Retzer Camera Club: Night Time Urban Photography On Tap For January Meeting

Retzer Nature Center

Camera Club

January 2021 Newsletter

January Meeting – Wednesday, January 6^th, 2021, 7:00 PM

Club Meeting Covid Safety Procedures: Our club meetings will continue to be conducted in a manner that will provide a safe environment for all. The following guidelines will be used for our meetings until further notice:

1. Face masks are mandatory for indoor gatherings. Please bring your mask to the meeting.

2. Standard 6-foot social distancing must be followed.

3. Chairs will be spaced out to allow members to keep an appropriate distance from each other.

4. Hand sanitizer will be available.

5. We will not be using name tags in order to avoid personal contact.

6. The attendance sign-in sheet will be at the door. Please sign in as you enter so we can avoid passing it among members.

7. And, as always, if you are not feeling well or are experiencing symptoms of Covid-19, please stay home. We will miss you, but it is better to remain safe.

Zoom Meeting: I addition to the in-person meeting, we will be using the Zoom application to allow members to join us from remote locations. Sign-in information will be provided to members in an email.

Program: Night Time Urban Photography – Devlik O’Snarky

Our January presentation is on night time urban shooting. You may know our guest speaker from Facebook - he goes by Devlik O’Snarky. Here is a little bit about him:

I have been shooting regularly for five years now and am still an avid learner. My main emphasis is on urban isolation. I mostly shoot extremely low light urban shots, often lit either with just a street light or some neon. While I am happy to shoot with people as well, low light photography requires a lot of compromises. Due to the trade offs of shutter speed for noise or trying to balance multiple different colored light sources people can be very challenging in these conditions if you are expecting clarity without being extremely close up. Generally, Edward Hopper is my guiding light. I really love his use of lighting, the pools of light, the different colored lighting, and the sharp edges turning into leading lines of that lighting are part of what I try to mimic using a camera.

I have a special place in my heart for small towns however, large built-up urban areas are where I am most at home. Preferably in rotten rainy weather. Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison (not really a big city but has small pockets), Cincinnati are my go tos in a lot of ways. Safety has to be a primary concern in shooting in a number of these locations as crime rates can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood. I have written small guide on how to shoot safely in large cities at night I would be happy to share with the group if there is interest.

I am planning an outing to the Town of Sharon for Saturday, January 9th with a back-up date of January 16th to practice what we learn. A separate email will be coming out for that.

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: Kathy Lillegren, Kathy Lillegren, John Marrari, Linnea Matthiesen, Jonelle Nelson, Walter Panasiuk.

Please email your images to Jim Hobbick ( jim-dawn-hobbick@wi.rr.com ) by Tuesday, January 5th. This will help to streamline the process of viewing member images. We look forward to seeing your images

2020 Club Programs:

Our future programs and meeting dates are listed below. Our program chairman, Randy Scherkenbach, is looking for your ideas for programs. If you have a topic you would like to see presented, please let Randy know now. Please forward your ideas to Randy (rscherkenbach@gmail.com).

2020 Program Schedule:

· February 3, 2021 – Judging Wisconsin PSA Club Showcase.

· March 3, 2021

· April 7, 2021

· May 5, 2021

· June 2, 2021

· July 2, 2021

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 Co-chairs, Elizabeth Whitcomb and Caryl Sedushak, are working on a schedule that will include some of our traditional outings plus a few new ones. They are always looking for your ideas of some places you would find interesting for a club outing. If you have any ideas of places you would like to have us shoot, please send your ideas to our Outings Chairperson, Elizabeth Whitcomb (lizannwhit@gmail.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. Perhaps you have a favorite place for fall colors or winter scenery.

2021 Field Trips:

January 9, 2021 – Night Time Urban Photography in the Town of Sharon. More details to follow.

Facebook:

Our camera club has a Facebook page! If you are on Facebook, simply put Retzer Nature Center Camera Club in the search box and you will find us. Click on the Join button and Elizabeth or Randy will approve you. This is a Closed Group and open only to club members. This means that anything posted here can only be seen by members of the group. You can feel free to share your work here without fear that someone outside the club will have access to it. Anything posted here is private, so feel free to ask questions – don’t be embarrassed or shy about it. The monthly Newsletter, meeting topics and outings will also be posted here. Check it out!

Future Events of Interest:

March 6, 2021, 9:00 AM - Noon - WACCO Webinar: Bryan Hansel Seminar.

WACCO presents its annual seminar in Webinar form this year. Bryan Hansel is an award-winning professional landscape photographer and outdoor educator. He will present two topics: Composition for Landscape Photography and Hot Spots of the North Shore. Each topic will be about 1 ½ hours. The cost is $25.00. To register go to: https://wacco-spring-seminar-hansel.eventbrite.com . Sign up now! The WACCO seminars in past years have been highly informative and are provided by WACCO at a bargain price.

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:

Saturday, May 1, 2021 - WACCO 2021 Spring Competition. Members may enter images in several Nature/Open, Color/Monochrome categories. Special Theme categories are Natural Landscapes and Sunrise/Sunset. Entry submission opens on February 6, 2021 and closes on April 12, 2021. Please see the WACCO website ( www.wicameraclubs.org ) and click on “Competition Info – Uploader” for more information, rules, category definitions and instructions on how to submit your images.

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

Photographic Society of America (PSA): PSA is an international organization providing abundant resources for photographers, from the novice to the professional. PSA offers on-line learning, webinars, study groups, competitions, mentors, and consultants. Membership is open to individual members and camera clubs. Our club and many of our members are members of PSA. There is also a Wisconsin chapter which has quarterly meeting and an annual weekend outing. Linnea Matthiesen has provided us with information about some current PSA activities.

1. The Wisconsin PSA chapter will have a Zoom meeting on Sunday, January 24^th. The afternoon program will feature Keith French speaking on Photographing Ruins.

2. The chapter is planning an outing to the Superior/Duluth area for May 14-16, 2021.

3. Images for the PSA Chapters Showcase will be selected at the meeting

4. PSA has several discounts available to members. A new discount is for a free PSA Edition SlickPic account for web design.

PSA membership is available for $45/year. There is a small additional dues charge for the Wisconsin Chapter. You can check out the PSA at www.psa-photo.org.

Retzer Club Page on WACCO Website: The WACCO website (www.wicameraclubs.org) has pages for each member club to display photographs from club members. Check it out to see what our members and other clubs are shooting. If you would like to see some of your images on our club page, please send several of your images to Caryl Sedushak ( caryl.sedushak@me.com ). The images should be 2100 pixels on the long side and no larger than 1 mb. Let’s see some of our great member photos on the WACCO site!

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 (Rvollb@wi.rr.com) 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:

Art’s Cameras Plus and Mike Crivellos Cameras have 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 sites: www.Artscameras.com and www.MikeCrivellos.com for updated lists of available classes.

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/

Club Organization:

Our club officers are:

President Jim Hobbick jim-dawn-hobbick@wi.rr.com

Vice President Elizabeth Whitcomb Lizannwhit@gmail.com