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Editor: Sam Schaen - Email: Editor@NVPS.org
Inside Happy Valentines Day
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. February 5, 2008 "For 30 years, I had the good fortune of working exclusively for National Geographic. My assignments varied from undersea to aerial photography and from people to complex science subjects", stated Bruce Dale. With over two thousand photographs published by National Geographic, Bruce Dale's vision and creativity twice earned him the title "Magazine Photographer of the Year." In 1989 he was named "White House Photographer of the Year" and more recently, his innovative work with digital imaging brought him honors from the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to many other awards, one of his photographs now journeys beyond the solar system on board NASA's Voyager Spacecraft, as testimony about planet Earth. Dale has photographed in over 75 countries throughout the world including 10 trips to China. His work ranges from sensitive people studies such as his books on Gypsies and American Mountain People, to his highly technical work such as working with pulsed laser photography to help produce a hologram of an exploding crystal ball for the Geographic's 100th Anniversary cover. One of his more memorable photos involved mounting two cameras on the tail of a Lockheed TriStar jumbo jet to make spectacular views of the big jet in flight. One, a 23 second time exposure, led to a three page gatefold in the Geographic—the other a cover on the magazine. He considers his favorite images are those serendipitous moments totally alien to the well planned picture. "I actually plan on the unplanned picture in an attempt to capture the spontaneity and mood of the moment." Dale left National Geographic to pursue a blend of editorial and corporate and advertising photography. His book, The American Southwest, was published by National Geographic in January of 1999. From high tech to board room portraits, Bruce brings his patience, problem solving ability, and experience in working with "real people" to good use in making images come to life. Corporate and advertising clients since leaving the Geographic include: Acura, Allstate, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Epson America, Getty Foundation, Harriet & Henderson, Mack Truck, Nikon, Matsushita Industries, Quintile Corporation, Shell Oil, Southwest Airlines, Southwest Parks, The Tropical Forest Foundation, Trammel Crow and Willis & Geiger. Dinner is being planned for Chili's at Tyson's on 5 Feb. at 6:00PM. You are invited. If you plan to attend, please inform me.
Tom Brett Scott Musson We’re very fortunate at NVPS to have many different quality speakers and judges visit our club several times a month. Most of them are motivated by little more than their love of photography and the fact that they enjoy sharing their knowledge. They get next to nothing for driving to the club and spending several hours sharing expertise they’ve spent a lifetime accumulating. Where else can you think of that something like this happens? It’s really amazing when you stop and think about it. Sure a few of them hope to sell a book or two but it’s almost always at a discount and quite often at cost. There are very few things in life that are fueled by generosity, I dare say greed motivates much more than generosity does. It’s kind of a “pay it forward” philosophy that many of our guest speakers and judges have. Please show the guest & member speakers who voluntarily come to our club the respect they deserve and to your fellow club members who are likely interested in the topic being presented by waiting until the meeting is formally closed before getting up and chatting with your friends. If you have to leave early, and certainly that happens to all of us, kindly leave as quietly as possible and possibly sit close to the door as to not disturb others. Of course we request that everyone put their cell phones on vibrate during the course of the meeting as well. At all meetings from now on a board member will get up at the end of the meeting and announce that the meeting is officially concluded and at that time you are welcome to chat and socialize with your fellow members. Certainly socializing with a group of great folks is another reason that people join NVPS and we invite you to come early at 7:00 PM for a half hour of socialization prior to the meeting as well. So the next time you are at a meeting and you enjoy the presentation the speaker has provided, I’m sure they would appreciate knowing that you enjoyed it. I hope to see you all soon at a NVPS meeting and at the Meadowlark Nature Photography Expo February 9th & 10th! http://www.meadowlarkphotoexpo.org/
Scott Musson
“The best place to photograph is where ever you are” – Freeman
Patterson February 19, 2008 The announced theme for the NVPS February competition is Still
Life, and only those images that have been captured /
created within two years of the 19 February 2008 date will be eligible
for entry. The judge is CHARLES NEENAN, a digital
imaging artist and professional portrait
photographer who, like artists that use more "traditional" art
media to tell stories, creates his messages "with
the computer screen as canvas and camera lenses as his brushes".
He is a member of both the Vienna and Reston Photographic Societies
as well as a Board Member of the League of Reston Artists. In May 2007,
Neenan formed the Creative Photographers' Society for both artists
and photographers living in the Northern Virginia / D.C. metro area.
As a certified competition judge for the Northern Virginia Alliance
of Camera Clubs (NVACC) , he has judged monthly competitions at various
camera clubs in Maryland and Virginia.
