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!

Monday, April 8, 2013

The Aperture | April 8, 2013


The Aperture

Newsletter of the Johnson County Camera Club
                            

Established April 1963
jococameraclub.org
jococameraclub.blogspot.com

Meeting:  April 8, 2013 (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 April.  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.  


Notes from Our Last Meeting
-President Steve Wall presided over the meeting.
-        Anyone having suggestions for subjects for next year’s End of the Year competition was directed to send an email to Carol Barlau who will collect the submissions and coordinate the voting.
-        Edward Robison’s Prairie Fire workshop in Chase County was mentioned.
-        Guest speaker Jim Griggs presented an overview of Lightroom 4 with emphasis on the powerful Library module unique adjustments to the Develop module.  Several questions followed Jim’s presentation.
-        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 2013 Juried Exhibition" The City of Overland Park presents their annual jurored art exhibit, and among this year's selected entries are photographs by Johnson County Camera Club members Crystal Nederman, David North, Brian Schoenfish and Steven Wall  -  Closes June 9.

            Note: Opening reception will be held Friday, April 5, 5:30 - 7:30pm. Public is invited.    

Community Art Gallery, Community Christian Church, 4601 Main, KCMO (816-561-6531).
Hours: Monday thru Friday 9am-4pm, and Sunday 10am-noon.

            "Photographs From Bhutan, China and Vietnam" Adventure photographer, Charles Porter, presents a series of striking images (made during short stays in each of these Asian nations) that illustrate the unique quality of location, people and culture  -  Closes May 14.

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.

            "Invented Worlds: Photographs by Ruth Thorne-Thomsen" Forty of her works spanning more than three decades are on display. She uses the simplest of imaging devises, a handmade pinhole camera. By making or arranging subjects to be photographed by this technique, she creates a dreamlike vision of wonder and discovery resulting in a landscape of imagination, blurring reality and myth. Besides creating her own camera, she also made all the props in her photos  -  Closes July 28.

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 photographs offer the viewer a frequently revised range of subject matter and pictorial genre, from traditional landscapes and nature, to subjective abstraction  -  Closes (eventually).


The Editor’s Corner – Bill Staudenmaier
That something can exist in some form, and then not exit in the same form, after a period of time, has always fascinated me.  I know that a friend exists because I get emails from him.  He is physically present in another part of the city.  Yet in this day of digital manipulation his existence could be faked.  Another friend, now deceased, sent me emails when he was alive.  No, I haven’t gotten anything from him recently, so I will assume he is still deceased.  Reading some of his emails that I saved however, it is as if he still exists, yet he does not.  But his words at a particular point in time, when he was alive, are every bit as vivid and real as if he had just written and sent them.

The same goes for the photos we take.  They preserve what was, and may still be in similar form, but now, is not in the same manner as it was when the image was made.  Minor changes to a scene may have crept in today, or two weeks ago, we may not notice, but they are there.  And as is the case in historic preservation of buildings, the exterior is most often what is preserved.  The interior may retain some of the rooms, but most often it is revised to suit the user of the facility.  So, what was is really no more, in its totality, although the shell leads us to believe it is the same. 

If your parents or a sibling are deceased, consider, that as time goes on, it is almost as if they never were.  We remember as if a video were playing in the background showing snippets of scenes from their lives and our interactions with them.  But the view is from the perspective of an adult, not that of the child we visualize in the scenes of our mind.  Often these images are based consciously or unconsciously on the photographs we have taken or seen.  I have objects, keepsakes, and antiques, whatever, from the days when I was a child; they also bring back memories, some crisp, others foggy and vague.

A trip across the country is real while it is happening, but unreal and edited in retrospect.  I’ve made many trips to Colorado to visit my daughter and her family.  The road spins by in my mind, images in rapid succession, changes of light, altering views, some taking on an aerial effect as if I’m flying rather than driving.  Light and shadow collide.  Bare roadside trees in winter reveal the interior layers of brush and vines that compose the undergrowth.  Going west the morning sun casts long shadows, illuminating the hidden areas among these trees.  Then as the sun rises toward mid-day shadows diminish and the drama evaporates into flat light that neither flatters nor defines the landscape.  Just another trip across Kansas, nothing seems to have changed, but in reality it has. 

What was done yesterday is of no concern today, yet the work of yesterday was part of the foundation of today.   The images I shot yesterday are but the source of the photos I will print today or tomorrow.  They are the memories of my attempt at capturing the landscape, a still life, or portraits that define and enhance their subject.  That perfect moment when all things came together, and the light was right, creating a depth of field that shows the beauty of the Flint Hills or the strength of a still life composition set up with a few bottles in constructed light.  It is the eloquent shape of a human face, showcasing the wisdom in the eyes or the strength of a smile. 

What we do today in the present is the past, but more importantly it is the future we build.  Our photography is a progression toward the right side of a graph, the expected high points that culminate in continual exposures to people and places.  We learn by doing, but for me the doing must also in include acute observation, mental note taking of the learned specifics of the journey.  All our photos are a record of this progress, the path we’ve taken, and the direction we are going.  As with everyday life, course corrections may be required along the way ------ recalculating. 


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.    8700 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:

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, Patricia Fries, Paul Douglas

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