October 17th Share and Learn “Members Choice”

Kathy Muhle – Lunar Eclipse – ISO 6400 600mm, f/6.3, 0.3 sec 202211

I’m giving everyone the opportunity to share their favorite photos for next month. If you share a photo from a club activity that would be even better.

This sounds like an easy assignment but picking just 3 photos that are your favorite can be difficult. Spoken from personal experience. Take your time, review your catalogs, and tell a story with your submissions.

The meeting will be on October 17, 6:30 PM at the First Baptist Church in Kingwood, 3500 Woodlands Hill Drive, and via Zoom. Your old Zoom links should work. Chuck ended up getting several requests just prior to the meeting for the Zoom link so please check your links when you get them in e-mail.

Have fun reviewing your photos for our next meeting. See you there!

Related Images:

September 19th Share and Learn “Shutter Speed Priority – Blur or Freeze

Back to basics for this assignment, what is shutter speed and why is it an important tool for us? I’ve attached an article that gives you all the essentials regarding this camera function. The attached photo was a 15.0s exposure to capture the lightning over the Gulf of Mexico at daybreak. Lucky for me the beach house had an upstairs porch that overlooked the ocean.

For some of us, this article is a review but it may still be helpful for any issues you have with your photographs. Check it out for some excellent advice and photo examples. Let us know next month if you found this article helpful.

September 19th in-person meeting at the Kingwood First Baptist Church 3500 Woodland Hills Drive and on Zoom. Use the upload button that you can find on the weekly e-mail blast. We are all learning and hope you’ll share any tips with your photos. Upload them by 2 PM for inclusion in the monthly agenda. Looking forward to seeing your shutter priority photos.

Related Images:

August 15th Share and Learn “Trips – Here and There”

Two weeks to go before our next meeting and while chilling in your homes why not review your catalogs for your favorite travel photos? With heat advisories, this would be a win-win for you and the club.

The photo insert is from our 2019 trip to Russia. This is the famous Church of the Transfiguration which dates back to 1764. There is a legend that the church was built by Master Nestor using only his ax and wood. The 22 wooden cupolas that adorn this multi-story church, were all constructed by hand. And, the entire church was built using only wooden pegs to hold it together. It was a wonder to see. Weather events on our trip caused a delay in our arrival to late afternoon which gave us the best light to photograph this architectural gem. A bonus for me :). A travel photo with a story what stories do your photos tell?

Photos need to be uploaded by 2 pm on August 15th. I will be adding the photos to the Powerpoint agenda. Upload to our Dropbox using the Share and Learn button found to the right on our club e-mails.

Please resize your photos for uploading to our Gallery and header. As the number of Share and Learns has decreased I’ve decided to upload a photo from each member to the website header. I hope you have enjoyed seeing your photos there.

The in-person meeting is at our normal location, the Kingwood First Baptist Church; 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, Kingwood. Zoom links will be sent via e-mail before the meeting.

The meeting will start at 6:30 pm with the speaker’s presentation at the beginning. Connie Emerson has arranged another great speaker and topic.

August 15th, 6:30 pm, in-person or via Zoom, hope to see you there and come join us at an after-the-meeting social gathering at Big City Wings! Cheers 🙂

Related Images:

June Share and Learn Gallery and Header have been updated

Summer is almost over and we are back home! Feels good to be home, even with the heat! Late but I’ve just uploaded the Share and Learn photos from June and the June Gallery. “Foods We Love” feature many of our favorite foods and some ethnic and unusual foods. Many of these photos will bring on your hunger pangs.

The photo to the right is an iced coffee in Germany. Not what I expected, more like a coffee float with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, and a cookie! More an ice cream sundae than a drink! It was delicious and I ordered it several more times. In the background is our granddaughter Ariana who accompanied us to Europe. That was a fun trip with awesome sights and fantastic food.

Next month we’ll be picking up with the Share and Learn “Trips Here and There”. The meeting will be held at our usual location at the Church and via Zoom. Look for an e-mail from Chuck with a Zoom link if you cannot attend in person.

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos. I hope to be an armchair tourist at our next meeting with the trip photos you all send in. Keep cool in the heat and check out the latest e-mail from Chuch with some lunch ideas and a night of bowling for the club!

Cheers! Kathy

Related Images:

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!

Related Images:

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!

Related Images:

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.

Related Images:

September Share and Learn “Fill the Frame’

Newly Emerged Monarch Butterfly

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.

Related Images:

August 16th Share and Learn “Summer”

Staying cool on the beach

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.


Summertime in the city anyone?

Related Images:

July 19th Share and Learn “Your Favorite Photos”

San Antonio Zoo Hippo Pool

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.

Related Images: