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!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

2012-13 Year-End Competition


As a result of a motion, voted on and passed, at the May 2012 club meeting, a committee was appointed by President Steven Wall to present a proposal regarding the club's 2012-13 year-end competition.  The committee is Erin Schuerman, Dick O'Kell and Bruce Hogle (chairperson).

These are the details the for the year-end competition for the 2012-13 club year:

Johnson County Camera Club
2012-13 Year-End Competition

Purpose:
·      Have fun and encourage the development of photographic excellence.
Timeframe:
·      May 14, 2012 - May 12, 2013.
Categories:
·      Nine; determined by the 2011-12 Program Committee.
Awards:
·      Cash awards will be: Honorable Mention, $5; 3rd, $10; 2nd, $15; 1st, $20, for each category.
·      Best of Show, $20, which will be chosen from the nine 1st place winners. 
·      Photographer of the Year, $30, as determined by the person awarded the most money.
·      A Club officer will obtain the awards.
Creativity:
·      No restrictions or guidelines shall be placed on computer-based image editing applications.   [Excerpt from By-laws, dated September 14, 2009]
·      All work must be that of the submitting member and captured during the specified timeframe.
Eligibility:
·      Those who have paid their Club dues.  
Submissions:
·      Digital format; on a flash drive.
·      Any of one to six of the categories; one or two entries per category.
·      At the May meeting.  If the member is unable to attend, they may contact the persons preparing the images to make other arrangements as stipulated by those persons.
·      JPEGs; 1024 pixels on the long side.  Create a folder for each category, in which you have an entry.  Within the folder, label each image:
_.  
·      Verify images are readable. 
·      If you have questions, contact the Club Vice President.
·      Category Codes are: Architecture = Ar; Cloudscapes = Cl; Critters = Cr; Happiness Is ... = HI; Pattern Interrupted = PI; People = Pe; Saturated = Sa; Square = Sq; Vintage = Vi.
Judging:
·      The judge will be chosen and contacted by the Program Committee and/or the Officers.  Suggestions are welcome. 
·      The judge will be presented an honorarium of $150, plus gas money if they are from outside the KC Metro area.
·      Preparation of images for judging will be handled solely by a separate Committee, who will also prepare the year-end slideshow.


2012-13 Year-End Competition

Categories for the 2012-13 Contest were announced at the May 12, 2012 Meeting, and have been delivered via email as well.  Here are the categories along with some examples of possible interpretations: 

1)    Architecture  - Architectural elements or structures, i.e., barns, schools, churches, buildings, bridges, etc.
2)    Cloudscapes  - Landscapes/Cityscapes with clouds
3)    Critters  - Wildlife, dogs, birds, zoo animals, farm animals, squirrels, insects, bugs, critters large/small, etc.
4)    Happiness Is…  - How you define happiness or what makes you happy
5)    Pattern Interrupted  - Patterns broken
6)    People  - Single person or group, self-portrait, environmental portrait, babies, kids, etc.
7)    Saturated  - Saturated colors, something wet, water, fog, mist, etc.
8)    Square  - Image in a square format or image with “squares” in it
9)    Vintage  - Something 50 – 100 years old, something that with age looks better or gains value, an enduring style, or pertaining to wine – the year or place it was produced

Carol Barlau printed and laminated small reference cards showing the categories.  They were distributed at the May Meeting and will also be available at the June Meeting.


At the September meeting, the chair of this committee will make the motion below to add to the Standing Rules, which are attached to the Club By-Laws, regarding the 2013-14 and future competitions:
  
"The Club Program Committee for the current club year will publish, not later than the May meeting of that year, specifics regarding the Club's Year-End Competition for the next year to include, but not be limited to:
-       Purpose
-       Timeframe
-       Categories
-       Awards
-       Creativity
-       Eligibility
-       Submissions
-       Judging."


If you have any questions, please contact Erin Schuerman at (913) 645-9898.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Aperture | May 14, 2012


Newsletter of the Johnson County Camera Club
 


Established April 1963
jococameraclub.org
jococameraclub.blogspot.com

Meeting:  May 14, 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
This is it.  Monday you need to turn in your images for the End of the Year contest.  If you are waiting until this weekend to get your act together make sure your images meet the requirements listed at the end of this newsletter.

