Volume 52 – No. 8	Founded 1965 – our 52th Year	April 2018
The Newsletter of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society
Editor: Alan Goldstein – Email: editor" at "nvps.org
Table of Contents President's Message 2017-2018 Board Monthly Program Education and Training Competition     March Competition Results Forum Members' Gallery Field Trips Membership Announcements    Members News    Exhibition Opportunities    Workshop Offerings Want Ads Northern Virginia Alliance of Camera Clubs Editor Calendar 4/3 Monthly Program: Photo Adventures with          Kristi Odom and Darren Gustaveson 4/10 Education & Training: Portfolio Project Review 4/13 Field Trip: New York City 4/17 Competition: Judging by Alan DeFelice 4/24 Forum: Drone Photography by Alan Goldstein 4/24 Members Gallery: Digital by Christine Tran          Prints by David Crooks
Note: You can click on the above links to go directly to the article; or you can scroll through the entire newsletter. You can also print the entire newsletter. (The more that you read, the more things you will know - Dr. Seuss ) To protect our members from email spam, personal email addresses in this newsletter have "@" replaced with " at " Please remember to substitute the "@" when attempting to contact any of the people. All meetings for the club year start at 7:30 p.m. at the Dunn Loring Fire Station. The doors open at 6:45 p.m. for a "meet and greet" with meetings on non-competition nights beginning at 7:30 p.m. Note for Competition Nights only (Third Tuesday): Competition begins at 7:15p.m. All prints must be checked in no later than 7:30 p.m.  Although we have not had any problems for many years, do remember to lock your car and place valuables out of sight, as we should in any public parking area. Come early and visit, but when the meeting starts, PLEASE take seats immediately and silence your cell phone, pager or any other device that might make noise and distract listeners or interrupt speakers. Please check the website and FotoFax for the club's policy on weather closings. Check WTOP www.wtop.com or Fairfax County School systems web site for closings. You can also sign up for emails or cell phone alerts: http://www.fcps.edu/news/emerg.shtml

Last month I wrote about the coming of Spring, and the joy of photographing, flowers, butterflies and other aspects of wonderful natural environment of the Washington, D.C,. region. Well, “Spring” did formally arrive this week and dropped a wintry mix on our region, cancelling our Club meeting and the scheduled competition.

The colder than normal Spring, and this recent snowfall have the delayed the blooms a bit, with the predicted peak of the Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms now estimated to occur between March 27 and March 31. So be patient, the real Spring will arrive in all its glory.

As for the Tidal Basin, try and plan several trips to capture either the very early morning or late afternoon light, while remembering sometimes it can be interesting to add a human element to your Tidal Basin photos. As parking can be an issue, you might want to plan a trip with fellow club members, using our Club Facebook page to help plan your trip

Bill Millhouser
2017-2018 NVPS President

Board of Directors

A full list of all current NVPS Board members and their club contact information also can be found at: http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=23

Monthly Program

April 3rd: Photo Adventures with Kristi Odom
                    and Darren Gustaveson

Kristi Odom	Darren Gustaveson

As story collectors sometimes we become the story.  How we got the shot, the journey, our passions, even close calls with life itself.  In this presentation photographers Kristi Odom and her partner Darren Gustaveson will take you diving with whale sharks, head to head with charging grizzly bears, hanging from ropes on glaciers, all in a quest to capture the beauty in a fraction of a second.  Get ready for a night of the action behind capturing their iconic award winning images.

Kristi Odom is a photographer and motivational speaker who is based in Washington, D.C., but most at home while exploring the world. From destination weddings in Thailand to conservation projects in the jungles of Borneo, she is dedicated to documenting the vast beauty in the world around us.  She loves to give back by sharing this approach with fellow photographers and encouraging them to do the same.

Kristi has been an educator for Nikon, WPPI, Fearless Conference, Adventure Always, REI, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kristi’s accolades include her Master’s accreditation from WPPI and over 60 international photography awards including two Nature's Best Photography awards. Her work has been on exhibit many different places from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Rangefinder, Outside Magazine, and even on a billboard in Times Square.

Darren Gustaveson’s deepest passion lies in the mountains. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, Darren uses his camera to share his love of adventure and the natural world. His background is rooted outdoor education where the mountains have been his classroom to bring people closer to the outside world. He has lived all over the U.S. including California, Utah, and even a remote mining town in Alaska. When he isn’t at his home in Sterling with his partner and dog, you can find Darren hiking, rock (or ice) climbing, or photographing life all over this world.   

