Waverley Camera Club

On Tuesday, July 14th we have our first meeting of the A/V special interest group.

The meeting will take place at Wadham House at 7.30am. Bring some sandwiches and drinks for refreshment.

As this is the first group meeting, the agenda for the night will be very flexible. We will decide how we want to proceed with these meetings and what our objectives are.

To get you started, as most of you will know I have just returned from a holiday to the UK and I have just finished an A/V presentation of the trip which you can view HERE.

We can discuss, critique and disect this A/V on Tuesday if this helps…

See you all on Tuesday….

This is a new idea that I had for the BLOG, a member of the month. At one of the club judging nights, someone said to me who is Warren Knower and it got me thinking about whether we all actually know each other well enough. This article is for those of us who can’t attend every meeting, it is difficult enough with our ever changing membership to keep up with who is who so if we have a member of the month article it will help identify these elusive people and tell us more about who they are, what they do and where they are going. I hope you enjoy the new article and I would ask that you will provide feedback regarding this either by comments at the bottom of the post or an email to me at the editors address.

Hi everyone,

When Dave asked me to write something for the blog I was more than happy to agree as I think the blog is a fantastic resource and something we should all support! But before I start telling you about myself I would just like to say how much I enjoyed last Tuesday nights (7/7) club competition. After the stress of finalising and handing in my folio last month (see below) I have had camera fatigue (is that possible?) and have not pressed the shutter for over three weeks. However after being inspired by the work I saw on Tuesday night, especially in the B grade category, I was out and about the next day doing what I love…..taking photos. So thank you!

I also did a second folio this year, a photojournalistic piece, documenting the lives of commercial fisherman. I had quite an adventure spending many long nights on the ocean coming back after dawn. Here is an image taken at dawn of the crew cleaning themselves after a nights work.

Q: What equipment do you use/prefer?

I use Canon. I can’t stand it when people go on and on about the make of camera they use; that whole Canon vs Nikon saga. We’ve all seen amazing images taken with pinhole cameras and even 2 mega pixel phone cameras. A great image is first seen before it is ever captured.

Q: How has WCC had an effect, if any on your photography?
Also see my introductory comments (above).

I joined WCC in early 2008 because I wanted to meet and learn from like minded people. It has been a great experience. It has allowed me for the first time to submit a photo for judging. I also get to listen to valuable feedback and critiques on images given by some fantastic judges. I really enjoy listening to the invited guest speakers (for instance Jeremy Daadler).

Q: What direction do you think the club should go in the future?

It is fantastic to see the club expanding so rapidly. The proposed move to a larger venue would be welcomed. I think the club is doing a great job in catering for everyone’s need and has to be commended. I remember at the start of the year a lot of changes were invoked and these have been a great success: the blog (all three of them!), beginners classes, more outings, competition format and grading systems etc After such a successful year I think we should not rest on our laurels but try to keep coming up with new ideas to make WCC a great place to be and learn.

Being a lover of all things Adobe (Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge) it would be great to see all members get a better understanding of these tools to better their photography. I am not sure how much is done in the beginner classes but more tutorials to understand the basics and beyond should be a priority.

(NOTE: If anyone needs help in Photoshop etc please don’t hesitate to send me an email)

Q: Where do you see your photography in 5 years time?
The next 2-3 years will be aimed at finishing off my photography course and trying to absorb as much information as I can. I would then like to go on and do a final year at RMIT to complete a Bachelor of Arts in photography (that all depends if by then they start offering it part time). A scientists doing an arts degree, who would’ve thought!!!

I also have plans of starting up my own blog in the near future tailored at beginners to teach them the basic fundamentals such as composition and image design.

Knox B&W comp

We have been invited to be one of six clubs competing in the annual Knox B&W competition.

Our entries are in and the judging night will be on Wednesday the 22nd of July. It will be an excellent opportunity to go and see some monochrome photography and I really do hope that Waverley can muster as many representatives as possible.

The venue is the Boronia West Primary School, Tormore Road, Boronia at 8pm.

Here is a quick reminder that images submitted to the EDI competitions including the EDI versions of prints need to be resized to 1024 pixels wide x 768 pixels high.

The two dimensions are NOT interchangeable and any image that is above 768 pixels high after it has been resized is too big. The best solution is when resizing the images set the height to 768 first and then check the width dimension. If the width is now below 1024 pixels then you are okay but if the width is still over 1024 pixels then you then need to resize the width to 1024 pixels. As long as you have the ‘constrain proportions’ or ‘maintain aspect ratio’ enabled, then there will be no problem as the image will adjust itself accordingly and the height will be below 768 pixels.

I am creating a document to show you how to do this in Photoshop, Elements 7 and Light-room and this will be available on the Tech Help BLOG ASAP. There will also be a further session at the club meeting to help alleviate any problems that you may be having.

A quick message from the President regarding the Warragul National and other national competitions.

Outing this Sunday.

This Sunday (the 12th) I propose we go to Warragul and have a look at the Warragul National.

A National is a photographic competition open to all Australians and here in Victoria we have three – Ballarat, Warragul and Pakenham. There is also an international comp held every two years in Geelong known as Vigex.

A National is broken up into sections. For example the Pakenham National (which is still open if you want to enter) has the following sections: Open, People/Portraiture, Creative/Experimental, Monochrome, Photojournalism/Social Documentary, Rural Aust., Architecture and Landscape/Seascape.

A National will typically receive in excess of a thousand entries and these entries are all judged in their sections and those with high enough scores (acceptances) are displayed. It is a fantastic opportunity to see some great photography and while we’re in the area we could take some shots ourselves.

We can meet at the exhibition which is at St. Pauls Anglican School, 150 Bowen St, Warragul at 1pm and then go from there to somewhere like Noojee to do some photography of our own.

And keep the 6th of September free as well because that is the date of the Pakenham National.