The TMCC club meeting is tomorrow evening, June 27th at 7:00. I’m not aware of a previously established meeting plan or agenda, so if that’s the case and there is none, we’ll just talk photography. Please be sure and bring a few pictures on a USB flash drive, otherwise the meeting will be short. The last challenge subject was texture. Bring those pictures or anything else that you’d like to share. If you don’t have a flash drive, you may email a few JPG images to me at ed@edwardkunzelman.com.

The approach for discussion will be this: Last month we had an informal, lively discussion regarding what we think about between the moment of seeing a subject for a photograph and clicking the shutter button. What sort of thoughts and considerations go into composing the picture? This month, with the use of club member pictures that everyone is gonna bring to the meeting, we’ll ask the question “What If…” for each picture, and explore the process of “seeing” a picture using real images as examples. What if we had changed our viewpoint or camera position? How would that have changed the picture? What if we had positioned the camera higher or lower, closer or farther away, more to the left or right? How would those choices have changed the spacial relationships of the elements in the picture? You see… composing a photograph gives us a lot of options. The idea is to encourage everyone to think before you shoot.

While there’s always plenty of opportunity to improve our pictures by studying composition, the point of the discussion is not to determine a “correct” composition, or decide which is better or worse, or put a label such as good or bad on a picture. Certainly not giving the picture a score. It’s all about considering your options, and allowing the individual person to decide whether the picture could be improved by embracing fellow club members’ comments, or not. Hope to see you there.

Since there were no board members present at the meeting last night (it appears that we only have one person remaining on the board), I doubt there were any minutes recorded, so I’ll communicate what happened.  As there was no formal beginning to the meeting, I offered to start a discussion about… photography.  The opening question I asked was: Between the time that you see a subject that you want to photograph, and the moment you click the shutter, what goes through your mind? What do you think about? What sort of planning is involved in creating the picture?

Of course, the conversation detoured through all kinds of subjects, including a little art history. It helps that we have a few people who hardly need any encouragement for breaking out of their shell, but on the flip side of the coin, there are some shy people hesitant to speak. I’m particularly sensitive to people who might feel they are not skilled enough with their photography to say anything in front of others. But this is a club for all skill levels so everyone’s opinions are as valid as anyone else’s.  We’re all at different places with our photography, so it’ll be natural for the club discussion to reflect that. That said, I think everyone contributed to the discussion… and that’s good. People develop a commitment to the group when they get to know each other a little better. Now I recognize that some people learn more from a formal presentation focused on a single subject. And we discussed how one meeting agenda or another can influence a member’s desire to stay or quit the club. But I sensed throughout the evening that everyone was, indeed, processing a lot of good information. The act of articulating one’s own thoughts often helps us to put some clarity on our own beliefs. So, I think it was a good meeting.

As far as the predicament that the club faces of having no officers… I suggest we forget the problem for the moment, and focus on the present.  We got by for roughly an hour-and-a-half last night before the issue was even raised, and I’d have been content going home without talking about it at all. There were no answers. Some good ideas were mentioned for club activities, programs and such, but still nobody making any commitment for serving on the board. Eventually we need to fix that, but my proposal is to ignore it for a few months.  We have enough cash on hand to pay room rent through the rest of the year. Maybe we can conduct meetings as if everything were perfectly normal… show pictures, discuss photography, and share our experiences; and by the end of the year, the board positions will take care of themselves. Put our best face forward for awhile; conduct a meeting that people will look forward to coming back to the next month. Let’s see if we can double the size of the club meeting attendance by the end of the year, at which point the formal structure of the club might look different. 

I’m willing to keep the club meetings going for a few months, but I’m just one voice though. If you support my plan for the club, bring a couple pictures to the next meeting and we can discuss what we like or dislike about them. More importantly, we can discuss why we respond to an image the way we do. After all, the “why” is the path to improving our images.  But say absolutely nothing about either Voldemort or the issues that “must-not-be-named.”

The next meeting will be May 23, 2023 at 7 pm. The monthly challenge is “TEXTURE”. The agenda is loose but we all need to talk about the future of the club and make some plans.

1. Introductions
2. future of the club discussion – member cold calls
3. TEXTURE photos discussion
4. PSA3 results/discussion

Bring your ideas, bring your texture photos. If you cannot attend but have ideas about the club to share, please email thundermtncam@gmail.com.

At the April 2023 club meeting, Ona and Sharon resigned their positions as President and Vice President and Treasurer of TMCC. At this point the club needs members to be more active in the management and organization of the club and to keep it alive (or not ??). The meeting room is paid for through June 2023. The club meeting on May 22, 2023 will be utilized to discuss and plan the future. Email thundermtncam@gmail.com with your thoughts and ideas and then bring them to the meeting.

The monthly challenge is (revised to) “TEXTURE”, so bring some new pics of texture to share.

The minutes for the meeting are linked here.

http://thundermountaincameraclub.org/wp-content/uploads/TMCC-April-2023-Meeting-Minutes.pdf

April meeting is next tuesday April 25 at 7 pm at WCCC Bldg B room 171. The challenge for April is MACRO so bring a few of your pics on a flash drive (or print) or email to thundermtncam@gmail.com. The orchards are blooming so get out there and take a few photographs

Are you interested in judging the entries for PSA3 ? This would entail you scoring each photo for technical, composition and impact and ultimately ranking them 1 through # and providing a few comments. There are 28 entries I believe, in 3 categories. You can remain anonymous if you want. You should not volunteer if you entered a photo. If you are interested, please email the club prior to sunday night April 9 at 5 pm. thundermtncam@gmail.com The judging would need to be completed by end of the day Wednesday April 12. Very quick turn around.

the next club meeting is Tuesday Feb 28, 2023 at 7 pm, bldg B WCCC room 171.

Bring any technology question for the group “Tech Time” and any new photos for the February challenge “High Key Lighting”