January 21 Program: Life Cycles of a Butterfly and Macro Photography
Thinking Spring yet?
Emily Murphy, a member of our club, will be our speaker this month. Emily has discovered that her backyard is a wonderful place to photograph, with many amazing miracles occurring right there! She has found two types of butterflies that lay eggs in her yard and has had a lot of fun following their growth. She recently documented, through photography and video, the life cycle of a butterfly in her backyard. She will discuss using some of the tools for macro photography and encouraging people to look in their own backyard to find amazing things. She will also share the container she uses to safely raise caterpillars away from predators.
Our speaker, Emily Murphy, has discovered that her backyard is a wonderful place to photograph, with many amazing miracles occurring right there! She has found two types of butterflies that lay eggs in her yard and has had a lot of fun following their growth. She recently documented, through photography and video, the life cycle of a butterfly in her backyard. She will discuss using some of the tools for macro photography and encouraging people to look in their own backyard to find amazing things. She will also share the container she uses to safely raise caterpillars away from predators.
Emily Murphy is a self-taught
photographer and her photographic abilities have been greatly enhanced by her
membership in the Kingwood Photo Club! Early on, she caught the photo
bug, and while living in Switzerland, used an Argus Cintar that her dad had
used in the 1930’s and 1940’s while he was a missionary in Barrow, Alaska. When
she married her husband Rob, she upgraded to his Pentax and now uses a Sony
mirrorless. She worked 45 years for Methodist Hospital and Baylor College
of Medicine as a registered EEG technologist and ENG (inner ear) tech.
During her career, she modified an infra-red camera used for ENG testing for
use in intra-operative facial nerve monitoring, placing the camera underneath
the surgical drapes and enhancing the outcome of the monitoring.
(Standard monitoring doesn’t work during electrocautery). She loves kayaking
and wildlife photography and frequently takes her camera(s) with her in a
waterproof bag so she can get closer to her subjects.
November 19 Program: Food Photography In The Age Of Social Media
Capturing food in an artistic way has been around for centuries. Many a great master painter made studies of food as still life artistic renderings. But now anyone can pick up their phone or camera and capture an image. The goal of this presentation is to inspire the audience to make art out of their food photography, take images that could easily appear in a cook book or food magazine or even hang as a print on wall in your home.
Chris Summers, a member of our club, will be our speaker. He graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree in Commercial Photography. He began his career here in Houston, relocating from California, to work with a major commercial photo studio. In 1984 he opened his open studio, Chris Summers Photography, in the Rice Village area producing a broad variety of commercial work from retail and catalogs to oil and gas, industry, banking, real estate and the newly developed computer field. Clients included Foley’s, Sakowitz, Joske’s, Norton Ditto, Shell, Texaco, Exxon, and even Enron.
Chris retired in 2008 and now enjoys projects that interest him & travelling with his wife on her work projects. When not taking pictures or editing them, Chris enjoys doing remodeling on their home, gardening or working in the wood shop in his converted garage.
We live in a time where cameras are with us just about every minute in every day and because of the ease and convenience of digital cameras and the rise of Social Media we capture everyday events like never before and share them. Ask a group of people if they have ever taken a picture of a meal they were served in a restaurant and most hands will go up! Ask the same group if they have posted pictures of this type on Social Media or just shared with friends or family and the hands will go back up, perhaps a few less but still a majority will say yes. Yet most pictures of this type are static and often rather boring, the entree is served and the cameras goes up above the plate and does a documentary style picture with little feeling, often a poor exposure or using the dreaded on camera flash. The image captured might document what was on the plate but does not draw the viewer in to get a feel for the ambiance and setting or even the artful presentation that the kitchen staff put into how the food was served.
Capturing food in an artistic way has been around for centuries. Many a great master painter made studies of food as still life artistic renderings. But now anyone can pick up their phone or camera and capture an image. The goal of this presentation is to inspire the audience to make art out of their food photography, take images that could easily appear in a cook book or food magazine or even hang as a print on wall in your home.
Our speaker, Chris Summers, a member of Kingwood Photo Club, became interested in photography as a teenager in the early 1970’s and began using his dad’s old Argus 35mm camera and soon started a photography club at his high school. After graduation Chris attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California and received a Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Photography. At that time Brooks was the leading private college specializing in the educational field of photography.
After getting married in Santa Barbara in 1979, he & his new bride moved to Houston for his first job working in a large studio and lab and within a few years left to open Chris Summers Photography. The studio was a one man shop and over a 30 year period produced a variety of work for many local and national clients including, fashion, real estate, corporate advertising, catalogs, brochures and food photography.
Chris retired in 2010, putting his time and attention on caring for his aging parents. After they were gone, he decided to just focus on what he wanted to take pictures of and do photography of an artistic nature instead of a commercial one. Since then he has been able to travel extensively with his wife, Sarah, who’s job includes working with clients in many different parts of the world.
Sarah and Chris have been married since 1998, have 8 children, 20 grandchildren and have lived in Kingwood for 22 years.
Tom Dendy will provide a technical overview of shooting action sports, using examples from his 30+ years’ experience in photo journalism. Topics covered will include: equipment selection, basic camera settings, focus and exposure control, composition and shooting styles. We will also discuss strategies for marketing and selling your images.
