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.

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November Agenda

The holidays are done now I need to box everything up for next year and get busy with my normal routine. I do love seeing all the bright lights and this year there seemed to be more lights than in recent years. I apologize for being so late with the November Assignment. I was not at the meeting so I’m unsure what steps were taken from the original photo to the finished post-processed photo. We have some very talented photographers in our club and even beginners can look at the before and after and get inspiration from them. They say never through away your photos you never know what new processes can help save that photo.

I’m attaching a modified agenda from November with all the before and after shots for you to check out.

I’ve also included the modified agenda with the slides for Activities, Solar Eclipse, and the January program.

January assignment “Smart Phone Capture”. This was the most popular assignment last year so I’m hoping to see many of you participate this year.

The next meeting is on January 16th, 6:30 pm in person at the Kingwood 1st Baptist Church and via Zoom. Look for the Zoom link from Chuck several days before the meetings.

Also, a reminder for you to renew your dues. Chris Summers has sent out several reminders on our Facebook. Also, check our Website under Membership>Online Membership for payment options. Stay safe and warm, winter is here!

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October S&L Gallery, Agenda and Update Header

Photo by Kathy Doyle, Oct 14, 2023, Annular Solar Eclipse

I’m getting caught up with all my club postings for October before I’m sidetracked by anything else.

This month’s “Members Choice” assignment saw many of our favorite photos. Bringing back some oldies and some new. It is a very eclectic collection and I was surprised that many of the photos included people and pet photos. Landscapes and travel photos from all over the world, some sky photos including the recent Annular Solar Eclipse, and Bonnie McKenna included underwater photos and the picture of her sting ray that won a contest! Congratulations to Bonnie!

Two members posted for the very first time: Kathy Doyle and William Brant. Kathy was with Mike and me in Hondo, TX for the Annular Solar Eclipse! A fantastic event and one more event to come next year. On April 8th a Total Eclipse with the path of totality through the heart of Texas!

Our speaker, Kevin Loughlin, treated us to some of his beautiful photos of the Galapagos Islands and included interesting information about the islands themselves. Chuck has uploaded the video of his talk so you can hear all the facts and enjoy his photos. An excellent talk.

I want to thank John Gray for managing our Club Store. He sold the last hat at the meeting so the store is now closed. Thanks, John for all your help!

We had another good turnout, it’s always good to see familiar faces in person and via Zoom.

Check out the agenda for future events that are coming up including:

The Christmas Social in December

Election of directors in November

Contact information for joining our team

New functions for our Website

Proposed 2024 Activities and Trips

Finally, it’s time to renew your membership. The board voted to increase the membership fees due to increased costs for our Website and Zoom meetings. We felt the value to the club for Zoom meetings outweighed the cost. 2024 membership fees: Individual is $20 and Family is $25. Chris Summers, Membership Chair, will be putting out more information shortly.

The next meeting is Tuesday, Nov 14th. It is a week early due to Thanksgiving. The Share and Learn is going to be informative as we’ll discuss “Before and After” photos. I’ve posted an assignment that goes into what that means. I will not be at the meeting as I have the KPTA Annual Meeting on the same night but Tim will be the host for the meeting.

Be safe everyone, and enjoy the cooler weather, fall is finally here – at least for a day or two.

Thanks to everyone who attended! See you soon!

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Annular Solar Eclipse Viewing in Hondo TX Sat Oct 14th

The Annular Solar Eclipse is looking good for both Hondo Tx to view the Ring of Fire and from Kingwood where you will see a partial eclipse. Check out the Chapter 2 download to get additional specifics. If you want to join me send an email to president@kwphotoclub.com.

I’ll be sending out updates on Friday and also Saturday. The sunny forecasts have not changed for several days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will hold!

Clear Skies everyone!

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Annular Solar Eclipse – Chapter 2

The Great American Eclipse, SC 201708

Finished Chapter 2 of my Annular Solar Eclipse PowerPoint!

