Author: Kathleen Muhle

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May’s Meeting Agenda

The shutdown can’t keep a good club down and new members from joining us. This month Pam Walton welcomed three new members: Marnpimol Collins, Monica Ehrmann and Joan and Thorro Jones. Very happy to welcome these newest members to our group.

In this month’s agenda you’ll find a refresher for our upcoming workshop, SIGs, and club activities. There is also a reminder that between meetings stay connected to our club by checking your Monday e-blasts, our Website, and our Facebook page. Many members have posted photos on our Facebook page, courses to take, locations to visit basically anything photography related. Let us know what you discover as you wander down the road.

Club sponsored activities are still focused on using Zoom for virtual meetings and workshops. Group activities are beginning with the first official group activity to the Cockrell Butterfly Center on June 8th. This is a members-only activity with each participant purchasing their own $10 ticket purchased online prior to June 8th. Look for information and signup on our Web site.

The next Library Zoom Virtual Workshop will be June 6th on Macro Photography. If you have an interest in macro photography this workshop could give you some guidance for your first step or your next step. Whether you are looking for an inexpensive way to begin or thinking about some macro lenses I try to cover the basics and beyond. How-to topics include creating a timelapse with your macro shots, focus stacking to get maximum sharpness, and setting up a studio by Michelle Pakron. Lots of information for you. You do need to sign up on our website so you can receive the Zoom meeting link. Due to the virtual nature this is also for members only.

Chuck Dugand’s Post Processing SIG is again virtual. His May 21st SIG is past but look for information regarding his June meeting. For Portraiture SIG, Jim Evrard is looking at June 27th for the next meetings if Texas continues to open. With portraiture it does not lend it’s self to virtual meetings. More information on that meeting shortly.

I mentioned the June 8th visit to the Cockrell Butterfly Center. Anne Mullins will also schedule a meeting of the Activities Committee in mid-June. Look for an e-mail from Anne and if you would like to join her committee you can contact her at Activities@kwphotoclub.com

Our meeting also included two videos. Chuck Dugand created one with all the Front Step photographs, and really fun to watch. I had no idea so many creative people live around us. Chuck stated that Bill Beard gets the award for the most photographs. Bill created the second video with pictures from the Blue Angels flyover. Chris Summers stated this was a very popular event for us and we all set up at different places in the hopes of getting our shots of them flying over. I looked at my first shot time and last shot time and I had less than a minute to photograph them. We were staggered from the Los Cucos on I-59 to the Target in Humble and some over their houses. Great shots. I hope Chuck will put the videos on our Web site so you can all enjoy them. An interesting side note for the Blue Angels, one of the pilots graduated from Kingwood High School His parents still live in Kingwood! Check out the article in our local Tribune.

Our Share and Learn is still a vital part of our meetings and with the virtual meeting, if you have a microphone you can tell us all about your photos. Our speaker, Kathy Adams Clark talked about how she has kept busy during this isolation period. Our Share and Learn topic last month let us show how we are coping so it was interesting to see her perspective. More on her talk in another post. I’ve included the Share and Learn photos as part of the agenda as I’ve added notes about the photos or the member sent in notes on their photos.

Finally, our next virtual meeting will be on June 16th. Jim Schepens said the church is just beginning to open up so more on when we’ll be welcomed back in the month to come. The program that Jim has arranged is by Ken Frederick. A frequent speaker with us and this program is titled “History of Photography”. Ken is an engaging speaker and will keep you all entertained. Just a reminder that you will need the link to join the meeting, I think the link is going out to all members so watch for it a day before the meeting.

Next month our Share and Learn topic: “All about Texas”! The subject matter is up to you as long as it is in our Lone State. Composition still matters so think about the shot and how you want to tell the story. As I will be traveling these will be due Sunday June 14th. I hope you find time to get out with your cameras or just to enjoy the outdoors.

Agenda-202005Download

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs. Ansel Adams

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February Speaker Mike Marvins “Texas – Central and Way out West”

Our speaker, Mike Marvins, was a treasurer. He shared some of his gorgeous photos of Texas, his journey and love of where he lives and what he does with his camera.

Having grown up in Texas he has a lot of memories going back to summer camp in the Kerrville area so he really knows this area. The slide show featured photos that he used in the two books that he has for sale “The Texas Hill Country, A Photographic Adventure” and Texas’ Big Bend, A Photographic Adventure”. Both can be purchased on Amazon. For those who bought on Tuesday, he graciously autographed them!