Tom first started shooting action sports as a 7th grade journalist in 1978. He later received formal specialized surveillance photography and darkroom training as a submarine photography officer in the early 90s. Tom has been shooting strictly digital since 2004 and currently has two freelance photography companies; Wrestling Texas, LLC and Phlox Photography LLC. Tom is also a member of the MaxPreps professional photographers’ network and has done freelance sport journalism work for a number of media outlets nationwide. Tom shoots a variety of sports including football, basketball, volleyball, swimming and wrestling.
Tom works out of his home studio, where he also dabbles in portrait and artistic work. He has trained and mentored a number of photographers over the last decade, and currently has over a dozen freelance photographers publishing work under one of his brands.
Join Joe Smith as he shares photos of his recent trip to Costa Rica. He traveled to three different eco-systems – Sarapiqui on the lower Caribbean, Turrialba which is higher and cooler, and the high mountain country of Savegre Valley at 7,000 feet. Each area, located about two hours from San Jose, features its own unique species and habitat.
Images will include various flowers and a wonderful variety of birds, poison frogs, mammals and butterflies! Tips on photo equipment will be included, but emphasis will be on the beauty of what the camera captured.
Joe Smith; Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog; Dendrobates auratus; Costa Rica; Sarapiqui
Joe Smith began his photography career when he was 13 with 35mm and twin lens reflex cameras and a photo class at Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. He is self-taught in nature photography primarily by participatingin wildlife photo contests in Texas. He has been a winning photographer in the2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 Coastal Bend Wildlife Photo Contests. In 2002, he finished in the top 25% of all photographers in the 2002 Valley Land Fund Photo Contest with three prize winning class pictures.
Joe is a member of the Houston Photochrome Club, the Houston Center for Photography and the Photographic Society of America. He was President of the Houston Photochrome Club in 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. He judged the annual competition of the Chinese Photographic Society in 2004. Joe has taught introductory photography seminars and classes for seventh and eighth graders at various schools in Houston, TX. He organized photographers to contribute images for Houston Wilderness’ Atlas of Biodiversity. He has had his images published in Houston Wilderness’ Atlas of Biodiversity, Progressive Farmer and Thomson Safari Catalogue, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Houston Audubon Society where he served as a director at large from 2012-2018.
Professional photographer, instructor, guide and consultant Ruth Hoyt presents her original program, “Photo Tips for the Nature Photography Enthusiast,” for the Kingwood Photo Club on Tuesday, August 20, 2019.
Ruth believes that part of what helps her students improve quickly is taking the time up-front to perfect their shots before releasing the shutter. This program reveals her favorite four basic aspects of a photograph, plus a bonus fifth, to achieve this. She also plans to share tips for the physical act of making a photograph.
According to Ruth, a person cannot analyze too many photographs or spend too much time in the field practicing the craft of photography. She thinks both rank higher than reading books, watching videos and “fixing photos in Photoshop.” Over-processing photographs is one of the biggest downfalls of aspiring photographers so she teaches people how to make their photos stand out with minimal processing.
Ruth Hoyt is not only a professional photographer and guide, but a photography teacher (nearly 30 years), Texas Master Naturalist (10+ years) and Certified Interpretive Guide (10 years). She writes for publication and serves on the board for the Outdoors Writers’ Association of America.
Her work appears in books, magazines, calendars, catalogs and numerous other publications. Ruth’s passion is sharing her love of nature and photography with everyone she meets, especially youth.
She has many years of
experience as a professional photo contest director, youth photo workshop
leader, professional coach for contest photographers and consultant for farm
and ranch owners.
This presentation will illustrate how American and international photographic artists are pushing the boundaries of photography. The discussion investigates current trends and themes
showcasing an unusual range of silver gelatin, digital and sculptural photography-based art.
Geoffrey Koslov, our speaker, founded Foto Relevance Gallery, located in the historic Audubon Place District of Montrose in Houston, Texas, for contemporary photography-based art.
He is on the Board of Directors of the Houston Center for Photography (HCP), a nonprofit organization offering exhibitions, workshops, classes and outreach programs. He is a former member of its Exhibitions Committee and former co-chair of the Print Auction.
Geoffrey is an experienced reviewer, participating in The Medium Festival of Photography, Photolucida’s Critical Mass, Photolucida’s Portfolio Review, PhotoVisa(Russia) and FotoFest. In addition to serving on the Advisory Council of Photolucida. He is a member of Photo Forum (affiliated with the MFAH), and several photography critique groups: Pixels & Silver, the Houston Inner Loop Photography Organization and formerly the Houston Photographic Society.
Geoffrey had also served on the Photography Subcommittee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) for many years. His passion extends to his own collection of fine art and books covering the history of photography. Geoffrey is also a photographer, himself, who has been exhibited and collected.
Please
join us for this wonderful evening of the ever-evolving world of photography.
The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of the least visited of the National Park System, and contains five of the ten highest peaks in Texas. Come camp, hike, and view the park with us as our speaker, Paul Gregg, shares photos and narrates his & his wife, Carol, visits out west.
El Capitan
Paul Gregg is an avid, advanced amateur photographer. His photography interests are birds, wildlife, travel/landscape and just about anything else. He will reluctantly photograph weddings and other activities.
El Capitan
Paul has presented basic
photography lessons to Lone Star College’s “Adult Lifelong Learning” classes.
He also has given basic photography instructions to a number of individuals.
Paul & Carol Gregg have visited the Guadalupe Mountains National
Park more than a dozen times over the last 25 years.
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