Member, Photographic Society of America
Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Sherm Edwards and Tanya Riseman, Editors, Cable Release, at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
Contents
KEY EVENTS
The following scheduled events will be conducted online as Zoom teleconferences, except for the Field Trip. Look for announcements and invitations by e-mail, Meetup, and on the club’s Website.
- October 5 – Speaker (7:30 p.m.)
- October 12 – Nature (7:30 p.m. at Northwood Presbyterian Church)
- October 14 – Field Trip – St. Mary’s River State Park (Meet at 10:00 a.m.)
- October 19 – Photo Forum (7:30 p.m.)
- October 26 – Board Meeting
2023-2024 Calendar
See here for this season’s calendar, which will be updated as information becomes available. It includes Speaker Night, Competition Night, Photo Forum, Board Meetings, and Field Trips.
If Montgomery County Schools close due to inclement weather, Silver Spring Camera Club meetings and outings will be canceled. See montgomeryschoolsmd.org for closure information during the work week. For Mon-Fri AFTER 5:00 pm & on the weekends, call 240-777-2710 or 311 from within Montgomery County. Sign up for text alerts: AlertMontgomery and choose both a local MCPS school and ‘Community Use of Public Facilities Alerts’. Note that this policy does not apply to online meetings!
For general information about the club, contact us at: info@ssccphotography.org
A list of the club officers and committee chairs, and their emails, is located here:
More information is available in the Silver Spring Camera Club (SSCC) Member Handbook: SSCC-Member-Handbook-2023-2024.
PLEASE CONSIDER PROVIDING MATERIALS FOR THE NEXT CABLE RELEASE:
If you’d like to share an article, announcement, or Letter to the Editor about anything photographic please email them by October 24. Email items or questions to Tanya Riseman and Sherm Edwards at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
DEADLINE: BY OCTOBER 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS
MEETING LOCATION
For the 2023-2024 club year, the second Thursday meeting of each month will be in person, at Northwood Presbyterian Church (https://www.northwoodchurch.com/). Other meetings will be on Zoom. The in-person meeting will be Competition Night if the judge agrees, otherwise it will be Photo Forum and Competition Night will move to the third Thursday on Zoom.
SPEAKER NIGHT WITH IMMA BARRERA – ASTRO AND MILKY WAY PHOTOGRAPHY
Thursday, October 5, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Born in Barcelona, Dr. Imma Barrera is a landscape and nature photographer based in New Jersey. She is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography and has a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Imma has won several awards and exhibited her photography in a number of galleries worldwide. In addition, she has been invited to join CollectorWorks, a hybrid gallery (virtual and in person exhibits) sponsored by Your Daily Photograph (Duncan Miller Gallery).
One of her favorite subjects to photograph is the Milky Way and has been selected for several Artist-in-Residence programs at the Capitol Reef, Acadia, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks and the Flagstaff Area National Monuments for her night sky photography. In addition, she was shortlisted in the Landscape category of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards – Professional competition with her series “Under the Night Sky”.
Imma runs workshops about photography and seminars to raise awareness about the need to protect our natural treasures. She has published books about the night skies in NJ and about her experiences as an Artist in Residence in her series “Photographic Journeys Through National Parks” available on Amazon. To see her work please visit her website www.imma.photo or follow her on instagram @imma.photo.
COMPETITION COLUMN
Our October topic is Nature:
Acceptable entries are photographs that portray various aspects of natural plant and animal life; that illustrate the natural features of land, sea, and sky; or that reveal natural phenomena. No image in this competition may show human intervention. Domestic plants (e.g., in a botanical garden) or animals (including zoo animals) may be included as long as they do not show any human intervention (e.g., collars or ear tags, gates, walls, paths, signage).
Members may submit up to two images meeting this definition for the Projected competition. Look here for details on Projected submissions. Projected images should be emailed to: competition@ssccphotography.org by midnight (11:59 p.m.) on the day of the month’s Speaker Night.
Members may also submit up to two images meeting this definition for the Print competition. Look here (Section IV) for details on submissions. A label template for Print submissions may be found here.
(One important detail – In order to participate in either competition, you must pay the club’s annual dues before the start of the competition.)
CYNTHIA L. KEITH – JUDGE – NATURE COMPETITION
Thursday, October 12, 2023, at 7:30 p.m., at Northwood Presbyterian Church
Cynthia L. Keith is a native Washingtonian. Her love of photography started in a journalism class at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland and over the years has led her to scenic locations from Alaska to Maine in search of landscape images. Her specialty is garden landscape photography, a marriage of her vision for the grand landscape and intimate flower portraits.
