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!
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!
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!
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:
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.
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.
Posting this article from Austin so it will be short. In September we are going to “Fill the Frame”. The subject is going to make up the majority of the photos. If you attended our August speaker he gave an excellent program on macro photography. If you could not attend I’d recommend watching the video. Macro photography is all about getting close to the subject. As close to your subject as your lens will allow you. This will enlarge the image to show all the details of the subject. The list of subjects is endless, from flowers to insects to food to anything that interests you. You are only limited by your imagination.
We will be meeting in the Church and on zoom so your photos will be due by noon on Tuesday, September 20. Everyone is doing a great job uploading them to our Dropbox using the Share and Learn button and I thank you!
Take a look at the macro world and discover a whole new world to photograph. More on this subject in my next post.
Summer is quickly coming to an end and schools will soon be starting the new school year in mid-August. Where did the summer months go?
So why “Summer”? Why not celebrate the lazy hazy days of summer. So many of my fondest memories growing up occurred in summer. From trips to the pool to the beach to watching thunderstorms and savoring the fruits of the garden! Fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes, yum! That is still a summer favorite.
The heat of Texas is not much different than the heat in Nebraska. The biggest difference is here we have climate-controlled houses, not so much growing up in Nebraska. I can remember standing in front of the window air conditioner trying to cool off.
What photos do you have that celebrate summer? Our August 16th meeting will again be Zoom only. Please have your photos uploaded using the “Share and Learn” button on the Club’s Monday e-mail blast by Tuesday AM. Before uploading please resize your photos for the Gallery using the directions on our website.
For the July assignment send me “Your Favorite Photos”. How many favorite photos do you have? Last month our program was on a photo printing service called “Fracture”. Printing photos on glass! What favorite photos would you want to print and display on your walls? Show us three of those photos and tell us why each is a favorite.
Your photos will be due by the morning of July 19th. The Share and Learn will be using the club’s Dropbox. I hope you will take up the challenge to review your photos and share some of your favorites with us!
My photo of the hippos was taken at the San Antonio Zoo during a thunderstorm. The hippos are usually above water but with the thunderstorm, they submerged and with the glass wall visitors could see them floating with the fish. A special moment during a family outing to the zoo.
This should be a fun assignment. Pictures tell stories of shared times, special events, love, sadness, celebrations, or just a quiet day. As I mentioned in a previous post this assignment was the result of listening to a song by The Byrds (my age is showing) “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. A few interesting facts, the song was originally recorded by Peter Seeger and later sold to The Byrds in 1965 who electrified it. In an interview with Peter Seeger, he stated the lyrics were taken from a passage in the book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8). It has also been modified by Judy Collins’ in 1969, Dolly Parton in 1984, and in 2005 “Those Were the Days” and Vern Gosdin’s 1984 album “There is a Season”.
Songs can be inspirations for our photography or an echo of an event. Hearing a favorite song can be a time travel moment where we see the past. Seeing photos of a past event can be another time travel moment where we hear the sounds of that event. Each brings remembrance of a day in a different way, an exercise for our brains.
Below is an article on storytelling that I thought has some useful information on elements to include when telling a story in a visual way.
The meeting will again be a hybrid with in-person at the church and a zoom link for everyone else. Chuck will not be at the meeting so I’ll be depending on others for the technical support. I’m not certain if I will put the Share and Learn in the slide show as I’ve normally done or try to run it from Dropbox. So I’m asking that you upload your photos by Monday, June 20th latest, and don’t forget to resize your photos for the Gallery/Header. Chuck has instructions on the website and he includes the link to our “Share and Learn” button on his weekly e-blast. So send us down memory lane with your favorite stories, old or new!
“Great photography is about the depth of feeling, not the depth of field.” – Peter Adams
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