidewalks, but also some things that are unique to each town: a monument, a fountain, a cannon, and more.

At the July meeting, Cam Miller will share some highlights from her 18 months of photo walking, followed by photos from members.

Between now and the July meeting, your assignment is to take a walk in your town -- or a town you are visiting -- or one that is near you -- and do a photo walk: Hagerstown, Gettysburg, Frederick, New Market, Sharpsburg, Martinsburg, Gaithersburg, Sykesville -- you get the idea.

Take a walk, photograph details (ivy on the side of a building, reflections, wall murals, oddities, texture, fountains, people sitting outside, fire stations, benches, doors, fences, flowers, etc.) and edit them down to five or six photos that you will show at the meeting. Don't tell us where you walked -- include things that might be unique to that town, but that don't name the town. Let us guess where you were! This is a great opportunity to experiment with black and white, street photography, macro shots, and more. Many of us will walk in the same towns, and it will be fun to see how different photographers find different things to photograph in the same locations.

Bring 5-7 edited photos to the meeting on a flash drive. Save them as JPGS with a resolution of 72. If you are unsure how to save at this resolution, just save them as they are and bring them to the meeting. We'll take care of making any needed conversions.

So grab your camera, get out there, and take a walk in a town. We look forward to figuring out where you were!