August Newsletter

August comes around quickly. It seems as though this year has been busy for many reasons. Some of of our members, Chris our president, for instance, have been away with work. It has also been busy within the club.

open-colour-wrasse1 In the last month we have had a talk from Paul McDonald a photographer working in underwater photography. This night was ear marked for a talk on art photography. Our speaker couldn’t come. Thanks to Alberto for inviting Paul, who accepted at the 11th hour. You will agree that there is a considerable degree of artistry in his photography. If you are interested in seeing more of his work, I think he posts a lot on the website – “Downunderpix” which is the web page for the SA Underwater photography group. Alternatively just google images for Paul McDonald underwater photography. Like this.

Last-Supper For a time it looked as though we might not have a speaker on this night, so Alberto and I had a fall back plan to give a picture show including some travel photography. I had wanted to maintain the theme of art photography and so I had put together a small collection of slides with quotes from photo artists talking about their work. Fortunately our guest speaker became available. I have however put my slides into a short article on “Art Photography”. – see what you think.

Now We have some clever people in our club. Sometimes their skills go unrecognized. Eric Budworth is one of these (clever). He spoke to me earlier this month about a computer program that he had discovered that will control your camera. It is called Digicam control. It comes at an asking price of nothing. (It’s free) Eric has kindly written an article on the program. I was inspired and downloaded the program and used it to control my Nikon D7000. You know it is really quite good for taking a stack of images for macro focus stacking. You should check this out. If like Chris Schultz you enjoy macro work, then it’s a must. I have recorded my experimentation in an article on focus stacking.

As an aside, this month I spent some time putting apps onto my new Samsung phone. You won’t believe what little apps there are available to help a struggling photographer. I have listed a few of my favorites. Write to me and let me know if there are any noted omissions to the list. It’s worth having a look. Apps for Photographers.

Two excursions were planned this month. The first one to Port Elliot had only 1 attendant, me. I realized after wards that it was my fault as I had not correctly advertised this event. An e-mail had erroneously gone out to past (but not current) members. The second outing however was well attended and made up for the first. Helen Whitford conducted a tour of the zoo. Helen has provided me with a list of her tips on zoo photography and I also have a photo gallery of images taken by various club members during the excursion.

B08_Kerry Malec_Another Day In The Office_Set We have had a critique night and a competition. The critique night generated a lively discussion. The two banners this month come from the “People at work” competition. At the top we have Ron Hassan’s “Nice time of the day” and the one immediately above is Kerry Malec’s “a day in the office.” These were two of my favourites. Well as I said, a busy month. Have a look at the best print images and the best digital images from the competition in the club web page.