Richard Vallon Speaks to Club about Flash Photography

Transcription

1 THE MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS CAMERA CLUB MEMER OF GULF STATES CAMERA CLUB COUNCIL MEMBER OF PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA Volume 62: Issue 1 January 2015 Richard Vallon Speaks to Club about Flash Photography Richard Vallon was the featured speaker at the Club s January Program meeting on January 22. Richard s topic was Flash Photography. He gave a lengthy and thorough discussion of the history of flash photography - from Henry Fox Talbot s experiment of using a steam powered static electricity generator to make a still image of the London Times revolving on a wheel to Harold Edgerton s introduction of the modern Xenon tube flash. This part of the talk, accompanied by projected illustrations - was very informative and entertaining. Richard Vallon is a professional photographer and also spends a significant amount of time teaching. He offers a series of lectures at Lakeside Photoworks specializing in Photoshop. He also is a Mac enthusiast and is available for advice and consultations regarding computers. Richard has been a good friend of the Greater New Orleans Camera Club for years and has generously offered his time and expertise on many previous occasions. This talk was all about flash photography. He described the use of modern day on-camera flash as well as more sophisticated systems of remote flash. He also discussed the use of reflectors and the advantages of using fill flash. As usual, Richard was very entertaining. Richard also described the advantages of Photo by Bill Pinto rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. Specifically, he talked about Eneloop batteries which are made by Panasonic and hold their charges longer than average NiMH batteries. He recommended these not only for flash units but also for other needs such as computer keyboards or mouse. The Club appreciates the time Richard gives. Richard has also offered to talk to the Club about making panoramic images at some time in the future. 1

2 Dr. Fred Husserl Fred Husserl was born and educated in Colombia where he also graduated from Medical School. He came to New Orleans in 1972 to continue his medical training at Charity Hospital and Ochsner Medical Center. He remained at Ochsner as a practicing physician until his retirement a year ago. Fred started taking pictures at the age of eight or nine using a Brownie camera and producing black and white prints. Some of those negatives, mostly of travel photography, are still viewable. Later he acquired a Bell and Howell/Canon FP with a 50mm and a 135mm lens. He moved up the line of Canon cameras until entering the digital age and currently uses a Canon 5D Mark III. For traveling he likes his mirrorless Olymus OMD 1 which is lighter and easy to carry. Travel photography is one of his primary interests as is street photography, including in New Orleans. He loves photographing musicians and their gestures and their hands. Recently he has rekindled an interest in infrared and black and white photography, which is what he used to do in his darkroom. Over the years Fred has purchased and collected other photographers images which serve as his inspiration and as a benchmark for his work. Besides photography Fred enjoys New Orleans music as well as classical music and opera. He likes to read and to travel, he used to write poetry, and he enjoys wine and good food. Post processing is Fred s least desirable part photography. He uses Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC on his imac but finds the process tedious, boring and painful. Fred has been a member of GNOCC for many years. He is also a member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance since its inception nine years ago. He has been active in the development and promotion of PhotoNola for the past eight years. He would like to see greater integration between the Camera Club and the Photo Alliance in the future. Both organizations offer learning opportunities in a variety of ways. Traveling with members of the camera club on the recent trip to Yellowstone was a special pleasure for Fred. He enjoys the camaraderie and the networking that exists in the Club. Fred has had a number of solo exhibits at a variety of places including Ochsner Hospital, the Intercontinental Hotel, coffee shops, ice cream shops and bed and breakfasts in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. He has also produced a number of photo books. Cuba and Yellowstone National Park are two places that will be featured in future books. Eight of his images have been selected for a book celebrating 25 years of a musical festival in Colombia called Mono Nunez. Consuelo is Fred s wife and she has always been very supportive of his many endeavors including medicine, photography and his other interests. She is also an artist who used to paint porcelain. Recently she has taken an interest in photography using Fred s mirrorless Olympus (which he may never see again!). She has an active practice in family therapy. They have two children: Alex has completed his Masters Degree in Public Health and is seeking a job in that field. Elizabeth lives in Berkely, California and is the mother of Fred and Consuelo s only grandchild, Ixchel Marie. Elizabeth works in the Bay area in the field of Financial Consulting. Fred s mother was also an artist, one of her works hangs in his home where he sees it every day. 2

