Retzer Nature Center
Camera Club
July 2014 Newsletter
July Meeting – Wednesday July 2, 2014, 7:00 PM
Program: Presenting Your Images – Now that you have taken some great family pictures or images from that vacation of a lifetime, how do you organize them to share with family and friends? One way is the digital “slide show”. Rick Vollbrecht will tell us how to create interesting shows from planning what to put in the show to creating it using several software programs for the creation process. Learn how to show off those great images and wow your friends!
Member Image Sharing:
Members are 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 will select several individuals who will be featured at each meeting. Other individuals may also provide images which will be shared as time permits
The following members will be featured this month:
Jan Hanold, Roger Hanson, Rick Heinze, Shawn Hibbard and Terry Hughes
2014 Club Programs:
Our 2014 programs are listed below.
August 6, 2014 – PSA Wisconsin Showcase Image Selection - Members will select images for the 2014 PSA Wisconsin Showcase. We will also spend some time critiquing member images.
September 3, 2014 – Composition – What makes a great image? The elements of composition will be discussed.
October 1, 2014 – Internet Resources for Photographers – Tom Wright will discuss how to find the most helpful photographic resources on the internet and how to get them to feed automatically to your computer.
November 5, 2014 – Presenting your Images Part II – Rick Vollbrecht will demonstrate how to cut mats and frame your photos. There will also be a presentation on creating canvas prints.
December 3, 2014 – Holiday Party! – We will wrap up the year with a gathering including your spouse or guest. We will view the results of our scavenger hunt. A program will show our guests some of our best images from the year. More details will follow as we get closer to the end of the year.
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.
The following field trips are being planned with specific dates and details to be announced later:
July/August – Downtown Milwaukee at night including the rooftop garden at the MSOE Museum, downtown building details and the Milwaukee skyline from Lakeshore State Park (Summerfest Island). Rick Vollbrecht will coordinate.
July – Wildflowers at Retzer nature Center. Jim Edlhuber will coordinate.
Summer – Chicago including Millennium Park (The “Bean”) and Navy Pier. Rick Vollbrecht will coordinate.
Summer – Chicago Botanical Park – Elizabeth Whitcomb will coordinate.
Summer – Frame Park Gardens – Frank Remfrey will coordinate.
We could use some volunteers to coordinate future 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.
Scavenger Hunt:
Following on the success of last year’s scavenger hunt, we are announcing the 2014 scavenger hunt topics. Photo scavenger hunts are a fun and challenging way to get your imagination and creative juices flowing! The rules are simple:
1. Capture 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. We will review them at our December meeting
4. Have fun.
Thanks to Elizabeth Whitcomb for coming up with the following topics:
1. On the waterfront
2. Repetition
3. Unique
4. Celebrate
5. Time
6. Reckless
7. LOCAL (day trip) landscape
8. Challenges
9. Framed
10. Next to something
Start shooting and be creative!
Future Events of Interest:
July 31st – August 3rd – Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs (SWMCCC) Annual Weekend of Photography and Digital Imaging.
This annual event provides an extended weekend (Thursday – Sunday) of programs, workshops and tours. It is based at Hope College in Holland MI and provides some good educational opportunities at a reasonable price. For more information visit their web site and www.SWMCCC.org
September 27th – October 3rd, 2014 – PSA 76th Annual Conference of Photography
The annual conference in Albuquerque NM provides a full schedule of programs, photo tours and workshops. It is also the week before the annual Albuquerque Balloon Festival, so why not extend your trip! For more details, go to the PSA web site: www.PSA-photo.org
Photo Contests and Exhibits:
Shalom Wildlife Zoo Photo Contest – Deadline August 3rd, 2014
Sponsored by the Shalom Wildlife Zoo in West Bend. The contest is for photos taken at the Shalom Wildlife Zoo during the months of May, June and July 2014. For more information go to the Special Events section at: www.Shalomwildlife.com
WACCO 3rd Annual Exhibit – Deadline August 31st, 2014
WACCO exhibits 75-90 images in the Reuss Federal Building in downtown Milwaukee. Images will be on display October 4th – December 6th, 2014. See the attached PDF for additional information on submission. This is a great opportunity to see your images on display with other wonderful photographs from area photographers.
Monona Terrace Photography Contest – Deadline September 1st, 2014
Sponsored by the Monona Terrace in Madison. The contest includes photos taken on the grounds of the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison. Please see the attached information flyer.
Old World Wisconsin Photo Contest – Deadline October 17th, 2014
This contest is for photos taken on the grounds of Old World Wisconsin between August 31, 2013 and October 12, 2014. Categories include Pioneer Life, People, Agriculture, Nature and Historic Structures. For more information go to: www.friendsoww.org/photo_contest.
If you are aware of other photo contests, please forward the information to Rick Vollbrecht at Rvollb@wi.rr.com
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 those 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
Art’s Cameras Plus has an extensive list of classes covering everything from camera basics to photographing in a variety of situations and use of Photoshop Elements. Check out their web site: www.Artscameras.com . If you are aware of other photography classes or seminars, please forward the information to Rick Vollbrecht
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
Jim Edlhuber’s blog: http://www.windowtowildlife.com/