Cynthia has been a member of the North Bethesda Camera Club since 1992 where she has exhibited, participated in numerous presentations and served on multiple committees. She is a Certified Judge by the Maryland Photography Alliance and a frequent judge at camera clubs in the greater Washington area and beyond.Outside of photography, she has a BA in Music and an MBA from the University of Maryland and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Cynthia has worked for several financial firms in the Washington, DC area during her career as an investment manager.
PHOTO FORUM OCTOBER 2023
Thursday, October 19, 2023, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
To mix things up, we will start with Photo Sharing. Send 1 or 2 of your images to share if you wish; this month’s theme is Open.
Our presentation is “Composites and Collages, the threads that tie these together” by Charlie Farmer
Join us for discussion on topics including :
- What’s on your mind, photographically?
- What macro subjects have you enjoyed doing? Tips? Techniques? (we have a competition this year)
- What ideas do you have for Industrial Competition subjects?
- Now that we’re doing in-person again, thoughts/suggestions for these meetings?
- Do you insure your camera gear? Experiences?
FIELD TRIP – ST. MARY’S STATE PARK
Saturday, October 14, 10:00 a.m.
Location: St. Mary’s River State Park, 21250 Camp Comosa Rd., Callaway MD. Meet at Visitor Center.
Carpool: Meet at Glenmont Metro—Must contact Leader in advance.
Overview: State Park along Chesapeake Bay in Southern Maryland. The part we will go is Site 1, the Lake area, which has 7 miles of trails through woods and around a lake. The area is good for forest and freshwater shoreline birds, via foot trails and the canoe/kayak launch. This area makes for pleasant birding, and you often get Red-headed Woodpecker, Tree Swallow, Hooded and Kentucky Warblers, and other forest interior-dwelling species such as thrushes during migration.
Note: We were advised to stay away from the Wildlands area of the park (which has a separate entrance) because hunting season has begun. Make sure you go to the right entrance, or enter the wildlife area at your own risk, wearing orange.
To Bring: Tripod, walking shoes, and binoculars might be useful.
Leader: Phil Boyer – 301-204-5549, philboyer60@gmail.com
Lunch: Sweet Blue Smoke Barbecue, 21030 Point Lookout Rd, Callaway, MD
Directions: Use GPS (recommended), or take Route 5 off the Beltway and head south, past Waldorf and past Leonardtown. (Route 5 makes some turns, and the road changes name a lot.) About 3 miles before Calloway, turn left on Camp Comosa Road.
CLUB NEWS
PASSING OF DAVE POWELL
SSCC lost a longtime member, friend, and mentor when David Wesley Powell passed away on August 1, 2023. Before his death, the Club presented Dave with a framed Certificate of Appreciation, with the following words:
You have served as a wonderful teacher, a caring mentor, a source of inspiration, and friend to the members of SSCC, the Silver Spring Camera Club. Among your many achievements a few stand out:
- You started, organized, and ran the popular Closer Focus Meetings.
- In 2021, you introduced and led the Photo Forum, a monthly meeting that captivated club members throughout the pandemic and beyond.
- You have continually shared your extraordinary knowledge of photography with all SSCC members.
- You have inspired novice and advanced photographers with your ranging discussions and excellent presentations.
- Your comments, suggestions, and creative ideas have raised the skill level of all SSCC
members.
We appreciate you as an artist, a leader, and a dear friend.
A full obituary may be found here.
BOARD MEETING
The SSCC Board last met in July. Minutes from all meetings can be found in the board meeting minutes archives when they have been finalized.
FEATURES
Some Recent Photo Forum Presentations
Here are some recent photo forum presentations, which you can also find under “Educational Resources” on the Club’s Archives webpage.
Flash photography Part 1 by Dennis Freeman. Includes how to freeze the subject while allowing camera/background motion blur in the background, by “Dragging the Shutter.” May be useful for the Intentional Camera Motion competition.
Steep your Photos in Select and Dramatic Colors by Tanya Riseman. This talk describes a preset that reproduces the color palette of the movie Asteroid City http://www.ssccphotography.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Asteroid-City-no-grading-16.xmp_.zip.
Explore the color wheel by Tanya Riseman, introduces a color wheel app https://swsrn.github.io/image-color-wheel/.
Macro Photography Introduction and Madeline Island Macro & Closeup Photography by Dennis Freeman will help you get ready for this year’s Macro/Close-up competition.
