Author: Kathleen Muhle

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May Meeting Agenda and Gallery

We had an excellent turnout for our May meeting. For the monthly topics I’ve attached the Agenda for you to preview. Our speaker, Jim Nix, provided us with some great tips regarding travel photography. You can find more about Jim on YouTube: Jim Nix’s YouTube Channel. Lots of photography tutorials, tips, tricks, and reviews. He photographs to please himself but has had photos displayed in magazines and sold. The club had another fantastic program.

Chris Summers reviewed our membership and we are very close to last year’s numbers. We had two family memberships join this month: Dawn Abram & Carlie Sawyer, and Jim & Elena Gonzales. Welcome to our club!

John Gray mentioned that he is almost out of hats so if you desire one of our club hats order sooner than later so you are not disappointed. In the future, the club will exit merchandise so these will be limited edition hats!

Annular Solar Eclipse is coming Oct 14 and Mike and I will be hosting a workshop on Sept 2. Registration will be opening in August for an afternoon at the Kingwood Public Library. This is the first of two solar eclipse events coming to Texas. The second one will be on April 8, 2024, and will be a total eclipse. Both eclipses can be seen in the Hill Country, if you are interested in viewing and photographing these events get a room reservation now.

Randi and Jim are keeping our club activities calendar full. We are coming to the hot summer when we take a break from outdoor photo events. Check out the list of events in the agenda and posted on our website and on Facebook.

Pam Walton wanted to remind members to add their recommendations to the “KWPC Travel Spreadsheet”. The link is also on the Monday e-blast. This is a trip-planning resource with guides and Photo Tour recommendations. You will find recommendations for the USA and outside the USA. Download the PDF and please add any recommendations you have.

For all those members that have the desire to share their work, Steve Hansen and Tim Sullivan have found a location, Cove Craft Beer and Wine, that will allow us to hang a few of our photos. The agenda has all the particulars. In the beginning, the owner was looking for Texas themes but at the meeting, Steve said he was open to any photos. We are getting good feedback so think about showing off some of your prized photos.

The June 20th meeting will feature speaker David Downs on “Exploring the Artist Within” and our Share and Learn is “Foods We Love”, more on both in another post.

The last two slides give you the schedules for both upcoming programs and our Share and Learn topics.

Finally, I’d like to thank Ron and Cathy Fovargue and Jim and Elena Gonzales for volunteering to be our Christmas Social Committee. This is our one big social of the year (no program) for members and I’m very pleased that they volunteered! Thank you both and welcome to the club Jim and Elena Gonzales!

Check out the agenda and the May Gallery “Wildlife in your Neighborhood” is also uploaded. Enjoy and hope you make the meeting next month. Kathy Muhle

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June 20th Share and Learn Assignment “Foods we Love”

Do we live to eat or eat to live? Food is pivotal in our celebrations, visits with friends and family, and exotic menus while traveling. Are liquid refreshments food? I vote yes but I leave that question up to you.

In 2013 Mike and I were on a river cruise and one of the stops was a winery with an orchard nearby. Mike loves cherries and looks for them each year. He recently came home with the 1st bag of the season! The grandfather of the winery gifted me with a hat full of cherries as Mike was so excited to see cherries on this trip. He scored big on that one.

What photos of foods that will have us wishing for a taste do you have in your files? From baked goods to main dishes to savory items to whatever, upload your favorites to our Dropbox (links in every Monday e-blast) before the meeting on Tuesday, June 20th. Our hybrid meetings are going very well. Chris just ordered an external speaker/microphone that added audio at the last meeting. In-person members could be heard and the speaker came over very well. A great addition to make our meetings better.

Mark your calendars: Tuesday, June 20th, 6:30 pm – in-person at the Kingwood First Baptist Church, 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood, TX, or via Zoom (look for the link prior to the meeting). Share and Learn should be uploaded by 4 pm latest and please resize the photos.

Have a great Memorial Day and don’t forget your camera’s!

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May 16th S&L Assignment “Wildlife in your Neighborhood”

Last month we had an excellent presenter Ron Niebrugge who talked about “Animalscapes”. If you missed the talk Chuck has uploaded the video to our website. Mike figured out how to play it on our TV which worked very well. One of his comments, adding the environment with your subject to create a story. Outstanding photographs for capturing ideas. A previous speaker, David Lenderman talked about having a conversation with your subject. He presented “The Beauty and Challenges of Underwater Photography” and shared examples of making eye contact with fish (very difficult to do) but it also applies to animals and people. Between the two last presentations, we have several examples of different ways to photograph wildlife. Do we add the environment with the subject or do we zoom in to get eye contact?

The May assignment is an opportunity to try both types of photographs with our abundant amount of wildlife. We are quite blessed in that regard, though the armadillo’s digging under foundations may not be welcomed. I’m also hopeful that we’ll see more than songbirds, maybe an armadillo, possum, or an alligator, and don’t forget the ever-present deer and fawns in spring 🙂

Meeting info: We are constantly learning with each hybrid meeting. At the last meeting, we realized that Share and Learn members at the church need to come to the front of the room so Zoom members can hear your comments and also see you. In-person at the church: Frist Baptist Church, 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood, TX 77339. Chris Summers, our membership chair, will be at the door until 6:30 pm. After that, a sign on the door will give you a phone number to call to be let in. The church does not allow any door to be unlocked in the evening. We also have to be out by 9 pm. Zoom meeting links will be in an e-blast the day before the meeting.