The above images won 1st place in their respective categories in the January Competition. A larger version can be seen by clicking on each image.
Amie Tannenbaum VP Competitions
717-398-9705 miladyamie@aol.com Improving Your Images For NVPS Digital Competition Some members had recently questioned the quality of the digital display during the nvps competitions. The most common complaint was its being too bright and blowing highlights. Matthew Schmidt has spent considerable time in identifying the root cause of the supposed problems, and in determining solutions. Thanks to Matthew for his efforts in resolving the problems. Two main issues are involved: color fidelity/gamut and white/black points of the dynamic range. Below is a summary of the preliminary findings. An article with details will be submitted for publication in the f stop section of the NVPS web site (http://nvps.org/main//f_stop/). The apparent problem with "blown" highlights was traced to the projector. We now have a procedure to ensure that the projector is properly set, and stays that way, when we use it. Blown highlights are not now the fault of the projection equipment. The projection equipment (PC/display_card/LCD_projector) has also been calibrated and profiled. You should use the current profile instead of a generic sRGB setting in order to ensure that your images are within the dynamic range that can be displayed. The actual change in the colors is minimal but slightly better. Any picture that looks good on a calibrated monitor should look good when projected. But dynamic range may be problematic if you have low key images. Testing shows that we can get about 5 stops of dynamic range, with an estimated dMax of about 1.5. The darkest tone that can be displayed depends on the darkness of the room. With the vending machines and hallway lights always on, near pure black will not be achievable. Brightness is limited by the projector and screen reflectivity. If your image has more than 4-5 stops of dynamic range you will either lose shadow detail or blow the highlights unless you make appropriate adjustments to compress it. Converting the image color space to the projection profile using perceptual intent with Black Point compensation on will map your colors and the dynamic range to that which can be projected. However, if you have a low key image you may still need to adjust it further with levels or curves so that you do not lose detail in the shadows. See the full article posted under f stop on the website for more info. For now you need to ask for the profile to be sent via email. In the future, the most recent one may be periodically posted on the NVPS website for downloading. The posted article also discusses soft proofing, gamut checking, the effect of your monitor's calibration, or lack thereof, and dynamic range, along with providing some sources for tutorials and test images.© 2008 William Adams Images for Digital Competitions must be uploaded by 6 PM on the Sunday preceding the competition. The upload location is: http://nvps.org/dc/. Help for uploading can be found at: http://nvps.org/main//misc/digital-competition-info/ . Matthew G. Schmidt
Great Falls
February 23, 2008 This month the NVPS Field Trip will be a trip to beautiful Great Falls, Virginia, located at 9200 Old Dominion Drive, in McLean. Great Falls Park is an 800 acre park, with three falls overlooks. The total drop for the falls is seventy-seven feet. The overlooks are a five to ten minute walk from the Visitor Center. Which is open from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily. Park information Great Falls Park is home to around 163 species of birds. Bird
watching is a fascinating opportunity to view some of the resident
and migratory bird species in the park. Two types of vulture, the black
and the turkey, can often be seen soaring above the river. The park lies
along several migration routes as well. There is a $5.00 entrance fee per vehicle. The vehicle and individual passes are good for three consecutive days. Children under the age of 16 are free. These passes are also accepted at C&O Canal National Historical Park, across the river in Maryland. Passes We will leave the Dunn Loring Fire Station promptly at 6:30 AM, carpooling as much as possible. Please remember to park along the street or at the school next door, since there may be other activities scheduled at the fire station. We can expect to arrive approximately 7:00 AM. Depending on temperature, you are welcome to bring a picnic or buy lunch at the visitors center. Departure time is up to those attending or per carpooling group. DIRECTIONS About three miles down the road, you will come to another traffic light at the intersection of Old Dominion Dr. At the traffic light, you will see a sign for the park. Make a right at the light. Old Dominion Drive will dead end at our entrance station, about one mile down the road. From Tyson's Corner, Vienna, and Falls Church: From Reston and Herndon: Phone Number: If you have a question about directions, please contact the park at 703-285-2965.Sign-up Information You can sign up at a club meeting,
by e-mailing me at tek7@cox.net or
by calling me at (703) 938-6391 most evenings. Although email is
preferred, if urgent call my blackberry (day) or cell (eves) at (571) 201-0497
and (571) 217-1010 respectively.
