Contributed by Pamela Brandt

The March 7 meeting was attended by 22 club members and guests.

Dubuque Museum of Art exhibit: Dubuque Architecture From a New Perspective

Jennifer Tigges met with the curator of the Dubuque Museum of Art to develop guidelines for this year’s show. This will be the Dubuque Camera Club’s fourth consecutive year to exhibit. The theme is “Dubuque Architecture From a New Perspective.”

“It’s architecture, but they don’t want to see a straight-on shot of a building,” Jennifer said. “Maybe it’s an archway, or a doorway.” She handed out printed guidelines during the meeting and posted a few sample images on Facebook that may be used for ideas.

Dubuque Camera Club meeting, March 7, 2016 | Photo by Bob Felderman

N4C contest returns and submissions

Most of the meeting was focused on going over returns and submissions for the N4C photo contest. Comments are now optional, which will save time when we judge, although it is nice to get some feedback from others.

Our club has been doing extremely well in the monthly contests. Those awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Honorable Mention are eligible for the annual Council competition at the end of the year (the club year runs from September through May).

The Dubuque Camera Club currently has 45 members, which Ron pointed out is near the historic high membership level. This club has been in existence since the 1940s. It’s a big advantage to be able to use E.B. Lyons Interpretive Center at the Mines of Spain for meetings, and a portion of our dues supports this venue. Previously, the club met in members’ homes or in a bank.

N4C rules limit the club to 8 submissions per contest category on non-judging months (16 submissions on an alternate month when a category is judged). Which means that – if more than 8 entries are submitted in a category – we need to develop a process to narrow them down.

DeWayne pointed out that more participation means we have a thriving club. “I want to take a minute to thank everybody for submitting and creating the problem we now have,” he said.

Lois Pancratz said that real-world photography is juried, so it makes sense to evaluate the photos before we send them to the contest.

Ron said he wanted to emphasize that winnowing down images can be a way for the more experienced photographers to mentor those who are still learning. “The club can pick what we think is best,”  he said. This is an opportunity to share constructive information with new members.

By a consensus of those present, it was decided that photos submitted to previous months’ contests will be removed so that new photos can compete.

Because we will be judging the Pictorial category on April 18 and the Travel category on May 16, we can enter double, or 16 photos, for both  Pictorial and Travel in April. (Zero entries for any category the month we judge it.) Email your submissions to Cara before the April 4 meeting.

Be sure to follow the instructions that are listed in the club folder or “book.” If you don’t have it yet, paying members can pick up a book from DeWayne Beecher during a meeting. The information contained is very helpful when it comes to re-sizing or naming photos, or selecting a contest category.

Upcoming meetings

Drones are a hot topic in the news, and can be controversial. We plan to cover them in an upcoming meeting or seminar. A presentation by a drone videographer is tentatively scheduled for an upcoming meeting. Details forthcoming.

Next meeting: Monday, March 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Other news

Several club members attended Ty Smedes’ presentation at Swiss Valley. He was also recently in Clinton, Iowa. Because we live in a major migration flyway, bird and eagle photography is very pertinent here.

Club member Ken Kiss won first place in the Dubuque County Conservation Board Moments in Nature photo contest. His winning photo of a juvenile Great Horned Owl appears on the cover of the March 2016 issue of Julien’s Journal.

Some members submitted to the farming-themed photo contest sponsored by the Dubuque Telegraph Herald. Selected photos will appear inFarming Today, to come out with the newspaper on Saturday, March 26.

The Julien Dubuque Film Festival will be held on April 21-24. This festival is highly recommended if you enjoy videography.

On Saturday, April 23, the Linn Area Photography Club in Cedar Rapids is hosting “Spend a day with Moose Peterson, wildlife photographer and Nikon Ambassador.” Cost is $25. To learn more or to register, visit linnareaphotoclub.org.

Contributed by Pamela Brandt

At the February 15 meeting, Dewayne Beecher showed off the new informative booklet that is available to all Dubuque Camera Club members. It contains club member contact info, photography terminology, and N4C info. It also walks you step-by-step through the monthly contest submission process, from choosing a category to resizing and naming your photo.

“If you like the shot, enter it,” said Dewayne.  “We need more entries.” Even though we have over 40 paying club members, sometimes we do not submit the maximum number of entries per category. The club can submit 8 photos in every category (16 when we have judged a category).