This chapter talks about what you need to do and think about prior to and day of the event. I’m not certain if Hondo TX is going to be clear enough for the eclipse and will start posting updated weather alerts 10 days prior to Oct 14th.

I did go out with Kathy Doyle to help her with the mechanics of shooting the sun. It was good as I’ve added a few extra slides talking about how to find the sun. The filters turn the LCD completely black and only show the sun when you can find it in your viewfinder or Live view. It can be a challenge and you will appreciate having equipment that is up to the task.

There are several links to references, including several videos. I’ve also included the reference from Chapter 1. I would encourage you to look at the references as they go into more detail than I had room for. There will be one more chapter on Post Processing. We’ll see if I have any photos to post process :).

Hope the information is helpful. E-mail me if you have any questions, I’ve included my contact info in the Powerpoint.

Good Luck and I wish you all Clear Skies!

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September Gallery and Agenda now Uploaded

Jim Evrard Share and Learn – Christmas photo from The Woodlands

Shutter speed priority photos gave us lots of water photos mixed with birds, planes, sports, landscapes, and the sky. Nora Konieczny uploaded her first share and learn and did a fantastic job with recording her sprinkler for “rain” in front of roses.

Above are all those who contributed in September. I’ve also posted a graph with the number of Share and Learn Photos for each month back to Jan 2022. The one month that peaks above all is Jan 2023 the topic was “Phone Captures”. Next month would be an opportunity to send in your phone captures – the October assignment is “Members Choice”.

I’ve also refreshed the header with September’s Share and Learn. All members who participated have a photo in the header.

Finally, I have added the September Agenda for your review. This is a summary of activities of our club, a review of where you can get information between meetings, and a heads up for future meetings with speakers and the Share and Learn assignments. Good information for all our members but also watch for our weekly e-blast on Mondays. As things evolve this is where you will see additional activities posted and articles for the upcoming speakers. The web is always the best place to go for current information.

December 12th is our Christmas Social – mark your calendars now. More information coming out in the next month

Slide 18 in the agenda is titled “Change of Batter”. We currently have an excellent team of members and we would like to know from our members those who are willing to help in small or large ways. Please review this slide and slide 19 and consider your skill sets that can help the club in the future.

Enjoy the gallery and download the agenda for all the information that we reviewed on Tuesday. Be safe everyone, enjoy the cooler weather, and bring your camera along for fun. See you at the next meeting on October 17th!

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Photographing the Annular Solar Eclipse – Chapter 1

I am getting ready for the Annular Solar Eclipse on October 14th. I could not do the Library Series so I’m sending out Chapters on how to photograph the coming eclipse. You probably think you’ve seen more of the sun than you’d like the 100+ days are not for the faint at heart but I’d like one more on October 14th!

The attached PDF has the first chapter that discusses filters and locations that you need to consider now. The filters still seem to be in good supply and San Antonio should have enough hotel choices for you. I’ve also included resource links for more in-depth information. I’ve found that YouTube has increased the number of videos on photographing this eclipse. A month ago there were very few. Any of them should help you with planning and photographing. The next chapter will come out next week and will discuss setting up, camera settings, using a star tracker to track the sun, and anything else that I think will help. The star tracker is a new piece of equipment for me so I’m still in a learning stage. Mike is the expert. I’ll also discuss our experience with the total eclipse in 2017.

As I said, I have been getting out to practice – thus the photo of the sun from my driveway taken yesterday between clouds. After the second chapter is published I’ll set a time and date for checking my equipment at Lake Houston along Scenic Shores and let it be open for any who wish to watch and if you bring your equipment we can check it out.

Another current astral event – an astroid is visible now during the early AM. I’ll look for an article with more specifics and see if it is visible in Kingwood.

Chuck has set up a new sub-category on our website. When you click Resources you will see the new category >Astrophotograpy where I’ll be putting these and other articles on astrophotograpy. Thanks, Chuck for making this available to the club. If anyone has an article they would like posted, let me know and we’ll post it. Till next week.

Clear Skies everyone!

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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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