CONFERENCES AND EXPOS
MEMBER ARTICLES
COMPETITION RESULTS
OPEN – SEPTEMBER 14
September’s competition topic was Open. For the first time in almost three years, it it was held in person and included both Projected and Print images. Roz Kleffman was our judge.
Four categories were judged: Advanced Projected (i.e., digital images), Novice Projected, Advanced Print, and Novice Print. There were no Beginner entries. Awards are generally given for first, second, and third place, with the number of honorable mentions (HM) dependent on the total number of entries in the respective Advanced and Novice categories.
ADVANCED PROJECTED
1st Place: David Terao ~ Framed
2nd Place: Maude Svensson ~ Last Day of Summer
3rd Place: Bob Catlett ~ I See You
HM: Sherm Edwards ~ Upstairs at the Renwick
HM: Bob Catlett ~ The Knot Hole
HM: Wendy Kates ~ Walking through Midtown at Dusk
David Terao ~ Framed
This image was taken at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The concert hall is a fascinating abstract architectural building designed by Frank Gehry. As I was walking around the perimeter of the concert hall, I saw this interesting framing by the concert hall's slanted walls of a skyscraper across the street.
NOVICE PROJECTED
1st Place: Bruce Schaefer ~ Bikerette
2nd Place: Jim Riley ~ Car Interior
Bruce Schaefer ~ Bikerette
ADVANCED PRINT
1st Place: Tom Allen ~ Amusements After Katrina
2nd Place: Kate Woodward ~ People Present in the Piazza, Milano
3rd Place: Larry Gold ~ NYC Old and New
HM: Larry Gold ~ NOLA Train in Park
HM: Beth Koller ~ Desert Patina
Beth Koller ~ Desert Patina
There is a lot more to see in Death Valley than the usual sites on paved roads. There are numerous unpaved roads particularly on the western edge of the Park proper and which may involve travel on unpaved roads outside the Park—although some of these are on various areas under other forms of Federal jurisdiction in addition to private inholding. This photo was taken in Shoshone (population 13) just outside the southeastern boundary of the Park. It can be reached via the highway outside the Park or by taking one of the two roads that travel the edge of the "Badwater" (one paved; the other gravel) and eventually merge and leave the Park at Shoshone. On the unpaved route, we had a sandstorm—great for camera gear! Shoshone is well appointed with a gas station, small private airport, a tiny museum with staff knowledgeable about everything within a 2 to 3 hour radius and packed inside and out with unusual items), and a restaurant with a saloon complete with a tin ceiling and an outdoor setting for music. The restaurant served hearty portions of good food-especially breakfast, and three meals were eaten there. This Ford car was well weathered by the harsh sun and the aforementioned sand. It offered up multiple photographic opportunities. Not much needed to be done except cropping. Photos of a road runner racing around the outdoor theater were icing on the cake.
NOVICE PRINT
1st Place: Diane Sanders ~ Sand Figure
2nd Place: Diane Sanders ~ Lily Bud
3rd Place: Will Rabinovich ~ Rush
Diane Sanders ~ Sand Figure
COURSES, CALLS FOR ENTRY, AND EXHIBITS
PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
by Karen Finkelman
The following list describes various photography classes and workshops in the Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington DC area. Specific workshop offerings may be held in the classroom, in-field, online or via Zoom. Please see individual classes for the instruction format.
The list is organized into three categories: (1) Classes and Workshops in the Washington DC area; (2) Online Courses; and (3) Multi-Day Photography Workshops Within & Beyond the DMV. Click on the links to see the courses and workshops in each category.
Please feel free to recommend any classes or workshops you have taken for the Cable Release. Email me at info@ssccphotography.org or cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org
Note: Inclusion in this list is not an endorsement of the provider or a particular course/workshop.
CALLS FOR ENTRY
by Dennis Freeman
The following offers a number of competitions for your consideration this month. Some of these sources have standing calls for entry, and others are one-time calls. Some offer cash and prizes, and others don’t.
See the full Calls for Entry article here.
EXHIBITS AND EVENTS
WASHINGTON POST
Here is a link to the online Washington Post’s lists of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia photography-related exhibits and museums. The various photography-related exhibits appear in different parts of the online paper, making a simple search or link unreliable. You can search within:
Photography section: Photography
Going Out Guide: Going Out Guide
Art Section: Art
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: nihcameraclub.com
© 2023 Silver Spring Camera Club and its contributors.
Copyright Notice, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and External Link Disclaimer