Highlights State Fair Photo Contest Travel Photography Tips Essay: The Animals Among Us Member Profile: Bob Lancaster

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1 Highlights State Fair Photo Contest Travel Photography Tips Essay: The Animals Among Us Member Profile: Bob Lancaster Volume 4, Issue 6 June, 2007 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LINN AREA PHOTO CLUB The Focal Point Sharing our passion for photography June Photo Workshop June 23rd outing with local photographer Robert Campagna The Linn Area Photo Club is planning a workshop Saturday June, 23rd with local photographer Robert Campgna. He is the proprietor of Robert Campagna the Abbe Creek Gallery in Mount Vernon, Iowa. In addition to his work as a free lance photographer, Robert is a teacher and has given hundreds of workshops at locations throughout Iowa, the United States and in Nicaragua and Scotland. Participants will meet in Mt. Vernon at a coffee shop called "Fuel" located in the downtown area at 103 First Street East. Meeting time will be 9 am gathering time, with the workshop to end around 12:30. Afterwards participants may stay and have lunch together at the Lincoln Café. In the 3 hours of the workshop Robert will take people on a photo outing to downtown Mount Vernon. For those who have not been there, Mount Vernon has some very nice examples of Victorian architecture. Participants will also visit a Lisbon farm, a Lisbon cemetery, and the Sutliff bridge area. Come and join your friends from the Linn Area Photo June Meeting Sunday June 10th with David Chung The June LAPC Meeting will be held on June 10th at 2pm at Wickiup Hill. Speaker will be LAPC President, David Chung David will be presenting The Digital Darkroom for Beginners.. During this session we will focus on image manipulation not RAW conversion or capture. We will explore many of the basic tools provided in June Contest Theme Fathers modern image editors. We will learn how to colorize black and white, work with layers, sharpen, correct perspective and other techniques. All examples will be give in Adobe PhotoShop CS2 but the principles may be applied to photo editing software. Club for a day in the field with Robert Campagna. The Abbe Creek Gallery is online at: Bridal Veil Falls by Robert Campagna Inside this issue: From the President 2 July Meeting 2 State Fair Photo Contest 3 Travel Photography 4 Theme Contest 5 The Animals Among Us 5 Member Profile: Bob Lancaster 6 About LAPC 7 Sponsors 7

2 Page 2 in a very intimate way, she understands how to communicate through photography. From the President Photography for the Masses By David Chung I have recently come to an epiphany I am a photo snob. It started in High School. While my classmates were using their instamatics or 110 cameras, I had a Pentax MX. Like every aspiring photographer of my generation, I waned to be Ansel Adams. I shot lots of Black and White and practically lived in the school darkroom. Today as I travel, with my DSLR, lenses, carbin fiber tripod and CNC machined ballhead, I end to look down on the tourists looking through the LCD of their point-and-shoot digital cameras and trying to light the New York skyline with their flashes. Recently I have begun to change my tune. As I write this, my eldest daughter is in China. On the way s h e stopped on Guam. She is not a photographer, she has an inexpensive point and shoot digital and doesn t know an f-stop July Meeting from a shutter speed. She takes pictures without regard to compositional rules, exposure or image sharpness. She simply shoots what she finds interesting. Even so, in a very intimate way, she understands how to communicate through photography. She also shares her images on the Internet. In her case, she has private galleries on Face- Book.com and a public travelogue at LiveJournal.com. I spent a little more time on the Internet looking at my kids and their friends F a c e - Book.com pages. All of them had photos. Funny photos, blurry photos, goofy photos, lots and lots of photos. I found my- PhotoPro owner and manager: Dave Johnson The LAPC May meeting will be held, Sunday, July 8th at 2pm at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center. Special Guest Speaker will be PhotoPro owner and manager Dave Johnson. PhotoPro was one of the Kids on Guam by Joy Chung Dave Johnson Three Graces Paris by Joy Chung earliest sponsors of the Linn Area Photo Club and Dave has been supportive of the club and our activities over the years. LAPC members receive a discount at PhotoPro so don t forget to ask when you are in th shop. Dave will be sharing some of self almost laughing out loud as I looked at them. With the synergy of digital cameras, the Internet and of course youth, there is something going on here that I have not until know really understood. This week I visited my inlaws and I took my computer and showed them my daughter s pages. They did not notice that some of her pictures suffered from camera shake. They did not notice that some of her pictures had blown highlights. What they saw was that the pictures allowed them to vicariously share in the myriad new experiences my daughter was enjoying. Of course, I am not suggesting that I am going to stop caring about composition, exposure or sharpness, etc. But I am going to try harder to remember that photography is a way of communicating and I would like my photos to communicate to their viewers in as strong a way as my daughter s photos do. the new photographic products in the marketplace and speak about some of the trends he sees in the industry. Dave is an enthusiastic speaker and he always shows up with a variety of cool items to check out.

