Monthly Challenges 2024/25

The list of our Monthly Challenge topics follows:

June /July/August – What I did last summer, Happiness is . . .

For the meeting on September 6th – Submit by August 30th

  • Back to School days – what did you do for the summer.

September – Geometric Shapes

For the meeting on October 4th – Submit by September 27th

  • Shapes including circles, squares, triangles, etc.

October – Transformations

For the meeting on November 1st – Submit by October 25th

  • A transformation could be a dramatic change in form, appearance or life outcome.
  • Examples could include changes from solid to liquid, evaporation, condensation …
  • It could also more broadly include events such as technological changes, energy transformations, degradation or remediation of natural environments, life/death, baby’s first steps …

November – -Transportation

For the meeting on December 6th – Submit by November 29th

  • Things with wheels, (cars, trains, planes, roller skates, skateboards), sneakers, and sandals – anything that can move things or people.

December – Signs and Symbols

For the meeting on January 10th – Submit by January 3rd

  • Traffic signs, parking signs, things that mean something or tell you where to go, what to do, and how to get there.
    • When we look at signs, we sometimes see things or interpret things that have symbolic meaning. Try to create images that challenge the viewer to look beyond the obvious.

January – Noise

For the meeting on February 7 – Submit by January 31st

  • Images don’t emit sound but can show reactions to it! Your image can portray noise, an unpleasant or loud sound, by showing a subject that emits it or expresses the effect that something noisy can have on humans, animals, or even inanimate objects.
  • Or you can submit an image that makes effective use of “camera noise”. Your choice

February – Icicle or Water Droplets

For the meeting on March 7th – Submit by February 28th

  • The frozen wonders of icicles or the glistening allure of water droplets, immersing yourself in the essence of winter’s delicate transformations.

March – Earth Day

For the meeting on April 4th – Submit by March 28th

  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly things that help or hurt our planet.

April – Gardens – All Seasons

For the meeting on May 2nd- Submit by April 25th

  • Gardens over the seasons.

May – Captioned Photos – Three Pictures

For the meeting on June 6th – Submit by May 30th

  • Take a photograph and “caption” it with a word balloon.
  • Three of your significant pictures of the last year
  • NOTE: Two separate challenges for the same month. Members may submit up to three images for each challenge.

June Monthly Meeting

St James Church by Jay-Dee Purdie

The next monthly meeting will be held on Friday, June 7th starting at 9:15 a.m.

Your images must be emailed to contact@ksccc.ca by noon on Friday, May 31st to be included in the meeting. Indicate clearly in your email that your images are for the Monthly Challenge and which one you would like to submit for the Photo Review. You may send up to three images for the Monthly Challenge and nominate one image for the Monthly Photo Review.

The agenda for the meeting is:

  • Opening Remarks
  • Recreating a Famous Artwork
  • Member Slide Shows
  • Coffee Break (Debbie and Jay-Dee will be available to answers questions)
  • How to submit images to the Camera Club
  • Slideshow of Member Images from the June Challenge on “The 3 A’s: Aged/Antiquated/Abandoned
  • The next Meeting will be on September 6th. The theme for the Monthly Challenge will be “Summertime – What I did last summer, Happiness is …”, photos to be sent by noon Friday August 30th
  • Monthly Photo Review
  • Monthly Challenges for 2024-2025 Presentation
  • Concluding Remarks

If you do not receive an email confirming that your images have been received, send a follow-up email to contact@ksccc.ca. For details on how to submit photos, including formats and titles, go to our Pictures/How to Submit page.

See you at the meeting.

May Monthly Meeting

Little Italy Public Art by Amy Lo

The next monthly meeting will be held on Friday, May 3rd starting at 9:15 a.m.

Your images must be emailed to contact@ksccc.ca by noon on Friday, April 26th to be included in the meeting. Indicate clearly in your email that your images are for the Monthly Challenge and which one you would like to submit for the Photo Review. You may send up to three images for the Monthly Challenge and nominate one image for the Monthly Photo Review.

The agenda for the meeting is:

  • Opening Remarks
  • Presentation on Composition and the WOW Factor by Manfred Mueller
  • Coffee Break (Debbie and Jay-Dee will be available to answers questions)
  • Slideshow of Member Images from the March Challenge on “Strange things or “What am I?
  • The next Meeting will be on June 7th. The theme for the Monthly Challenge will be “The 3 A’s: Aged/Antiquated/Abandoned“, photos to be sent by noon Friday May 31st
  • Monthly Photo Review
  • Member Slide Shows (if time permits)
  • Fix My Pic (if time permits)
  • Concluding Remarks

If you do not receive an email confirming that your images have been received, send a follow-up email to contact@ksccc.ca. For details on how to submit photos, including formats and titles, go to our Pictures/How to Submit page.

