I was contacted by Haley Van Camp, Arts and Culture Coordinator for the City of Grand Junction, if there was any interest by TMCC members, as a group, to display photos in one of their exhibit locations beginning in January. The exhibit would run for six months and all work may be for sale. Let me know if you would like to participate, either by email (ed@edwardkunzelman.com) or at the next club meeting.

The October meeting went well with 13 attendees, almost everyone shared photos for the monthly challenge – Panorama. The treasury has approximately $500 remaining (CORRECTION). We discussed the club organization and approximately 8 folks indicated they would help out with club planning and decisions, including competitions.

Most were in favor of having a November meeting, which will be Nov. 28 at 7 pm at west campus of CMU / WCCC – ROOM 172 !! The monthly challenge is MODES OF TRANSPORT.

ROOM CHANGE – ROOM 172 FOR THIS MEETING !

The theme for the October photo challenge is “panorama.” Bring your panorama photos on a USB flash drive to the meeting on October 24th.

Greetings.   On August 16, the club posed several questions to club members and recent club members (25 total people).  I received 14 replies.   The key questions were:

1.  please reply to this email with a YES (participate) or a NO (do not participate) in PSA competitions.   

Result: 6 yes, 8 no

2.  Also include a yes or no if you are interested in being on the competition committee, which would manage everything related to these competitions (submittals, judging or getting judges, organizing, entering selections to PSA, presenting results to TMCC, discussions, etc.).    

Result:  1 maybe,  8 no

Based on the results of this voting, thunder mountain camera club has not renewed membership in PSA and will not participate in the next season of competitions.   

The meeting room at WCCC/CMU building B has been reserved for October 24, 2023, which will be the last meeting in 2023.   Discussions about the path forward will occur.  We will need to decide what to do about any of the following: the non-profit status, the website, elect a new Board or management committee, remaining funds, etc.  etc.  

Reminder: Tuesday night’s meeting features Hank’s presentation on bellows, plus member pictures for the theme “perspective,” and lastly a photo critique of member pictures. If you’d like to offer a photo for a critique, please email it to me (ed@edwardkunzelman.com) no later than Monday evening. Keep in mind… a critique is a discussion of what we see in a picture, which can be something we like, as well as dislike. In other words, it’s not solely a criticism. Either way, it’s a good way to learn something about photo composition and technical components.

As advertised, the club meeting last night featured “metallic” images by nearly everyone there, subjects ranging from the smallest of family heirloom watches to the largest industrial structures, and even one member’s wife who graciously posed for a portrait wrapped in aluminum foil. After a short social break, the meeting continued with a lively discussion pertaining to the best advice we’ve been given concerning our photography, and some of the tips and advice we’d offer to other people starting their journey in photography. Not all of which is universally agreed upon. For example, the rules of photographic composition which we’re taught from day one (the rule of thirds being the first that comes to mind) are cited as a basic law of good pictures, but in our contrarian society (okay, maybe just me), we like to debate otherwise. And a good exchange of views it was.

On the agenda for next month’s meeting (September 26th) are three items:

Hank’s presentation on bellows. If you don’t know what bellows are, you need to be there. All I could think of was Dr. Bellows, the psychiatrist in the 1960s show “I Dream of Jeannie.” But somehow, I think Hank’s presentation will follow a different path.

The theme for next month is perspective. That’s all we know. Well… perspective is a noun, which we all remember from grade school is a person, place, or thing. If perspective were a person or place, the task would be easy, but it’s not, so we must think about a thing. The definition in my dictionary of perspective addresses one aspect of the word which is: an attitude toward, or way of regarding something; a point of view. Hmmm… that really helps. Photograph a point of view? Sounds like a political argument. No thank-you. On the other hand, maybe the way that we see something, the way we arrange elements in our photographs in position relative to each other creates depth, scale or some other “thing” that turns a flat two-dimensional picture into a three-dimensional impression… or perspective. In drawing or illustration, artists use perspective to make the human body look real. In photography, we use spatial relationships between elements to make better pictures. Or, less static and flat, I should say. So instead of thinking about a person or place, think about composition.

The last item on the agenda will be a photo critique of one picture offered by each club member willing to have their photo dissected by the club. But, really, it’s not as bad as the fate of those poor frogs in high school biology. Remember, a critique is not just a criticism or outright condemnation of all things deemed to be ridiculously stupid and obvious flaws in our photos by someone with a few awards under their belt. I flinch at the words “You Should Have…” so it will be none of that. Critique is an honest appraisal of what we like about a picture, what we don’t like, what’s in the picture, lighting, technical qualities, emotional impact, and how we see elements as relating to each other (perspective), emphasizing “why” we respond to an image more than just a simple like or dislike for a picture. It’s not a matter of flinging rules of composition at you or stating unequivocally that a picture is good or bad.

If you want to share a picture for critique, please email it to me ahead of the club meeting date… the sooner the better. The best thoughts come from having had some time to think about it. I’ll also post each picture as I receive them to a Dropbox folder for all club members to be thinking about beforehand. My email address is ed@edwardkunzelman.com. If you email a picture to me and I don’t reply within 24 hours, I probably didn’t receive it. Feel free to call me at 970-241-1124 if you have questions. And please… try to keep the file size below 5 megabytes or it might get blocked in the email process, so something in the neighborhood of 2500 pixels on the long side and a good to high quality JPG setting. I can’t emphasize it enough though… this is intended as an educational event for you to see how other people respond to your picture, and possibilities to consider for improving it. And if it’s truly a great image, we’ll discern why so others can learn from it.

We’ll start the meeting by reviewing club member pictures. The photo challenge theme for this month was “metallic.” So bring your pictures of that, or whatever else you’d like to share with the club, on a USB flash drive. For the second half of the meeting, we’ll have a general discussion focusing on “the best advice” you’ve ever received pertaining to your photography. It could be a technical tip for improving your pictures, or possibly some advice regarding your thoughts and approach to photography. And if you’ve never read or been given any advice, you might have some wisdom you’d impart to those beginning their path in photography.

One of my favorite words of advice is from Edward Weston: “If I have any ‘message’ worth giving to a beginner, it is that there are no short cuts in photography.” Of course, Weston did not live to see the myriad of photo apps available to today’s digital photographers… but does it really make a difference? Hmmm…. I guess we’ll talk about it Tuesday night. Hope to see you there.

The July meeting went well as Ed led discussions about lens(s) with the 14 attendees. The monthly challenge was “architecture” and many photos from members were shared and discussed. These were not just recent photographs but some were member favorites and some were interesting parts of buildings.

The attendees were asked to consider this question for the August 22 meeting: “What is the best advice you have ever received (relative to photography)”. The challenge for August is “metallic”. Bring some new or old favorites to share on a flash drive.

In addition to reviewing club member architectural photos, we’ll have a general discussion regarding camera lenses. That’s a discussion, not a lecture. So bring whatever burning questions you might have about lenses, and share some of your thoughts and insights into the lenses that you have. What’s your favorite lens in your camera bag? What lens do you not have that you would really, really, really like to have? Are more expensive lenses worth the price? What are good lenses for the types of pictures I like to shoot? Do I even need more than one lens? And more… hope to see you there!

The July photo challenge theme is “Architecture.” Try to get out and make a few new pictures, bring some of your old ones, whatever… just bring something for discussion. Photography of buildings is probably not something most of us do very often, so it’s a good subject for getting out of our comfort zone. We’ll also talk a little about camera lenses. Why you might want more than one. Some of the key differences. Which ones are better for portraits, landscapes, sports, wildlife, etc.