3 Page 3 The Iowa State Fair Photo Contest More than just Pork Chop on a Stick The State Fair is probably one of the largest contests most of us will enter... By Doug Hoeger Well it s almost that time of year again; time to enter the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. The deadline for this years contest is July 1. Any entries received either in person or by mail after 4:00 on that date will not be eligible (there are no Sunday deliveries at the fairgrounds). The theme for this years contest is Winter Wonderland; however there are 25 total categories. Entries are limited to 4 per person and 1 per class. The categories and complete rules and registration form can be found at competition/ pdfs/07photo.pdf. A reception for the photographers will be held Tuesday, August 7 th from 6:00 till 9:00 P.M. with awards presented at 6:30. I ve participated in the State Fair several times in the past few years and have always found it to be an interesting experience. To me it s always interesting to go to the Salon reception and see what the judges have accepted for display, although I can t always say I agree with their choices. Having been involved with judging the N4C photojournalism contest last month for LAPC I can t imagine what a monumental task it must be to sort through and decide which of the thousands of images submitted to the state fair that will be selected for display, much less trying to come to a consensus as to the winners. We had less than 90 images to go through as opposed to the 3568 images submitted by 1252 people for state fair last year. Of those, 1059 images from 734 photographers were chosen for display. With all the photos submitted, some of which I consider absolutely wonderful, and some making me question what the judges were thinking, it s always an honor just to have an image selected for display. In what I consider to have been an interesting occurrence, I actually had the judges recategorize one of my entries last year from the plants category to the anything goes category, which is probably where I should have entered it in the first place. Just because a photo isn t accepted this year, don t give up it may be entered again in the future, and when viewed by different judges, may be selected for display as happened with one of my wife s pictures. Entries may be any size up to and including 11X14, but must be mounted to 11X14 on foam core at least 1/8 thick. Due to the heat and humidity I strongly recommend having Heroes in Training by Doug Hoeger your images dry mounted. You can have this done at most frame shops, but remember to patronize our club sponsors. Matting is optional and can greatly enhance the presentation of your photo. When choosing mats, make sure the color compliments your picture, without being distracting. Neutral colors are generally best. No framing is allowed, nor is any plastic or cellophane, or hooks or wires. Photographer s name, title, date and other text may not appear on the image. The State Fair is probably one of the largest contests most of us will enter and can be a wonderful experience. Be sure to either attend the photographer s reception on August 7 th, or to go through the display at some time during the fair. Even if you re not a winner, it s a great chance to see some wonderful images and maybe even come up with some new ideas. [Editor s note: Doug is much too modest this image won the Superintendents Choice Award at the Iowa State Fair.]

4 Page 4 In February 2008, LAPC will judge the N4C Pictoral Digital Slide Contest.theme is Looking up: physically, philosophically and figuratively Travel Photography Tips Looking for the images opportunities on the road By David Chung Even people who do not think of themselves as photographers take cameras with them when they travel. The summer travel season is upon us. Here are some hints to make the most of your travel photos. Do not look only at eye level. Look up and down for interesting things or perspective. Have sense of scale. A picture of a mountain or monument without some thing recognizable like a person, tree or vehicle has no sense of scale. La Vie en Rose by David Chung Train Bleu Dejeuner by David Chung Consider the foreground and background of your images. Sometimes a secondary item of interest can enhance a photo. Keep your sense of humor. Photos tell a story, sometimes they can tell a joke. Look for details. Often it is the small things that are memorable photographically. People. The most interesting thing about travel is the people. Open any National Geographic and you will see not only great landscape and nature photography but great people photography as well. Have fun taking those travel photos! Red Hat by David Chung Alpine Village by David Chung Dragon by David Chung Mini Vans by David Chung

5 Page 5 Theme Contest June Theme is Fathers and new Beginner s Category By David Chung Each month s LAPC meeting features an informal theme photo contest. The June contest theme is Fathers. For June, we will try something new. We will have two contest categories, one for past theme contest winners and one for those who have not won a theme contest in 2006 or This should be an opportunity for newcomers to compete in a less threatening environment. The May theme winner was Ann Jorgensen s Iowa Corn. Iowa Corn by Ann Jorgensen Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand Margaret Bourke-White I spent many an evening watching them as they form lines hundred s of birds wide and twenty deep, diving one row at a time, chasing and eating schools of small fish The Animals Among Us Photo Essay by Bob Lancaster By Bob Lancaster I drive across the Coralville Reservoir several times a week for work. I always thought the reservoir was just a large pool of water created by man for man s recreational pleasures. My opinion was shortsighted. Several years ago, I spotted a large flock of white birds covering the lake west of Highway 965. This was my first experience at seeing 10 s of thousands of migrating American White Pelicans. I tried unsuccessfully to photograph these pelicans from the side of the reservoir. I spent many an evening watching them as they form lines hundred s of birds wide and twenty deep, diving one row at a time, chasing Pelicans at Coralville Reservoir by Bob Lancaster and eating schools of small fish. The next year, I asked a friend if he thought we could paddle a canoe out into the reservoir and get closer, maybe, even into the flock of pelicans. Early one evening, we took off, working our way upriver. It was a successful adventure. I will never forget the sounds, the smells, and the thrill of being surrounded by thousands of pelicans. We were literally among the pelicans. This trip is repeated yearly, each time I am amazed at the number of pelicans that stop at the reservoir. I now see the reservoir as a safe haven, a resting place, where the pelicans come to nourish themselves for the rest of their migration. When the pelicans leave, the surface of the reservoir becomes quiet, but I still stop to watch and remember.