Upload your share and learn to the club’s Dropbox folder by the afternoon of Tuesday, May 16. Look for the upload button on the weekly e-blast. Below is the schedule of topics to come giving you a heads-up when out and about with your camera or reviewing your photo catalog. Additionally, please resize your photos. There are instructions under Gallery> Assignment> How to Submit your photos. This would be a very big help for me.

Hope you have a walkabout with your camera and we’ll see you in May!

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April Gallery “All About Texas” is Uploaded

What can I say, Texas is a wonderfully diverse state and the photos in the April Gallery certainly prove my point. From city skylines to nature to beloved Texas businesses to our own neighborhood. All of these speak of our love of Texas. Some of us grew up here and others now call it home. There is always something to love about Texas.

For the header, I’ve included a photo from everyone who participated. Iconic places included Bonnie McKenna’s “The Tex Ritter Museum”, Jim Schepens and Mike Muhle’s “Lukenback”, Chuck Dugand’s “Houston Skyline”. Featuring nature Emily Murphy “It Almost Got Away”, Chris Summers “Longhorn in Bluebonnets” Impressionist, Carl Rasmussen’s “All Lined Up”, Pat Walton’s “Stampede”, Tim Sullivan’s “Sunset at River Grove” and finally Ellen Taylor’s “Sunset at Big Bend”. My photo to the right is our grandaughter’s UoT graduation photo that I took this month. Four years ago we were on campus doing her high school graduation photos. Time just flies by.

May’s assignment will be “Wildlife in your Neighborhood”. We are so lucky to have such an abundance of wildlife around us that I hope to have many more members participate. So far four members; Chris Summers, Chuck Dugand, Tim Sullivan, and myself have shared photos every month. I think we need a big star next to our names :). I would like to thank all those who shared this month

Enjoy the gallery of “All About Texas”

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April Assignment “All About Texas” – 2023 Assignment Schedule

Texas Bluebonnets Willow City Loop

Everything is bigger in Texas, or so the saying goes so this month’s assignment should be an overwhelming success. From our club’s activities through the years to the rich history of Texas there are so many photographic opportunities. We’d love to showcase your photos and hear the stories that define Texas to you. I’m thinking rodeo, bar-b-que, courthouses, unique places, state parks, cityscapes, lakes, wildlife and so much more. And what about all those KPTA activities over the years? We have had wonderful activity chairpersons who have worked to schedule local photographic events for us. And we have had excellent programs that talked about photographic subjects in Texas. Have I jogged your memory of the photos you’ve taken?

2023 Share and Learn Assignments

For all those who want to know what future assignments are I’ve put a schedule together for you. All photos are due by the afternoon of our meeting. Please resize your photos as explained on our website. To have your photos uploaded to the gallery they must be resized. Please submit only three photos, our hybred meetings (in person and virtual) must end by 9 PM due to the Church building restrictions.

Tim Sullivan our VP will be hosting the meeting on April 18th. I will be traveling that day and not be able to attend. Finally, Happy Easter everyone!

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March Gallery and Agenda Uploaded

Jim Schepens sharing his photos

We have officially started in-person meetings and continue with a zoom option. Chuck Dugand worked out the technical issues to achieve this event and the club owes him a big thank you. I did not recognize him at the meeting so I want to recognize him here! Thank you so much, Chuck!

The agenda is below with updates for activities, programs, and assignments. The last two slides show the proposed monthly share and learn and Connie Emerson’s scheduled upcoming programs. All very good stuff.

The header has a selection of photos from the March “Share and Learn” as a few teasers for the gallery.

April assignment should be a popular assignment: “All about Texas”! It should be interesting to see the photos that are shared on this subject. More on that in a separate post.

It was so nice to see everyone, I think everyone enjoyed the sharing of printed photos with the stories. Thanks to all the members who brought their photos to the meeting, Chris Summers for helping stage the photos so the event went very smoothly and John Gray for bringing the easel! April will be here before we know it so start thinking about all the Texas photos you have and plan on uploading a few! 🙂

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February Agenda and March Assignment

March Assignment – Printed Photos

For all our members I’ve attached February’s agenda for your review. If you could not attend this will be a good overview of the topics discussed. Included are current schedules for this year’s monthly programs, activities, and Share and Learn assignments.

Speaking of the March meeting we are doing something a bit different. First, the March meeting will be our first hybrid meeting. We will meet in person at the Frist Baptist Church, 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood, TX 77339 and we will continue to offer a zoom virtual option. Chuck has changed a few things to make this hybrid meeting a success.

