developments October 2014 Volume 03 Issue 07 Upcoming Events: Friday, 10-3-14, DAPC Deserts Show at the Branigan Cultural Center Opening Reception 5:00-7:00 pm, Show runs through November 22nd. Tuesday, 10-07-2014 - DAPC 1st Tuesday Meeting - 7:00pm, Southwest Environmental Center. See page 1. Saturday, 10-18-2014 - Deadline to submit photos for Monthly Theme Presentation, see page 2. Tuesday, 10-21-2014 - DAPC October Meeting 7:00pm, Southwest Environmental Center. See page 1. Tuesday, 11-04-2014 - DAPC 1st Tuesday Meeting - 7:00pm Southwest Environmental Center. In This Issue October Meetings... 1 October Photo Theme... 2 Southwest Photographic Symposium... 3 Help PLan 2015... 4 Photo of the Year... 4 DAPC Contacts... 2 DAPC on Facebook... 3 All DAPC meetings take place at the Southwest Environmental Center, 275 N. Downtown Mall, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Located on the southwest corner of Main and Las Cruces. For more information about the Soutwest Environmental Center visit www. wildmesquite.org and consider becoming a member. If you have any comments and/or suggestions or you would like to contribute an article or photo to the monthly newsletter please contact Robert Williams at robawil@gmail.com or 505-270-5857. We are also interested in knowing when you have photos being presented in a gallery or art show please send us the details and we will do what we can to help get the word out. Photo Contests and Composition at October DAPC Meetings On October 7 DAPC member Dave Brown will facilitate presentations by several ribbon winners from last year s Club photography contest. Each presenter will take five to ten minutes to explain their reasoning and process related to their submissions. They will share the following information. Why they selected the image they did. Equally important would be if the image was one in a series, why the others were not selected. What planning or setup was done for the image? For example: lens selection, lighting considerations (flash/reflectors), adjustments to ISO, aperture, f/stop, pre-focusing or any other item that made an impact on the shot. Post processing: Were there edits or adjustments made, and if so, in general what were they? This is not intended as a how-to technical narrative, but more along the line of why the changes were made. Examples such as some of the close but not submitted images or before and after post-processing images would all help to illustrate the process. Dave says, I was bitten by the (photography) bug some 50+ years ago. Using a 35mm bellows camera (which I still have) my grandfather showed me how to read a light meter, set the f/stop, shutter speed, distance and compose a photo. From then I have worked on my compositional and technical skills. Many cameras of various formats and time spent in darkrooms doing B+W and color work ended with a transition to digital starting in 1997. Since then I have pushed the limits of my equipment and software to create Mexican Bird of Paradise, Example 2 - by Dave Brown Mexican Bird of Paradise, Example 1 - by Dave Brown
the image I had in mind when taking the shot. On October 21 Lisa Mandelkern will share her interest and joy in photographing wildflowers. She has been a member of the Dona Ana Photography Club for many years. She regularly contributes to the club s program. She is also DAPC s program chair. She enjoys working with digital camera equipment, and lately has taken a liking to photographing insects and spiders. Shooting Star, by Lisa Las Cruces is surrounded Mandelkern by large expanses of desert. Exploring this natural world serves a need for joy and excitement. Observing and photographing desert wildflowers is a particularly worthwhile and satisfying endeavor. There are colors that thrill, arrangements and structures that astonish, and surfaces that are remarkable. Elkweed, by Lisa Mandelkern 2 It is not surprising that wildflower photography is immensely popular. Digital cameras have made the pursuit of wildflower photography immensely more affordable. Modern digital cameras are very user friendly. Cameras have either a macro shooting mode, or allow the use of macro lenses. Effective photographs often hinge on the use of suitable composition, and the genre Antelope Horns Milkweed, by Lisa Mandelkern Western Blue Flag, by Lisa Mandelkern of wildflower photography is no exception. To understand composition, we will break it down into 6 elements; rule of thirds, symmetry, depth of field, texture, pattern, and lines. We will go over these 6 elements of composition and illustrate the examination with desert wildflower photos. Being aware of the elements of composition can enhance any type of photography. Careful composition will avoid stagnant, cluttered and confused images. Hopefully, effective composition will show off the most important feature in the photo, and highlight the uniqueness of the photographer s vision. Join us at the Southwest Environmental Center for this and other information including the October Photo Theme and other business at the October 21st meeting. Monthly Photo Theme Hands Hands are interesting features of human beings. There are manicured hands, working hands, baby hands, arthritic hands, big