Member, Photographic Society of America
Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Sherm Edwards, Editor, Cable Release, at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
Contents
KEY EVENTS
The following scheduled events will be conducted online as Zoom teleconferences, except for the Field Trip. Look for announcements and invitations by e-mail, Meetup, and on the club’s Website.
- Dec 3 – Speaker Night (7:30 p.m.)
- Dec 5 – Field Trip – Color by the Creek (Change!) – Click here for details.
- Dec 10 – Competition – Selective Focus (7:30 p.m.)
- Dec 17 – Closer Focus (7:30 p.m.)
If Montgomery County Schools close due to inclement weather, Silver Spring Camera Club meetings and outings will be cancelled. See montgomeryschoolsmd.org for closure information during the work week. For Mon-Fri AFTER 5:00 pm & on the weekends, call 240-777-2710 or 311 from within Montgomery County. Sign up for text alerts: AlertMontgomery and choose both a local MCPS school and ‘Community Use of Public Facilities Alerts’. Note that this policy does not apply to online meetings!
For general information about the club, contact us at: info@ssccphotography.org
A list of the club officers and committee chairs, and their emails, is located here: Officers and Committee Chairs
More information is available in the Silver Spring Camera Club (SSCC) Member Handbook: 2020-2021 Member Handbook
© 2020 Silver Spring Camera Club and its contributors. Copyright Notice & Disclaimer Policy
PLEASE CONSIDER PROVIDING MATERIALS FOR THE JANUARY CABLE RELEASE:
E.G. ARTICLES, AWARDS, EXHIBITIONS, LINKS, REVIEWS, …
DEADLINE: BY DECEMBER 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS
MEETING LOCATION
October meetings will be online by Zoom teleconference.
Speaker Night via Zoom Videoconference December 3rd – Lawrence Jackson – “Yes We Did” – Former White House Photographer Under the Obama Administration
Lawrence Jackson is a former White House photographer under the Obama Administration. He spent 18 years working for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, VA and The Associated Press in Boston and Washington, DC before working at the White House. Since leaving the White House in 2017, Lawrence has been building his editorial photography business telling stories for news organizations, corporations, families and political events. He recently published a book on his eight years as a White House photographer (entitled “Yes We Did”) and lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and two children. (Read more)
COMPETITION COLUMN — NEW “BEGINNERS” CATEGORY!
The October Nature Photography competition kicked off an exciting addition to our competition nights. We appreciate that many of you (particularly if you’ve recently joined the club), may be a little intimidated about entering your images in competitions. So, to ease the glide path, we created a “Beginners” category that will give you the benefits of a competition without having to compete against more experienced photographers. To encourage participation, we repeat the following information about how the Beginners competitions will work:
- The Beginners category is open to any club member who has not yet received a ribbon in any club competition.
- You may enter 1 or 2 images per competition, using the same procedures for submitting electronic images for the Novice and Advanced categories. Please be sure to include “Beginner” where you would otherwise enter “Novice” or “Advanced” in the identifying information.
- Your images will be critiqued by the competition judge, just as if you had entered the Novice or Advanced competitions.
- The judge will select 2 Beginner images for Honorable Mention, but no club competition points will be awarded.
- If you enter an image in the Beginners category, you may join the Novice or Advanced categories at any subsequent competition. (And even if you choose not to participate in a Beginner’s competition, you may still join the other categories directly, as per current competition rules.)
- Our current competition rules govern the number of times you may enter the same image in Novice or Advanced competitions. Entering an image in the Beginner’s category will not count against the limit on the number of times you may submit an image in the other two categories.
So, please have at it in the Beginners competitions. Despite any trepidation you may feel, competitions are an extremely fun and valuable part of participation in the Club!
Larry Gold, Competition Chair
Our December topic is Selective Focus:
Selective Focus Photography encompasses images in which the photographer isolates the camera’s sharp focus on an object or place in the image, rendering it distinct, in contrast to other parts of the image that are in lesser focus. When effective, this technique draws particular attention to the primary subject which the photographer wishes the viewer to observe.
Members may submit up to two images meeting this definition. The images should be emailed to: competition@ssccphotography.org by midnight on Thursday, December 3. (One important detail – In order to participate in the competition, you must have paid the club’s annual dues before the start of the competition.)
Here’s the schedule for the remainder of the year:
- January – Open
- February – Abstract
- March – Open
- April – Decay
- May – Monochrome Photography
- June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)
Please refer to the website link for the definition of each topic.
ED PALASZYNSKI – JUDGE – DECEMBER SELECTIVE FOCUS COMPETITION
Ed Palaszynski’s photographic journey has taken him into the areas of historical documentation, architecture, motor sports, nature, and fine art photography. He enjoys studying a subject or scene to determine how the light will affect shape, tones, and textures and how the resulting image will look when printed. He has recently completed the first in a series of images for a project called “Life Forms” to answer the question, “What Does Life Look Like?” Read more.
A CLOSER FOCUS – December 17
– by David W. Powell
An opportunity to share ideas, images, questions, and inspirations. The December meeting will be by Zoom videoconference. Look for an invitation in an e-mail from the Club or a Meetup announcement.
Half an hour will be an open forum discussing issues at hand. A half hour is devoted to presentations by members. And a half hour is set aside for member image reviews.
This is always a great evening of sharing and learning. What topics would you like to explore? Topics are very wide ranging, such as photo book reviews, an aspect of your own photography that you’d like to share, reviews or discussion of gallery shows, photo gear, software, etc. Or bring a gadget to share.
- General discussion topics
- Takeaways from December speaker — silencing your inner critic
- What makes a good competition topic?
- What “abstract” means to us as photographers
- Breakout sessions:
- Topic(s) TBA, but breakout groups of Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced photographers
- Picture assignment:
- Submit one or two images that you think would be considered “abstract,” the topic for the February competition; see the definition here.
- Or, submit one or more images in any category for discussion. It’s a chance to get some gentle guidance from Club veterans on how to improve your photography.
- For either category, send your images to Dave Powell before the meeting (davidwesleypowell@gmail.com).
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Future topics of A Closer Focus might include: compositional strength, HDR, or anything else photographic you want to bring to the table. This is an opportunity for you to provide input to the SSCC experience.
If you would like to be on the agenda, please email me at:
davidwesleypowell@gmail.com
DECEMBER FIELD TRIP — CHANGE! — COLOR BY THE CREEK
Date & Time: Saturday December 5; meet there at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Carroll Creek Park between Court Street and Carroll Street, Frederick MD.
No Carpool due to COVID
Directions to site: Use GPS address of 51 South Market Street (La Paaz Restaurant) Park on the street. We will meet at the Market Street Entrance to Carroll Creek Park, which is across from the Restaurant .
- 270 to Frederick Merge onto Buckeystown Pike/MD-85 N via EXIT31A toward Market St.
- Turnleft onto Urbana Pike/MD-355.
- Urbana Pike/MD-355becomesS Market St.
- 51 S Market St, Frederick, MD, 21701-5524, 51 S MARKET ST is on the left.
Overview: 25 Boats anchored in the river, all lit up with Christmas lights.
Leader: Phil Boyer – 301-204-5549, philboyer60@gmail.com
For SSCC’s rules for safe field tripping during the pandemic click here, and for the SSCC Waiver of Liability, which field trip participants must sign, click here.
CLUB NEWS
FIELD TRIP TO GRAVELLY POINT
On Sunday, November 8, 6 Club members were treated to a beautiful pre-sunrise sky at Gravelly Point, just north of National Airport. Below are some photos from the field trip.