Photo by Mike Burley. (c) 2016. All rights reserved.

Guest speaker Mike Burley

We enjoyed an excellent and informative presentation from professional photojournalist Mike Burley from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.

He earned a B.A. in Visual Journalism and has  worked as a professional photographer since 2003. Before coming to Dubuque, he served as an assistant to a Sports Illustrated photographer, and also worked for news media in Topeka, Honolulu, and Chicago.

Burley shared a slide show of his photos, talking about technique and story behind each image. He also talked about the job of being a photojournalist, how he gets his photos, and his workflow. “My forte is probably portraiture,” he said. Because altering photos is unethical in the news world, he does very limited post-processing. This includes using levels, dodging and burning, and cropping. Photoshop “actions” speed up his photo editing.

He said that patience is one of the necessary qualities for a photojournalist, since most shots are “found moments,” not posed. His goal is “trying to spend the most time at the assignment that you think will yield the best pictures.”  

Thank you, Mike Burley, for a compelling presentation!

Upcoming events:

We’ve been invited back to exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art this summer. Jennifer will have an update at the March meetings.

During the May 16 meeting, we will be judging the Travel category. This means that in April the club will be able to submit double, or 16 photos in Travel. Remember, Black and White can be entered every month. See the N4C competition rules for details.

Contributed by Jennifer Tigges

On a cold January night we were pleasantly surprised that 19 club members were in attendance.

Bald Eagle Watch review. The eagle watch had a good crowd. Special thanks to Kevin McTague, DeWayne Beecher, Ron and Jennifer Tigges and Adam Ploessl for helping with cameras, spotting scopes and educating the public about our club.

Dubuque Camera Club table at the 2016 Dubuque Bald Eagle Watch

Library pickup. For those who were part of the Carnegie-Stout Public Library Holiday Exhibition, please pick up your work January 26th after 4:00 or the following day.

There were some discussion about possible themes for the Dubuque Museum of Art. Bring your ideas to the next meeting.

Discussion of possibly setting up a shoot at the new local indoor skateboard park, Olliewood Action Sports.

We reviewed the November 2015 returns and the January submissions with some discussion of how the images were created.

Coming up:

February 1. Regular meeting, submissions due, returns, discuss options/theme for Dubuque Museum of Art Exhibition and go over how to create a sepia or black and white image.

February 15 meeting. Mike Burley from the Telegraph Herald will be our guest speaker.

Continuing Education Possibilities:

Rick Sammon Photograpy Seminars, Peoria, Illinois. More information.

2016 Winter Education Event, hosted by the Quad Cities Photography Club. Featuring Bob Davis, Ty Smedes, and Stan Bousson. February 6, Davenport, Iowa. More information here.

Wildlife photography workshop with Moose Peterson. Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. till around 5:00 p.m.(previously Canon Explorers of light series). Moose uses a Nikon camera. More information here.

Contributed by Jennifer Tigges

President’s report

Dubuque Museum of Art wants us for 2016. Need theme and coordinator for exhibit. Let us know if you have any ideas for this.

Holiday Library Show. Continues through January 26th, 2016. Those in show will be contacted about when to pick up photos. Previous Library Show Sales: checks should have been received by now.

January Submissions

We went through January submissions, and discussion was about Intervelometer and StarStaX free software.

Member Folder

DeWayne showed the latest version of the member competition guide and folder that will be given to each club member. Eleanor has been working on this, and it is almost finished. Distribution will be at one of the next meetings. Thanks for all your hard work on this, Ellie!

Upcoming schedule

January 16. Bald Eagle Watch, Grand River Center 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please let us know if you can work a shift that day (9-noon or noon-4:00). Duties include sitting at a table and discussing photography with attendees casually. Bring your own work of eagles or other animals to display. More information about the Dubuque Bald Eagle Watch.

January 18 meeting. We will go over submissions and returns at the beginning of the meeting because they were not available at the Jan. 4 meeting. This meeting will also be a question and answer night with a focus on either Photoshop or Lightroom. Bring a photo or digital file, your camera, or any questions (or let us know in advance).

February 15. Mike Burley will be guest speaker.

March 15. We will be judging travel. No Travel submissions this month.

April or May Meeting. Tentative guest speaker on drone or quadcopter photography.