Seventeen people attended the virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on Monday, January 4th, 2021. This was the first virtual meeting of the New Year.

Kudos. Before the official business started, club member Casey Klein shared that she had another photo selected to appear in Illinois Country Living magazine. Good job, Casey!

Submissions. At tonight’s virtual meeting, the club looked at the January submissions to the N4C contest. The photographers who were present said a few words about their images. It’s always a highlight of club meetings to be able to share with and learn from other photographers.

Open spots. Typically, our club can send in 8 total images in each category. At the time of the meeting, two categories still had open spots. Remember, if a category isn’t full, it’s first-come-first-served. Email your submission to the appropriate club rep as soon as you can after the meeting.

Dimensions. The ideal size for an N4C submission is 1920px wide by 1080 tall, and just under 750KB. You can opt for vertical orientation, but be aware that the viewing monitors of the judging clubs will likely be widescreen.

DP Judging. In February, our club will do virtual judging of the Digital Pictorial category. For that reason, we cannot enter DP in February. The following month, we’ll get double DP submissions. See the winners’ galleries on the N4C website for photos rated highly in the DP category.

Adobe & others. Before the meeting closed, there was some discussion about Adobe products, upgrades, and plugin blips. The question of alternatives to Lightroom and Photoshop was also raised. If you have thoughts or questions on these topics, club meetings are a good time to discuss.

Creative Stuff Critique at the next meeting!

Send in up to three manipulated images for a Creative Stuff Critique at the next virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club. The meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, January 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.

Please share composites or Photoshopped images that would be suitable for the Digitally Altered Reality competition. Get feedback and tips from other club members. You may also share presets, techniques, tutorials, or other image editing advice.

Club members: Send your images to Ron, Cara, or Ken before the meeting. Watch your email for a reminder!

The Dubuque Camera Club held a virtual meeting and holiday gathering via Zoom on December 7th, 2020. Nineteen people attended. Thanks to everyone who wore a holiday outfit or displayed a wintry virtual background.

N4C news. The N4C has opted to discontinue the print competition through the end of the current season. Due to the pandemic, judging clubs can’t gather to look at prints. Some clubs have also experienced winter weather-related mail issues.

Although our club does not participate in the monthly print competition, this decision will impact the points given out to N4C clubs. It will result in the digital competition — which we do compete in — being given more weight. As Ron said, “Everybody make sure that you submit your best stuff, and that will help with the total points of the club.”

The N4C has also cancelled the panorama print competition that usually takes place at the spring mini-con because that event is postponed. Plans are still underway to hold the 2021 fall convention in Duluth. See the meetings page on the N4C website to learn more.

Competition Results. During the meeting, the club looked at the results of the previous monthly N4C competition. Congratulations to the following photographers:

• Ronald Tigges, second place, digital pictorial
• Ronald Tigges, merit award, digital journalism
• Ronald Tigges, honorable mention, digital altered reality
• Ronald Tigges, merit award, digital nature
  
• Karen Durrant, merit award, digital travel
• Karen Durrant, merit award, digital pictorial
  
• Kevin McTague, merit award, digital pictorial
• Kevin McTague, merit award, digital nature
• Kevin McTague, honorable mention, digital black and white
  
• Stephonie Schmitz, honorable mention, digital nature
• Stephonie Schmitz, merit award, digital black and white

Holiday games. Jennifer and Stephonie came up with some virtual holiday games to play during the meeting. Ron served as emcee. Prize winners:

• Andreas Exner won a winter farmer’s market gift certificate for correctly answering photography trivia questions.
• Laurie Helling won a camera bag (donated by Stephonie) for correctly identifying the most holiday tunes.
• Jim Durrant also won a farmer’s market gift certificate for trivia answers.

Other factoids and virtual meeting stuff:

• Our club earned 78 total points for the 2019/20 N4C season.
• The E.B. Lyons center will be closed to the public until at least July 1st, 2021, so the club cannot use it as a meeting venue.
• ISO does not mean “Icy Santa Overture.”
• Stephonie’s husband is named after a famous photographer, Edward S. Curtis.
• Ellie was not at the meeting, but rumor is, she has been a club member longer than Santa.
• Santa was at the meeting.

Next club meeting

The next Dubuque Camera Club virtual meeting will be held on Monday, January 4th, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.

Club members: Send in your N4C submissions before the next meeting. See the competition page for any questions. Watch your email for Zoom meeting details.