Hello Club,

Welcome to a new season! I hope you all enjoyed a summer full of rest, travel and successful photography.

Your executive has been hard at work during the past few weeks to plan a number of exciting events and changes that are coming this fall. Top of the list are the changes we have made to our evaluation night. Competition Night is the new name for the first meeting of the month (second Wednesday) and Development Night will replace what was formerly Members’ Showcase.

The spirit of Development Night is one of discussion, honest sharing of perspectives and mutual learning. The goal is a substantial learning opportunity for members of all levels of experience. Please see page two and our website for details of these changes.

We’re also looking forward to something entirely new to the club this year. In January, the Langley Camera Club will be hosting Canada’s premiere photographer, the one and only Freeman Patterson. He will offer a session on Friday, January 21 for advanced photographers (limit of ten LCC members) and a full day session open to all on Saturday, January 22. Details are inside.

This year we welcome several new faces to our executive. As a ten-year member of the Club with many previous executive roles, Anita O’Connor brings a valuable historical perspective and will fill the new role of coordinating our outside competitions. We are also pleased that Michele Broadfoot and Barbara White have stepped forward to help with refreshments. And thanks also to Jim Hatch who has joined us as the membership coordinator. A complete list of your executive is on the website.

Speaking of the website, special thanks to Jim Horn who spent time with it this summer to completely update every page to reflect our changes and have us ready for a new season.

My best wishes to all of you for a year together with great imaging.

Photographically yours,
Dennis

Changes For the New Season

Thank you to all our executive and members who worked very hard last spring to put together a new plan for evaluating our members’ images. The intent is to provide an experience that better meets the needs of our members. To remind you of the decisions made last spring, please read on.

A.  First Meeting of the month: Competition Night (formerly Evaluation Night)

• This evening will run similarly to what we have now.
• In any given month, you can send in three images, with a maximum of two on any night.
• If three images submitted, at least one must be a print.
• On Competition Night, at least one must be on theme. Only the highest score counts toward aggregate. Both images may count for levels advancement.
• We will continue with three judges plus one guest judge. More than one judge, including the alternate, may make comments or a judge may pass.

B.  Second Meeting: Development Night (formerly called Members’ Showcase)

• The evening will continue to include a shorter member’s showcase
• Emphasis will be on discussion of images without scoring. Discussion will encourage participation by members, judges and maker. Example: image presented, members discuss in clusters, possible comment from judges, then maker invited to comment.
• Judges’ comment may be from one or all. No guest judge. It may be that this evening will also serve as a training night for judges.
• Criteria for evaluating images will be presented.
  

C.  Other Details

• Images will still be submitted electronically once per month, by the Monday prior to Competition Night. Members will need to indicate if the image is for Competition Night or Development Night.
• All images will be scored first on their merits, then the designation “beginner” is announced if appropriate, so that judges can comment with maker’s level of experience in mind.
• Criteria for judging will be presented to judges on Competition Night in advance and shared with members. The club will look into providing outside training for our in-house judges.

Update:
At the executive meeting on August 31, the following points were discussed and added:

• Members who submit images for Development Night are expected to be in attendance on that night. We understand that unexpected events may come up that prevent you from attending, on occasion but it would not be appropriate to submit an image for Development Night without the intention of being present.
• The types of images submitted for Development Night include any image that a maker would like to receive feedback/suggestions on. Also, an image that was submitted to Competition Night that did not score as well as the maker expected and where more feedback would help to understand why, would be welcomed. However, once an image is discussed on Development Night, it is not OK to rework the photo and submit it to Competition Night. The purpose of Development Night is to learn from our photos, not to prep for competition.
  

Orientation / Equipment Night

September 22nd will be an opportunity for our newer members to learn about the basics of how our club operates. Topics to be addressed include:

• The benefits of membership: the library, outings, equipment we own, retail discounts and more.
• How, why and when to submit images
• How images are evaluated
• The Fraser Valley Invitational
• The Club website and Forums
• Your questions answered.

As well, members are encouraged to bring their photo equipment. There will be an opportunity to join with people owning similar equipment to find out who they are, ask questions and swap experiences.

Plan to be there!

Awards Night

Our annual Awards Night is coming on September 29. The evening will be a buffet of slide shows, award presentations, food, wine and a special guest. It’s a special evening where we celebrate and recognize, once each year, accomplishments of our members.

We have a new award to present this year: The Judy Daniels Award. As you all know, Judy was a ten-year member of the club and outstanding photographer who we lost to cancer last December. The new Judy Daniels Award will go to members who earned the highest scores through internal club competitions and outside competitions. Our special guest will be Judy’s daughter, Kelly, who will be on hand to present the awards.