Examples of Kristi’s and Darren’s work:

Kristi	Darren
Kristi	Kristi
Darren

Monthly Programs for 2018

The VP for Programs for 2017-2018 is Willa Siegel.

Education & Training

April 10th: Portfolio Project Review

This is a reminder that the final critique of your portfolios will be on Tuesday, April 10. Now is the time to finalize your work. Here is a checklist:

1. Add or subtract the final images to your portfolio. Maximum number is 15 photos for the critique, however, your printed work can have more. For the critique, only the first 15 will be considered.
2. Check your Artist Statement.  It should answer the question: “what do you want the viewer to know”. That can be what inspired you, what message you want to share, what you want to show the viewer, or what you want the viewer to see, etc.  It should be concise. Check your spelling. Pick a simple san-serif font and use large print so it can easily be read on our projector screen from the back rows. Keep in mind that overlaying text on a background image greatly reduces readability.
3. Arrange your image in the order you want them to appear (see below). The artist statement is always the first slide.
4. Media: print your photos and place them in an album, binder, photo-book, calendar, etc. of your choice. 8x10 or 8.5x11 are popular sizes. Alternatively, put them on a laptop or tablet so that you or members can scroll through to see your final portfolio.
5. Bring your finished portfolio to NVPS on April 10 to share with other members. You can place your work on one of the back tables. Members will have time before and after the meeting to view your work. Note: Please feel free to bring portfolios from previous years.

The final critiques will be provided by Willa Friedman, Ginger Werz-Petricka and Georgette Grossman.

Arranging your images for the critique

(Note: skip this step if there are no portfolio changes since the interim critique.)

The filenames of your gallery images determine the order they will appear on the projector during the critique. It is therefore important for you to name your image files correctly. Also note, image filenames are not the same as the gallery titles.

Filenames are sorted numerically/alphabetically so prefixing your filenames with numbers (01, 02, 03…) work best. For example, naming your files 00_Artist Statement, 01_John Doe, 02_John Doe, 03_John Doe… is recommended and will guarantee the images appear in the right order. (Always use a 2-digit prefix)

The easiest way to name your files is before they are uploaded to the gallery. You can do this manually in your operating system (Windows or MAC), or you can do this in the Library Module of Lightroom under Metadata -> Filename. Also, if your images are in a Lightroom Collection, you can add a 2-digit sequence in the Filename Template Editor when exporting your images (Export -> File Naming -> Rename To -> Edit section of the Lightroom export dialog box.

(Note that if you re-upload your files to the gallery, you will need to first delete your existing images in the gallery to avoid having duplicates. To delete existing images: navigate to your personal portfolio album. Under “item actions” select “delete photo” and do this one by one for each photo. DO NOT SELECT “album actions” or “delete album”. If these appear navigate down one more level.) Alternatively, you can change the filenames in the NVPS gallery:

1. Login to the gallery and navigate to one of your gallery images
2. Bring up the “sidebar” by clicking on the word “Sidebar” on the gallery menu (top right)
3. Select the word “edit photo”
4. Select the “General” tab
5. Under “Name” you will see the current name of your image. This will have a “.jpg” extension
6. Add a numerical prefix (01, 02, 03…) to the existing filename
7. (It is also recommended to change the “Title” to match the “Name” (filename).
8. IMPORTANT: scroll to the bottom of the page and hit “Save”
9. Do this for each image that needs renaming.

If you need help with arranging your images, email webadmin@nvps.org. If you need help with your artist statement, email portfolioproject@nvps.org. We look forward to seeing you on Aprril 10!

Education and Training Programs for 2018

The Education and Training Coordinator for 2017-2018 is Ron Taylor.

Competition

April 17th: Judging by Alan DeFelice

Alan DeFelice is a professional photographer with more than 25 years’ experience. Alan started in film and progressed to medium format before eventually migrating to digital, back at the advent of the first digital SLRs. Alan’s work is representative of what he loves: mostly nature, wildlife and the outdoors. Alan has won numerous regional and international awards. 

Alan has won several local, regional, and national photo contests. He has been published in multiple magazines, and has even shot album covers for local recording artists. His pictures have been published in Serenity Magazine and Chesapeake Bay Foundation's monthly publication. 