6 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 Page 6 It is both a thrill and at the same time very difficult to pick out 6 or 7 images each, out of thousands, the represent the unique beauty of Iowa each year. Member Profile: Bob Lancaster LAPC Founder and Vice President is and accomplished Nature Photographer By Jacob Schulmeister Bob Lancaster and Jim Zelle founded the Linn Area Photo Bob Lancaster Club four years ago. But it was nearly forty years ago in the Fall of 1969 when Bob received his first 35mm SLR before he left for college. Bob enjoys photographing wildflowers, nature, landscapes and now his granddaughter. Crested Butte Co, Waterton- Glacier International Peace Park Tulips in the Rain by Bob Lancaster and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are three of Bob s favorite places to photograph. Bob constantly feels a pull to go to the mountains at least once a year. To capture the beauty nature has to offer, Bob uses a Canon DSLR EOS 5D full frame 12 mega pixel camera along with an assortment of Canon and Tamron, lenses, Canon flashes and accessories. Bob also uses a Epson Stylus Photo printer, along with Adobe Photoshop CS2, Photoshop Elements 5, and ACDSee image management software. Bob would someday like to own the Canon wide angle and 500mm telephoto lenses. Bob has many favorite photos hanging up at work and in his home. Several have won contests and have been published. However he likes an image of Tulips in the Rain that he has printed on canvas paper the best. His second favorite is of a reflection taken at Glacier- Waterton International Peace Park. Here is Bob s short story on this one. Luckily, the man in the image on the left made so much noise that morning, that he woke me up and I went outside to this view. I quickly grabbed my camera and tripod and ran to the edge of the lake and shot three rolls of film, with this image being my favorite. For the last 5 years, Bob has been working with Cornerstone Reflection by Bob Lancaster Press, and Gary Hamer, another LAPC member, on a calendar called Images of Iowa. Bob says it is both a thrill and at the same time very difficult to pick out 6 or 7 images each, out of thousands, the represent the unique beauty of Iowa each year. Bob was kind enough to share the image to be used for November 2008 by Bob Lancaster November See more of Bob s work at

7 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 Page 7 About the Linn Area Photo Club Contact information and more about LAPC The Linn Area Photo Club was established in November 2003 in order to bring together individuals in the greater Linn County, Iowa area who are interested in acquiring and developing an appreciation of the art and techniques of photography. Dues are $20 per year. Monthly meetings are normally held the second Sunday of the month at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville. Club membership is open to photographers of all skill levels. Members participate in a variety of educational programs, field trips and photo shoots. There is an informal monthly theme contest and an annual club contest that drew over 90 entries in its first year. Members range from beginners to professionals and use both digital and traditional photographic technology. LAPC is a great place to meet and learn from other photo enthusiasts. Visit our web site at: LAPC Contact Information Address: Linn Area Photo Club P.O. Box 8660 Cedar Rapids, IA President: David Chung (319) president@linnareaphotoclub.org Vice President: Bob Lancaster (319) vice-president@linnareaphotoclub.org Treasurer: Doug Hoeger (319) treasurer@linnareaphotoclub.org Secretary: Kris Hoeger (319) secretary@linnareaphotoclub.org The Linn Area Photo Club sharing our passion for photography Activities: Ann Jorgensen (319) activities@linnareaphotoclub.org Pam Franklin (319) Public Relations: David Byrnes (319) public-relations@linnareaphotoclub.org Membership: Kris Hoeger (319) membership@linnareaphotoclub.org David Byrnes (319) Newsletter: Jacob Schulmeister (319) newsletter@linnareaphotoclub.org Dave Lortz (319) David Chung (319) PSA/N4C Rep: Bob Lancaster (319) psa@linnareaphotoclub.org Webmaster: Jim Zelle (319) webmaster@linnareaphotoclub.org Ken Boardrow (319) LAPC Sponsors Support the sponsors that support our club The Modern Gallery and Framing Company, LLC