Second, for our Share and Learn we give you the option of bringing in printed photos (do upload that photo to our Dropbox for our virtual members) or you and our members on zoom can upload photos that you have printed or would like to print. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to share your prized photos with the club. I try to make the topics broad enough that the photographer can be challenged no matter their skill level. We all started at the same place and as our February speaker Hector D. Astorga said, practice, practice, practice, and check out the video of our last meeting and Hector’s talk that Chuck uploaded. His photography alone is worth watching.

Additionally, there may be a local establishment that will give club members wall space to display their photos. This is very exciting and additional details will be coming soon. You could just display the photo or possibly post it for sale.

Additional agenda slides to look at is a new Resource website tab: “Favorite Photographers and Photo Tour Groups”. Pam Walton suggested this to assist our members in planning photography trips. We have many members who have utilized experienced photographers or tours and we are asking them to fill out a trip form with specific information that can be put into a spreadsheet for others to query. Look for the News Post “Our Favorite Tour Guides and Photo Trips” with a link to the form.

Our Activities Calendar has possible activities for each month. Next month a trip to the Houston Zoo is being planned and April has several activities that look like fun. Just having driven back from Austin we saw many patches of bluebonnets already starting to bloom! Last year was a very sad year for bluebonnets so this looks promising though we may need to plan for late March or early April. All announcements for activities will be posted on our website and on our Facebook page.

Lastly, Texas will have two solar events coming up. An annular Solar Eclipse on Saturday, Oct 14, 2023, and a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024. If you are interested in photographing either of these events send an e-mail to me at president@kwphotoclub.com. I would be very happy to talk about photographing these events. You can also check out this educational site with lots of specific information and links for lens filters and glasses that you will need:

https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2023-2024

A bit long in the tooth tonight but I hope you stayed with me to the end. The agenda link is below :).

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October Agenda is Available

We are missing the playback of our meeting due to my error in recording. Not certain what happened but only the agenda was recorded, not the actual meeting.

There are several announcements that I wanted to be certain all members are informed of so I’ve uploaded the agenda for you to review.

In November there will be the election of two directors. Randi Munsey will be rerunning for her director position, Pam Walton has decided to leave the board (but not the club) so the director slate will be updated before the November meeting.

The second reminder is the annual Christmas Party on December 13th. We will meet a week early at the Church due to the Christmas Holiday the following week. I’ll send out a separate post regarding the food and events for that night. Last year we had about 40 attendees, club members are encouraged to bring their spouse or a guest. We had fun seeing people up close and personal after so many Zoom-only meetings so I hope to see you all on Dec 13th.

I’ve already posted the Share and Learn for November “Celebrations” so check it out.

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November 15th Share and Learn “Celebrations”

Wedding Couple Dancing to the Music

Our November meeting is on the third Tuesday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday so mark your calendars!

This month’s assignment is “Celebrations”! What do you celebrate? From family events to national holidays to get-togethers. Whatever you define as a “Celebration” can be included.

Our grandson was married last weekend (already married a week, how fast time flies) with all the bells and whistles in the bride’s backyard. We enjoyed the beautiful weather for the day and night and I tried to get some photos of the dancing. I was wanting to get some motion into the photo and lowered the shutter speed to 1/80th of a second. That was probably too low as many are too blurry. I was using my nifty 50 lens so zoom was via my feet. An awesome night celebrating their new lives. Mike and I left around 9 PM, but the bride and groom left around 12 midnight! Way too late for a couple of grandparents! 🙂

Upload your photos via the “Share and Learn” button with the weekly club e-blast or from the member’s page on our website. Our meeting is Tuesday, November 15th so photos need to be uploaded prior to 5 PM that night. Send us your “Celebration” photos to share your special events.

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October Share and Learn “Vacations”

Gazing at the Milky Way

Summer has come to an end and it is always a shock to find myself on the cusp of all the holidays. The older I get the faster time flies. Vacations are another event that time seems to operate in half time. A week seems like a few days and there is never enough time to see or do everything that I had planned. I don’t know if others feel this way but it is a challenge to slow down and enjoy the moment.

Last month we had a quickie vacation in the Olympic National Park for Mike’s birthday. The owner of the VRBO we rented sent me a link to a local photographer who photographs the milky way over the water from several of the beaches. Great idea and we lucked out with an amazing night to photograph it. We only got one night as the next night the fog rolled in and it was pea soup. Making the most of it I’ve seen many photos of the photographer in the photo, as the camera is on a tripod so I decided to give it a try. As luck would have it the first attempt was the only usable photo – so Woo Hoo!

Vacations can be complicated – months of planning, special gear, once in a lifetime or they can be a spur-of-the-moment clear-the-head event. Photographing vacations can include locations, people, animals, details, buildings, or anything that resonates with you. Documenting places, people, and events is something we all like to do and then we want to share those photos with others. This assignment is perfect to show off your photos. I hope you agree and will upload them before noon on Tuesday, Oct 18th. We will meet via zoom only so watch for Chuck’s meeting link. Check the instructions on our web for resizing your photos as the Gallery Upload has size restrictions. Upload your favorite vacation photos so we can all be armchair tourists.

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