3 President s Message Editor s Message I would like to take this opportunity to thank last year s officers and board members who worked hard to keep the club going in the right direction. Rose and Mike Parker have been working the President s and Vice President s positions for many years. It s a lot of work and I appreciate the time and energy they have given to the club and hope they will continue in the future. Jean Manale has been the Treasurer for just as long. She expertly manages the club s finances. Bill Pinto is our club s photographer. Bill always has camera in hand and ready to document the meeting s activities. Bill then sends the images to our Shutterbug Editor Tom Oelsner and Tom writes up the story. Tom has been our Newsletter Editor for many years as well. He delivers an interesting Editor s message and provides a Bio section to let us know a little bit about our members. Tom applies stories when given to him and documents the winners of the competitions. It s always good to review the newsletter, check out the stories and read how to better our photography skills. If anyone has any information to be told about photography, please send your thoughts to Tom Oelsner (drtomo@bellsouth.net) and enlighten the club members. Mike Parker has been the webmaster for the club s website at gnocc.org and will continue in that position. As webmaster he keeps the website up to date and enters the current calendar and activities for all to see. The website is not only a resource for club members but is also our window to the outside world. For all the past board members thanks for what you have done. For all the present board members including Barry Lamia and Chris Mickal thank you for being on the board and looking forward to working with all of you. Connie Allotto President Greater New Orleans Camera Club What is the difference between critique and criticism? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definitions are as follows: criticism - the act of disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing: the act of criticizing someone or something critique- a careful jusgement in which you give your opinion about the good and bad parts of something (such as a piece of writing or a work of art). Those are quite different. Criticism stresses the faults and problems with the subject, whereas critique puts as much emphasis on the good aspects of a subject as it does the bad. When we publish our photographs on the web in a variety of public sites, such as Facebook or Behance or Photocrowd or others, we are often expecting some feedback about the quality of the work. And yet, we hardly ever get a critique online. We may get a thumbs-up or a like-it. Although a positive comment like that is always welcome and is good for the ego, it really doesn t help us to improve our work. There are a limited number of opportunities to get a real critique on your work. Certainly the Camera Club is the most logical place. Though the judges vary a great deal they usually offer a real critique, that is, stressing the best qualities as well as the faults of the work. Other organizations similar to the Camera Club also provide the same service. The New Orleans Photo Alliance is one of them. The Photographic Society of America (PSA) provides the ability to submit photographs for critique by experienced photographers on line. ASMP and PPA are similar national organizations, likely to be more professional, but also provide the ability to enter images for critique. PhotoNola is a local experience that provides portfolio reviews by highly experienced photographers. Photography related conventions or meetingspresident often provide similar types of portfolio reviews. In summary, there are lots of places to get a constructive analysis of your work (critique) that will ultimately be thought provoking enough to improve your images in the future. Posting images on the web is not likely to produce that result but can be fun and rewarding also. Tom Oelsner Editor, the Shutterbug 3

4 Field Trip to the Chalmette Battleground It was a cold Saturday morning on January 10 when a group of GNOCC members met in Chalmette to attend the 200th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. The re-enactment and various other activities occurred in a temporary field near the original battleground and a large crowd was present. Many of the participants were dressed in period costumes and were camped out in tents. There were many photo ops at this event. The Shutterbug is published monthly by Greater New Orleans Photographic Society which serves photographic enthusiasts in the New Orleans area. Regular meetings of the society are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:00 PM at Munholland United Methodist Church, 1201 Metairie Road, Metairie, LA. Visitors and guests are always welcome. Club Officers President Connie Allotto allbeau@cox.net Vice President Barry Lamia barrylamia@gmail.com Treasurer Jean Manale jmanalephoto@hotmail.com Secretary Rose Parker parker52@cox.net Webmaster Mike Parker mike@cox.net Members-at-large Bill Pinto otnip451@yahoo.com Photo by Mike Parker Chris Mickal Firelinephotos@aol.com GNOCC Judging Done at Sunday Morning Coffee Meeting Every Sunday morning a group of Camera Club members meet at La Madeleine behind Lakeside Shopping Center for a social gathering and friendly discussion of any topical subjects that come to mind. On Sunday January 18 Rose Parker put the participants to work. Rose is the GSCCC representative and periodically our club is asked to judge the monthly GSCCC competition. So Rose brought the images, some digital, some prints, to the coffee shop to have the competition judged. The judges were Connie Allotto, John Pickles and Tom Oelsner while other members present observed and offered advice. Chairperson GSCCC Representatives Rose Parker - Pictorial Color Prints, Pictorial B&W Prints, PJ Prints, PJ Digital Projected Ozzie Hansen - Pictorial Digital Projected, Nature Prints, Nature Digital Projected Shutterbug Newsletter Staff Editor Tom Oelsner drtomo@bellsouth.net Photographers Bill Pinto otnip451@yahoo.com Contributing photographer Ricky Gilmore Photo by Bill Pinto Louis Caenavette, Connie Allotto and Rose Parker at La Madeleine 4

