Seven Hills Camera Club

notes from last meeting

hayfred19 — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:44:05 +0000

Hello Members,
The last meeting (May 18) of the 2010-2011 season started with a pot luck dinner (lots of good food). We than took care of some business. We came in second for the multiscreen contest and prizes were given to the top 3 participants to the contest. Congratulations to Carol Morocco; 1st place, Dale Anderson; 2nd place and Joe Zwerblia; 3rd place. The new list of subjects for next year are in a separate email from Joann.
We have new officers for the next season. They are Lou Swinand; president, Pat Persson; vice president, Priscilla Messinger; secretary, and Bob Persson will stay on as treasurer. Lou talked for a few minutes on some idea he has for the club. Increasing membership, improving communications with other photo groups and providing more workshops and special presentation like the one we had that night are just a few of his ideas. The club has a planning meeting in August (time, date, location will be posted later) and members are welcome to come to share ideas for the coming season.
Our guest speaker for the night was Sarah Musumeci with a program on Architectural Photography. In front of a good crowd of 7hcc members and guests from the meetup group Sarah explained with projected images what is needed to make good architectural photos. From start up to post production she clarified all that had been done to attain the shot. Although composition (including setting a table and rearranging furniture) is important she emphasized that straight vertical lines and lighting were the most important. It was a great presentation I hoped all enjoyed.
On a related subject the meetup group is having an architectural contest. The final photos chosen will hang in a gallery in the Worcester City Hall. For more info go to photo.meetup.com/22.
The technical meetings will continue through out the summer. The next meeting is June 13. And if anyone has ideas for photo shoots during the summer months please let the club know. It would be great to get together.
This is my last entry as secretary, Thank you for all your support and have a great summer.
~ Mary Freddie

FYI: • Tower hill botanical garden is open Wednesday nights till 8pm now until September.
• Mass Audubon has a “Picture This” photo contest and is offering digital photography workshops during the summer through out the state. massaudubon.org

notes from meeting on April 25

hayfred19 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:21:17 +0000

Hello members,
At our last meeting a past member of the 7hcc, Casey Danek gave a presentation of his “project 52″. A commitment to himself to be creative for 52 weeks. He expressed that at times it was easy, that the creative juices would just flow and other times he wished for a magic moment where an idea any idea would come to mind. But in the end he was successful and created a body of work full of creativity in prose, poetry, music and photography. Our thanks to Casey for a great program and maybe inspiring a few of us to try such a committed project.
Tom Fama gave us a look at his BosStrap, a camera sling system that gives you a quick access to your camera when shooting and hands free support when you are not. More info can be found at www.BosStrap.com.
Our next meeting, Wednesday May 18 is the last meeting for the 7HCC season 2010-2011. We will be meeting at the Holden Senior Center for a pot luck dinner. 5:00 – 5:30 is set up, 6:00 pm we will eat and then at 7:00 pm our speaker Sarah Musumeci will present her program on architectural photography. Please contribute to the pot luck by bringing a hot/cold dish, desserts, or drinks etc. Paper products are all set.
Thank you and hope to see all of you at the last meeting.
Mary Freddie 7HCC / secretary

Interesting Links

SteveM — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:30:11 +0000

Here are some links to some interesting sites:

There are many online sites where you can have greeting cards etc. made. However, did you know that you can order blank materials from Photographer’s Edge to make your own? Take a look at this site and let your creativity happen.

Thinking about buying a new piece of camera equipment? There are many sites that review equipment. Here are a couple that I like: dpreview or Steves Digicams .

Here are some photography basics: Photo Basics

Here is Michael Andrew’s Blog if you want all kinds of photography information. Also look him up on YouTube … some neat videos.

Tip: Beautiful images need not be complicated. Often the simplest of subjects make the most amazing images. Everyone takes pictures at eye level standing up. Be creative … take pictures from over and under the subject and at all different angles. One exercise I was required to do in school was to find a somewhat interesting subject, and take a total of 100 images from every possible angle. Try it, then look at them on your computer monitor. I think you’ll be surprised at how many nice, creative images you have. I found that the “somewhat interesting” subject turned into a some very interesting creative images that I would be happy to show others.