Alan is a speaker at the Mid-Atlantic Nature Visions Photography Expo giving the Raptor Photography workshop.  

 Alan has judged several photography competitions at camera clubs and also Fairfax County Schools.   For a number of years he partnered with fellow club member Jack Nevitt in running the Virginia Digital Photo Safaris, where he and Jack taught the art of photography to participants on location through hands on workshops, in class instruction and constructive critiques.

Competition Themes for 2018-2019

• Geometry:
  Images where the predominant elements are geometric shapes — circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, etc. The compositional elements may be specific [subject-based], such as a wall with a door and doorknob and windows, or implied [design-based], where the photographer searches for designs, such as rectangles, circles, etc. without concern for the names of the objects. For example, subject-based could consider a scene with land, ocean and sky, whereas, design-based could see the same scene as three rectangles of different tones and sizes.
•  Reflections:
  Images which include reflections in water, buildings, mirrors, glass or any other reflective material.
•  Trains, Planes, Automobiles, and Trucks:
  Images of these subjects can be of new or old ones—ones in mint condition or in a state of ruin. Photos can be of the entire vehicle or parts, such as hood ornaments. Subjects can be in motion or at rest.

Competition Judges for 2018

March Competition Results

March's Competition was cancelled due to the weather.

The Co-VPs Competition for 2017-2018 are Stan Bysshe and Chuck Campbell (competitions@nvps.org)

Competition Image Use

The NVPS Website has a gallery of past Competition winning images at http://nvps.org/gallery/v/competitions/. If your image placed first, second, third or received an honorable mention in a club competition, it is eligible for this gallery.  Images are not posted automatically, you must specifically provide consent for your image to be included in the gallery.

To have your winning image included in the gallery, email editor "at" nvps.org and provide the following information:

Your name
Image Category (digital, color print, monochrome print)
Image Class (1, 2, or 3)
Competition Date

Digital Winners: When you upload your image for the competition, you can check the box to grant permission for it to be posted if it wins.  

Print Winners: send a digital version of your print, sized as if it were for digital competition.

The FotoFax newsletter is usually finalized during the weekend immediately following the monthly club competitions.  If your image is a first place winner and you send it in before the Friday following competition, your image will be forwarded to the editor for inclusion in FotoFax.  If you have not provided permission before that deadline, another winning entry may be used.

Forum

April 24th: Drone Photography with Alan Goldstein

(This Forum will be structured as Education and Training due to the subject matter.)

Alan Goldstein will be presenting an introduction to drone photography which he has entitled “Come Fly With Me.”

A member of NVPS since September 2012, Alan has been involved in some way or other with photography for the past 55 years.  It all began with a science teacher instructing him on the art of film developing.  At that time, he was using a Kodak Brownie.  Veering off during his teen-age years to using an 8mm movie camera, he returned to still photography during his college years and while working as a reporter for his hometown newspaper.

Alan was supposed to call in a newspaper photographer for photos, but she lived nearly 30 miles away, so he opted to take photos himself.  At first, he used a Polaroid Type 103 for photos since it made instant, crisp pictures.  But encouraged by a classmate and photographer, Alan got access to the college's darkroom, and processed Tri-X each time he had a news event or other photo request.  This, plus being a radio disc jockey probably contributed to his less-than-stellar GPA!
After graduating from college, Alan enlisted in the Navy, becoming a Navy Journalist and later commissioned as a Public Affairs Officer. 

His high school girlfriend had a Nikon SLR, and that became Alan's Holy Grail.  As a low-ranking Navy man, Alan scraped up the money and bought his first true SLR — a Minolta SRT-101.  As he progressed up the Navy ranks, he upgraded to a Minolta X700.

Fast forward to 2003.  Alan's brother-in-law was getting married and Alan was the photographer.  An acquaintance who was a Nikon rep loaned Alan a D100.   It was love at first click!  Since then, Alan has had a D100, D200, D300, D800, and now a D810 and a D850.

Retired from the Navy in 1994 and retired from Civil Service in 2011, Alan is happy to spend his time making images.  He loves photographing just about everything, but really likes night scenes and landscapes. His photos have been used for greeting cards by non-profits, used for proposals by environmental entities, have been used by sports web sites, have appeared in newspapers, and even hang in a gas station.

