The October 3, 2016 meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club was attended by 22 people. The email list has been updated, so if you’re not getting these minutes and other information by email, please contact Pamela or Jennifer, or speak up during a meeting.

Review of 2016 N4C Convention

Club president Ronald Tigges gave a review of the national N4C convention, held last weekend in Fargo, North Dakota. He shared a couple of lovely photos taken there or on the way. A few of the interesting seminars:

• Owl presentation by naturalist, wildlife photographer and writer Stan Tekiela
• Wet Plate Studio led by Shane Balkowitsch
• Photoshop manipulation seminar led by Dan Francis of Fargo
• Hike through Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area

The Dubuque Camera Club had 18 photos advance to the final competition by earning 1st, 2nd, 3rd or Honorable Mention in the monthly competitions. Sadly, this year we did not have any winners selected. Here’s a gallery of the “Best of N4C.”

During the 2015-2016 season, 6,361 images were judged, which is down about 4% from the prior season due to 230 fewer prints entered. Of those entries, 79% were digital, 19% prints, and 2% film slides. Our club  competes only in Digital.

Springbrook Mini-convention:  In the spring, April 28-30, 2017, the N4C will hold a weekend mini-convention at Springbrook State Park, near Guthrie Center, Iowa (located about 4 hours from Dubuque, northwest of Des Moines). Become better acquainted with other photographers from the N4C region in a beautiful natural setting on the Raccoon River. Find more info on the N4C meetings page.

Next fall, the 2017 N4C Convention will be held in Rapid City, South Dakota, September 21-24, 2017.

Changes are coming

Two important changes are coming to the monthly N4C competition. Please be aware that these changes will not start right away, so keep submitting according to the current rules until you hear otherwise.

1. Long edge will increase to 1920 pixels. Currently, the longest side of submitted photos must be no more than 1024 pixels, with a file size of no more than 500KB. At the annual conference, they voted to increase the long dimension to 1920 pixels.
   “It makes it easier to view the details on the screen,” said Ron. He suggested that 1920×1080 is a good dimensions for next year, or whenever we hear that the new rule is implemented. In the meantime, continue to use 1024px as your longest edge.
2. The Digital Creative (DC) category will get a new name: Digital Altered Reality (DA). This reflects the increasing use of Photoshop manipulation in N4C submissions. Remember that another tool for image manipulation  besides Photoshop is the Google Nik Collection, which is now free.

September Returns

Next, we went over the returns from last month’s competition. The photographer of the evening was definitely Jose Garcia, who earned three Honorable Mention awards:

• “Mermaid’s Port” by Jose Garcia — Honorable mention, Digital Creative
• “Milkyway” by Jose Garcia — Honorable mention, Pictorial
• “Palace” by Jose Garcia — Honorable mention, Black and White

Club president Ron Tigges also earned an Honorable Mention in the Digital Travel category with his photo of “Thai Temple, Olbrich Gardens, Madison, Wisconsin.”

These photographers earned Merit awards in the September competition:  Lori Burrows, Ken Kiss, Dave Smethers, Gary Fagan (2), Jose Garcia, Ron Tigges, Kevin McTeague.

October Submissions

We also viewed the submissions for the October competition. We will be judging Digital Creative on November 21, which means we cannot enter that category in November.

The next submissions are due by Nov. 6. “I would like them by midnight on Sunday before the meeting,” said Cara.

Other News 

The Dubuque Museum of Art wants us back for another exhibit in 2017. The subject may be human portraits. More information will go out later.

Everything Photo Store will sponsor a City Walk Workshop for all skill levels on October 15 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. The presenter is Mike Pazandak from Tamron USA. Cost: $30.  More info here.

Next meeting: Monday, October 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Agenda:  Presentation by Jennifer Tigges  about video production basics with a DSLR camera. Bring your equipment if you have questions or would like to share.