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may 2018

Volume 3, Number 5

Jeffry Booher, Editor In Chief

If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it—Jay Maisel

covfefe

Jeffry Booher

fair and balanced

The International Exhibition of Photography at the San Diego County Fair, The Photo Show, held their annual Tier One qualification round not too long ago and the results are not good.

There were about 100 more entries this year over last year, an increase of about 2%, but there were 100 fewer images making it into tier 2. That's a 7% decrease in the number of images which made it into the exhibition. The quality of images and the number of quality images is on the decline. The number of Darkroomers who made it into Tier Two is also down which leads me to postulate that the decrease in quality in direct correlation to the decline in membership.

Getting early and regular evaluation of the images you plan to exhibit is paramount to getting your images accepted into the Photo Show. If no one is looking at your images then you have no basis as to whether your photography is competition worthy. Too often I see members stop coming to meetings because they would rather be out shooting.

I get it. Photography is fun. Getting your work torn apart, not so much. Judging is subjective. An objective critique of your work is important but also, remember, you need to get as many eyes on your work giving you as much feedback as possible. One judge may love your work and give it praise while another judge is more critical and provides you with the tools to improve. Getting feedback from as many judges, qualified judges, as possible is fundamental to improving the quality of your work. You have many tools at your disposal but the first is entering your work into our regular monthly exhibitions.

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I asked Gene Wild and a few judges who I know were part of the selection squad to provide me with their impressions of the entries they received and the usual quotes about cropping and crooked horizons prevailed but there are a few new ones that I had yet to hear.

...[the judges] got excited when judging an image that was actually sharp

QUOTES

  • A new breed of over sharpening started appearing in images...
  • Way too much saturation...
  • I know there is a picture in there somewhere...

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food for thought...

A painter does not try to do everything on a canvas with the same brush

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program news

May is Architecture month and we have an On Location shoot that includes a stroll through Bankers Hill to photograph some of the great, West Coast, architecture from the late Victorian period.

On Saturday, May 12 we will meet in front of 435 Thorn Street, on the corner of Thorn St and Curlew, at 8:30 a.m. For those who prefer less walking, there are 14 homes noted by the Save Our Heritage Organization as historic and the bridge in just a one-square block area. For those willing to venture further, there are many more within a few blocks.

A few grand survivors represent some of the finest Victorian homes in California. They are the Timken (1888), Long-Waterman (1889) and the Britt-Scripps (1887), now a high-end bed and breakfast. Many middle class Victorians were also built and can still be found throughout the community, one such, is the Keating House (1887) now a bed and breakfast.

As it grew into the 20th century some of San Diego’s first families and community leaders chose to live in Bankers Hill. Because of this influx of wealth coinciding with a flourish of master architects working in San Diego at that time, today we have significant works by Irving Gill, William S. Hebbard, Frank Mead, Richard Requa, Emmor Brooke Weaver, Hazel Wood Waterman, the Quayle Brothers, William Templeton Johnson, and many lesser known, but talented builders. With its canyons and steep hillsides, architects found themselves with challenging sites; this was often solved with landscape design by horticulturalists such as the renowned Kate Sessions.

Tripods and wide angle to short zooms are suggested. Bring your walking shoes.

There is no signup required but we will be departing promptly at 8:30am. The walk is scheduled to conclude at 10am where we will retire to Extraordinary Desserts for coffee and a snack.

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inspector platt

Where Dreams Live by Michele McCain

The Photoshop Users Group meetings have moved. If you were a regular, or semi-regular, attendee at the Art Institute's monthly gathering of Photoshop enthusiasts then listen up. The meetings have moved to Platt College.

The monthly meeting times and dates have not changed but the group has pushed their first meeting a week forward to accommodate Stephen Burns' workshop in Yosemite. For those of you who plan on attending the May Meeting, the program will include a presentation by former Poly Photo award winning digital artist and Photoshop World Guru Award recipient, Michele McCain.

The next meeting is 1P, May 12th at Platt College. Contact Stephen Burns for more information.

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stacked and stuffed

Struther by Jeff Booher

Our annual Focus Stacking workshop was so much fun that we had to lock all the doors to keep the fun from escaping the building.

Special thanks to Darkroomer, Kim Tiffany, for providing flowers for the workshop. The club we be holding a Macro workshop in June which will not have a signup. The Macro workshop is a hands on experience and we will be shooting miniatures and flowers plus we will be exploring interesting lighting setups.

A fun filled day of Focus Stacking

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fair warning

The San Diego Fair Exhibition of Photography Tier Two submit is Tuesday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 16 from 12P – 7P.

Entries that advance to Tier Two judging must be printed, mounted and delivered ready to hang. Entrants must bring the same images submitted online, with entry tag attached to the back of each. Substitutions will not be accepted and changes cannot be made. Acceptance into Tier Two does not guarantee that the image will hang but most all accepted into Tier Two will end up in the exhibition.

