coast to coast pdfs/newsletterseptember2012.pdf · focused on nature and travel photography for...

GCPC President’s Message ........................................2

Note About the Cover Photo....................................2

August 14 Minutes .................................................... 3

Treasurer’s Report for August 2012 ..................... 3

Ann-ecdotes......... ..... ..............................................4

August Critique images .......................................6

GCPC Calendar of Events........................................9

Mystery Macro..........................................................9

September 11 Meeting At a Glance...................10

Check Out These Links..........................................10

Local photographer Ann Kamzelski will present a talk to the Grand Canyon Photography Club on Tuesday, September 11th at 7pm at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center titled Coast to Coast. Ann has traveled extensively around the country over the last 20 years. During the program, she will show her photographs from several of these trips. While the presentation will include images of harbors, boats, and coastal scenery, the main focus will be on lighthouses. The journey will begin in Vancouver, Canada and continue down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco. The excursion then

jumps to Florida and progresses up the Atlantic coast to Maine and, finally, Nova Scotia.

Ann Kamzelski is a self-taught photographer who has focused on nature and travel photography for over 20 years. She specializes in macro photography with an emphasis on insects and flowers. She has been published in Petersen’s Photographic, Travel and Nature Photographer, Birds and Blooms and on the Citizens and Northern Bank calendar several times, including the cover for 2011. She has had a number of photo articles published in Mountain Home Magazine and has won several Keystone Press Awards for this work. Ann has been the winner of various photography contests in both Pennsylvania and Florida. She is past president of the Grand Canyon Photography Club and writes a monthly article, Ann-ecdotes, for this newsletter on techniques and creativity.

Most recently, Ann has been focusing on creating photo collages to produce unusual works of art. These images contain numerous individual photographs merged to make the final product. Ann sells these created pieces of art at the Island Arts Gallery in Cedar Key, FL.

Ann is a retired analytical chemist who worked for Air Products and Chemicals. She and her husband Ron moved to the Wellsboro, PA area upon retirement and also have a home in Cedar Key, FL where they spend their winters.

© Chelsea Wagner

Ann Kamzelski shares photos from her travels

Newsletter Volume 12, Issue 9|September 2012

Coast to Coast

2

The Grand Canyon Photography Clubwww.gcphotoclub.org

2012 Officers:President: Lee Hoar

Vice President: Bruce Dart

Treasurer: Gary Thompson

Recording Secretary: Mia Lisa Anderson

Corresponding Secretary: Judith Giddings

Directors:2011-2012: Chelsea Wagner &

Nancy Bickham

2012-2013: Lonny Frost & Rhonda Keller

Committee Chairpersons:

Newsletter: Judith Giddings

Membership: Gary Thompson

Exhibits: Bruce Dart

Shows: TBA

Publicity: Nancy Bickham

For more information, please contact:Lee Hoar

E-mail: [email protected]

GCPC President’s Message

The theme this month is “Harvest.” Mary Ellen and I did nineteen pints of corn this morning, with much more to do tomorrow and I can’t, for the life of me, think of an exciting picture of cutting corn off the cob. I did anticipate this problem earlier in the week and took a lot of shots of honey bees harvesting nector and pollen from garlic chives in our garden. This worked very well for me. But the next day my computer threw a fit and the computer doctor won’t see it till after Labor Day!!!

One of the people who contributes a lot to our photography club is Ann Kamzelski and she is doing the program this month entitled “ Coast to Coast.” Ann is a very skilled photographer and an excellent presenter.

I will be asking for your input at this meeting on ideas for next year’s programming. I will pass the clipboard for your thoughts or you could write them ahead of time and hand them to me at the meeting. Either way, please give us your ideas.

See you at the meeting,

Lee Hoar President

Mia Lisa Anderson’s photo is a tribute to her father and his service in WWII. The image shows his dog tags, 1st Division infantry jacket, and the Bronze Star he won in battle. Mia’s Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro lens helped her achieve the nice bokeh on the chain of the dog tags. She converted the image to black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

A Note About the Cover Photo:

©Dave Ralph

3

NewsletterSeptember 2012

President Lee Hoar called the meeting to order. There were no new members or guests present. The minutes from the July meeting will stand as they appear in the newsletter. Treasurer Gary Thompson reported that there is $2,361.56 in the treasury.

