The regular meeting of Thunder Mountain Camera Club was held on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. at Western Colorado Community College in Grand Junction, Colorado.
President Jeff Stoddart called the meeting to order. There were 21 members present. Visitors were welcomed and asked to sign the visitor list.
Old Business
Jeff gave a short recap of Annual Banquet and congratulated all the award winners. A list of the winners and some photos from the event are posted on the club’s web site.
The minutes of the November 24, 2015, meeting were previously published on the club’s web site. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes and as there was no discussion or corrections, the minutes were approved as published.
Jeff announced that Cheryl Sweers had received an Honorable Mention for her entry (“Prelude to a Storm”) into the last round of PSA competition which we voted on in November. Sharon also announced that Dawn Morrow had received an Honorable Mention for her entry (“Reflection Lake”) into PSA competition for the round previous to that which we voted on in September. Congratulations to Cheryl and Dawn!
Jeff announced new Board members and Chairpersons for 2016 are as follows:
Jeff Stoddart – President
Annette Collier – Vice President
Angela Classen – Secretary
Debbie Rudd – Treasurer
Jesie Bair – Publicity Chair
Dawn Morrow – Exhibit Chair
Sheila Johnson – Scavenger Hunt Committee Chair
Paul Huntington – Scavenger Hunt Committee Assistant
Ona Griffiths – Picnic Committee Co-Chair
Renee Walendowski – Picnic Committee Co-Chair
Melanie Morris – Banquet Committee Co-Chair
Cheryl Sweers – Banquet Committee Co-Chair
Dio Musquiz – Activities Co-Chair
Alice Musquiz – Activities Co-Chair
Jeff indicated that the Activities Chair had been created to help Annette, since the Vice President has a really big job description. Thanks to all who have agreed to volunteer their talents and time for the upcoming year.
Debbie Rudd presented the Treasurer’s report. The ending balance from November was $679.69. There were deposits of $60.00 (dues) and expenses of $231.95 (rent and banquet). The ending balance is $477.74. The Treasurer’s report was accepted as presented.
New Business
A sign up sheet is being circulated for volunteers to bring drinks and snacks for meetings for the upcoming year.
Our annual membership dues are due at this time. Dues are $30 for single membership, $35 for family membership, and $17.50 for student membership. Jeff emphasized that all members who wish to participate in any club activities must sign the accompanying waiver and release of liability form. If no waiver is signed, members will not be allowed to participate in outings, etc. New membership applications were circulated and for those not present tonight, the new forms are available on the club’s web site.
We will have a PSA competition at the February 23 meeting. The Board has decided to limit the competition to one image per person as PSA guidelines do not permit entry of more than one image per person anyway. Please submit your digital image to: psa@thundermountaincameraclub.org no later than midnight on Sunday, February 21 in order to participate. Sharon Bradshaw has agreed to continue running the PSA competition.
The “Ask a Photographer” event has been scheduled for Thursday, February 11, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. in our regular meeting room at WCCC. We need as many current members to attend as possible to help answer questions of any guests that attend. Bring your camera gear! Even if you think you don’t know anything, you do! It will be a great opportunity to answer general questions and generate interest in the club. Jesie brought some fliers that can be picked up to post, and they can also be found on the club’s web site. Jesie has posted the announcement on Facebook, so be sure to share this on your personal and/or professional pages to get the word out. Tell all your friends and let’s make this a huge event.
Sheila Johnson, Scavenger Hunt Chair, presented the Scavenger Hunt categories for 2016:
1. A Day in the Life (lifestyle)
2. Au Natural (family friendly only please!)
3. Opposites
4. Memories
5. Broken Glass
6. Abandoned
7. Horizon
8. Mayberry
9. Creative Angles
10. Bad Habits
11. Film Noir
12. The Elements
Sheila said interpretation of each category is up to the photographer, and some categories have more leeway than others. Be creative and think outside the box!
Discussion was had concerning when the photos could be taken as in the past only photos from January 1 to August were allowed. It was brought to the club’s attention this eliminated Halloween and Christmas holidays and the entire fall season where possibly many photos for a number of categories could be shot. It was moved, seconded and approved by vote that photos taken between September 2015 and August 2016 would be allowed. Members can enter one photo per category but may enter as many or as few categories as they wish. Members should bring their 4X6 or 5X7 prints to the August club meeting. Photos must be labeled on the back with the photographer’s name and category. The Scavenger Hunt Committee will compile the photos and mount on poster board and bring back to the September meeting, at which time the members will vote for their favorites. Prizes will be awarded to the first place winners of each category. The Scavenger Hunt is a great way to shoot something you might not normally shoot and expand your skills.