Congratulations to Janie Anderson, Jeff Booher, Angie Crompton, Joan Everds, Joseph Mahon, Kelly McMakin, Mark Ogilvie, Mike Packard, Bill Rehm, Janice Roudebush, Osia Strasner and Richard VanGils who had images advance to Tier Two.

Including the twelve Darkroomers who advanced to Tier Two, 40 members of a SCACC organization had their photos accepted into the show

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The Exhibition of Photography at the San Diego County Fair will have their Artists Reception on May 31st at 6P at the usual location. If you were accepted into Tier Two then you will receive your invitation to the gala affair during print dropoff.

programming note

Our May 2nd Speaker is local San Diego Architecture Photographer, Anne Garrison. Anne has been photographing professionally since 1990--primarily photograph architectural projects which range in size from residential to large scale institutional.

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quarterly update

hat trick

Out of Place by Jeff Booher

This quarter is being cut short in order for folks to rejoice in our Independence from England but the theme, Something out of Place, is sure to be fun for the whole family. Unless your family includes a redheaded step child. This quarter comes up short with the competition being held at the June 6th meeting.

club news

mother may eye

May is Darkroomers turn in the building cleaning rotation schedule and this is going to be a Light Dusting. With the facilities out of order, the big hole in the wall from the new heating system, and the broken down computer system, it is really not worth the effort of taking everything out of the building and cleaning with a toothbrush and a cotton ball.

What will happen is an aspiration of all the old stuff in the building that needs to be discarded. The remaining items not sold at auction and the retired prints will all be donated to charity. The enlarger that has been hanging around since Watergate will also be chucked into the dustbin.

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notice

The focus of the last Darkroomers board meeting was a call for a reimplementation of the annual election of officers. The board feels that, in its current format, members feel intimidated or embarrassed to jump in and Run for Office. They don't feel like it is their place to challenge a sitting officer and we end up with officers who have to run the club longer than they want to.

The current implementation for elections may have worked back in the early days but, as of late, it has taken on the mantra of letting the current set of officers run the club and replace them as they resign or leave the club. This method of replacing officers creates a problem for us as it doesn't foster new, innovative leadership; it intercedes continuity of government and inhibits monarchial or complacent oversight.

Other clubs, such as Poly Photo, employ a Nominating Committee for fostering new leadership. They also bake in Term Limits. Both policies have been agreed upon by the current board for ratification.

In addition to election changes, the board is also recommending a change to the makeup of the Board of Directors. We currently hold board meetings at the behest of the Presiding officer and there are Nine seats on the Board of Directors. The board is recommending this be whittled down to just Five board seats (the four officers + the past previous President). Another implementation taken from Poly Photo.

The full complement of changes will be voted on at the June 18th meeting

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INTERCLUB UPDATE

Congratulations Osia

Interclub held their annual celebration of winning images and Osia was awarded the Nelson award for her photo, The Beat Goes On. Well done, Osia! We look forward to seeing that image do well in this year's Exhibition of Photography at the San Diego County Fair!

The Beat Goes On by Osia Strasner

Darkroomers won a total of zero awards this year at the season finale. Hopefully we do better next year. Congratulations to Robin Stern and Mike Wilson of Photonats, who took home the bacon--sweeping up First, Second and Third place.

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The next Interclub competition is May 15 and we are still looking for entries so please send your images to submissions@darkroomers.com. Images submitted for competition must have been accepted into a monthly exhibition but we are taking anything that has been accepted since you became a club member.

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jurisprudence

Jack Davis

Our judge for May is the world-famous, Best-Selling Author, Jack Davis. Jack is one of the world’s leading experts on Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as himself being an award-winning designer and photographer. Jack is coauthor of the bestselling guides to Adobe Photoshop.

For over 25 years Jack has been an internationally renowned spokesperson on digital imagery, and routinely teaches at conferences and workshops around the world. Davis was one of the first inductees into the Photoshop Hall of Fame for his lifetime contributions to the industry. Jack has an MA and MFA in Digital Imagery, and when he’s not in his studio in San Diego, he’s usually somewhere in Polynesia, camera and paint brush in hand, capturing the local color.

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Photos used in this newsletter are used with permission and may be subject to copy restrictions from the copyright holder. All rights reserved.

Darkroomers and the In Focus logo are trademarks of the Darkroomers Photographic Club

The InFocus Newsletter is a Publication of The Darkroomers Photographic Club

Jeffry Booher, Editor in Chief

Darkroomers Photographic Club

1780 Village Place

Balboa Park

San Diego, California • 92101 • USA

Copyright MMXVIII Darkroomers Photographic Club. All rights reserved.

Jeffry Booher, President • Joan Everds, Vice President • Terri Thompson, Treasurer • Ruth Foelber, Secretary

news@darkroomers.com

Credits:

Jeff Booher, Michele McCain, Michael Fairbanks, Osia Strasner, Janie Anderson

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