hands, and small hands. As you think about photographing a variety of hands for a variety of reasons, you may want to be close enough to show texture. You may want to compare two types of hands. The hands may be showing some kind of symbol or sign. You may want to feature a prop. Consider shooting in color and black and white for comparison and selection. There are many creative ways to photograph hands. Share some of DAPC Contacts President, Patrick Hulser- president@dacameraclub.org Vice-President, Robert Williams - vicepresident@dacameraclub.org Secratary, Julie Schmitt- secretary@dacameraclub.org Treasurer, Debbie Hands- treasurer@dacameraclub.org PR, Vic Crane - publicrelations@dacameraclub.org Programs Chair, Lisa Mandelkern -programs@dacameraclub.org Member Services, Fred Moore - membership@dacameraclub.org Photo Theme, Ben Tyson - themes@dacameraclub.org
your work with the Club. You may submit up to 3 photos (no more than three) and you have until Saturday, October 18 to submit your photos to themes@dacameraclub.org. Please be sure the photos are JPEG format and are less than 1 MB in size. It s always fun to see what Photography Club members are shooting. Southwest Photographic Symposium About 100 people gathered at the Rio Grande Preparatory Institute in Mesilla on Saturday, September 20th for a day filled with classes for all levels of photographers. Individuals in the Starter and Basic classes got to practice using their cameras after presentations and examples were shared. Other tracks were for intermediate, specialty, printing, and editing interests. There was also time for personal one-on-one coaching. Comments by participants suggested they were enjoying the learning experiences that gave them new ideas for photography. Ron Wolfe was honored for his role in reviving the floundering Camera Club beginning about five years ago. He was President of the Club for four years. The focus was changed to become more education focused, with low-key competitions throughout the year. Previously it had been a competitive environment. Thank you Ron. Lunch Time Photo by Anne Chase Making Your Own Prints With Fred Moore Photo by Eileen VanWie The keynote address by award winning Albuquerque photographer Fernando Delgado was a highlight of the day. The title of his presentation was What s Next? He shared several series of photographs he had created, including Compositions, Architecture of Nature, Architectonics, Portraits, and Speculum (Looking Glass). Delgado encouraged the audience to observe, explore, be curious and trust your instincts. Several participants were lucky winners of door prizes and the raffled ipad mini. A thank you goes out to all who taught or helped in any way to make the symposium a success. A special thank you to Patrick Hulser, Fred Moore, Jenny Lackey, and Deb Hands for organizing an event where participants left feeling satisfied (and perhaps tired) by a wonderful day. DAPC is on Facebook DACC has also set up a Facebook page and we are encouraging everyone to like the page and to submit your photos for quick review and comments from other members. Go to www.facebook. com/groups/145859948813165/ to sign up or visit our website (dacameraclub.org) and connect from there. Fernando Delgado and Paul Schranz Confer Before Keynote Address Photo DAPC is a proud member of the PSA and we encourage you to consider becoming an individual member of PSA for more information please visit their website at www.psa-photo.org and see what they have to offer. 3
Break Time Photo by Anne Chase HELP PLAN DAPC s 2015 PROGRAM! by Lisa Mandelkern It is time to start thinking about Doña Ana Photography Club s program for 2015. The yearly club program comes together as a group effort of camera club members. If you have a program suggestion, please talk to me at club meetings (Look for my name tag that says: Programs ), or send me an E-mail (DAPC s web site list the address). We are looking for: 1. Speakers from the community, such as artists, professionals, educators and students. Who do you know, or have heard about? 2. Talks by photo club members. Are you an expert in a photographic technique, such as (just to name a few), shooting portraits, photographing landscapes? Have you worked with advanced photographic techniques, such as flash photography, HDR or focus stacking? Are you an expert in any of the popular photo-editing programs, such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, LR, Picasa or others? Would you like to prepare an in-depth talk (as short as 10 minutes!) on any feature in these programs? Could you give a travelogue? Do you have a body of photographic work that would fit the format of a talk? Would you like to talk about a historic photographer? In 2012 we had a well-received series of 10-minute-talks by club members, featuring photographers such as Tim O Sullivan, Andre Kertesz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Annie Leibowitz. Many club members have exhibited their photos. What are their experiences? Patrick Hulser Recognizes Ron Wolfe For Club Service Photo Many members share their photos online. How do you exhibit, organize, send and save your photos using the web? We welcome your program suggestions, even if you do not