(also available as a PDF after this link)
Hi Club
This month's newsletter is a short one. I'm enjoying my introduction to retired life with my second holiday of the last few months. After one week on the Hawaiian island of Molokai for a photography course, I'm now on the Big Island with my wife for a second week of travel, exploration, play and photography. Here's today's highlight:
We went snorkeling. I've never done this before. We took an inflatable boat trip to a famous beach where Captain James Cook had a disastrous encounter with the locals, and ended up losing his life. After looking briefly on the monument dedicated to him (which is actually on British soil), I was fitted with snorkel, goggles and flippers, and then slid into the warm waters and took a look below. Wow! I felt like Jacques Cousteau. Through the clear waters I could see beautiful blue with shafts of light pointing to the bottom, colorful coral in every direction and iridescent fish all around me. After ten minutes of paddling around, I went back to our mothership and said, "Do you have any underwater cameras?"
"It just happens we do," was the answer and for the first time in about seven years I was shooting film again. I asked them what ISO the film was, and they said "What's that?" I didn't care, I just wanted to get out there and see if I could record some of the amazing things I was seeing. But now, just like the old days, I have to wait for a few days until my film is processed.
Who knows if the pictures turn out at all but I tried to think about the backgrounds as I put the beautiful fish into my focal range. The intricate patterns of coral, or the flickers of light shining through, created a tapestry of patterns for the brightly coloured fish that swam by me. Unforgettable.
That was all great but I have to confess my highlight was when, having such a great time, I suddenly thought of all my friends and colleagues who were back home in the rainy and windy, dark days of November, working. And here was I, basking in paradise. I burst out laughing. I have to admit, I'm loving retirement!
A great day!
Photographically Yours,
Dennis
Seeing the Light
My week-long photography course was another highlight. I signed up for the course with Dewitt Jones, a veteran of 20 years as a National Geographic photographer, expecting to learn a lot about light and how to use it to make landscape photos sing. It didn't take long for me to realize the title of the workshop, Seeing the Light, was really a metaphor. Dewitt, who is well known for his column, Basic Jones, in Outdoor Photographer magazine, asked thoughtful and searching questions like, "What is the most important life lesson you have learned from your photography?"
The week was an energetic combination of meeting like-minded photographers, being stimulated by a new and beautiful environment and engaging in thought provoking discussions. I'm still in process as I continue to answer questions like the one above and 'What is beauty?' as well as many others. It was definitely a worthwhile week.
One of the things Dewitt emphasizes is the ability we have, as photographers, to give our images away. He does that in a number of ways. One way is to send out one image each week to people on his subscription list. You can sign up to receive his weekly image here:
Here's another one. It's very similar to our own project of furnishing the Gateway of Hope with photographs. Dewitt is a key member of a project called "A Thousand Healing Images". This project offers images which inspire hope and thoughts of healing to hospitals. Check out the website at www.1000healingimages.com . Can you see a way for you to be involved?
November's Theme: 50 mm
Just a reminder that our theme for November is 50 mm, which means a 50 mm focal length on your lens if you are using film or a digital camera with a full frame sensor. If you are using a digital camera with a different sized sensor, you will need to shoot between 32 and 35 mm to obtain an equivalent focal range.
A 50 mm lens was known as a "normal lens" in the film days because it represents the world just as your eye sees it, with no magnification or wide angle effect. A picture that was shot with another focal length and then cropped would not be acceptable. The spirit of the challenge this month is to shoot with a "normal" lens or an equivalent focal length.
New Projector
Another reminder to our members is that we have a new projector (Thanks, Steve!). This is a valuable projector that improves the appearance of our images on the screen. What this means for us is that our image submissions should now be 1400 pixels (on the long side) by 1050 pixels.
Your images must be submitted by Monday, November 8. Please be sure to use this new dimension.
Chris Harris is Coming
It's a great honour that Chris is presenting at our club again this month. Chris was with us two years ago when he was on tour with his book, The Grasslands of BC. Last year, he offered an inspiring evening of his 120+ trips through the Bowron Lakes circuit.
This year, the renowned photographer from Hundred Mile House is back and will share images and stories from his latest book, Motherstone, British Columbia's Volcanic Plateau. If you are new to the club, be sure you are present with all of us who have enjoyed Chris' presentations before and hear from one of BC's best known photographers.
This is a Do Not Miss event!
An update regarding your Club Library!
Greetings Langley Camera Club Membership,
Welcome New Members … For those of you new to the club, we maintain an extensive library of photography and art related books, located upstairs in the mezzanine area, simply follow the stairs to the lights … and simply sign out any book you wish to enjoy for 30 days, and then remember to sign it back in when you bring it back.
What's New in Your Library … Wow, there are simply way too many new books to list out here, we are now up to 380 books in our library!! Thanks to all who have donated books again this year, from Detlef to Andy to Doreen and numerous others, thanks!
Also, it was keenly sad work but I have completed the donations from Judy Daniels' estate, we are deeply honoured to have her fine collection of photography books availed within our library, and they are now ready for loan to the membership (the same 30 day return period applies to these as with all other books)
What We Are Seeking … Our video library component is still a wee bit weak, so anybody who has anything of interest and wishes to donate a copy please see either Andy Kroonje, Russ Desaunier, or myself, Brian Martin … we are pleased to accept any donations!
Overdue Books … In going the inventory list I found a number of books overdue … so if you posses any books over 30 days old do not fear, simply bring them back as soon as possible to avoid the hefty fines as well as the severe punishment which we never ever level nor inflict … thanks!
See the spreadsheet attached to Susanne Brown's email of October 29, 2010, and plan out your reading enjoyment over this upcoming winter … there are no shortages of informative and interesting books available!
From,
Brian Martin
Club Librarian
Notes from APAC
Thanks to Irene Theriau for making these available to us. They are a really comprehensive set of notes from a session on Light by Glenn Fulton that she attended at the Abbotsford seminar last month.