Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Key Events
January 5 – Social hour (6:30 p.m.)
January 5 – Speaker night (7:30 p.m.)
January 12 – Competition night: Open (7:30 p.m.)
January 15 – Field trip to Goddard Space Flight Center (noon)
January 19 – Seminar night (7:30 p.m.)
January 26 – Board meeting (7:30 p.m.)
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/
“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.”
— Imogen Cunningham
JEFFERY SADDORIS IS OUR SPEAKER IN JANUARY
Jeffery Saddoris has been described as endlessly curious – about people, about creativity, about line and shape and color – and his personal and professional pursuits are driven by learning, discovering, imagining, listening, celebrating, and making. That would seem to perfectly sum him up – but there’s more . . . (read more)
Note: Our Speaker Night program on January 5 is preceded by a social hour, starting at 6:30 p.m. (see announcement, below).
COMPETITION COLUMN
The topic for this month’s competition at 7:30 p.m. on January 12th is Open:
In open competitions, free rein is given to the choices the photographer makes in the creation of the submitted image. Images of any and all subjects or themes, created using any photographic or post-processing methods or techniques, are acceptable. The images are evaluated based upon the judge’s general assessment of their creativity, emotional and/or intellectual impact, aesthetic beauty, uniqueness of subject, and technical skill. The judge need not assign any specific weight to any single attribute of the image.
Please be mindful that electronic submissions for projected images must be received no later than 11:59 p.m., January 5. The images should be emailed to SSCCphotography@yahoo.com. (One important detail – Only members who have paid their annual dues may participate in the competition.)
As a refresher, here is the list of competition topics for the remainder of the year (definitions are located here – read more):
- January – Open
- February – Macro (not floral) Photography
- March – Open
- April – Event Photography
- May – Monochrome Photography
- June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)
As always, if you have any questions about the competitions, please feel free to contact Larry Gold at competition@ssccphotography.org.
SANDI CROAN IS OUR JANUARY JUDGE
Sandi Croan is an award-winning independent photographer from Centreville, Virginia. She specializes in landscape, nature, and travel photography with an eye for capturing the unique, and creating fine art for homes and offices. (read more)
SEMINAR NIGHT (JANUARY 19)
http://all-free-download.com/free-photos/download/projection-of-the-film-projector-picture_168690.html
* http://www.thephotoleaguefilm.com/
The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. We will have the usual book reports, gallery reviews, equipment and software discussions, or any photo related topic on your mind. Anyone who wishes to give a 5 to 10-minute presentation should get in touch with Dave. Dave@davidwpowell.com
JANUARY 15 FIELD TRIP
This month we will go to Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on Sunday, January 15 (read more).
High Bay Clean Room; Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
♦ CLUB NEWS ♦
PEGGY GREENE PASSING
Peggy Greene, active member of SSCC in the ’80’s and ’90’s passed away on December 4. (read more)
SSCC member, Norm Bernache, provides the following reminiscence:
Field Trip to St. Michaels: (L-R) Carolyn Bernache, Peggy Greene, Bill Greene, Carole Freeman, Stan Klem, and Mike Traynor – all were SSCC members except for Carolyn.
“We went on the St. Michaels field trip (I forgot what year. But she went by Peggy King at the time), and we had lunch at the restaurant on the right, just after the Bay Bridge, heading to the Eastern Shore. We enjoyed their great oyster dishes. Some of us were able to shuck our own oysters. Peggy found a pearl in her oyster! Good times. Peggy was a member of the SSCC from 1983 through 1995.”
MARITE NAVARRO BEJARANO TAKES ON SSCC’S SOCIAL MEDIA
I’m very happy to announce that SSCC member Marite Bejarano has volunteered to update the club’s Facebook and Twitter social media accounts. You may remember seeing Marite at many of the meetings and field trips last year and earlier this year. Since then Marite has moved back home to Peru to get a job as an agronomist. We’ll miss seeing Marite at meetings but welcome seeing her images in the monthly digital competitions. For a note and photo from Marite, (read more)
Please take a look at the club’s social media accounts and participate with comments and likes!
Thank you to Marite for demonstrating that a volunteer is not limited by distance or geography. Everyone has something to offer and all are welcome to contribute something, no matter how large or small. If you have a desire to help the club in any way please contact any board member or send an email to info@ssccphotography.org
~ Michael
MEMBER SNAPSHOTS
This month’s Member Snapshot is of Oliver Morton, better known as Pete. Pete joined SSCC in November, and you will also see his winning photograph from our December competition below! (read more).
NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING
The Board did not meet in November due to conflicts with the Thanksgiving holiday.
DECEMBER 11 FIELD TRIP TO THE TORPEDO FACTORY ARTS CENTER
On December 11 the SSCC went to the Torpedo Factory Art Center on the waterfront in Alexandria, Virginia. Founded in 1974 in an old munitions plant, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to the nation’s largest collection of working-artists’ open studios under one roof ( http://torpedofactory.org/ ). The artwork includes a wide variety of media: painting, ceramics, photography, jewelry, stained glass, fiber, printmaking, and sculpture. With it being the holiday season, both the public areas and studios sported decorations.
After shooting the Torpedo Factory, we went next door to Vola’s Dockside Grill for lunch.
♦ FEATURES ♦
HELP PORTRAIT EVENT
On Saturday, December 3, the club joined with The Nora School to create family portraits for clients of A Wider Circle, which has as its mission the eradication of poverty in Montgomery County. SSCC photographer Mark Paster commented “I really think this was a win-win for all involved. Our photo subjects will have some great holiday presents and/or family keepsakes for the future and I learned some valuable photo lessons in the process. The Wider Circle does a fantastic job of providing some of the basics for people who need some extra help and it’s great that we were able to help provide something beyond the basics, which is also needed. As the old song said, people need bread, but they also needs roses sometimes as well.”
Here are some shots of the SSCC and Nora School participants “testing the setup”.
Liz Anne Ganiban, Director from A Wider Circle, wrote her thanks to us: “The portraits are absolutely beautiful! It is great to observe the clients’ faces when they see how the pictures look. You certainly made December 3 a special day for our wraparound support and workforce development participants. As I am sure you observed, most love having their pictures taken. If you have contacts for anyone, such as the Silver Spring Camera Club, I would love to thank them as well. … Thanks again for your generosity!”
MACRO APPROACHES
In anticipation of next month’s “Macro (Not Floral) Photography” competition, the following article covers a number of aspects related to selecting macro lenses, or modifying your existing lenses with other gear to accomplish macro shots. The article delves into the corresponding issues of effective f-stop, tiny depth of field, changing your minimum focusing distance and magnification, focus stacking, and lighting. (read more).
THE WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHER, PETE SOUZA
SSCC member, Bob Catlett, forwarded the following link to pictures from the White House Photographer. Pete Souza has shot nearly 2 million photos of President Obama. Here are 55 of his favorites (read more).
ENTRIES FROM LAST MONTH’S PHOTO CHALLENGE: “WORDS AND IMAGES”
As in past years, the January Cable Release has the recurring theme “Words and Images”, where club members send in a pairing of words and images. The idea is to use the text and the image together to create an artistic composite that is greater than the sum of the parts. Thank you to this month’s creative participants!
THIS MONTH’S PHOTO CHALLENGE: “MOTION”
Please send me your jpeg entries for February’s Cable Release Challenge theme, “Motion”. I will publish all of your submissions. It will be fun to see all of the different interpretations of subjects on this theme!
Please follow a naming convention for the photos so that these are distinguishable from competition prints that will be coming in at the same time. i.e.
“Motion~FirstName LastName~Title.jpg”
And also attach a small write up with it (either email or text file), e.g. where you took it, what it is, and why it meets the challenge; and anything else about it that you think is interesting.
Please submit these to cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org by January 24.
♦ MEMBER ARTICLES ♦
WHIMSICAL, SOMBER, AND CONDEMNED – BY STEPHANIE BANKS
Three photographers recently passed away, and I don’t think any one of them was a household name. But they were provocative, extraordinary, and celebrated in their individual niches. (read more)
♦ COMPETITION WINNERS ♦
COMPETITION: DECEMBER 8, 2016 – STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
December’s competition was for Street Photography. Jon Goell returned as our judge that evening.
There were four main categories: Novice Prints, Novice Projected (i.e. digital images), Advanced Prints, and Advanced Projected. Awards were given for first, second and third place. The number of honorable mentions depended on the total number of entries in the category.
NOVICE PRINTS
- 1st Place: Tanya Riseman – Walkway Over the Hudson
- 2nd Place: Oliver Morton – Baltimore Graffiti
Novice Print ~ Tanya Riseman ~ Walkway Over the Hudson
This is all about angles formed from perspective. The bridge has lines that travel to a point in the center. The people's shadows, while more organic in shape, form lines that lead to another point to the right. The angle between the two sets of lines and the high contrast in the picture make a graphic effect.