After covering some club business at our meeting, we will have member Show and Tell.  Bring one to five images of your choice in accordance with the image size requirements also listed in this newsletter. 


Bio Sheet for our Spotlight Section
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to be featured in our newsletter.   This is your chance to let the other members learn a little about you and your photography.   Please send your bio sheet to Erin Schuerman, Program Committee Chair, at .

Notes from Our Last Meeting
- President Steve Wall presided over the meeting.

- Items discussed included the Les Saucier workshop, Missouri Town Field Trip, business cards and the End of the Year contest.  It was stressed that only paid members could participate in the contest. 

- Our guest speaker at the April meeting was David Seibel who provided an extensive program of wildlife images with an emphasis on birds.  He has a Ph.D. in Ornithology from the University of Kansas and is a biology professor, author, poet, and popular lecturer as well as an avid nature photographer.  Seibel is a faculty member at Johnson County Community College, has published several scholarly educational works and is a coauthor and contributing photo editor for the authoritative “Birds of Kansas” published in May 2011 by the University Press of Kansas.  Visit his website at www.davidseibel.com .
- Following the conclusion of the programs the meeting was adjourned.

At The Galleries – Michael Stone  (Photography currently on display):
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" JCCC member Ernie Lowden's 17 photographs offer the viewer a broad range of subject matter and pictorial genre, from traditional landscapes and nature, to subjective abstraction.

The Tavern Restaurant, 3901 Prairie Lane (N.E. corner P.V. Shopping Center at Mission & Tomahawk Rd.), Prairie Village, KS (913-529-2229).  Hours: Regular business hours Monday thru Sunday.

            "Art of Imagination" Julie Johnson, a JCCC member, presents 9 large sumptuous prints on canvas for patrons to peruse, contemplate, and enjoy during their dining experience  -  Closes in mid May.

First Art Gallery of Olathe, 11951 S. Strang Line Road (Olathe Stations Shopping
Center), Olathe, KS.  Hours: Wednesday thru Friday 3-9pm, Saturday 11am-9pm, and
Sunday 1-6pm.

            Landscape and Floral Photography”   by Mike Oldberg  -  Closes May 31.

Todd Weiner Gallery, 115 W. 19th St., Kansas City, MO (816-984-8538).  Hours:
Wednesday thru Friday 11am-5:30pm, and Saturday 10am-2pm.

            Marilyn Monroe Photographs and Media Paintings” by Len Steckler  -  Closes May 31.

Art At The Center, Tomahawk Ridge Community Center, 11902 Lowell, Overland Park, KS (913-344-8656). Hours: Monday-Friday 5:30am-10pm, Saturday 7am-8pm, and Sunday 10am-8pm.

            "The Juried Exhibition" Linda Russell (two images) and Dona Corben (one image) of the Wyandotte Camera Club had their images accepted for this exhibit.  -  Runs April 6-June 10.



The Editor’s Corner – Bill Staudenmaier
The tale of a Painting 
I try to make it a point not to discuss religion or politics, but often they are so intertwined that discussing a specific item out of context may leave the wrong impression.  Art for example, would probably have found it’s way through the various styles and plateaus of evolution through the centuries, but I doubt that it would have moved as smoothly without the patronage of various religious institutions.  In one sense the artist, regardless of personal belief knew what he had to do to survive.  And of course this meant dealing with the politics of the time, the rich ruling parties who dominated politics, and the church.  The clout of the Vatican in past centuries cannot be denied.  Rich benefactors, wanting to please the Pope, commissioned religious art.  As a result numerous artists painted supposed portraits of the Virgin Mary and the saints using favorite models of the day.  Carravagio attracted criticism for posing a favored prostitute as the virgin.

Where I’m heading with this is that great art depicts great events and figures of prominence.  Religious figures and stories from the bible were one source of universally understood celebrity at that period in history.  Since no one really knew what these famous people looked like it was not unusual to use and glamorize ordinary people as models.  The virgin is just one example, among many, that received a sort of constant renewal, with an often mythological sensitivity.   

The Leaven, which is the Catholic newspaper for the Diocese of Kansas City, in Kansas, published an article which annoyed me no end.  I’m a frustrated artist, have taken painting and drawing classes, read a lot about art history and studied classical paintings to understand a little of the artists and their work.  It bothers me when, either deliberately or through inadequate research a story is written which only has half the facts and a lot of conjecture. 

A painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Murillo, an artist who lived in the 1600’s, was copied by artist James O’Neill, living in the 1860’s.  Jump forward to 2012 and a restorer in Topeka is contacted about an original oil painting.  He discovers this painting in the basement of Assumption Catholic Church in Topeka to be in sad shape and offers to restore it.  Without going into the specifics, this painting is now attributed to the artist from the 1800’s.  The restorer notes that the artist didn’t sign it; with good reason, he copied it in detail except for one cherub.  This cherub in the lower right hand corner of the painting, the restorer believes, possesses the face of the artist, staring directly at the viewer.  As an aside here, artists before photography and copy machines used to attempt to perfect their working skills by copying paintings of famous artists.  Frequently they would insert something that was not in the original, possibly the cherub with the different face. 

My point is this.  In the Leaven article the restorer makes note of this cherub’s face being that of the artist.  My question is this.  How would he know this if he was not aware of the existence of the original painting in the Prado Museum in Spain? Does he have an old photo of the artist? I’ve sent a letter to the editor, which I’m sure will fall on deaf ears.  But we don’t need to get into the politics of the Catholic Church, you’ve probably had enough of that in the Star.  The only point I want to make here is that a paper like the Leaven offers their view only, there is no room for dissent.  My apologies if I’ve offended anyone.  However my wife discovered several years ago, when an article was written disparaging public school education (she taught in public and Catholic schools), that they tolerate no opposing view.

Theoretically, you can legally copy any painting from centuries past and suffer no consequences.  Any legal claim to a copyright of any sort no longer exists after a few centuries.  Thus there is a thriving business in producing old masters paintings for your walls, all quite legal as far as I can determine. 

In photography I’m sure many of us also emulate the masters of camera art.  With a camera it is difficult to create an exact copy of a scene, although digitally I’m sure it could be done.  My only request, whether art or photography, is that the artist give credit to the acknowledged masterwork with some statement of origin.          

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 in jpeg format at 72 dpi.  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.

Work will not be considered unless submitted in accordance with these listed requirements.  Gretchen Cole and Pat Woods will be collecting and organizing the images to go to the judge.  Our judge this year is Tom Strongman.

Submittals for our Year-End-Contest are due at our May 2012 meeting.  Only images shot on or since April 15, 2011 to present (May 2012 meeting) are eligible.  Images recorded prior to that date will not be accepted.  Re-processed images recorded prior to April 15, 2011 are not eligible for submission to the current contest.  Copying portions of images from past images for insertion into current contest images is also prohibited if they pre-date April 15, 2011.    

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 our images and present the results at the June meeting.  All images will be copied to a DVD for the judge’s convenience. 

Please remember to adjust the size of your images at 72 in the resolution box and then 1024 pixels for the longest side.  Save the image as a JPG.  Then 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 only, labeling each image with your last name, one underscore, category code, and number as follows.   

Abstract = AB
Curves = CV
HDR = HD
Autos/Transportation/Wheels = AT
Rusted/Busted/ Old/Dilapidated = RB
Nostalgia = NO
Close Up = CU
From Below = FB
“Wild” Things = WT

Place each category you are entering in a separate folder on a Flash Drive labeled or tagged with your first and last name so it can be returned to you at the June meeting. 

The following is and example of how to designate your file identification.

New Folder = AB


Sebelius_AB1.jpg
Sebelius_AB2.jpg

And so on.  Before turning in your images please verify that they have been copied properly to the Flash Drive (they are readable) and that your name is on the media.  If you have questions contact Gretchen Cole at gretchencole@comcast.net or  Pat Woods at p-woods@kc.rr.com .



Subjects for the Year-End 2011-2012 Photo Contest
Submittals for our Year-End-Contest are due at our May 2012 meeting.  Only images shot since April 2011 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 2012 meeting.


2011-2012 Year-End-Contest Subjects

  • Abstract                                                 
  • Autos/ Transportation/Wheels                                                    
  • Close Up
  • Curves                                                     
  • Rusted/Busted/Old/Dilapidated                                                 
  • From Below
  • HDR                                                           
  • Nostalgia                                                                                      
  • “Wild” Things      




Please patronize the following area businesses when you need photographic supplies or camera repairs.
Overland Photo Supply, Inc.    8967 Metcalf,      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: