Author: Kathleen Muhle

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Your May Photo Share and Learn Assignment “Looking Up”

The picture at right was taken when the Blue Angels flew over Kingwood, on May 6, 2020.

Where were you when the Blue Angels flew over Kingwood? One of the pilots grew up in Kingwood. Read more from the Houston Chronicle article below.

All eyes were looking up to track the planes. My settings: 1/1250 sec, f/11, ISO 640, 80mm. I wanted the foreground (the flag) to add another element to the photo. The planes were so high I couldn’t get any more of the flag than I did. As fast as they move you have to be quick!

So “Looking Up” is a very general assignment. At some point maybe we should do “Looking Down”. The subject matter is up to you and I think everyone should have at least one photo that would work.

I plan to be in town so the Share and Learn photos will be added to the Agenda. The deadline for uploading to our Dropbox is 3 PM Tuesday, May 21st. Please resize them. Directions are on our web page. Each month I have to resize photos that are too large for WordPress as a favor to you before adding them to the Gallery. I appreciate your cooperation.

Interesting article below. I love photographing the Blue Angles and they are coming back this year! Maybe it’s time to revisit the CAF Wings over Houston!

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/kingwood/news/article/Kingwood-mom-relives-seeing-son-pilot-with-Blue-15283593.php

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The April Agenda is now Available

Want to know what is going on in our club? Did you attend the meeting but want to review what we talked about? Good news, you can click on the April Agenda and review all the updates for all committees, special activities, and future dates to keep you informed.

Chris said membership is doing great, we are on track to equal last year but he’d like to encourage everyone to help sell our club. Talk to people with cameras about our club, neighbors, and online friends. Doing Zoom meetings adds additional costs that we want to continue to provide. And we can, as long as we keep adding new members. We have a great resource page and they get so much for the minimal fee of $20. Help sell the club, as every member is a plus for us.

Activities calendar is a work in progress and there have been some changes so check it out. For a 5 day out-of-town activity Chris Summers is leading a group to Bosque del Apache, NM the first week in Dec to photograph the Sand Hill Cranes. Contact Chris at Membership@kwphotoclub.com

Jim Schepens will reserve a day in October for a 10 am boat embark for Caddo Lake. Friday is the only day available. More TBD.

The Great American Eclipse has ended and so ends the last of the three eclipses that traversed America since 2017. It is hard to believe that they are completed. I’ve included a few photos from our April Eclipse setup in Johnson City TX. Not total cooperation with the clouds but not a total washout either plus we had wine (Sidoney Cellers), food, and a great location. There are no future solar eclipses for Texas! However, there is a Lunar Eclipse on March 3, 2026, that can be viewed from Houston, and don’t forget the Perseids meteor shower, peaking on August 13th.

Review the agenda and mark your calendars for future events. We’ll see you in May.

Agenda-2024-04 WPDownload

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April Gallery “Street Art” Uploaded

Lots of great photos in this month’s Share and Learn. Locations were local, US, and worldwide. Thanks to all our members who shared with our group. Check out the Gallery for some inspiration for your photos.

We had a wonderful speaker this month, Silvana Della.

https://www.facebook.com/silvanadphoto/

On our Facebook page, we have had several members (Chuck Dugand and Chris Summers) who have shared many infrared photos and it has gotten my attention. Silvana’s presentation gave me something more to think about. When she said you could take photos of the Milky Way in less-than-desirable skies! Wow, I’m always looking for night photography tips and tricks. So now I’m seriously considering converting a camera I don’t use but is still usable. Chuck has uploaded the video from the meeting, if you didn’t get a chance to hear it on Tuesday, check it out.

Our meetings are now on the 3rd floor where we started several years ago. The church has remodeled the room and it looks great.

The header photos have also been updated. I hope you enjoy them but check out the gallery for all the photos shared. Ronda Meuwissen participated in the Art Car Parade activities and uploaded some very artsy cars! Jim Telljohann showed a mural he found in Scotland. Take a good look at the building and read what it says, “Take nothing but pictures, kill nothing but time”. That should be a photographer’s motto!

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Australia Trip 2
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April 16th “Share and Learn” Assignment “Street Art”

Street Art can take many forms. The attached photo from Ireland in 2013 is a sand sculpture that lasts one day. Many cities, including Houston, have transformed unattractive building walls into works of art. What is “Street Art”? It is art that is public and temporary in public spaces. How would you define Houston’s Art Car Parade on Saturday, April 13th? It is public and temporary so the art cars would be an excellent subject for this Share and Learn.

I will be in town for this meeting so the Share and Learn will be included in the Powerpoint agenda. Please use the upload button found on the Members page or the weekly e-mail blast. We are limiting the maximum number of photos to 3. Photos should be uploaded by 3 pm on the 16th. I appreciate everyone who resizes their photos, it helps with uploading the gallery.

The monthly meeting, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, will be in person at the First Baptist Church 3500 Woodland Hills Drive Kingwood, TX 77339, and via Zoom. Look for the Zoom meeting e-mail before the meeting.

This is great weather for admiring all the art in our area. Have fun!

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March 19th Share and Learn Assignment “Weathered Surfaces”

Photo: “The Beast” HC&S Pu’unene sugar mill last sugar cane mill on Maui closed in 2016 after 115 years.

This assignment might be a bit challenging. Looking for weathered surfaces can be fun as you spy out rusty tractors, weathered doors and windows, broken down houses, and in this case a shuttered sugar cane mill. This was a vibrant part of life on Maui and the factory stands as a testament to its heyday. My parents were in Hawaii in the 70’s and I received a gift of colored sugar from Hawaii. I still have one container left! Maybe the sugar originated from this factory!

The photos will be played from the Dropbox folder so they need to be uploaded by 4 pm, March 19th. The meeting will be held in the church and via Zoom. Both Tim and I will be out of Kingwood that night.

To upload your photos, Please use your first and last names when saving your photos. The weekly e-blast has the upload button for Share and Learn. Click it and follow the steps to upload your photos. Finally, resize your photos. I still end up resizing photos for our Web and for the header. Chuck has instructions for resizing with Lightroom and Photoshop.

How many photos can you upload? Due to time constraints, we are limiting the number of photos to 3. I would also ask members to keep their total comment time to a minute or less. We have a hard stop of 9 pm for the church and need to clean up before we go. Thank you for being understanding and considerate of the other members.

Looking forward to seeing your visions of “Weathered Surfaces”!

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February Share and Learn and Header Updates

Photo by Mike Muhle of the Rosette Nebula

February Share and Learn “Your Best Shots from 2023”. We had the second-highest Share and Learn for the last two years! Thanks to everyone who participated!

Our Web Header has been updated with a selected photo from each member. We enjoyed a bit of humor from Bill Beard and his “I Never Said I Was Going to Iceland for the Weather Did I”? Several photos were taken during one of our club activities and we are a traveling group with many photos featuring vacations from around the globe.

The Net Gallery shows all of these and more for your enjoyment. Next month the assignment is “Weathered Surfaces”— more on that in a separate post.

We also had two members posting for the first time, Alma Montemayor and Dave Kutilek!

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January Share and Learn Gallery – Header Updated

Taking advantage of a rainy day in Hawaii to update our January Share and Learn Gallery and the current header.

Photo by Tim Sullivan – taking a liquid break during the holidays.

I appreciate all the members who sent in their smartphone captures for January. A good start for the year and I hope that will continue. Next month, “Your Best Shots from 2023”!

The gallery is an excellent overview of our member’s journaling of their experiences, trips, and club activities. We have been around the world, from Iceland to Africa to Europe. Moments captured in the US and locally, weather events, and a few selfies. I should make that an assignment! How many of us have taken a selfie? I always take a selfie of Mike and me while waiting for takeoff and then I send these to the kids letting them know we are heading out. I hear from them they never know where we are so this is their heads-up.

The header has one photo per member’s submission. I like to feature everyone who took the time to submit and hopefully encourage others to begin submitting. Everyone appreciates a bit of recognition for our photographic passions.

Enjoy the Gallery and think about what you’d like to share in February!

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Trier, Roman ruins, Cathedral, meet the ship Heldi
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Europe
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February Assignment “Your Best Shots from 2023”

February Share and Learn – Your Best Shots from 2023! The year ends and I think “What did we do last year”? Hello Lightroom for a review of all the photos that I took, it’s become a journal of our yearly adventures, from trips afar to special events to local highlights. As you might assume, I take my camera everywhere including my cell phone. Reviewing 2023 was an exciting year and my Lightroom catalog did not disappoint. Whatever system you have to download your photos – check them out if you haven’t. I bet you can find a few to share and if they have stories all the better.

I’ve had the privilege of photographing my grandchildren for many events but their graduation from UT is emotional on many levels. She was beaming, graduation was around the corner, and she was looking forward to moving on. Her life is now filled with teaching and making more plans for the future. But I have these photos of a special day with my granddaughter and my daughter. Amazing day and memories for a lifetime. I would love to see your photos too! Meeting Feb 20th, 6:30 pm. See you there!

For those who like to plan. Below are the Share and Learn Topics for 2024 🙂

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2024 Share and Learn Assignments

For those of us who like to plan, I’m posting the Share and Learn Assignments for 2024. I’ve tried to make them fairly general so you have subject options. For example, May is “Looking Up”. That could be any subject that is above you, a building, birds, sky, sun, moon, stars, ceilings, etc.

As a camera club, we encourage our members to practice their photography. Our club activities are excellent group outings to bring that camera out and spend a day with fellow members doing something you love – photography. The first outing of the year is on January 19 to the Houston Zoo. Check out the Activities News Article on our Web Page.

We also have excellent speakers who share their tips and advice for taking photos. The subjects vary so check out the club calendar to see the topics and speakers that are upcoming for this year.

And for more advice and tips we have a great library of workshops and speaker videos along with the Library Series with topics that range from basics to post-processing. The next workshop is on Feb 24, Camera Basics by Chuck Dugand.

Exciting things for 2024 and if you haven’t renewed or would like to join us check out the Membership Page for instructions to join or renew.

And keep the 2024 assignments in mind when out and about with your camera!

The best camera is the one you have with you so never leave home without it as photos are priceless, a moment in time never to be repeated, savor those moments with your photos.

2024 Club Activities

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January 16th Monthly Meeting Assignment “Smart Phone Captures”

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I admit that I’m still behind in taking down the outside lights and inside decorations. With the cold spell coming I’m putting extra effort on the outside lights.

So now for the business at hand, our January meeting. Tuesday’s meeting is quickly approaching and we need your Share and Learn photos. January’s assignment “Smart Phone Captures” can be any subject, your choice. The photo of St Martha’s was taken on the Feast of the Epiphany as Mike and I left church.

What photos on your smartphones would you like to share? Currently, there are no January Share and Learn in our Dropbox, so please don’t wait, upload today. I’ll add the photos to the agenda so you have until 3 PM Tuesday.

Tuesday’s meeting will be both an in-person meeting at the church: First Baptist Church 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, and via Zoom (look for the link sent from Chuck). So check out the photos on your smartphone and upload them to our Dropbox today!

Happy New Year!

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