Our year end party was a great success!  Thanks to Don and Mary Johnson for welcoming us to their home and providing a sparkling and festive setting.  My only wish is that I had a big enough appetite to sample and eat more of the great food!   The evening ended with a slide presentation of the year end awards.  Every year I am wowed by the quality of the work of our members.   You can see the gallery of award-winning images here.  And the awards slide show is below.  It includes the comments of the judge for all the 1st place images.

Giving Thanks

I’ve been looking back on all that our club has accomplished this year and am thankful to my fellow members that helped make it possible.  Not in any particular order, I am thankful for:

• Michael Huber, who did an informative demonstration showing how he creates his marvelous creative composites.
• Jeff Bucklew, who gave a presentation on wildlife photography. It inspired me to give it a try.  He and Michael Huber also did their basics program, “Photography 101” again this year.
• Ted Johnston who arranged for our March speaker whose enthusiasm was contagious.
• Lori Moilanen, who came up with the idea of the club project that culminated in exhibits at Belwin Conservancy and the project exhibit at the Phipps. Lori was also instrumental in bringing great speakers to the club beginning in 2015 and until she retired to Washington state in October.
• Michael Waterman who gave a presentation on black and white conversions and for handling the judging of one of the N4C contests.
• Marianne Diericks who took on the N4C contests. She learned a lot of new things and she took to it like fish to water.
• Bryan Leonard and Troy Schmidt who scouted, shared locations and led group photo shoots.
• Bryan Leonard for undertaking the big task of salon coordinator. He not only did the job, but also implemented some behind the scenes improvements.
• Nick Warnken for making sure we always have enough water for our meeting breaks.
• Melissa Anderson for helping with the web site by posting galleries.
• Ken Krautbauer who has found opportunities for our members work to reach a wider audience by locating new venues for exhibits. He has also done all the “grunt work” that goes along with it.
• Betty Bryan, who has been our conscientious treasurer for the last two years.
• Amanda Bierbaum, Don and Janis Bock, Betty Bryan, Jill Krentz, Carol Menke and Dorothy Nordstrand for helping to pull off the member exhibit now showing at the Phipps.
• Mary Johnson who organized treats this year and for all the members who brought goodies for the meetings.
• Board members Amanda Bierbaum, Betty Bryan, Jeff Bucklew, Michael Huber, Ted Johnston, Ken Krautbauer, Jeff Nelson and Michael Waterman who attended meetings, contributed ideas and kept me on course with my feet on the ground.
• Candiss DelCastillo who helped out with publicity.
• For all the members who attended meetings or participated in group outings and voiced their appreciation.

My apologies if I left anyone out.

Artists Reception – photo by Dorothy Nordstrand

I can’t believe that it’s been a whole month since the last blog post!  But we’ve been busy behind the scenes with two exhibits, our year end party and awards and plans for 2018.

Member Group Exhibit

Last week our members brought their artwork to the Phipps for the club’s exhibit on the second floor.  Thanks to Amanda Bierbaum, Don and Janis Bock, Betty Bryan, Jill Krentz, Carol Menke, and Dorothy Nordstrand for all the help in receiving and installing our pieces in time for the artists’ reception on Friday night.  Our space was filled the whole evening with members and lots of visitors who were wowed by the exhibit.  Everyone should see the variety and depth of talent of our members before the exhibit ends on January 14.

Prairie Smoke by Michael Waterman

The club project exhibit is also on display on the red wall and entrance area at the Phipps and when it comes down, it will be on display at Westfield’s Hospital in New Richmond until April 8.  It features beautiful prairie landscapes and details of flora, birds, insects, and even a bison!  Be sure to take some time to view it when you come to the January meeting.

New Salon Rules

At our last board meeting we decided to update the salons.  The most important updates include:

• There will be six Competition Salons during the year instead of four. They will be held on every even-numbered month (February, April, June, August, October and December).
• Digital images should be sized so that the longest dimension is 1920 pixels. This will bring us in line with the new N4C standard.
• A digital version of prints must also be submitted three weeks prior to the meeting date.
• New definition for Creative: The primary distinction for the Creative category is that the maker intends (and the viewer easily recognizes) that the image is not a representation of reality. The Altered Reality image must have a photographic base of the maker’s own creation. Manipulation of the basic image or images can be done in camera and/or in computer. The makers of Altered Reality images should feel free to use a wide range of tools and resources, limited only by   An HDR that looks “natural” would not be considered “altered reality” under this definition (but would fit under the Realistic class, for example).   Not limited in subject matter and any photographic technique can be used as long as the image begins as a photograph and all elements are the work of the entrant.  All manipulations and enhancements are allowed and encouraged.

Other minor updates were also made and the complete update can be downloaded on our Club Salon Rules page.  Scroll all the way to the bottom for a download link.

We will also be adding opportunities for small group discussion of images.  The first one will be on March 14.