He has been experimenting with drone photography since July when he purchased his drone.

Examples of Alan's drone photography:

Public Square Watertown, N.Y.

Thousand Island Park Wellesley Island, N.Y.

The Forum Coordinator for 2017-2018 is Kirk Johnson.

Upcoming Forum Presentations:

Members Gallery

April 24th: Digital by Christine Tran; Prints by David Crooks

Christine Tran

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Christine Tran is passionate about the different aspects of nature present in our daily environment. Christine says “As long as we take the time to look at our feet or gaze into the infinite, beauty can be present anywhere.” She started in the 2014 with a DSLR Canon 70D.

Her presentation is nature through her eyes. Through these photographs, she expresses her feelings for the locations she visits and the wonders of nature that she encounters along the way.  Her goal is to illustrate the rich experiences she has had in this multi-dimensional world as best as she can. These images were all taken while she was on vacation, most often right here in Virginia. “It’s not about where you are, but how you perceive,” Christine says.

She says “I was simply seeking to capture the moments of life and the beauty of a setting. Since my journey began, I have been constantly documenting and experimenting to evolve and improve the quality of my shots.”

Examples of Christine's work:

David L. Crooks

Photography is David Crooks’ passion and to be able to capture the beauty of nature is the reward.  From his early days of chasing after cardinals in his neighborhood,  to visiting  many local and far away, parks, reserves, and other places where “wild life” lives, David pursues his love of photography.

By way of background, in high school, David enrolled in a photography class and entered the Scholastic Arts contest where he won a blue ribbon.  At home, he and his dad built a darkroom in the basement where he processed his own color prints and slides.  In an effort to support his interest in photography and to minimize the associated costs, he took a position at a camera store where he sold cameras for five years. This netted him discounts on prints and equipment. Since his dad had a Canon camera, David saved his earnings and purchased a Canon A-1 film camera. During this time, David served as a photographer for his high he school newspaper. Several of his photos were published including one of the cheerleading squad. As an added plus, it was featured on the front page and was published on his birthday!  Another of his photos appears on the book cover of “The History Champaign-Urbana, Ill”.

In the 1980s, David moved to the Washington, D.C., area. He attended a couple workshops with the NIH camera club. Through the years, other interest of his expanded and computers took center stage.  However, once digital cameras matured and came down in price, he again saved up for a Canon 30D that reminded him of his original camera.

In 2009, he shot his photo of a lifetime: “A Great Blue Heron catching a Snake, eating a Fish.” This phenomenal photo was published in three UK newspapers (one print and two digital).  He has also sold many copies of this unique print.

In 2013, Rust Library had a photo contest judged by Corey Hilz and David won a class with Corey and he exhibited ten photos for two months at the library. Plus, he created a book of the images that he has sold to friends on Facebook.

Three and half years ago, David, his wife and their dog Sam, moved to Annandale to be closer to work. In January 2015, David decided to create a local photography Meetup.  He knew there were many great places to photograph the wildlife along the beltway near his house.  Three years later, the Virginia Beltway Photography Meetup Group has over 1,400 members and he leads two field trips a month.

In 2016 David joined NVPS in the 2016 season after moving from Leesburg.  He agreed to be the Webmaster of the NVPS website. He was fairly active in the Loudoun Photo Club and won many ribbons in their monthly competitions.

Currently David uses a Canon 7D Mark II with a Sigma 50-500mm lens on a gimbal and tripod.  David has three destinations on his bucket list: Iceland, Cuba, and Costa Rica, in no particular order!

The title of his presentation is “Wild Life Images.” D avid has a passion for photographing a variety of subjects and especially wildlife.  He is sharing his photographs of nature and other subjects that have caught his eye.

Examples of David’s work:

Member's Gallery presentations for 2018

The Member's Gallery Coordinator for this 2016-2017 is Laurie Kuyk.

Field Trips

April 13th: New York City

In April, we’ll be going back to New York City (April 13-15). Tentative plans include Times Square at night, Midtown Manhattan (Grand Central Station!), Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights (including views of the Brooklyn Bridge), as well as lower Manhattan (Wall Street and Washington Square). 

Our plan is for everyone going on the trip to meet prior to the April 10 NVPS meeting to finalize the list (and probably include some time to visit the B&H store).

