Retzer Nature Center
Camera Club
April 2015 Newsletter
April Meeting – Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 7:00 PM
This month we will focus on macro photography. Our guest speaker will be Ram Pai, a local amateur photographer who in addition to photographing local community events, enjoys macro photography. He concentrates on flowers, butterflies and dragonflies. Ram has recently been the featured photographer at Boerner Botanical Gardens and had his macro images hanging there. With the wildflower season just around the corner, this will be a presentation that will give you some new macro photography skills.
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. 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: Elizabeth Whitcomb, Rudy Willis, Tom Wright and Bob Zastrow.
Please email your images to Rick Vollbrecht (Rvollb@wi.rr.com ) by next Tuesday. This will help to streamline the process of viewing member images. We look forward to seeing your images
2015 Club Programs:
Our 2015 programs are listed below:
May 6, 2015 – Tabletop photography. Members will have an opportunity to shoot various tabletop arrangements
June 3, 2015 – Guest speaker: Brian Havican, forensic photography
July 1, 2015 – Shooting and creating panoramic images
August 5, 2015 – Selecting images for Wisconsin PSA Showcase.
September 2, 2015 – Creating images using HDR
October 7, 2015 – Creating digital slide shows with Lightroom.
Creating photo books
Creating photo montages
November 4, 2015 – Shooting the night sky, painting with light (outdoor shoot at Retzer)
December 2, 2015 – Holiday Party. Review Scavenger Hunt images and member’s favorite 2015 images. Spouses and guests are invited.
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 coordinate field trips for the club. If you have some 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.
The tentative schedule for photo outings:
June 21 – Bike races in Waukesha
Spring – Evanston, Illinois lighthouse and Bahai Temple
Summer – Downtown Milwaukee night shoot
Summer – Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford
Summer – Tiffany Bridge and Beckman Mill in Beloit
Summer – Chicago Botanical Gardens
July – Wildflowers at Retzer
August – Frame Park flower gardens
August 15-16 – Midwest Freestyle Kayak Championship in Wausau
Photo Scavenger Hunt:
We will once again be conducting a 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. 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!
Here are the topics for our 2015 Scavenger Hunt:
1. Delicate
2. Decay
3. I can’t believe I captured that!
4. Graffiti
5. Doorway
6. Bloomin’ Beautiful
7. Stormy
8. Shadow
9. Bridge
10. At night
Club Logo:
We would like to design a logo for our club. This would be something we could use on our Newsletter or other communications. We are also considering offering members the opportunity to purchase club apparel (shirts, jackets, etc) that would display our logo. So, dust off your design skills and let us see what you can design! Even if you are not good at drawing, just give us a rough sketch or a description of what you have in mind. Get your ideas in to Elizabeth Whitcomb or Rick Vollbrecht.
Future Events of Interest:
Urban Ecology Center Photo Club Presents Willard Clay. April 13th, 7:00 PM Clay, a Chicago area photographer, has had his images published in numerous magazines, books and calendars. He also teaches photography at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Il and other locations in the Midwest. His presentation titled “Elevating Your Photos from Picture to Photograph” will address the question “What makes a memorable photograph memorable?” Register at www.urbanecologyycenter.org
Wisconsin Youth Photography Showcase: Sponsored by the Wisconsin PSA Chapter, the Showcase features photographs from Milwaukee area high schools. The photographs are on display on the first floor of Milwaukee City Hall. The open reception is April 15th at 5:00PM, with photographs on display for several weeks.
WACCO 2015 Member Exhibit: Ninety images from members of WACCO camera clubs are on display at the Reuss Federal Plaza, 310 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee until April 25th. It is worth the trip to see some great images from our fellow Wisconsin photographers.
Out of Chicago Photo Conference, June 25-28: The conference is based at The University Center in Chicago and offers a variety of seminars and workshops at the Center and other downtown Chicago locations. For more information go to: http://outofchicago.com/conference/
Summer Weekend of Photography July 30th-August 2nd, , Holland, Mi: Sponsored by the Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs (SWMCCC) the weekend offers a variety of presentations, workshops and field trips. For more information go to http://www.swmccc.org/2015-weekend-of-photography-and-digital-imaging.html
If you are aware of any events of general interest, please let us know so we can share them with the club.
Photo Contests and Exhibits:
WACCO Spring Competition – Saturday, May 2, 2015. Deadline for entry: April 11. 2015. For complete rules and entry forms go to http://www.wicameraclubs.org/competition/ Special themes this year are Weather and Macro. For this competition, you must enter individually. Don’t delay – start selecting your images and get them in now!
If you are aware of any 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/