Jeff advised he has three presenters lined up: Ken Redding will present in March on commercial photography; Bob Ingelhart has agreed to present on stock photography (month not yet determined); and Chris Eaton will present in May on slot canyons. He also has interest from Darren White, Joseph Roybal and Mike Breneson but there is an issue with them needing some type of compensation for travel expenses. Mike Breneson expressed interest in scheduling a workshop for the club but each member would have to several hundred dollars (thus probably not likely to happen). He could also do a shorter class but would still need money for expenses. Jeff opened up discussion regarding the members’ interest in having these type of speakers and how to fund them. Suggestions included opening the session up to the general public and charging them a certain amount and maybe club members a lesser amount, doing it jointly with another club and sharing costs, or a small dues increase. The membership seemed open to paying a little bit for these type of speakers on a limited basis if the budget allows. If a speaker like this were brought in that we had to pay for, it is likely we would require a set number of members to sign up and commit to attending before booking them so the club would not go in the hole for the expense. It was also mentioned that perhaps some of the local speakers would be upset if they were not paid to present and later found out the speakers from the Front Range were paid. This is something to consider.
Jeff announced that no one has volunteered to be Competition Chair and opened up discussion as to whether the club wants to continue competitions and if so, how to handle. Numerous options were discussed including:
1. Find a chair to run competition as we have been, with more assistants so that no one person has to do all the work (find judges, prepare slide show, tabulate results, parse through the judge’s comments, conduct the discussion, etc.).
2. Conduct them “PSA style” with members discussing and voting for their favorites. If doing this way, the members would really need to learn how to properly critique images and verbalize why they like an image, and what they do or don’t like in an image. Simply saying “I like it” does not really qualify as a critique and has no educational benefit.
3. No competition other than PSA. Photographer of the Year points would be based solely on PSA placings. Photos would be submitted for discussion only.
4. Do half the competitions PSA style and half the usual way.
5. Have the presenters do the judging. Of course, with only one judge scoring, the resulting scores would be different than averaging the scores of three and might be skewed due to only one person’s opinion.
6. Select 3 or 4 members to be the judges and rotate throughout the year so that no one group is judging more than once. Again, members would need to be educated on photo critique for this method. Doing it this way, Sharon volunteered to put together the slide show, Jeff could help find judges, and Ona could tabulate the scores. Another checklist for the judges might need to be created.
7. For any type of competition, we could allow members to submit photos for discussion only and not to be judged/scored.
Due to PSA, Scavenger Hunt voting and no meeting in December, we only have 5 months for regular competition (March, May, June, July and October). Discussion was held regarding whether discussion of the images is educational and beneficial and it was generally agreed it is and we should continue competition in some way.
Therefore, the following options were presented to the membership for vote:
1. Jesie Bair volunteered to be Competition Chair only if she could have 5 people commit to run each month’s competition. The competitions would then be run very similar to the way they were last year. Sheila Johnson, Dawn Morrow, James Payne and Sharon Bradshaw volunteered to help. Ed Kunzelman agreed to be the “last resort” person if Jesie will continue to look for one more.
2. “PSA style” voting where images are shown and members discuss then vote for their favorites.
3. Straight discussion with no judging. Points for Photographer of the Year would be based solely on PSA placings.
The results of the voting were 11 for option 1; 8 for option 2; and 2 for option 3.
Jeff opened up discussion for what the members would like to learn in our classes and what places they would like to go for outings. Below are the topics and locations that were suggested by the club members:
Classes
General Photoshop (Mike Brown is planning to continue with these)
File handling/printing
Video
Photoshop plug ins
HDR
Portraits
Commercial
Stock
Gear for different photography
Animals
Outings/Activities
Yellowstone
Eckert/Monte Vista cranes
Car shows
Night/low light
Brian Acker astrophotography (with telescopes)
Historical places like Leadville or Creede
Birds
Sheila’s ranch near Olathe – eagles, old equipment, horses, livestock
Meeker massacre re-enactment
Renfest on 29 Road
Snowmass balloon festival
9 Mile Canyon (Utah)
Maybelle horse round-up/Sandwash horses
Dave Fishell (local historian – any other local tours he might suggest)
Sled dogs on Mesa
Sego/Thompson Springs/Cisco
Moab area (Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse)
Goblin Valley
Black Canyon
Fruita rodeo
Mesa Co. Fair (fireworks, carnival rides)
Monument or other local spots
This list will assist the Board as they begin to plan the upcoming year’s educational classes and outings. Thanks to all the members who gave their input and ideas! Members who were not present or did not speak tonight can always give their ideas to any Board member at any time in person or via e-mail.
Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 23, 2016, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Western Colorado Community College. The Kunzelmans will provide the snacks and Shirley Candelaria will provide the drinks for this meeting.
There being no further business to come before the meeting, President Jeff adjourned the meeting.
Dated: January 29, 2016
Angela K. Classen
Secretary
Thunder Mountain Camera Club