Mike talked about his method of photography and his default settings along with some post-processing tips. He always exposes them for the lightest section of the scene, usually the sky. He does this because it is easier to bring up the shadows than to bring pull down the highlights. If your histogram is totally to the right, you have blown out your pixels and will never get them back. His favorite lens is a zoom lens. He stated they get a bad rep but he keeps his on the camera and does not need to change lenses in the field which can result in a sensor cleaning for $100 or more. He likes the zoom for the same reason that I do, you have choices with composition. You can get a fairly wide view or zoom to the action or subject. I personally use my 28-300mm for most of my travel photography and even photographing the Wings over Houston air show.

Speaker Mike Martin at our February meeting

He shared stores of his wife driving him around and yelling stop when the scene is something that he has to capture. His wife is very adept at impromptu parking. In his slideshow The Texas Hill Country he talked about the Edwards Plateau and the beauty found there. The road “Twisted Sisters” is the most dangerous drive in Texas. The link below is an article about location and information about the roads.

Twisted Sisters: The Texas Hill Country’s Most Famous Trio

The Edwards Plateau is mostly limestone and all the rainfall percolates to the underground streams that feed some of the most beautiful streams in Texas. Because these streams have a rock bottom they are clear and on a sunny day will have that beautiful blue sky reflection.

Another piece of advice from Mike, always have your camera with you and ready for that spontaneous shot. He explained that when doing workshops sometimes you pull over for a very short time. Participants that have huge bags of camera gear are still trying to figure out what lens to use still getting the tripod out and he’s telling everyone back to the cars. He doesn’t fool around so some may totally miss the shot. That is another habit of mine as my husband was quick to point out, my camera is always with me and I don’t keep a lens cap on so I am always ready for action.

Pam Walton talked with Mike after the meeting and asked if he would do a workshop for the club. He was very receptive to doing one, probably in the fall and will get back to us with dates so this would be a fall out-of-town trip. More information to come.

Mike was also very kind to let us post his two slide shows which members only can view in our resource section. These are mostly photos with some screenshots of post-process with before and after shots. Also, many famous quotes that he likes. It was a well attended and well-received presentation. Thank you, Connie Emerson, for arranging Mike and we’ll look forward to listening to Kathy Adams Clark in March. Another fantastic speaker.

You can also follow Mike on Facebook: Mike Marvins Photography

Below is one of Mike’s quotes from his slideshow:

Visual Ideas combined with technique, combined with personal interpretation, equals a photograph.  Each must hold its own or the thing collapses. 

Ansel Adams

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The Revised Kingwood Photo Club Bylaws are Approved

After several months of working to revise the Bylaws of our club, the attending members passed the motion to approve them last night.  My thanks to all who helped to review and submit changes.  And thanks to the member last night who voted to approve them.  As I’ve stated before this is the first step in becoming a tax-exempt organization so we still have a path to follow and hope to have everything completed in the first quarter of January.

As per the revised Bylaws, we will be voting for six directors at the November 13th meeting. Currently on the ballot will be Jim Schepens, Jim Evrard, Chuck Dugand, Connie Emerson, Anne Mullins and myself, Kathy Muhle.   If anyone would like to add their name to the ballot please send an e-mail to president@kwphotoclub.com.  

 

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March Program – Father Joseph Barbieri and Astrophotography

Everyone who attended our March Program “Astrophotography – Photographing the Heavens” enjoyed this heavenly journey.  Father Joseph Barbieri was a fantastic speaker and engaged the audience with his banter and common sense approach to this topic.  He brought up the condition called “Photon Starved”.   In summary the condition occurs when clear night skies needed for photographing the stars is measured in hours – not nights.  Symptoms are many including frequent checking for weather conditions, grumpy from lack of SD or CF cards filled with photos waiting to be processed and general disappointment in everything weather related.  My husband liked his down-to-earth approach with a moderate budget (I already squashed the idea of the 12-inch telescope) and advise to contact a local astronomy club.  I found one for Kingwood – North Houston Astronomy Club.  Connie Emerson, our Program Chair,  stated it was a suggestion from a club member recommending we contact Fr. Joe for a talk.  It took almost a year but that suggestion started the ball rolling.  So, anyone that sees or hears of a potentially good speaker for our monthly programs – contact Connie with the contact information!   Many of the photos were taken at the Dark Site in west Houston that the Astronomy Clubs own so you don’t have to travel far just clear skies (winter months are best though cold).  Father kindly allowed us to post his Powerpoint, so enjoy the Heavenly show and be amazed!  Astrophoto presentation

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