Wednesday, February 27, 2013

March Meeting Will be Wild!!




Retzer Nature Center
Camera Club
March 2013 Newsletter


March Meeting - March 6, 2013, 7:00 PM
 
Program: Wildlife Photography – for the Birds -Tom Wright and Jim Edlhuber will explore wildlife photography with an emphasis on birds. Tom will provide an overview of equipment and techniques while taking a deeper look into “isolating your subject”.  Jim will continue the focus on birds, while exploring photography from a vehicle and in your own backyard. The goal, even if birds are not of particular interest, is for you to come away with skills that can be transferred to other types of photography.

Member Image Sharing:

Members are also encouraged to submit several (up to five) images to share with the club for gentle critique.  This is a great way to get suggestions for improving your images and developing your photographic skills.  We would like to encourage members to submit images for sharing in advance by email to Rick Vollbrecht at Rvollb@wi.rr.com.  This will help to streamline the process of viewing member images. We look forward to seeing your images.

In order to give everyone a chance to share their images during the year, we have decided to provide a schedule listing individuals who will be given priority at each meeting.  Other individuals may also provide images which will be shared as time permits.

The following members should provide images to share at the February 6th meeting:
          Jim Edlhuber, Elizabeth Filippo, Pat, Ron, Dustin & Will Foat, Gene Gerbasi, and Geri Gresl

2013 Club Programs:

The following is a list of programs that are planned for 2013. 

April 3, 2012 - Flash Photography  Chris Jourdan will discuss various aspects of flash photography and how to use flash to enhance images.
May 1, 2012 - TBD
June 5, 2013 - Wildflower Photography  Rick Vollbrecht will discuss equipment, techniques and locations for getting great wildflower photographs.
July 3, 2013 - No Meeting
August 7, 2013 - PSA Region 21 Image Selection  We will select member images to submit to the annual PSA Region 21 inter-club competition.  We will also spend additional time on member image critiques.
September 4, 2013 - Landscape Photography  Terry Molter will present landscape photography with an emphasis on Fall colors.
October 2, 2013 - Miscellaneous Topics  This will be a meeting dedicated to a number of smaller topics:
          Rick Vollbrecht will talk about packing your photo gear for travel.
          Jim Edlhuber will tell us how to keep our lens clean.
          Rick Vollbrecht will cover resizing images for digital projection and competitions and how to transfer images to a thumb drive.
          Tom Wright will discuss offsite image backup and cloud storage.
          Terry Molter will discuss procedures for photographing the moon.
November 6, 2013 - Simple Steps to Improve Images  Roy Schneider will discuss simple steps to improve your images in image editing software.
December 4, 2013 - Scavenger Hunt Images  We will view member images from the Scavenger Hunt.  See note below for further information.

Special Note on April Meeting on Flash Photography:   As noted above, Chris Jourdan will be discussing flash photography at our April meeting.  If you have any particular questions or issues relating to the use of flash that you would like to have addressed, please forward them to John Hasse at J3hasse@hotmail.com.  We will ask Chris to include them in his program.

Photo Scavenger Hunt:  Photo scavenger hunts are a fun and challenging way to get your imagination and creative juices flowing! The rules are simple:
          1. Submit one image of each topic.
          2. Be creative - think of a unique way to express the topic. 
          3. Images should be taken between now and December 1st.
          4. Have fun.

Tom Wright has developed the list for this scavenger hunt.  Thanks Tom!  Images will be viewed at the December meeting. So start shooting!  Here is your list:
         
Scavenger Hunt Topics
1. Car(s)
2. Fence
3. Funny
4. Hands
5. Kitchen item
6. Old
7. Self-portrait
8. Smooth
9. Storefront
10. Tall
11. Texture
12. Wildcard - what is it

Field Trips:

Photo field trips are a great way for us to share our common enjoyment of photography, learn some new techniques and share in camaraderie while getting to know our fellow club members.  Frank Remfrey has agreed to again coordinate some field trips for the club.  Frank has scheduled the following tentative field trips: 
          Pasque Flowers: Monday, April 15th (depends on the flowers). Location: Pasque Flower Preserve near Piper Road, Town of Ottawa.

          Milwaukee County Zoo: Tuesday, June 18th (rain date 19th).  Meet inside main entrance at the zoo.

          West of the Lake Gardens: Wednesday, July 10th,  Manitowoc.  For more info visit http://www.westfoundation.us/  Carl Courtois will be the trip leader.

          Wildflower Walk:  Tuesday, July 16th (rain date 17th).  Location: Retzer Nature Center.  Time TBD.  Jim Edlhuber will lead the walk.