5 Assigned - Piano Player Malka Lew Open B&W - Empty Chairs Donald Maginnisa Assigned - Hard Times on Decatur Peter Clark Nature - Ouch Minnetta Heidbrink 5 Nature - Cactuses, Rocks and Shadows Peter Clark

6 Nature - Pine Island Sunset Jean Manale Open Color - Tulips Tom Oelsner Open B&W - Mississippi at Night Malka Lew Open B&W - Rainy Day in French Quarter Jean Manale 6 Open Color - Laundry in Lisbon Peter Clark

7 Assigned - Musicians Acadiannes Donald Maginnis Open Color - Drip Minnetta Heidbrink Open B&W - Preservation Hall Tom Oelsner Nature - Ibis Landing Donald Maginnis Open B&W - Shrimp Boats Tom Longmire 7 Open Color - Three Ibises Donald Maginnis

8 Make Cards for Personal Use or for Gifts by Tom Oelsner This is a project that I have found to be lots of fun and is useful also. I make greeting cards or social cards with my photographs. And I have received an amazing number of compliments on my work as a result of this project. Here is what I do: Red River Paper is a well known supplier of inkjet papers. One of their products is called Inkjet Printable Greeting Cards. These come in several different sizes and in a variety of finishes including Glossy, Matte, Textured and more. I prefer their Aurora Art Natural. The paper is scored for easy and precise folding. The size that I like is the 6.25 X 9 which folds into 6.25 by 4.5. Obviously the paper choice and size is a personal matter. Matching size envelopes are also available from the same company. And they even provide boxes with a transparent plastic top which hold ten cards and ten envelopes. This is ideal to present a box of cards as a gift. Producing the cards is relatively simple. Red River Papers provides user profiles which are plug-ins for Lightroom. Once these are installed in the Print Mode it gives you a choice according to the size of the paper, the orientation (vertical of portrait) and whether to have a border around the image. Any of your thousands of images in Lightroom can be loaded simply by selecting the image before going to the Print Mode. I like to put a logo on the back side of the card that is something like Cards by Tom Oelsner in color with a border and that is common to all my cards. I also like to put the title of the photograph along with the year it was taken just above the logo. It is also possible to place a greeting or another image inside the card but I prefer to leave it blank. All of this is very easy and straight forward in Lightroom. When I make a box for a gift I usually use an assortment of 10 different images. This is a way to show your images to others in a very useful fashion. My wife uses the cards for thank you notes and for greeting cards. I have received several photographic jobs as a result of people receiving and seeing these cards. I would assume that other paper manufacturers have similar products but I have found Red River Paper to work exceptionally well particularly with their user profiles, envelopes and boxes. 8

9 Shutterbug welcomes your input and suggestions. You maye wish to comment in the form of a Letter to the Editor to express your opinion. Or submit one of your photographs which is particularly interesting along with a description of where it was taken and how it was taken along with information about post-processing. If you have an interesting photographic project it is nice to share that with other members of the club by submitting a description and picture of your project. Or if you have read an interesting article or found a valuable Photo Tip then submit that for publication. If you have equipment for sale it can be advertised in this newsletter under Classified. Your comments and involvement are welcome and appreciated. Quote of the month: As photographers we sell emotion not emulsion. The tools are immaterial, the resulting piece is all important... Jeff Adams Calendar of Events February 5 - Competition Meeting. Assigned Abstract in B&W Prints. Also Open B&W, Open Color and Nature Prints February 19 - Program Night - to be announced March 5 - Competition Meeting- Digital Projected. Assigned topic is Mardi Gras You may also submit entries in Open, Photojournalism and Creative categories for a maximum of four entries. 9