Retzer Nature Center
Camera Club
July 2016 Newsletter
July Meeting – Wednesday, July 6th, 2016, 7:00 PM
This month member Bob Wickland will discuss how to shoot great macro images including the use of focus stacking techniques. You will learn some techniques to improve your close-up photography.
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.
We will also be sharing some of the Black & White images members created after the June meeting.
The following members will be featured this month: Katie Farber, Karen Geisel, Dale Graves, Mary Graves, Mike Gray.
Please email your images to Rick Vollbrecht (Rvollb@wi.rr.com) by Tuesday, July5th. This will help to streamline theprocess of viewing member images. We look forward to seeing your images.
2016 Club Programs:
Our 2016 programs and meeting dates are listed below:
August 3, 2016 – Selecting images for the PSA WI Club Showcase
September 7, 2016 – Zoo photography presented by Bob Wickland
October 5, 2016 – Image correction and enhancement presented by Tom Wright. Members will receive images in advance and given an opportunity to show how they would improve them.
November 2, 2016 – Table-top hands on shooting opportunity
December 7, 2016 – Holiday Party with spouses invited. Review of Scavenger Hunt images. Member “Best of 2016” show
If you have any topics you would like to see presented at future meetings, please let Program Chair Elizabeth Whitcomb know.
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. Our Outings Chairperson, Randy Scherkenbach, has scheduled a number of outings for this year. Please consider attending as many outings as possible. The more people attending, the more fun and the more you will learn! If you have some ideas of where you would like to see us go, please let Randy know. 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.
We have the following outing scheduled for the remainder of the year:
July 19 - Wildflowers at Retzer – Start at 7:30AM (Rain date – July 20)
August 10 - Downtown Milwaukee at Night (Rain date – August 11)
August 13 – Frame Park Flowers – Start at 8:00AM
August 20 - Wausau Kayak Races (Midwest Freestyle Championships)
August 28 - Milwaukee Concours d'Elegance car show
September 17-18 - Doors Open Milwaukee October 15-16 - Open House Chicago
The following are additional outings for which we have not yet set dates:
Summer – Starved Rock in Illinois
Summer - Chicago Botanic Garden
Summer - Night Sky and Milky Way at Retzer
Summer - Wind Point Lighthouse Tower Climb and Tour
Fall - Milwaukee County Zoo
Fall - Tiffany Bridge and Beckman Mill near Beloit
Fall - Barns and Rural Landscapes of Manitowoc County
Photographing Retzer Nature Center:
Caryl Sedushak has organized a group of club members who meet periodically to shoot at Retzer. In addition to getting some great images, we will be putting up a display of some of the images as well as providing them to Retzer to use in their educational programs. If you are interested in joining the group, please see Caryl, or call her at 262-349-4592.
Photo Scavenger Hunt:
Our Photo Scavenger Hunt has become a popular annual event which we will be doing again this year. 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 Jill Arth for providing us with these topics for our 2016 Scavenger Hunt:
1. Music
2. Happiness
3. Flavor
4. Wind
5. America
6. Backlit
7. Geometric
8. Contrast
9. Sparkle
10. Texture
Future Events of Interest:
Wildlife Workshop – July 14th or 15th, July 16th and July23rd – Hosted by The Camera Company (Madison) and sponsored by Tamron, this workshop presents techniques for wildlife photography. There will be a photo session at the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue and the Mid-Continent Railway Museum near Baraboo. For more information, go to www.cameracompany.com .
Summer Weekend of Photography – July 28-31, 2016. This annual weekend, organized by the Southwest Michigan Camera Club Council (SWMCCC) is held on the campus of Hope College, Holland MI. Numerous classes and workshops are held throughout the weekend. Field trips include: Birds of Prey Photo Shoot, Nature Shoot, and several Model Shoots. The featured speaker is George Lepp. For more details and registration information go to www.SWMCCC.org Several club members have attended in the past and some are planning to attend again this year.
Focus Stacking Workshop – Saturday, August 20th, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Sponsored by the Urban Ecology Center Photo Club, this workshop will show you how to take several photos at different focus points and blend them into a single image with increased depth of field. For more information, go to the Photo Club web site: www.uecpc.org
Birds of Prey Photography Workshop – Saturday, September 24th, 9:00 AM – Noon. Sponsored by WACCO, this workshop at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center will give you an opportunity to photograph up to 14 birds including Bald Eagle, Snowy Owl, and Great Horned Owl in a posed outside setting. For additional information go to the WACCO website: www.wicameraclubs.org
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:
Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office – Deadline October 7th. The contest is looking for photos of historic Wisconsin places including buildings, barns, historic sites, mounds, parks, etc. For more information go to www.wisconsinhistory.org/photocontest
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
Friends of Retzer Nature Center: www.FriendsofRetzer.org
Club Organization:
Our club officers are:
PresidentRick Vollbrecht
Vice PresidentTom Wright
TreasurerJim Edlhuber
Program ChairElizabeth Whitcomb
Outings ChairRandy Scherkenbach
Members should feel free to contact the officers with any questions and suggestions they may have for the club.
Club dues for the 2016 club year are:
Individual - $15.00
Couple / Family - $25.00
Student (16-25) - $10.00
Please see our Treasurer, Jim Edlhuber, to pay your dues if you have not yet paid.