Teresa Klinkosz
February 26, 2008 In this presentation Tom will be focusing on images of water in it’s
many forms; some common, some not so common. This will include flowing
rivers, waterfalls, windows, park benches, coat hangers and others. Also
included will be some creations from the effects of the presence of water. After spending many years with a manual focus Canon
AE-1 system and subsequently the auto focus Canon A2, Tom now has converted
completely to the digital realm with the Canon 20D. Tom really enjoys the “thrill
of the hunt”. Finding the right composition, the right exposure,
the right lighting, the right background and all the rest of the components
of a good image are what Tom finds interesting and challenging. He especially
likes it when he can share the experience of his photo shoots with the
camaraderie of a camera club buddy or two. Mary O'Neill
February 26, 2008 Matt began photographing in an elementary school science class using a 35mm box camera and creating black and white contact prints using the sun as a light source. He enjoyed taking pictures off and on for the next 25 years, but didn't start to work at improving his skills until he bought his first DSLR in 2004. The instantaneous feedback of the DSLR and the marriage of photography and computers has really spurred his development as a photographer. Today Matt spends a great deal of time in the digital dark room and reading books, blogs and online articles on photo editing. The vast majority of his photography is done outdoors using natural light to shoot nature and sports. Since joining NVPS in 2006 has even been learning to appreciate abstracts. Timber Gooding - Prints Timber Gooding has been working as a professional make up artist for over 20 years. He is constantly surrounded by photography equipment, A-list celebs, and professional photographers. He’s always next to… beside… sometimes in front of… but, never behind the camera. It wasn’t until a Mediterranean cruise that he picked up a point-and- shoot camera and was very pleased with the results. He thought, if the images turned out that good, imagine how much better they could have been if he actually had a little training. Inspired by his co-workers, and the images from his vacation, (and the fact that his new point-and-shoot camera was already obsolete…) Timber walked into Penn Camera and bought his first DSLR, a Nikon D200, with the 18-200mm lens. A year later, Timber had collected a handful of new Nikon lenses, a Manfrotto tripod, an Epson 1800 printer and Photoshop CS3! Some of Timber’s work has been shown and purchased at the Hendry House in Arlington and will be exhibited at the Arlington Library in March of 2008. His work has also placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention in NVPS monthly competitions in the Monochrome, Color Print and Enhanced Print categories. “Photography has been an exciting, self-searching, creative hobby for me, and, Id like to keep it that way. When the fun is gone, it becomes nothing more than work.” Luella Murri
February 12, 2008 Recently several Alliance Camera club members completed Joe Miller’s Seminar on Judging. Three of them will critique images February 12th, 7:30 PM, at the Dunn Loring Fire Station. Critiques are intended to give you educational feedback and enable you to learn about visual design and other attributes of good photography from observing the critique of images made by you and others. We encourage you to consider submitting images that were taken on field trips, respond to recent workshop topics, or are eligible for the February “Still Life”- themed competition. To give the “critquers” adequate time to discuss individual images there will be a limit of three images per person. (Even with this image-number limit, it may not be possible to critique all submitted images depending on the number of entries.) You are encouraged to bring your pictures as digital or film slides, rather than prints, because they are easier for the audience to view. You should feel free, however, to bring prints, if you wish. Regardless of what media you submit, please designate your priority preferences—one, two, or three—in case we have too many entries. For film slides (and prints) we will have three trays (stacks) designated, 1, 2, and 3 into which you are to sort you pictures. The “critiquers” will critique all the 1-preferences before moving the 2’s. If you bring prints or film slides, please arrive several minutes early to sort your images in the correct stack or tray. If you plan to submit digital slides, please attach them to an email addressed to Bill Prosser (prosserwm@aol.com) and send them to Bill by 6 PM, Sunday, February 10th. Put “Critique Workshop Image(s)” in the Subject box. Images should not exceed 1024 pixels wide or 768 pixels high. Resolution should be 72 pixels per inch. Please name your digital slides by designating the preference first, followed by your name, and title; e.g., 2-Bill Prosser-Seneca Window. If you have questions you may contact us by email or phone: Workshop Coordinators:
For 8.5 x 11 printing paper: I make all my images, both portrait and landscape, longest dimension 10 inches. I then decide what standard sizes I tend to print and order at least two mattes of each size, one for portrait/vertical and one for landscape/horizontal orientations. For me I order for inner openings of 10 x 5, 6, 7, 7.5, and 8; plus 8 x 8; except I usually order 1/8 inch smaller openings—e.g., 9 7/8 x 7 7/8—to make it easier to mat. I usually choose outer dimensions of plus 5 inches (2.5 inches per side) or 6 inches (3 inches per side)—e.g., 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 inner and 13 x 15 outer. I order white mattes with backings from: http://www.mattesandmore.com/. They are very inexpensive and have done a good job for me. For competition prints that I do not intend to sell, I order non-archival white. For images that I might want to sell I usually purchase archival, rag mattes. When I mat the print I use an archival “plastic-type” tape for both joining the backing to the over-mat and hanging the picture on the backing mat. (I purchase this, frames, glass, and many other supplies from Framemasters in Merrifield, near Home Depot.) I follow standard matting technique. For larger prints to meet the 20 inch maximum for NVPS Competition: I calculate print size by starting with 20 inches as maximum outer mat size. I subtract the total of the matte border (e.g. 5 or 6 inches) and then do just as above but work with, in my case, a maximum of 15 inches longest dimension for portrait and landscape. I then order two or more 15 x 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12—minus the 1/8 each dimension for the inner opening. (You may find that you don’t need all these sizes.) I work with an Epson R1800 printer, which has a 13 inch carriage, and seldom print wider than 12 inch prints. I recycle/reuse my mattes for competition until they get dirty or banged up enough to not satisfy competition standards. Bill Prosser
Photographers of Northern Virginia Repeat programs of Photographers of Northern Virginia are now being shown on a regular basis on Fairfax Public Access Channel 30 every Monday at 3:30 p.m. and every Friday at 3 p.m. They will no longer be shown on Channel 10. The February schedule is as follows:
The schedule can also be found on the NVPS website (http://nvps.org/main/upcoming/tv_program_photographers_of_no/). Luella Murri
Lithium Batteries Beginning January 1st, new rules went into effect concerning the lithium batteries that power our cameras, accessories and laptops. Although devices in checked baggage may have batteries installed; spare batteries (i.e., those not in the device) may not be in your checked baggage. Within certain limits, you may have spare batteries with you in carry-on baggage. From http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html:
In Memorium The following was reported on the National Press Photographers Association web site. Bernard "Bernie" Boston, 74, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and an NPPA Life Member, died today at his home in rural Virginia. Boston is probably best remembered for his iconic photograph of a young Vietnam war protester putting flowers in the barrels of soldiers' guns during an anti-war march at the Pentagon in 1967. Boston died from Amyloidosis, a rare blood disease that he's had since 2006, his long-time friend Ken Cooke told News Photographer magazine tonight. Boston retired from the Los Angeles Times in 1993 after many years of being their chief photographer in Washington. Before joining the Times, he was chief photographer for The Washington Star. Boston joined NPPA in 1965 and he covered every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to William Jefferson Clinton. Boston was also a member of the Senate Press Photographers Gallery and a member of the White House Press Corps. Diane Williams
Wayne Wolfersberger Wayne recently had a photograph of a juvenile Eastern painted turtle published in the national magazine “Reptiles”. He also had a photograph of Great Falls on the cover of Town Planner Calendar for western Fairfax County with a distribution of 53,000
Events Photography Exhibit at Fairfax County Government Center In last month's FotoFax there was an announcement about the exhibit. Originally the exhibit was to be on display for three months. However, the exhibit has been shortened to permit painting of the interior of the center. The exhibit now ends February 23rd. Franz Lanting Tickets for Frans Lanting’s keynote speech on February 8 at the Tysons Corner Marriott will be sold at NVPS meetings and are available on line at the Meadowlark website. The price is $25.00, cash or check at the meetings or by charge on line. Meadowlark Expo Meadowlark Photo Expo is Saturday, February 9 and Sunday, February 10 at Meadowlark Botanic Gardens in Vienna. Come and see:
The hours are Saturday 9:00 to 4:30 and Sunday 10:00 to 4:30. Admission is $5.00 per day, children 15 and under are free. The keynote presentation, Frans Lanting—Life: A Journey Through Time, is Friday, February 8th from 7 to 9:00 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in Tysons Corner. Tickets are $25.00 on the Meadowlark Website, www.MeadowlarkPhotoExpo.org, or $30.00 at the door. Visit the website for a complete last of activities.