          Milwaukee River Walk: Tuesday, August 6th (rain date 7th).  Meet near Vogel Hall entrance of Marcus Center for the Performing Arts at 7:00 PM
.
          Wings Over Waukesha: Saturday, August 24th.  Air Show begins at 1:00 PM.  We will meet at the east end of Lancaster Drive, City of Waukesha.  We will be able to view      the show from the park located in the subdivision.  There is a small playground nearby.  Frank Remfrey and Rudy Willis will be co-hosts.

We could use some volunteers to coordinate some of these trips.  If you are interested please let Frank know.  If you have some additional ideas of where you would like to see us go, please let Frank know (FRemfrey@wi.rr.com).  Better yet, why not offer to coordinate a field trip.  It's not hard - find a place you would like to go, pick a date and we can announce it to the club. 

Future Events of Interest:

February 22 - May 19, 2013 - Color Rush - 75 Years of Color Photography in America.  This exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum follows developments that led to color photography becoming the norm in popular culture and fine art.  The exhibit includes work by Ansel Adams and Edward Steichen.

March 10, 2013 - PSA Wisconsin Chapter Meeting 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM  Waukesha State Bank, Oconomowoc, Lower Level.  Take I-94 West, exit 282.  Go North on Hwy 67. 
Business meeting and election of officers. 
Region 21 Individual Showcase - PSA members may bring two images (print or projected) for consideration for the Showcase. 
Members may bring images for a Bring-Your-Own show, 
The afternoon program will feature Jim Cowell with a program on Natural Element Photography.

April 13, 2013 - Rick Sammon Seminar  Presented by the Wehr Nature Center Camera Club.  Rick Sammon will present "Exploring the Light", sharing his people, wildlife, landscape and travel pictures from around the globe – illustrating the difference between taking pictures and making pictures. For every image, Rick will share a photographic technique, digital darkroom tip, or a photo philosophy. He will cover seeing the light, controlling the light, playing with the light, HDR photography and some composition techniques.  For information and registration go to http://rick-in-mke.com

April 20, 2013 - John & Barb Gerlach Seminar  Well known nature photographers John and Barb Gerlach will be leading a one day seminar in Milwaukee entitled How to Shoot Beautiful Nature Photographs.  The cost is $99.00.  For more information visit their web site:  www.gerlachnaturephoto.com

May 4, 2013 - WACCO Photography Seminar  Fuzzy Duenkel, a well known local portrait photographer, will conduct an afternoon program.  A registration brochure is attached. To see some of Fuzzy's work, check his web site:  www.duenkel.com

May 17 - 19, 2013 - PSA Wisconsin Chapter Photo Outing to Door County.  PSA members will meet in Door County for a weekend of photography

August 1-4, 2013 - Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs (SWMCCC) Summer Weekend of Photography The Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs invites you to attend the 39th annual SWMCCC Summer Weekend of Photography and Digital Imaging. Whether a beginner or an advanced photographer, you will find instructional opportunities and shooting sessions designed to enhance your creative skills and knowledge of photographic tools. Join us for a weekend of photographic learning, fun and fellowship.  A number of our members have attended this event in the past and have found it very educational and enjoyable.  If several of us plan to attend, we could carpool.  For more information go to http://www.swmccc.org/WeekendOfPhotography.html


Photo Ops:

As a club, our members have a wide variety of subjects that we enjoy photographing.  This newsletter can serve as an excellent way to share various photo opportunities with club members.  If you know of interesting subjects or events that may interest other club members, please forward them to Rick Vollbrecht so they can be included in future newsletters.  If you are interested in having others join you, that information can also be included.  It is fun to shoot with a group!

Photography Classes:

A variety of non-credit, reasonably priced classes on photography and Photoshop are available at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) and UW Waukesha.  Check their web sites for more information.

WCTC:  www.wctc.edu
UW Waukesha:  www.waukesha.uwc.edu 

If you are aware of other photography classes or seminars, please forward the information to Rick Vollbrecht

Photo Contests and Exhibits:

WACCO  2nd Annual Exhibit - Deadline July 27, 2013.  WACCO is sponsoring the 2nd Annual photo exhibit at the Reuss Building in Milwaukee.  Each photographer may submit two images for consideration in the exhibit.  Selected images must be printed and framed at a minimum size of 16x20.  Images will be on display from August 10th - September 21st.  For more details see the attached information sheet.

Old World Wisconsin Foundation 2013 Photo Contest - Deadline August 30, 2013
For more information go to the Foundation web site:  www.friendsofoww.org

If you are aware of other photo contests, please forward the information to Rick Vollbrecht at Rvollb@wi.rr.com

Websites of Interest:

Retzer Camera Club blog: www.RetzerCameraClub.blogspot.com 
WACCO (Wisconsin Area Camera Clubs Organization): www.wicameraclubs.org 
PSA (Photographic Association of America):  www.PSA-photo.org
PSA Wisconsin:  www.PSA.wisconsin.org
Friends of Retzer Nature Center: www.FriendsofRetzer.org