As photographers, we tend to see things a little differently than others. When folks see a pond, most see the water and bordering trees or buildings … many of us as photographers tend to see the reflections first. Food for thought.

On a clear moonlit night (especially during the winter with snow on the ground) do you see the trees or adjacent buildings … or do you see another dimension that is created by the shadows. Food for thought.

Til next time ….

Have a great week and take some fantastic pictures!

February 2011 Club Competition

SteveM — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:29:51 +0000

Here are a few pictures from our February 23rd Competition. Please note that the images you see being judged in this post do not represent the professional quality of the actual digital images and prints being shown. If you would like to see the actual print, please ask a member to help you identify the owner of the image and they may be able to bring it to the next club meeting. Have a great week! Keep on photographing. You never know when you’ll catch that next gem on film ….. or your memory card.

Notes from Feb 23′s meeting

hayfred19 — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:14:16 +0000

Hello Members,

Our last meeting held Feb 23, was a competition night. Patrick Sullivan, a professional photographer and the organizer of the New England Photography Network was our judge. With a smaller number of photos entered in the contest than usual Patrick had more time to discuss and critique the images. His explanations of why he liked or did not like a image and suggestions to make a better photo were very helpful. Thank you Patrick.

Our next meeting is on March 23 and with the multiscreen contest coming up soon we are hoping to do a photo set-up for some of the subjects for the multiscreen. So please think of some props to bring for the subjects listed below.

1- balloon(s) 2- bird(s) 3- broken 4- bug(s) 5- church 6- diner(s) 7- dune(s) 8- eye(s)

9- farm 10- field of dreams 11- funny 12- garden flowers 13- ice age 14- lights

15- motion 16- perfect storm 17- purple 18- red 19- reflection 20- shooter

21- sports action 22- stardust 23- teamwork 24- vertigo

Also our end of the season meeting/banquet is in May. We are looking for a place to have the meeting. Where we meet now does not allow food in the room. So if you have ideas please let us know.

Thank you Mary Freddie, 7hcc secretary

notes from last meeting

hayfred19 — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:30:47 +0000

Hello Members,
Our last club meeting held February 7, was well attended with club members and members from the meet-up group. We had the chance to have a lighting demonstration “Dramatic Lighting” with Scott Erb and Donna Dufault. It was a thorough demonstration explaining equipment, direction of light, soft boxes, strobe lighting, reflectors and how to direct your model. Scott and Donna were very generous with their knowledge of lighting that I’m sure I missed mentioning a few things. Members and quest were allowed to get up and use the equipment and take a few shot of the model. The night was a great learning experience.
Thank you Scott and Donna.

Our next meeting is February 23. It is in club competition night. Carol will be accepting the digital images.
The deadline for sending your images is Monday, February 21 (by midnight, at the end of the day).
Here are the guidelines for sending your submissions, and also the guidelines for submitting prints.

7HCC Digital Projection Competition
Members may enter a maximum of three images.
The image file type must be JPEG, with the .jpg file extension.
The file name must include the maker’s name and the image title (preferably in that order).
The image size must be no more than 1024 pixels wide and no more than 768 pixels high. It does not have to be those exact dimensions, just within those limits.
The files must be emailed to Carol Morocco at: cmorocco@mindspring.com prior to the competition. Entries will not be accepted on the night of the competition.

7HCC Print Competition
Each member may submit up to three prints.
Any size or mount up to 16″ x 20″ is acceptable.
Prints must be mounted. They must not be framed.
The maker’s name and title of the image must be on the back of the print.

Hope to see you at the next meeting. Thank you, Mary Freddie, 7hcc secretary

Lou Swinand’s Photo Exhibit @ Worcester Library

SteveM — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:30:21 +0000

Hello Everyone,

Today, Feb 6th, was the official opening of Lou’s photo exhibit entitled “Faces and Places”. Many folks stopped by including members from the Worcester Photography Center and Seven Hills Camera Club along with family, friends and library patrons for the opening reception. Lou’s exhibit is located in the glass cases on the first floor, both in the entrance and in the center of the first floor. This is a great opportunity to see some beautiful work by Lou. Here is the link that will take you right to some pics (from a distance) of his exhibit. Stop in to view them up close. You’ll be glad you did !

