Category: Inspiration

Freeman Keats on Project Photography

The featured presenter at our January 3rd meeting will be Freeman Keats speaking on “Project Photography”.

Freeman Keats is a photographer living in Carp, Ontario, Canada.

Freeman has studied at Algonquin College, graduated from the New York Institute of Photography, and has participated in the Master Class offerings at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa.

Freeman did teach photography classes through the City Of Ottawa and his work has appeared in several local newspapers and magazines.

Freeman is a member of Studio Zone V –  a group of seven retired former executives who have now recreated themselves as fine art photographers.

His work has been exhibited at the Ottawa International Airport, The Balderson Gallery,  a number of Canada’s Embassies,  as well as several business establishments in the Ottawa area.

Freeman’s photographs have been shown in a solo exhibition at Trinity Gallery, Shenkman Centre, Ottawa, and also in Studio Zone V group exhibits at Spiral Gallery, Centrepointe Gallery,  Atrium Gallery, and Exposure Gallery, in Ottawa and as part of Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival in Toronto in May, 2017 and 2018.

His work has been purchased by the City Of Ottawa, and these have been exhibited in a number of group exhibitions at the Karsh-Masson Gallery in Ottawa’s City Hall.

Freeman is also an active member of  the West Carleton Arts Society and regularly participates in the group’s exhibitions as well as curating the artwork for one of its exhibition locations.

To see some of his work, check out his website, his instagram page or his almay page.

You can contact Freeman at:

  • freeman@freemankeatsphotography
  • 613-266-6416

Henry Fernando on Contemplative Photography

The featured presenter at our December 6th meeting will be Henry Fernando speaking on “Contemplative Photography”.

From Henry’s website:

Henry Fernando is a photographer based in Ottawa, Canada. His two great passions in life are travel and photography. He believes that travel helps him discover a lot about himself. It provides him with a whole new perspective and understanding of this phenomenal world that we live in. Travel provides him not only with a sense of adventure, but it also opens doors to culture that do not revolve around fast food and social media.

Though originally trained in Biochemistry and later as an IT manager, he was always interested in photography. He experienced a renewed enthusiasm and appreciation for photography after taking a workshop in Contemplative Photography. The workshop opened his eyes to the rich and vivid colour and texture of the world around us.

Henry is trained in Contemplative Photography and studied Zen, Miksang, and Tao contemplative photography.

For more on Henry be sure to check out his website, his facebook page, and his latest eBook You Are Here: A Mindfulness Guide to Travel and Photography.

Added December 6

After Henry’s excellent presentation, he offered us free access to his eBook “Vision 365” available here.

“On Creativity” by Manfred Mueller

The featured speaker at our meeting on November 1st will be club member Manfred Mueller. His presentation will be on creativity.

Manfred Mueller

Manfred is an award-winning Kanata based photographer.  In addition to being a member of the KSCCC executive, he is currently the Chair of the RA Photo Club. He teaches at various Ottawa photo clubs and has been a guest speaker at Ottawa’s La Cité Community College photography program for the past few years. 

He has studied photography at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Algonquin College and the School of Photographic Arts – Ottawa (SPAO). He is a member of Canadian Association for Photographic Art (CAPA) and the Photographic Society of America (PSA).  His work has been published in Canadian Geographic and the Ottawa Business Journal.  Manfred is a photographic judge and has recently completed his national level CAPA certification requirements. 

As an avid travel photographer and has visited almost 60 different countries, often in very remote or challenging locations.  When he is not on the road, he shoots local landscapes, urban scenes and people.  He works in the photo studio and uses studio lighting during on-location shoots.

Manfred is a retired professional engineer who spent several decades leading design teams in Canada and abroad.  While most people will not see the work that engineers, architects and industrial designers as art, creativity is a critical factor in ensuring their projects are successful.  In his talk will demonstrate how a workflow that is commonly used by design professionals translates into successful photographic projects.  A project can be as simple as a KSCCC Monthly Challenge to planning and executing a shoot in challenging and exotic locations around the world.