If you have any questions, email me at Willa-f@cox.net or call me at 703-978-7937. Willa Friedman NVPS Polo Shirts The club will be making polo shirts with the NVPS logo available for puchase by members. The shirts will be available in red, white, and navy. The white shirts will cost $13 and the other two colors will cost $15. We expect to have samples available at the February meetings and will be taking prepaid orders. Exhibition Opportunities The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW 2008 The ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW 2008 is an international exhibition of photographic art which will take place April 25 - May 23, 2008 at the elegant Lyceum Theatre Gallery, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, California. The opening reception gala will be on Friday, April 25th. See the website for details on submission, entry fees, and prizes: www.artofphotographyshow.com Steven Churchill: Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2008, sponsored by the Natural History Museum (UK) and BBC Wildlife Magazine, has begun. It costs £20 to enter online and £27 to enter by mail. Deadline is 24 March for postal entries and 31 March for electronic entries. Details can be found at: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy-entry/?src=enews Workhouse Arts Center THE WORKHOUSE ARTS CENTER, a project of the Lorton Arts Foundation is currently accepting submission to jury for Studio and Associate membership in the Workhouse Artist Association. There are still studios of varying sizes available in the 5 general use studio buildings. For photographers they also are accepting submission to jury for membership in the Workhouse Photographic Society. Information can be found at www.lortonarts.org Marti Kirkpatrick National Wildlife Federation Contest NWF invites you to submit your favorite nature images to their 2008 Photo Contest. Cash prizes totaling $18,000 plus camera equipment and other gifts will be awarded to the winners in three separate divisions: professional, amateur and youth. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000. Plus, a portfolio of award-winning entries will be published in the 2008 December/January issue of the magazine. The deadline for all submissions: July 1, 2008. For more details about the categories, how to submit your photos and other information, read the official rules at: http://www.nwf.org/photozone. Workshops and Tours Fairfax County Adult and Community Education Wayne Wolfersberger will be teaching the following photography classes among others this spring through the Fairfax County Adult and Community Education Center (ACE). More information, including how to sign up can be found at http://www.fcps.edu/aceclasses.
Tours for Photographers Ltd.
http://www.toursforphotographers.com/tours.html Nicholas Reuss ARPS John Shaw - Nature & Digital Photography Seminar Well known nature photographer, John Shaw, will present two seminars in Baltimore on April 12-13. The first day is devoted to Nature Photography. The second day covers Digital Photography and Digital Workflow. Cost is $225 for the entire weekend or $160 for one day. More information can be found at the Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris website: http://www.photosafaris.com. Canon and Nikon Camera Classes Ace Photo in Ashburn, VA is presenting camera specific classes for all Nikon and Canon models. Learn how to get the best possible images from your camera. The classes will cover menu options and basic camera settings, the input dials and buttons, basic shooting and image settings, image transfer from camera to computer, and sensor cleaning. The Canon classes are taught by Joshua Taylor, and Nikon classes are taught by Corey Hilz. For complete information and registration contact Ace Photo at (703) 430–3333 or visit Ace’s web site: http://www.acephoto.net. Also, classes and information are on the web sites of Corey Hilz (http://coreyhilz.com) and Joshua Taylor (http://www.archiphotoworkshops.com).Corey Hilz’s 2008 Location Workshop Schedule
Corey Hilz’s 2008 Local Class and Workshop Schedule
Details about each workshop (and photo galleries) can be found at www.CoreyHilz.com in the “Instruction” section. Feel free to contact Corey with any questions: corey@coreyhilz.com 2008 VA Safaris
10% discount for repeat participants 10% discount for camera club members To sign up for a Va Photo Safari go to www.vasafaris.com. Jack Nevitt & Alan DeFelice. Costa Rica Costa Rica awaits, come photograph BATS, birds and more with Wildlife Photo Tours in 2008. Costa Rica is home to all three species of Vampire bats and we hope to photograph all three. Additionally, Costa Rica is home to some of the most magnificent birds on the planet! Other tours for 2008 include Bosque del Apache, Aransas, TX for Whooping Cranes, and bats and venomous reptiles in Arizona and New Mexico. Visit our website at www.wildlifephototour.com for additional tour information. Loudoun Photography Club Meetings: Held on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays at 7:00 pm at theCascades Library (aka Eastern Regional Library).
Manassas Warrenton Camera
Club Program: On Feb 18th at RCC Hunters Woods we will have Chris Butcher and Jim Duley from Penn Camera who will give a presentation on the three catagories used in the process of creating images, capture, manage, and share.
Self-Improvement Outing: Saturday, February 2 (NOTE: for this month only, SIO is on the FIRST Saturday), the subject this month is “Perspective”… contact Dan Feighery at dandj_ffx_va@cox.net
Mrs Ann Bock wife of Karl Bock an avid photographer and teacher at NOVA
and the Smithsonian has his equipment for sale 8 X 10, 4 X 5 Panoramic,
120 and 35 mm cameras with accessories of all kinds. Also a Saunder enlarger
with color head.
Karl did a lot of fine art photography and Ansel Adams style work. He also
had a very extensive photo library
She is also looking for some one to help mount and frame many of his
pictures.
She has all the mats and frames as he cut them already so just needs a
press and some help.
Richard Owen
703-941-3848
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