want to prepare the topic. We like to have a variety of photographic topics, and the length of a talk can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 50 minutes. We look forward to hearing from you! 2014 Photo of the Year by Fred Moore Summary: Submit up to 3 images as digital files. One-third of all entries will get a ribbon. What fantastic odds! The Photo of the Year (POY) competition results will be announced at the November 18th meeting of the Doña Ana Photography Club at the Southwest Environmental Center, Las Cruces, NM. Entrants must be Photography Club members in good standing (your annual dues must be paid-up before you submit your entries.) You may join by mail, in person, or online at http://daphotoclub.org. We accept cash, checks, or credit cards. Each member may submit up to 3 photos that were taken in 2013 or 2014 (based on the file property Date Taken. ) All the work must be your own. Photos must not have been submitted in any prior Photo of the Year competition, but photos entered in our quarterly print competitions or displayed at exhibitions are eligible. Entries must be in good taste as determined by the judges. Judging will be done by several impartial individuals who are not members of the Photography Club but who are knowledgeable regarding photography. They will receive the images on Monday, November 10th to give them ample time to make their evaluations before the Nov 18th meeting. Entry submissions: 4
1. Entries must be submitted as digital files in JPEG format ONLY. 2. Entries must contain the title of the photo and the name of the submitter as part of the image file name, (e.g. Dreamy_ JohnSmith.jpg ). Please do not use Untitled as a title. 3. No personally identifying information (like a visible watermark) may be part of the image. 4. Submitted entries should be sized to not exceed 3MB each. Photos will be projected at 1,920 horizontal x 1,080 vertical pixels your photos will look their best if you size them to fit within these dimensions. If they don t fit, we will resize (but not crop) them as required to fit on the screen. For instance a 3,000 x 2,000 pixel image will be reduced by 54% to 1,620 x 1,080 pixels. A 1,500 x 600 pixel image will be enlarged to 1,920 x 768 pixels (128%.) 5. Entries may be submitted: on a CD, a DVD, a memory stick, a jump drive, or via email. 6. Entries must be given to or sent to Fred Moore (POY@ DAPhotoClub.org) on or before midnight Sunday, November 9th. No late entries will be accepted. You may join the club and submit your images at the club s November 4th meeting if you wish. 7. By submitting an entry, you consent to it being used for photo club publicity. Approximately one-third of all entries submitted will receive a ribbon: Either a red, a blue, or the Photo of the Year. For the purpose of awarding ribbons only, entrants will be divided into two classes so you can compete with photographers of similar experience: 1. Class A consists of members who have won a blue ribbon or two or more red ribbons in all previous Photo of the Year competitions, who make a portion of their income from photography, or who elect Class A status by sending us an email stating so. 2. Class B consists of everyone else. 3. The Photo of the Year winner will be selected from the entire group of submissions, regardless of which class a photographer selects for ribbon purposes. Members submitting photos should try to be present for the meeting. Although you may be awarded ribbons, your emphasis should be on learning from the experience. The Judging Process All images will be checked to make sure they meet the rules, then assigned a random number (with no other identification) and sent to the judges. Each judge will score each image using the Judging Criteria & Evaluation Form. An impartial club member will collect and tally the results. Within each class, the top 33% (rounded up) will be awarded a ribbon. Of these, the top half (rounded up) will be awarded a blue ribbon (first place) and the remaining ones will receive a red ribbon (second place). The image receiving the highest total score will be named the Photo of the Year and will be featured in photo club publicity. In addition, the photographer with the highest total score for all 3 images plus all 3 quarterly print contests will be named the Photographer of the Year. In the event of a tie, the winner(s) will be decided by popular vote at the November 18th meeting. The results will be presented at the November 18th meeting, as follows: 1. First, all the entries will be shown. 2. Next, all red ribbon winners (second place) will be shown for each class. Significant judge s comments may be included. 3. Then, all blue ribbon winners (first place) will be shown for each class. Significant judge s comments may be included. 4. Finally, the Photo of the Year will be shown and the Photographer of the Year will be announced. 5. Following this, the ribbons will be awarded and publicity photos taken of the winners. The judges decision is final. This is one of our most popular events each year and we look forward to seeing your photos in the Photo of the Year Competition. You still have time to get your photos ready for the competition and submit them by November 9th. 5