Steve Steiner has arranged a $115 rate at the Meadowlands River Inn, the hotel the club used last NY trip. The hotel requires 10 rooms and a contract for this rate. The rack rate is $179. The online booking sites currently offer rates below the $115 price, but there’s no guarantee that won’t change. 

Please email us for questions and to let us know that you will be going: field-trips@nvps.org

Field Trip Coordinators for 2017-2018 are Jim and Gerri McDermott

Membership

2018 Membership Dues

We now have NVPS business cards for you to hand out. Stop by the membership table and pick some up to keep in your camera bag! They are FREE for you to spread the word about our club.  Be sure to write your name on the back of the cards that you hand out; let’s see who brings in the most prospects!

Remember, in order to participate in the monthly competitions your membership dues must be current.

Membership dues are at half-price for the remainder of the 2018 Society year (until 1 May 2018):

There are three forms of payment. Checks and cash are preferred by NVPS:

• Check: make out your check to NVPS. Complete and print out the Membership Application (http://nvps.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NVPS_application_2015-2016.pdf). Please either mail both to our Treasurer, Tom Brett, 4216WynnwoodDr, Annandale, VA 22003 or bring your membership application and check to a meeting.
• Cash: Complete and print out the Membership Application (NVPS Membership Application 2017-2018 ) with your current information and pay our Membership Coordinators (Kacy Turner or Judy Graham) or our Treasurer (Tom Brett) at any future meeting.
• PayPal: use the link on our website: http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=114. Please note that NVPS must pay a fee for this method of payment!

Questions, please email membership at membership@nvps.org.
We look forward to seeing you at upcoming club meetings and events!

Stay Connected with NVPS

Email: If you are not already receiving NVPS emails, there are two ways you can sign up to join the list. Click on the following link and sign up by entering your name and email address. Click on join the list. http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=31. Or you may stop by the Membership desk at the next meeting and they will be happy to assist you. It's important to note, you will receive an "opt-in" email from nvps.org. If you do not receive it, check your spam folder. Please respond to this email within 72 hours or the verification link will expire.

Facebook: If you are on Facebook, please join the NVPS private group. Search on Northern Virginia Photographic Society Social Group and request to join. Members post everything from their photos to interesting articles on photography to requests for recommendations. You will find the group informative and fun!

Kacy Turner
Membership Coordinator

Announcements

Notice: The information about workshops and events not sponsored by or affiliated with NVPS are provided as an informational courtesy to Members. Individuals should review the detailed rules and conditions for contests and gallery shows to determine what impact entering an image has on the photographer's rights and ownership of the submitted images. Review the descriptions of workshops to see whether participation in a particular workshop would actually meet your personal learning goals. NVPS attempts to screen events for legitimacy and quality; however NVPS does not recommend these events and cannot assume responsibility for their ultimate quality. We recommend due diligence and encourage you to share your experience with other club members.

Members' News:

Judy Guenther

Judy Guenther received a Juror’s Choice Award for her image Indian Laundry in the Maryland Federation of Art’s online Circle Gallery Exhibit “There’s No Place Like Home.” The juror was Liza Strelka, Manager of Exhibitions at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

Competitions

Photoworks Gallery

Photoworks Gallery, Glen Echo, Md., announces a call for entries for United/Divided 2, a public exhibition of photography. As an art institution showcasing photographers in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Photoworks Gallery is in a unique position to initiate a visual dialog that explores the connections and divisions that currently exist in our nation and in our nation’s capital. The submission deadline is Friday, April 13. The exhibit dates are May 25 through July 1.

Robert Miller, Deputy Director of Photography at The Washington Post, will serve as the juror for the exhibition. Miller’s journalistic focus is on the news, which includes national, foreign, financial, real estate, metro, investigative, outlook and the digital news hub. Miller has deftly handled the last eighteen months of the presidential campaign and national enterprise coverage for The Washington Post. He also coaches and mentors the Post’s newest photo editing staff members and staff photojournalists. 
 
More Information

• Artists may submit up to five images to photoworks.gallery@gmail.com
• There is $40 entry fee for up to five images (payable on the website or by check)
• Notification of juried results takes place on May 1, 2018
• Detailed instructions on submitting work is available on the website and on Facebook 
  

Exhibition Opportunities

Announcements of workshops, exhibitions or contests are provided for information purposes only. There is no actual or implied endorsement by the Northern Virginia Photographic Society.

None this month.