Monthly Challenges 2025/26

The list of our Monthly Challenge topics follows:

June /July/August – Through the Looking Glass

For the meeting on September 12th – Submit by September 5

  • Experiment with reflections through mirrors and other reflective surfaces to create intriguing compositions.

September – Monochrome Madness

For the meeting on October 5th – Submit by September 26

  • Limit participants to capturing images in black and white. This can help them focus on contrast, tones, and composition without the distraction of colour.

October – Minimalism

For the meeting on November 7th – Submit by October 31

  • A minimalist image is one where over 50% of the image is made up of “negative” space.

November – Night Photography

For the meeting on December 5th – Submit by November 28

  • Explore the world after dark. This could include capturing cityscapes, starry skies, or creative use of artificial lighting..

December – Unusual Perspectives

For the meeting on January 9th – Submit by January 2

  • Challenge participants to capture scenes from unique and unexpected angles. This could involve shooting from the ground, from above, or incorporating unusual camera orientations.

January – Shadows

For the meeting on February 6th – Submit by January 30

  • Hard light creates hard well-defined shadows and soft light ones that are soft and less defined.  Shoot for the shadows, but the subject creating the shadows can be included.

February – Portals / Portholes – Windows and / or Doors

For the meeting on March 6th – Submit by February 27

  • Portals and doors are things we go thru to achieve something or go somewhere.  Portholes and windows are things we look through and wish we cold get there.

March – Solitude – Serene

For the meeting on April 10th – Submit by April 3

  • Images that evoke the state or situation of being alone.  Could be wilderness, empty city streets, etc.

April – Colour Splash

For the meeting on May 1st – Submit by April 24

  • Challenge members to capture photos where one specific colour stands out prominently. This can be achieved through composition, subject choice, or post-processing.

May – Visions of Canada

For the meeting on June 5th – Submit by May 29

  • Images that say, “That’s my Canada”.  Could be food (poutine, beavertails, Sugar Shacks), events, locations.

Room Change – June 6, 2025 KSCCC Meeting

Mlacak Centre Closure – June 2 – August 31, 2025

The Mlacak Centre is having its roof replaced. This construction work will affect all parts of the building other than the Seniors’ Centre and the Beaverbrook Library. There will be no public access to the parts of the building where the work is being done.

This means that the KSCCC Monthly Meeting cannot be held in the usual rooms, Halls C & D.

Instead, we will be meeting in the Owen Prince room, which is down the hall to the left of the main doors of the Seniors’ Centre.

This room is smaller than our usual meeting room, with a maximum capacity of 48 people. Because of the room capacity limits, we would ask that you do not bring any guests to the June 2025 KSCCC meeting.

We will be returning to our usual meeting rooms starting in September 2025, once construction work has been completed.

June Monthly Meeting

Chippie by Ed Lascelle

The next monthly meeting will be held on Friday, June 6th starting at 9:15 a.m.

Your Monthly Challenge and Triptych images must be emailed to contact@ksccc.ca by noon on Friday, May 30th to be included in the meeting. Indicate clearly in your email that your images are for the Monthly Challenge or Triptych 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 the same number for the Triptych Challenge, and you may nominate one image for the Monthly as well as the Triptych Photo Review.

NOTE: 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.

The agenda for the meeting is:

  • Opening Remarks
  • Presentation of member’s videos
  • Coffee Break (Debbie and Jay-Dee will be available to answers questions)
  • Slideshow of Member Images from the May Challenge on “Captioned Photos”
  • Slideshow of the Triptych Challenge
  • The next Meeting will be on Friday September 12th. The theme for the Monthly Challenge will be “Through the Looking Glass”, photos to be sent by noon Friday September 5th
  • Monthly & Triptych Photo Review
  • Fix My Pic submissions
  • Introduction to 2025/2026 Challenges
  • Concluding Remarks

See you at the meeting.

Triptych News

Here are a few different ways to create a Triptych for those of you who want to submit (up to 3 allowed):

  1. Photoshop Elements Creating a Triptych
  2. Frame Tool in Photoshop
  3. Crop Tool in Photoshop (works in very old photoshop as well)

Also, when you submit your triptych, please indicate if you would like to talk about one at the meeting (similar to how we do the Monthly Review of photos). For those of you non-procrastinators who have already submitted :), send an email to contact@ksccc.ca if you would like to add one of your already submitted images for review.

She’s 9 and Already Winning Major Photography Awards – Meet the Eagle Eyed Girl

What can a 9 year old teach you about photography? A lot more than you’d think. In this inspiring episode of Visual Education, Karl Taylor sits down with Jamie Smart, also known as the Eagle Eyed Girl, an award-winning young photographer who’s already leaving seasoned pros in awe. From waking at dawn to capture elusive birds, to handholding an 800mm lens and mastering macro flash techniques, Jamie’s skill and passion for wildlife photography are truly next level.

See the video here.

Her website can be found here.

Your New IT Department

It’s been fun and a great learning experience being your IT department since October 2015, but as we’ve told you in recent meetings, I’m retiring in June. Thank you to all the club members, and presenters for your support and understanding.

Several club members have stepped up and agreed to take over the tasks I’ve been handling.

Club email

All of the club email should be addressed to contact@ksccc.ca. This includes image and video submissions and general inquiries. For the past couple of months, Paul Grant:

has been doing an excellent job of this.

Meeting Production

Setting up and tearing down the AV equipment for our monthly meetings and getting member slideshows and speaker presentations onto the screen will be handled by Gord Heath:

and Ed Luinstra:

Website

In addition to creating all the monthly slideshows of member-submitted images, Debbie Pinard has been a big help with monthly posts to our club website.

Starting soon, Manfred Mueller:

has agreed to take on maintaining our website and Flickr storage.

Thank you to the above club members for volunteering.

Bill Robertson