Category: News

Monthly Challenges for the 2020/21 Season

The Monthly Challenges for 2020/21 are posted here. Your Monthly Challenge for the summer is Photograph that Song and photos for this challenge must be submitted by August 28th.

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Because of the current and potentially on-going restrictions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, it may be difficult for KSCCC members to take photographs within our usual six-month assignment timeline. In those cases where you are unable take photos in public spaces, you may submit previously-taken photos.

The only requirements are that your submitted photos are in line with the monthly assignment, and you perform some form of post-processing on your photos in that particular month.

Special thank you to Ron Pierce and other members of the executive for putting these challenges together.

Have a safe summer and we hope to be able to meet again in September.

Monthly Challenge for June

PaTtErNs Trees by Thomas Illing

The Camera Club will not be meeting in the month of June, however, members can still submit pictures for the June Monthly Challenge – Patterns – The primary aim of pattern photography is repetition.  The repetition of lines, shapes, colours, or values can result in unique photographs. Try capturing images where pattern is the main subject of the image or where pattern is used to enhance the main subject.

COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Because of the current and potentially on-going restrictions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, it may be difficult for KSCCC members to take photographs within our usual six-month assignment timeline. In those cases where you are unable take photos in public spaces, you may submit previously taken photos. The only requirements are that your photos are in line with the monthly assignment, and you perform some form of post-processing on your photos during the month of May.

Your images for the June Challenge must be emailed by noon on Friday, May 29th to be included in the slideshow. For details on how to submit photos, including formats and titles, go to our Pictures/How to Submit page.

Your Executive has been working hard creating a program for member meetings for FY 2020/21. A list of Monthly Assignments for next fiscal year will be posted shortly.

Enjoy a Socially Distant Forest Walk

Tree Fern by Ann Williams

Last week I saw a fellow near my entrance way, photographing from the verge of the road. I invited him into my property and he spent a hour wandering about on his own. It got me thinking I could offer an open invitation to all camera club members who would like a walk in the woods. I live 6 km beyond the village of Carp.  I will re-mark some of the trails in the next day or so, but if you are uneasy about going into the woods there are open spaces to photograph. At the moment there are few biting insects, but there are tics, so dress appropriately. Phone (613 839 2747) or email (careysj@hotmail.com) if you would like to come and I will send you directions. I am home.

<Added Later>

With regards to the forest walk invitation, I do not want to dash hopes about a walk in the woods, but exploring the trails myself this afternoon, I discovered it is not a stroll or a walk, but rather a scramble. The once trail is now blocked by fallen large trees and it may be a challenge, in some areas, to locate the old trail. It would be an outing for the most venturesome or intrepid adventurer.

Sue Carey

Don’t Visit the Tulips

Tulips by Amy Lo

During the Covid-19 Pandemic you should follow all public health directives and avoid all non-essential travel.  To reduce the spread of Covid-19 we are being encouraged to walk through parks only in our neighbourhood and are being discouraged from stopping along the way to take pictures, including tulips which will be in full bloom shortly.

Please review the following posts from CBC and NCC:

No tiptoeing through the tulips this year as festival goes online

Tulips in the Capital

Monthly Challenge for May

City Light by Amy Lo

With the closure of the Kanata Seniors’ Centre, members of the Camera Club can still submit pictures for the May Monthly Challenge – Night/After Dark. These pictures will be added to our website thanks to Bill Robertson and Catherine Easton.

Your images for the challenge must be emailed by noon on Friday, April 24th to be included in the slideshow. For details on how to submit photos, including formats and titles, go to our Pictures/How to Submit page.

We hope you stay safe and healthy during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

KSC Closure Extended

On Monday April 6th, the City announced that facilities including the Kanata Seniors Centre would not re-open before June 30th. This means that our meetings scheduled for May and June are cancelled.

In spite of the fact that we can’t meet face to face, we can still share our creativity. Our monthly photo challenges for April and May and the corresponding submission deadlines remain in place. Like our March challenge, your results will be posted here on the corresponding meeting dates.

Your executive is busy planning our 2020/2021 season (our 12th). Stay tuned for new monthly photo challenges.

Free Photo Course From Mike Browne

Mike Browne, whose YouTube videos have been featured often at past club meetings, has announced this:

This free twelve week programme of teaching, exercises and competitions will help you appreciate your home environment in a way you would never have believed possible, finding beauty in every angle and shadow.

No one wants Lockdown, but it’s a great opportunity to practise new ways of seeing and photo techniques, whilst keeping yourself and others safe whilst growing your skills and having the opportunity to win free access to my online courses.

I’ll post a free video tutorial every Sunday at 19.00 pm (UK Time) that also sets a challenge for you to enter an image in our weekly Photography Locked Down competition on Facebook.

Winners and runners will be announced ‘Live’ on Youtube the following Sunday by myself – and some superstar guests I promise you won’t want to miss. You’ll get the next free tutorial and photo challenge immediately afterwards.  

This is an amazing opportunity to grow your skills, win free access to online training and keep your mind out of mischief – you literally give it your best shot.

Thanks to Phil Tughan for sharing this tip.

Learn Photoshop Elements

During this period of social isolation due to the COVID-19 virus, why not learn to use Photoshop Elements? You can download a fully functional 30 day trial copy of the latest version of Photoshop Elements here using your Google, Facebook or Apple sign-in or by creating a free Adobe account.

Once you have Photoshop Elements downloaded and installed, take advantage of the free tutorials from Adobe, the many useful YouTube tutorials, and the free instruction on Lynda.com available through the Ottawa Public Library (as described in this earlier blog post).

Until the Centre re-opens, if you need help with any of this and if you are running Windows 10, I’ll be glad to schedule one-on-one remote tutorial sessions. Send an email to contact@ksccc.ca to arrange a time.

As always, if you have questions about photography, send them to contact@ksccc.ca and we’ll try and find you an answer.

Bill Robertson

Manfred Mueller at SPAO

Dancers by Manfred Mueller

Unfortunate timing, but the A+ Exhibition, at the SPAO Gallery (77 Pamilla St, in Little Italy) opened on Saturday March 14 and runs until April 9th. The gallery is normally open from noon until 5:00 PM, Monday through Saturday.

Two of my images are part of this curated exhibition; one print and one digital image. Three highly qualified external curators selected the images that are on display.

Holi Boy by Manfred Mueller

The image of the dancers is one of the prints hanging on the wall and the portrait of the boy is shown on the 75″ screen. This is my first venture into the world of modern fine art photography, so I was pleasantly surprised when these two works were selected.

Manfred Mueller