Manfred Mueller celebrating Holi

2019/2020 Exhibitions at SPAO

Exhibitions this season at SPAO (School of the Photographic Arts Ottawa) include:

  • Until September 19
    • Fragments: Group show by SPAO graduates
    • Exposure Gallery, 1255 Wellington Street W.
    • N.B. This is not at SPAO
  • Until September 21
    • Alma Haser
    • Cosmic Surgery
  • September 27-October 26
    • Artist Residency 2019 Exhibition
  • November 1-December 14
    • Open House and 2019 Lineage Exhibition
    • O Human Child, Vera Saltzman
  • January 10-March 7
    • Nadia Myre
  • March 13-April 11
    • A+ 2020
    • Annual Celebration of SPAO’s Part Time Community
  • April 24-May 3
    • Exhibition No. 15
    • Works by diploma students

SPAO is located at 77 Pamilla St (between Rochester St and Preston St a few blocks south of the Queensway).

Photography Shows

These three photography exhibitions may be of interest to club members:

Michelle Faber

Orchid Show

This is a reminder that the Ottawa Orchid Society annual show is coming up on April 27th and 28th. They allow the use of tripods Sunday morning from 9:00-11:00.

This is a great opportunity to shoot some amazing flowers.

For more details, check out their website.

Danielle Barabé-Bussières

The featured speaker at our meeting on April 5th will be Danielle Barabé-Bussières

Click on the above to enlarge

Danielle Barabé-Bussières learns photography every day by watching tutorials, researching photography projects and gets some of her inspiration from great photographers. Danielle likes to explore nature, flowers, wildlife and is very passionate about macro photography.
In the recent years, her images have earned several awards in Provincial and National competitions with the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC). Recently, Danielle has participated in the National Image competition and is a “finalist” for the prestigious title of Photographic artist of the year with the PPOC. She is very devoted to photography and she worked hard to achieve a professional level.   She is also very involved with artists’ associations and takes every opportunity offered to her to display her art in the Ottawa area and surroundings. 

<added 2019-04-05>

To learn more about Danielle and to see more of her beautiful images, visit her website. To see the slides she showed describing her equipment, settings, software, tips, and contact information, click here.

Creativity

In a recent discussion about creativity, club member Sue Carey said:

It is not only, or always, the most exotic trip, or the most Photoshopped photo that has the greatest impact. One does not have to risk life and limb in the winter, or go on exotic trips, to ‘get the shot’. It may encourage all members to look and play with their camera, within a meter of where they are.

Sue recommended this exercise from Freeman Patterson to stimulate creativity:

The best place in the world to SEE is wherever you are.


Time and again I’ve had somebody ask me the question “Where’s a good place to make pictures?” The translation is: “Where can I photograph my preconceptions?” Answering this question is one of the best ways I know to stand still creatively. It’s rather like taking a bus tour to Washington, D.C. to see the cherry blossoms without ever having noticed the beauty of the wild flowers (weeds) in your back yard.


Long ago I came to realize that a good, simple exercise for improving a person’s ability to see is to ask a friend to pick a number, let’s say between 20 and 50 (perhaps 36) and a direction “left,” “right,” or “straight ahead,” then to take 36 steps in the given direction and stop. Using your camera or your smartphone make a minimum of 30 thoughtful compositions in that place (staying within a circle no wider than a metre.) Beginning is easy, as you’ll photograph things you always notice in ways you always see them. However, if you feel like tearing out your hair after struggling to “see” more than 15 or 18 good pictures, you can be almost certain that persisting will reward you with a visual breakthrough.


You have to get on the other side of your normal ways of seeing, to challenge your perfectly natural need to label everything in order to see what’s there, to see in ways you’ve never seen before.


The challenge is often hard, but the achievement is always exhilarating. Give this exercise a serious try at least once a month – especially right around home where everything is so familiar you don’t see it. This is a great exercise, not just for photographers, but for everybody who wants to be more observant.


I made the photograph on page one and the three that follow at spots I move through so often that, every now and then, I make a conscious effort to observe them carefully in order to “see” what normally doesn’t register at all.

Freeman Patterson

Thanks to Freeman Patterson for permission to use the above quote from his IMAGES, IDEAS, and REFLECTIONS Periodical Letter #6 March 2019. For more ideas and images from him, check out his website.

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A “Sneak Peek”

Until March 17, the West Carleton Arts Society has taken over the Kanata Civic Art Gallery for their Spring Fling group exhibition and sale. The gallery is just down the hall from where we hold our camera club meetings and the show is well worth seeing.

When you check out the show, be sure not to miss the three beautiful photographs by Danielle Barabé-Bussières who will be the featured speaker at our April meeting.