ADVANCED PRINTS
- 1st Place: Chuck Bress – Fells Point
- 2nd Place: Michael Koren – Heels
Advanced Print ~ Michael Koren ~ Heels
This image was shot on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial of a couple having engagement photos taken by another photographer. While there was a break in the posing, the couple snuggled together to keep warm as it was very early in the day in April. The red bottoms of the ridiculously high heels caught my eye, and I shot this candid moment of a young couple in love. My camera that day was a Nikon D7000 with 70-300 lens shot at 300mm. 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200 Processed with Photoshop and Nik ColorFX
NOVICE PROJECTED
- 1st place: Lenore Boulet – Two Eras
- 2nd place: Andrew Rein – Paris Street
- 3rd place: Renee Schaefer – Mohawk Man
- Honorable Mention: Laurel Sharf – Fresh Fish Lunch
- Honorable Mention: Dennis Freeman – Little Apple, Big Apple
Novice Projected ~ Lenore Boulet ~ Two Eras
This photo was taken at the National Gallery of Art as I was leaving after a day of shooting. I was trying to find my way out of the building and happened to look to the side and saw this scene and had to laugh at the juxtaposition -- Napoleon imposing, stiff, impeccably dressed, from the days of pen and ink; girl in tee shirt and shorts, comfy, on her iPhone in her own world, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Whipped out my camera and captured it before the scene was inundated with other people.
ADVANCED PROJECTED
- 1st place: Coriolana Simon – Toward Sherbrooke
- 2nd place: Bob Catlett – What Did You Say?
- 3rd place: Beth Koller – Remembrance
- Honorable Mention: Larry Gold – Bo Kaap Kids
- Honorable Mention: Charles Bowers – The Sprinter
Advanced Projected ~ Coriolana Simon ~ Toward Sherbrooke
Walking uphill along rue St-Denis from Montréal’s Berri-UQAM metro station, the intersection with rue Sherbrooke lies just ahead. On my left, the 4-story walk-up attached houses show a sudden gap, leaving a levelled plateau for parking tradesmen’s small trucks. Against the far wall, aging fire escapes almost seem to interlock. A small urban detail, but to me it characterizes the slightly seedy but always engaging Quartier Latin. In Montréal, this is the edge of my neighborhood, the happily familiar streets, houses and little hotels, shops, views toward the St. Lawrence, the square and its fountain, bus stops, my favorite restaurants…where I have stayed off and on for three decades. Technical information: Canon Rebel T2i, lens EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, exposure 1/125 sec at f/5.6; ISO 400; focal length 80mm.
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
The following describes sample photography courses and workshops from a variety of providers. This month’s list has some added and removed content from last month. (read more)
CALLS FOR ENTRY
As mentioned in last month’s Cable Release, the Joseph Miller Center is now accepting entries for the upcoming Seventh Annual Joseph Miller Abstract Photography Competition. (read more)
The following offers a number of competitions for your consideration this month. Some of these sources having standing calls for entry, and others are one-time calls. Some offer cash and prizes, and others don’t. See the full article here. (read more)
EXHIBITS AND EVENTS
WASHINGTON POST LIST
Here is the link to Washington Post’s lists of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia photography-related exhibits and museums. This link allows you to further refine the results by location, type, and other factors:
Washington Post List of Photography Exhibits and Museums
If this doesn’t have the desired content (as it sometimes doesn’t), try the following search:
washingtonpost.com newssearch photography museum
DEEP DIVE INTO THE ARCHIVES
This month, we provide the January, 1977 issue of the Cable Release for a view of our club’s past. There is a crisis in the executive board, a Nikon camera body for sale, intriguing titles of winning photos (use your imagination), and a profusion of ads from camera stores!
40 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH
(OPEN HERE)
And what else was going on in 1977?
- The TV miniseries Roots draws an audience of 130 million.
- Star Wars hits theaters – for the first time – and will go on to be the second highest-grossing film of all time.
- Saturday Night Fever sparks the disco inferno and the popularity of movie soundtracks.
- Elvis Presley dies at Graceland.
- The space shuttle Enterprise makes its first test glide, from the back of a 747.
- First woman Episcopal priest ordained.
- Scientists identify previously unknown bacterium as cause of mysterious “Legionnaire’s Disease”.
- Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders.
- Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin.
- Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, signed by 15 countries, including U.S. and USSR.
Take a look at what our sister camera club, the NIH Camera Club, has going on. Here is a link to their site. There you can find their newsletter, the Cameraderie.