See you at the meeting.

Artist Talks at SPAO

Club member Manfred Mueller will give two Artist Talks at the SPAO gallery. These talks are free and open to members of the public. There is plenty of street parking available in the area.  Several other photographers will be there talking about their work as well.

On Saturday, April 20, 2024, he will be talking about the nine large prints in his series “Nebulous”.  On Saturday, April 27, 2024, he will be talking about his two books entitled “Toolbugz”.  One is a hand-made and custom-bound fine art book and the second is a mass-produced children’s book.

This event/outing is not part of the Kanata Seniors Centre Club operations and is not sanctioned by the City of Ottawa.  Information is for interested parties.

Recent Graduate

Club member Manfred Mueller has just completed the 2-year, full-time diploma program at the School of Photographic Arts – Ottawa (SPAO). He and the other members of the graduating class will be showing their final year project work at the SPAO Gallery from Friday, April 19, 2024, through to Sunday, May 12, 2024.  The gallery is open from noon until 5:00 PM Wednesday through Sunday.  SPAO is located at 77 Pamila St (just north of Carling Ave, off Preston St), in Little Italy.  Street parking is available.

Manfred will be showing 27 pieces of original photographic art; 9 large
prints will be shown on the studio wall and another 18 in a fine art
book.  The attached exhibition poster features one of his works.

Please feel free to visit the SPAO Gallery.

This event/outing is not part of the Kanata Seniors Centre Club operations and is not sanctioned by the City of Ottawa.  Information is for interested parties.

The Karsh Brothers, Canadian Legends of Photography

On Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 1:00 pm in the Main Branch Auditorium of the Ottawa Public Library, the Historical Society of Ottawa is hosting a free lecture by Paul Couvrette on the Karsh brothers.

More details here.

This event/outing is not part of the Kanata Seniors Centre Club operations and is not sanctioned by the City of Ottawa.  Information is for interested parties.

Update on the 2023-24 Photo Project, Recreating a Famous Artwork

We decided today at the executive meeting that we will show the results from this project at the June meeting. Therefore we are extending the deadline for submission to Friday May 17th. Please send your entries to contact@ksccc.ca. Please include the original artwork as well as your interpretation. Someone today asked how many one person can submit, let’s limit it to three.

You can review the slides from the presentation on recreating a famous artwork by clicking here.

April Monthly Meeting

Triplets by Jane Phipps

The next monthly meeting will be held on Friday, April 5th starting at 9:15 a.m.

The agenda for the meeting is:

  • Opening Remarks
  • Presentation on The History of Photography by Irwin Reichstein
  • Coffee Break (Debbie and Jay-Dee will be available to answers questions)
  • Slideshow of Member Images from the March Challenge on “Repetition
  • The next Meeting will be on May 3rd. The theme for the Monthly Challenge will be “Strange things or “What am I?
  • Monthly Photo Review
  • Member Slide Shows (if time permits)
  • Fix My Pic (if time permits)
  • Concluding Remarks

Your images must be emailed to contact@ksccc.ca by noon on Friday, March 29th to be included in the meeting. Indicate clearly in your email that your images are for the Monthly Challenge and which one you would like to submit for the Photo Review. You may send up to three images for the Monthly Challenge and nominate one image for the Monthly Photo Review.

If you do not receive an email confirming that your images have been received, send a follow-up email to contact@ksccc.ca. For details on how to submit photos, including formats and titles, go to our Pictures/How to Submit page.

See you at the meeting.

New Pictures in the Seniors Centre

In early March, we changed the six KSCCC pictures in the
Seniors Centre. Please take a minute to have a look at them,
when you are next at the Centre. Thanks to the following
photographers for some great pictures: Jay-Dee Purdy, Amy Lo,
Jane Phipps, Ted Timmons, Bruce Turner, and Wendy Wood.
As a reminder, the KSCCC is looking for additional pictures to
hang in the Seniors Centre, and we encourage all club members
to contribute.  We are now open for business for the June change.
If you have a picture you really like, then chances are people at
the centre would like to see it too. For more information on how to
participate, please check out this post or send your questions to
contact@ksccc.ca to the attention of Jan and Bruce Turner.

Jan & Bruce Turner

Monthly Challenge Topics for 2024-2025

At the Club meeting on Friday, March 1st, we asked members for their input on topics for the next calendar year. We got a couple of good suggestions from the floor and mentioned that we would also accept suggestions via email to contact@ksccc.ca.

Please make your submissions by March 15th so we can prepare them for The Executive to make the final choices for the next year.

To download the list for the last three years click here or to see the details of all challenges since 2017, click here.