December 2010 Club Competition

SteveM — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:42:17 +0000

Hi Everyone, here is a link to a few pictures from December’s club competition with judge Paul Smith.

Photos

Tip: Always carry a large plastic bag with you to protect your gear in the event of bad weather. Also, use it to sit on or lay down on when taking (low) creative photos of a subject. Accidentally forget your rain-gear? Cut three openings in the bag, slide it on over your head and it will help protect you and your equipment until the bad weather lets up or you find a drier place to stay.

One last suggestion … an alternative to carrying a somewhat bulky camera raincoat (retails for between $49 -$69), is to place your camera into a clear plastic bag, cutting a hole for the lens, then securing it on the end of the lens with an elastic band. The rest (excess) of the clear bag is draped over your camera … and it allows you to see all your controls so you can keep shooting. I carry two of these home made camera rain-coats at a cost of about 20 cents, along with a 13 or 30 gallon trash bag.

Happy Shooting ( I mean Photographing )

Steve

December 22 meeting

hayfred19 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:15:52 +0000

Hello Members,

For three days before Christmas a good number of members showed up at our last meeting on December 22. It was our competition night and many impressive images were submitted for judging. Our judge was Paul Smith and he did a great job awarding blue and red ribbons and his critiques were very helpful. Thank you Paul.

Our next meeting is January 26. Scott Erb will be our guest that night with a “Lighting demo for dramatic portraits”.

Remember the contest for the multi screen will be here before you know it. Keep in mind this year’s subjects when you are out photographing.

Hope to see you all at the next meeting. Please remember all are welcomed so ask a friend to come along. We had some new people show up at the last meeting and we hope that they will return and want to become members.

Sincerely, Mary Freddie 7hcc / secretary

PDN Photography Convention in NY on Oct. 30, 2010

SteveM — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:07:26 +0000

It was a great day in NY. Nice weather. The food and parking fees were a bit expensive, however, that’s NY, especially when there is an event happening. There was a lot going on at the show … Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma, and Panasonic were there along with so many more vendors. There were a plethora of printing labs and camera accessory vendors. Live photo shoot demonstrations were happening all day long. I thought I would share a bit about a few vendors that attended. I’ll list the company name (which is also a link to their site), and a couple words about the products they were exhibiting. The product offerings on their respective websites are quite extensive. Which ones would I recommend? Ask fellow photographers who have used the vendor(s) about there service and quality. Although, I can say from personal experience, that Canon has treated me well. Can you guess what brand of equipment I shoot with?

Here’s the list:

Moo High Quality Business Cards

Custom Brackets Off Camera Flash Brackets

B & H Photo Video Every Kind of Camera Related Product You Can Think Of

SmugMug Photo Hosting Site … Three Different Levels of Membership

Delkin Camera Accessories / LCD Shades /Sensor Cleaning Kits / Batteries / Chargers / Memory Cards

Blurb Photo Books and Related Items

MPIX Photo Books / Cards / Frames

Clear Bags Clear Archival Quality Bags for Photographic Products

Quantum Photography Lighting … Mainly through Distributors ( see B & H Photo )

LowePro Just Abut Any kind of Photo Equipment Bag You Can Think Of

Marathon Press Total Array Of Specialty Printing / From Address labels to Business Cards to Complete Promo Packages

Adorama Photo Books / Large Variety of Camera Equipment

MPEX aka Midwest Photo Exchange. All kinds of Camera Equipment

MPIX Photo Lab / Books / Prints / Cards / Frames

Again, there are many more companies in the US that offer similar products. These are just the ones that caught my attention at the show. Oh, by the way, if you register early enough, admission is free. Otherwise, I think it’s $50 to walk through the door.