Lee received e-mails from 3 different individuals regarding: help using a Nikon camera, help and information about stock photography, and a monthly photo contest. Anyone wishing more information or willing to assist these individuals, see Lee.

Lee announced the winners at the Gmeiner Juried Photography Exhibit: 1st place-Paul Bozzo, 2nd place-Brad Bireley, 3rd place-Ann Kamzelski. The club donated the $100 prize to the third place winner. Bruce Dart commented that there were two honorable mentions: Bob Blair and Lonny Frost. Congratulations to everyone. Gary Thompson thanked Bruce, Suzan Richar, and Ken Meyer for helping with the show.

Lee passed around a sheet with critique themes for the 2013 year. He explained about the “Best Picture Ever” on the theme list. He wants photographers to compare an image from several years ago to a current one to show how much they have grown as photographers. Lee will

pass around program ideas for 2013 next month. The program committee members are Mia Anderson, Bruce Dart, Judith Giddings, Lee Hoar, Ann Kamzelski, and Ken Meyer.

Bruce announced that the new laptop has been purchased from Ben’s Computers in Mansfield. We were able to get the laptop, software, speakers, and a wireless mouse and pointer for less than the $1,200 authorized. He also reminded members that we need photos for the display at the Warehouse Theatre. Nancy Schoonover is currently exhibiting at the Native Bagel.

Now that the laptop has been purchased, we need to look into obtaining a cupboard that locks to store it in at the Gmeiner. Rob Colley said he might have a cupboard that would work he could donate to the club.

Lee introduced Dick Allyn and his program on using a blind in wildlife photography.

After the break, Bruce critiqued the photos on the theme of “Vacation.”

Respectfully submitted,

Mia Lisa Anderson Recording Secretary

Minutes of August 14, 2012

Beginning Balance $2361.56

Cash IN -0-

Cash OUT

BC Technologies - Laptop speakers 74.19

Ann Kamzelski - (Regional show 3rd) 100.00

Show expenses 20.11

Guest speaker (Richard Allyn) 100.00

Ending Balance $2067.26 Respectfully Submitted,

Gary Thompson, Treasurer

Treasurer’s Report for August 2012

©Bill Giddings

4


Ann Kamzelski presents tips, techniques, and

creative ideas for getting great photos.

Ann-ecdotes

Let your imagination run wild!

Finding Faces

When I was a kid I would lie on the grass watching the clouds. I would let my imagination go wild and find all kinds of different shapes. This was especially fun when you had friends to do it with. “Oh look! That one is an airplane and that one is a fish!” The other day as I was driving home from the store when all those memories came flashing back. There in the sky was “Marshmallow Man”. Fortunately, I had my camera in the car and got a single shot before the wind blew and the man was gone. Talk about a fleeting relationship! However, this made me think about where else I had seen “faces” in the objects that I was photographing. Of course there are the pansies and violas that remind everyone of little faces, but I am talking about finding faces where there shouldn’t be one, like the smiley face I found on a daisy.

I think this is a good exercise to do sometimes since it makes you look at the world differently. You have to stop focusing on the subject itself and see “outside the box”. Some people find this very easy to do and see faces or other objects readily (you know who

you are) while others have a hard time making their brains think in the abstract. The best way to train yourself to do this is to spend time only taking pictures of the object you are looking for when you go out.

I decided to try this exercise myself, so I went to a neighbor’s house to see if I could find faces on their barn because I know that the knots in the wood would make good eyes. How right I was! Their barn was covered with faces, some human in appearance, but most characteristic of animals. Some of the faces were hard to match to any particular animal, but some were instantly identifiable. My favorite was the red fox that I found on the fading red barn side.

Next I took my camera and just walked up the road. There was Telephone Man watching me from the roadside, but I really liked the “eyes” that I found on the birch trees. Regrettably, these only came in single versions. Then I realized that some of them were half of a face, so I took the shot to bring home and see what I could do with it on the computer. I cropped the image so that the edge

(Continued on page 5)

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of the tree wouldn’t show. I then duplicated the layer and flipped it over. Finally, I moved it over to match the opposite side to create a full face. Voila, Birch Man! I did this in PhotoShop Elements, but I am sure that other editing programs will do this too. This is the same principle as turning a perfect reflection sideways. You will be able to find all kinds of faces.

However, once I recognized that there were lots of half faces in the images that I sometimes take, I started looking through my VERY LARGE supply of flower photographs to see what I could come up with. Not only could I crop a picture and match two layers to make a face, I also learned that if I just duplicated a layer, flipped it over and used some of the blend modes that come with Elements, I could create really interesting “faces”. From a nice shot of a magnolia flower, I created Magnolia Man. This procedure, while fairly easy, is a little too long to explain in the newsletter. Since I like to share, I will demonstrate how to do it when I do my presentation on lighthouses during the September meeting.

It is fascinating to see how this article evolved. One thing led to another and that one to another, and so on. What started out as a face in the clouds, went to flowers, barns, trees, reflections and finally back to flowers. What started in my car ended up in my office on the computer. Strange how that happens when you let your imagination run wild.

Text and images by Ann Kamzelski

©Ken Meyer ©Ken Meyer

6


August Critique: Vacation

©Lonny Frost

©Suzan Richar

©Dwaine Gipe

© Paul Bozzo

© Chelsea Wagner

9


GCPC Calendar of Events for 2012Meetings are at 7 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of every month

at the Gmeiner Center unless otherwise noted.

Please contact Bruce Dart at bdphoto@ ptd.net if you are interested in displaying your photos at the Native Bagel or if you have images suitable for display at the Warehouse Gallery.

Mini-solo Shows at the Native Bagel, Central Ave-nue, Wellsboro: September, Ken Meyer, Lonny Frost; October, Suzan Richar

The Warehouse Theatre: Images from various club members. We need fall images for a new display begin-ning in September. Contact Bruce Dart if you have im-ages suitable for display.

September 11: Program, Ann Kamzelski, Coast to Coast; Theme, Harvest; Critique, Chelsea Wagner

October 9: Program, Lee Hoar: Birds, Bees, & Butterflies; Theme, Leaves: Critique, Bruce Dart

November 13: Program, Nancy Bickham, Turkey - Magical Hideaways; Theme, Signs, Critique, Ken Meyer

December 11: Holiday party; no theme, no critique, slide show of members’ favorite photos of 2012.

©Jan Keck

©Ann Kamzelski

Mystery Macro

©Judith Giddings

Check out this month’s Mystery Macro

and send your guess [email protected]

Ann Kamzelski guessed last month’s mystery -

a door knob lock!

mailto:bdphoto@ ptd.net

mailto:[email protected]

10


Bruce Dart captured this image of the “Friendship” in the harbor at Salem, Massachu-setts. It is a fully operational replica of the 171’ East Indiaman built in Salem in 1797 that sailed on 15 voyages around the world.

September 11 Meeting At a Glance

Program: Ann Kamzelski, Coast to Coast

Theme: HarvestCritique, Chelsea Wagner

Snacks, Judith Giddings

Beverages: Bruce Dart

Set-up: Paul Bozzo

Check Out These Links10 Things Henri Cartier-Bresson Can Teach You About Street Photography Henri Cartier-Bresson was a legendary 20th century pioneer of photojournalism, a master of street photography. http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/

Capturing Shapes and Patterns in Outdoor Photos A short video demonstrates a photography idea that you can use during the fall to take unique close-up photos instead of just wide landscape shots. http://video.ultimatephotoguide.com/video/000940_capturing-shapes-and-patterns-in-outdoor-photos/

Photography Kick-Start Guide: Adjusting your Camera’s Settings for the Photo You Want A tutorial de-mystifies some of the more common settings found on cameras today and how to use them. http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/photography-fundamentals-articles/photography-kick-start-guide-basic-camera-settings/

To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2011/08/10-things-henri-cartier-bresson-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/



http://video.ultimatephotoguide.com/video/000940_capturing-shapes-and-patterns-in-outdoor-photos/



http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/photography-fundamentals-articles/photography-kick-start-guide-basic-camera-settings/



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