The Dubuque Camera Club meeting on April Fool’s Day was attended by 17 people. No jokes were played. Instead, we enjoyed some compelling discussion, planned a few upcoming club activities, and looked at a bunch of interesting photos.
Much discussion happened regarding how to obtain prints for the club’s Reflections exhibit this fall, our 7th annual exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art. Click here to read about Reflections guidelines.
March winners
During the meeting, we looked at returns from last month’s N4C competition, as well as submissions to the April competition. The following club members were recognized during the N4C competition in March 2019:
- Jaime Gordo-Perez — merit award
- Cory Huntington — merit award, honorable mention
- Ken Kiss — merit award, honorable mention
- Kevin McTague — merit award, honorable mention
- Becky Mather — 3rd place in Digital Travel
Protecting your photos. During tonight’s meeting, General Bob handed out notices that were created by PPA to help photographers protect their intellectual property. Here is a link to a helpful Copyright FAQ on the PPA website. Because the federal government charges a fee to register individual images for copyright, the expense of copyrighting multiple photos quickly becomes an obstacle. PPA is trying to change policy and be an advocate for photographers. Here’s the copyright section of their website. [Note that some parts are accessible only to PPA members. See below for related information from Petapixel.]
Art opportunity. Ron showed some photos of the Radio Building that was recently purchased by art museum supporters, and talked about the Flash Happening art event that will be held inside the building during this year’s Dubuquefest (May 17-19, 2019). Artists are currently being lined up to create temporary installations. Afterwards, the building will be demolished. Contact Ron for more details.
Panorama competition. If you want to enter the N4C panorama print competition, you can bring your print to the next club meeting on Monday, April 15. They should be mounted on foam board (?). There are no size or subject limits. Aspect ratio must be greater than 2:1. Ron will make sure the prints reach the Wesley Woods min-con on May 3-5. (See the March 18 meeting notes for more info about this competition).
Brainstorming club activities. The club held a short brainstorming session to discuss next season’s activities. We definitely want to host more speakers/presentations. Those we had this year were interesting and worthwhile. A few names of potential future speakers were brought up. Club members were also enthusiastic about hosting photo shoots during the summer. We could have a night shoot (Milky Way, etc.). Potential locations were brought up. It could be a learning session for people who are not familiar with this type of photography. Probably, someone in the club would need to step up as organizer. Stay tuned for more details.
Photo Critique Night on May 20. The club decided that the second meeting in May will be a photo critique night. Members can submit 1-3 images and receive constructive feedback from others. It’s OK for these photos to be potential Reflections submissions. Photoshopped images are OK too, or anything else you might want feedback on.
General Bob offered to share helpful information about giving critiques. He is taking photography classes and has photo critique guidelines to share. Ken volunteered to put the photos in the club’s Smugmug gallery. Email images to him before the meeting, and make it clear that they are for Critique Night. More details will be discussed at the next couple of meetings, and a reminder will be emailed to members.
Next season’s judging dates
During the 2019-2020 N4C season, our club will judge the monthly competition three times. Judging will happen during our second meeting of the month (i.e. on the 3rd Monday). Submissions are due by or before the first meeting of the month (i.e. the 1st Monday).
| Monthly Meeting | Agenda |
| 1st Monday | Submissions due/Submissions & Returns |
| 3rd Monday | Judging/Workshop/Presentation |
Remember, on the months that we judge a category, our club cannot submit competition photos to that particular category. The following month, the club can submit double photos to that category. (Double means up to 16 photos in that category. The club usually submits 8 photos per category. Only one entry per photographer is allowed per category.)
Because May is the final competition of the N4C season, when we judge in May, double submissions are accepted the previous month, in April. (The N4C season runs from Sept. to May, so there are no entries in June.) Confused? Me too. You may want to look at the N4C rules.
| Judging Date | Category | Can’t Submit | Submit Double (16 per club) |
| September 16, 2019 | Nature (DN) | No DN in Sept. | Double in Oct. |
| February 17, 2020 | Pictorial (DP) | No DP in Feb. | Double in Jan. |
| May 18, 2020 | Travel (DT) | No DT in May | Double in April |
Our club will judge Digital Travel at the meeting on Monday, April 15th @ 6:30 p.m.