During the past few years, we have bestowed the honour of the Chris Sheffield Award to our Member of the Year. Due to an absence of data to select the recipient of this award this year, this award will not be presented. It will, however, return next year with a revised method of selection.

Finally, in support of our festive and celebratory theme of the evening, members are encouraged to dress up for Awards Night.

Willowbrook Mall Display

There will be an exhibit of prints from members of the camera club on display at Willowbrook Mall on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 & 3. The purpose of the display is to raise awareness of our club within the community and to invite new members. We need your help in two ways:

• Your prints are needed. One hundred prints will be used in the display. Please bring your prints to the club during September and loan them to Paul or Kathy.
  
• Volunteers are needed to man the display. Please sign up for a 3 – 4 hour shift on Saturday or Sunday. You will be with other members. It’s a fun way to work with other members and to meet the public and answer their questions. Contact Paul Baker (Paul Baker elrick2323@yahoo.ca) to sign up as a volunteer.

A Workshop with Freeman Patterson

We are excited to announce that Canada’s most famous photographer, recipient of the Order of Canada, author of many books and leader of countless workshops, will be our club’s special guest on January 21 and 22nd, 2011. Freeman will present two workshops:

On Friday, January 21, he will lead a group of ten advanced photographers in a half-day session. Participants will be led on a photo shoot with Freeman in the morning. Later in the day, each participant will have three images displayed and discussed by Freeman. This session is open only to members of the Langley Camera Club and will cost $100. If more than ten members sign up, a lottery will be held to select ten.

On Saturday, January 22, an all-day workshop will be held at the Chief Sepass theatre in Fort Langley and is open to anyone interested. Tickets for this event are $75.00 but members of the club may obtain them for $50 if purchased prior to October 15. Freeman will use his own work to discuss many aspects of a successful photograph.

Thanks to Paul Baker who has made contact with Freeman and taken the lead on organizing this event. Please refer to his email of September 1 for details on tickets.

Gateway of Hope – Mission Accomplished!

It is with great pleasure that we announce that our project of furnishing the new homeless shelter in Langley with 11 prints from our club was completed last month. Special recognition goes to the photographers whose images were selected for the project and are shown throughout this newsletter. Also, thank you to the organizing committee of Marlene Ensing, Joy Gerow, Tena Andersen, Glenn Newby and Dennis Ducklow.

We’d like to give special recognition to Urban Art (located across from Willowbrook) for printing all the images at cost for us (see letter at right) and to Grant Smith who provided framing at a substantial discount.

Outing to Minter Gardens

Our new outing coordinators, Paul and Kathy, are organizing a trip to Minter Gardens on Sunday, September 19. All club members are encouraged to participate in the outings as a great way to learn about some new photo ops as well as to get to know and learn from other members.

Here is a link to their website - it's a beautiful place full of photo opportunities: www.mintergardens.com

The website includes directions, a map, and a printable coupon for reduced admission.  If you have the Entertainment Book there is a 2 for 1 coupon in there also.  Regular admission is $17 adults, $15 seniors.

We will meet at PoCo Military and Outdoor Supplies, 128-19653 Willowbrook Drive, across from Willowbrook Mall (Zellers side), at 9 am.  Those who wish to carpool can make arrangements at this time.

Bring your tripod and a macro lens if you have one. If you require further info, speak to Paul or Kathy.

Important Message

Our first competition night of the season is only days away. You must have your images submitted by Monday, September 6th at midnight. Remember:

• The number of images you can submit is outlined on page two and the website.
• If you will be sending in images for Development Night, these must be sent by September 6th as well.
• When submitting images for either night, please use the image naming utility on our website to create your image title. This is important as it will allow you to designate your images for Competition Night or Development Night. Go to: http://www.langleycameraclub.com/submissionInstructions.html#imageNamingUtility

Why? Joy Gerow

Judging Criteria

The outline of our recent changes on page two refers to
judging criteria. These are listed below.

Visual Impact: ‘Wow factor’, (creative) use of color, form, point of view, proportion, tells a story, sparks the imagination.

Achieving Message: To achieve purpose it is important that the message is (clearly) evident.

Subject Matter: Is the subject interesting?  Does it demonstrate a unique way of seeing the world? Is there a clear subject/center of interest? Themed images are portrayed in an obvious or deliberate manner.

Composition: Does it bring our attention to the point of primary interest?
Does it take advantage of (pleasing) elements in the scene and/or (successfully) hide or minimize unwanted elements? Does it take advantage of (pleasing) elements in the scene and/or (successfully) hide or minimize unwanted elements?

Technical: Focus, D.O.F., Shutter Speed, Lighting and Exposure are executed in a manner that is effective.

Teamwork, Joy Gerow