The Johnson County Camera Club is a non-profit organization based in Prairie Village, Kansas. Members shoot both digitally and slides.

Meetings are the second Monday of each month, September through June.

Come share your photographic interests with other photographers. Learn through club programs and informative sessions. Take part in our intra-club competitions. Show and discuss your photography. Grow through helpful critiques and evaluations. Make new acquaintances who share the same interest and pleasure in photography.

Membership is open to all levels of experience. Whether you are a novice, advanced amateur, or professional photographer, your interest and talents are always welcome.

The Johnson County Camera Club extends to you an invitation to attend one of our monthly meetings!

Friday, September 7, 2012

The Aperture | September 10, 2012


Newsletter of the Johnson County Camera Club

Established April 1963
jococameraclub.org
jococameraclub.blogspot.com

Meeting:       September 10, 2012 (second Monday)
Time:              6:30 P.M. (chat time), 7:00 P.M. meeting
Location:      Asbury United Methodist Church
                   Music Room
                   75th St. and Nall Avenue, Prairie Village, Kansas

(Park behind the church;  meeting entrance is near the corner on the back of the building near Nall.)

Meeting Agenda
Scott Bean will be our guest speaker for September.  He grew up in Kansas and came to really love being outside.  His first forays into photography were an excuse to be outside, and that 'excuse' is still a major driving force for him to get behind the camera.  Scott just likes being out away from it all.  He’d like to be able to say something deeper about why he chooses to make photographs, but "I like to" is the most honest thing Scott can come up with.

Scott wants his photography to connect him to the landscape, to drive him to go outside, to really “be there” to capture his experiences and share them with others.  He wants viewers to experience what he experienced when clicking the shutter, not just visually, but to feel a sense of what it was like to have been there.

Scott’s has now lived in the Flint Hills longer than any other area of Kansas and yet is constantly stunned by the beauty of this area.  He believes you have to spend some time with Kansas landscapes, and learn how to really experience them, but he feels it is worth the effort.  


Dues
With the beginning of a new photo club year comes the need to pay your dues.  Our Treasurer, Michael Stone, will gladly take your money at the September meeting.  Please pay by check in the amount of $25, payable to the Johnson County Camera Club.  If you have moved since last year please let Michael know so he can revise his list.  If you have changed your email address since last year please inform our newsletter editor, Bill Staudenmaier, so you can continue to receive the newsletter.  For less hassle, mail your dues to:

Michael Stone
12319 West 107th Terrace
Overland Park, KS  66210


Notes from Our Last Meeting
-President Steve Wall presided over the meeting.
-Judge for the Year End Competition, Tom Strongman, was not able to attend the June meeting do a work related commitment.  Tom’s comments on our photography were read by Pat Woods and Gretchen Cole.  Michael Stone passed out the monetary awards to the members with winning photos.
-Following some additional club business the meeting was adjourned.


At The Galleries – Michael Stone  (Photography currently on display)
Art At The Center, Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, 11902 Lowell, Overland Park, KS (913-344-8656). Hours: Monday thru Saturday 8am-9pm, and Sunday 10am-8pm.

            "The Human Experience/Abstract Exhibition" The City of Overland Park's current art exhibit merges a celebration of humanity with the challenging nature of abstract art. The exhibit features studies in all media, including 36 photographs by 13 photographers. On display are images by Johnson County Camera Club members Marla Craven, Dale Jamieson, Ernie Lowden, Curtis Olinger, Dick O'Kell and Steven Wall  -  Closes  September 9.

            "The Photographs Exhibit" The City of Overland Park's annual juried photography only exhibition features a broad range of subject interest, techniques, and creative talent  -  Opens September 14.

Images Art Gallery, 7320 W. 80th Street, Overland Park, KS (913-232-7113)
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday 10am-5pm.

            "Photography by Marilyn Lyons"  -  Closes September 15.

Revocup Coffee, 11030 Quivira (behind McDonalds), Overland Park, KS (913-663-3695).
Hours: Monday thru Friday 6:30am-7pm, Saturday 7am-5pm, and Sunday 8am-5pm.

            "Photography by Ernie Lowden" JoCoCC member Ernie Lowden's 17 photographs offer the viewer a wide range of subject matter and pictorial genre, from traditional landscapes and nature, to subjective abstraction  -  Closes September 30.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Block Building, 4525 Oak, KCMO (816-561-4000).
Hours: Wednesday 10am-4pm, Thursday and Friday 10am-9pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, and Sunday noon-5pm.

            "The Future of Yesterday" Displayed in the Block Lobby (both levels) are 15 dramatic photographs by Belgian artist Ives Maes. Maes explores the architecture of former world's fair sites and records how they appear today. He investigates the effect of time, place, and context on the remains of these once grand global events  -  Closes October 28.


The Editor’s Corner – Bill Staudenmaier
The hawks fledged in July.  They were out and about, the parents trying to ignore their cries for food.  The Coopers Hawks were now almost the size of their parents, and typical teenagers, going about their business ignoring all decorum and in general causing problems.  The parents nested early this year and the babies were further along by this past July then they would be in a normal year.  They are fun to watch as they steal food from one another, or fly by at window height ignoring the rules for hawk navigation.  The nest was in my neighbor’s oak somewhere near forty feet up in the foliage.  The droppings on his driveway marked the spot so to speak.  It appears they may have remodeled the old nest from last year.  I’ve read that eagles do this, to the point of where the nest becomes one huge construction.

The cap on his fireplace chimney serves as a table for their meals on occasion.  Considering the temperatures we’ve had recently I would think that this perch might be a little on the hot side since it is in direct sunlight most of the day.  But perhaps it warms their meal.  Not to gross you out here, but Cooper’s Hawks prey on small songbirds usually about the size of a young Robin or smaller.  Needless to say any bird that dares to burst into song had better be ready for a quick getaway.  The hawks won’t eat rodents, but they love to chase squirrels for fun.

For a while the hawks used a limb high up on my maple for their “kitchen”.  Feathers flew through the air to the ground as they plucked their prey.  Then they had the habit of dropping what remains of the carcass on the ground below them.  An untidy habit.  I didn’t appreciate cleaning up after them.  But I did get to figure out what they had for lunch.  

Now it is early September and the songbirds have returned, some migrating through Overland Park at this time.  The hawks left in late August, or so it appeared.  That’s the strange thing about migration.  To just pickup and fly south, the offspring never having been there, then return to the same area each year.

My neighbor has a feeder hanging from the gutter outside his sliding glass door that opens on to his deck.  Prior to the hawks taking up residence in the neighborhood he would often call and tell me about watching the Chickadees or Goldfinches feasting on the seed in his feeder.  I always blamed his feeder as the reason mine was vacant most of the time.  He would counter with the fact that I didn’t prepare gourmet meals for the visitors.   Which was probably somewhat true.  He’d accustomed the little feathered visitors to premium seed purchased from the local birdwatcher’s store, while I purchased the Wal-Mart variety.  Really, I mean he was encouraging sloth among the little tweets.  Cracked and shelled sunflower seeds, coddling that’s what I call it.  Real birds crack open their own sunflower seeds as nature intended.  But my neighbor persisted in pandering to their acquired tastes.  As a result my seed grew old in the feeder and attracted nothing but the voracious squirrels who will eat anything.  I wonder if a squirrel ever suffers from acid indigestion?  Probably not, they seem impervious to the problems associated with bad food.  Meanwhile my neighbor continued to take pleasure in regaling me with the stories of the antics of his feathered friends. 

My neighbor purchased the “Birds of Kansas” when it first came out.  You may recall one of the photographers, David Seibel, provided us with a program for the club.  Thus my neighbor consulted this book when we tried to determine which variety of hawk we had seen.  It became a source of debate at one point a couple of years ago whether we had Cooper’s Hawks or Sharp-shinned Hawks in the neighborhood.  I maintained they were Cooper’s, but he wasn’t so sure, he consulted his expert, one of the co-authors of the book.  The ornithologist thought they were probably Cooper’s Hawks.  In size, the Sharp Shinned Hawk is somewhat smaller, but their coloration is the same.  The difference is in the shape of the end of the tail.  Cooper’s is more rounded while the Sharp-shinned is somewhat square.  Also according to the book Sharp-shinned Hawks have not been observed breeding in this area and prefer coniferous trees for their nests, not large oaks.

My neighbor and I used to go back and forth with hawk reports.  I took some photos when they were perched on my fence once and made copies for him.  Being confined to a wheel chair he enjoyed their antics on his deck, which he observed from his perch, in the kitchen behind the sliding glass doors.  The hawks accepted him, as long as he remained nearly still.  

As I said the hawks are gone now, moved on.  But according to the “Birds of Kansas” they are supposed to be year round residents here.  Maybe they’re just on vacation.  Soon the chill winds will begin to blow as the daylight hours shorten and tree leaves take on color.  Unless tragedy befalls them, the parents will return in the spring and repair the nest for another brood.              


Images for Show and Tell
There is always a possibility at all of our meetings (if time permits) for member images to be shown and discussed.  Please see the information below regarding sizing of images.

All images should be sized for 1024 pixels on the longest dimension and saved as jpeg.  Images should be renamed to include the artist’s last name in the first characters of the title.  Check your image, if it looks blurry or pixilated (unintentionally), you may have started with a low resolution or highly cropped image.  In this case, you may need to increase the setting in the resolution box to improve the image; but be sure to retain 1024 on the longest side.  Submit JPG files on a flash drive tagged with your name.  Drives will be returned after the images have been loaded into the computer for projection.


Subjects for the Year-End 2012-2013 Photo Contest
Submittals for our Year-End-Contest are due at our May 2013 meeting.  Only images shot since May 2012 are eligible.  There are nine subjects to choose from.  You may select a maximum of six subjects with a maximum of two entries for each of the six subjects chosen.  A professional photographer will judge the contest, with the results to be presented and discussed at the June 2013 meetingA comprehensive list of the rules may be found in the June 2012 newsletter which is on the JCCC website.

2012-2013 Year-End-Contest Subjects

  • Architecture                                                        
  • Critters                                                                         
  • Square
  • Cloudscapes                                                          
  • Happiness Is                                                             
  • Saturated
  • Pattern Interrupted                                       
  • People                                                                            
  • Vintage   



Please patronize the following area businesses when you need photographic supplies or camera repairs.
Overland Photo Supply, Inc.    8701 Metcalf Ave.,      Overland Park, KS  66212                                (913) 648-5950,                FAX (913) 648-5966,         e-mail – sales@overlandphoto.com,    Hours: M-F 10-7,  Sat 10-5

Crick Camera Shop      7715 State Line Rd.    Kansas City, MO  64114   (816) 444-3390,      e-mail - crickcamera@sbcglobal.net      Established in 1946


The Aperture, newsletter of the Johnson County Camera Club, is published monthly.  Meetings are held the second Monday of each month, unless otherwise announced, at the Asbury United Methodist Church.  Short articles written by club members, or selected from other sources of possible interest to club members, may be sent to the editor for inclusion in the newsletter.  Membership dues of $25.00 for one year are to be paid during the month of September, which is the beginning of the club year.  Anyone who joins the club after March 1st. will not be required to pay dues and will not be eligible to participate in the year end competition.

For additional information or questions on the Johnson County Camera Club, activities, meetings, and membership contact the following members:

President  -  Steve Wall   913-782-6339   seeque2@gmail.com

Vice-President  - Erin Schuerman  913-322-3959   schuermanerin@gmail.com

Treasurer  -  Michael Stone   913-469-5724    mstoneopks@kc.rr.com       

Newsletter Editor  -  Bill Staudenmaier    913-381-0264    wstaude@sbcglobal.net 

Program Committee Chair  -  Erin Schuerman  

Program Committee Members  -  Steve Wall, Brian Schoenfish, Carol Barlau, Ernie Lowden, Carol Henderson, Bruce Hogle


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