Member, Photographic Society of America
Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Tanya Riseman and Sherm Edwards, Editors, 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 1 – Speaker (7:30 p.m.)
- Dec 8 – Competition – Long Exposure (7:30 p.m.)
- Dec 10 – Field Trip – Color by the Creek, Frederick (6 p.m.)
- Dec 15 – Photo Forum (7:30 p.m.)
- Dec 22 – Board Meeting
2022-2023 Calendar
See here for this season’s calendar, which will be updated as information becomes available. It includes Speaker Night, Competition Night, Photo Forum, Board Meetings, and Field Trips.
If Montgomery County Schools close due to inclement weather, Silver Spring Camera Club meetings and outings will be canceled. 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:
More information is available in the Silver Spring Camera Club (SSCC) Member Handbook:
SSCC-Member-Handbook-2022-2023
PLEASE CONSIDER PROVIDING MATERIALS FOR THE JANUARY CABLE RELEASE:
If you’d like to share an article, announcement, or Letter to the Editor about anything photographic please email them by December 24. This issue is a great opportunity for articles about summer projects and travel! Email items or questions to Tanya Riseman and Sherm Edwards at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
DEADLINE: BY DECEMBER 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS
MEETING LOCATION
Up to now this year, we have been meeting virtually and this will continue for Speaker Night, Photo Forum, and Board meetings. As of now, with regard to competitions, we will decide how to meet on a month-by-month basis, guided by Montgomery County and the CDC. Any in-person meetings will be held at Northwood Presbyterian Church (https://www.northwoodchurch.com/), and KN95 masks will be required.
H. DARR BEISER – SPEAKER – “The Changes I’ve Seen”
Observations on the artistic and technological developments seen over a career as a photojournalist.
H. Darr Beiser was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Arizona and was a staff photographer at the local afternoon newspaper, the Tucson Citizen. In 1982, Darr became a founding member of the staff of USA TODAY. Over the next 33 years he photographed presidents, popes, and a princess, and traveled around the world covering news and major sports events. He was an Adjunct Instructor at Philip Merrill College of Journalism – University of Maryland. In retirement he has taken on a variety of freelance projects and explored nature and wildlife photography in the Washington DC area.
In 2022, he was inducted into the University of Arizona School of Journalism Hall of Fame.
COMPETITION COLUMN
Welcome to the 2022-2023 Silver Spring Camera Club Season. As we try to understand what the upcoming season will look like, the one thing that is certain is that we have a great lineup of speakers and judges. This month, we are proud to have Denise Silva as our judge.
Our December topic is Long Exposure:
“Long Exposure” photography encompasses images where the photographer’s use of a “long” exposure is evident. While there is no specific shutter speed that constitutes a “long” exposure, its use somehow shows the effect of passing time, be it smoother waters or light trails. For this competition, the use of post-processing techniques that simulate long exposures is not permitted
Members may submit up to two images meeting this definition. The images should be emailed to: competition@ssccphotography.org by midnight (11:59 p.m.) on the day of the month’s Competition. (One important detail – In order to participate in the competition, you must pay the club’s annual dues before the start of the competition.)
Here’s the schedule for the remainder of the year:
- January – Open
- February – Yellow
- March – Open
- April – On the Job
- May – Monochrome Photography
- June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)
Please refer to the website link for the definition of each topic.
DENISE SILVA – JUDGE – DECEMBER LONG EXPOSURE COMPETITION
Denise’s interest in photography started when her grandmother would share images from her travels to Egypt and Africa for safari. The evenings watching slideshows set the seed. 35 years later those seeds took root and inspired Denise to embrace photography and more specifically travel photography, and Road Runner Photography Tours was born.
Denise has been recognized as one of the Top 200 Women Photographers Who Inspire by Nature Photo Guides and has had multiple articles published in Extraordinary Vision (EV) Magazine, and is a featured artist in the Breakthrough Photography Guide to Night Sky Photography.
Her passion is to share her knowledge of photography, while introducing people to amazing landscapes, wildlife, and people all over the world.
She has contributed multiple articles to the Fujifilm X/GFX USA website, and has been interviewed by Peggy Farren of Understanding Photography on Overcoming the Challenges of Street Photography (Check the interview out here).
Recognitions:
- Three images published in Black & White Magazine, 2021, Smartphone issue.
- Featured in the 2021, Lenswork, Our Magnificent Planet 2021 edition.
- Awarded in Alternative Digital Processes category, Black & White Magazine, Looking Forward–Looking Backward 2022.
Denise embraces the idea that everyday above ground is a good one, so get out and enjoy! Join her and her team for your next adventure.
PHOTO FORUM DECEMBER 2022
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
“Photo Forum” is our monthly opportunity to share ideas, images, questions, and inspirations on a wide variety of photographic topics.
This is an online event. We will meet using Zoom – look for the meeting link in an email and via Meetup.
Open Forum Discussions:
- What’s on your mind?
- What did you get out of our December speaker, H. Darr Beiser: “The Changes I’ve Seen”?
- What did you think about our “Long Exposure” Competition?
- Camera vs Phone?
Presentations:
- “The new Lightroom Content-Aware Healing Tool: strengths and two bugs with workarounds” by Tanya Riseman
- “High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography” by Dennis Freeman
Image Sharing:
We are making changes to manage our time better: Send up to 2 images you would like to share and get feedback on. Use “1” or “2” in the titles. We will do all of the #1’s first, then the #2’s. If your two images are to be compared with each other use a “1a” and “1b.” We will spend more time on the #1’s. We may not spend as much time on the #2’s. If you are submitting images to Photo Forum for the first time tell us!
This month’s theme will be Open.
Send up to 2 jpg images. Your jpg images can be up to 1 MB size each. (Please use our digital competition specs: ssccphotography.org/competitions/digital-entry-specifications/ ). Send your images to Dennis Freeman before 5:00 p.m., WEDNESDAY, Dec 14. (dennisfreeman4510@msn.com).
January Photo Forum Assignment!
Each of the SSCC Meetup Events has a landscape (16:9) masthead image that illustrates the nature of the club. We have a nice one for Photo Forum:
Sometimes we have a custom image to use for a particular event, but we need a bigger set of your images to use on a rotating basis for all of our events, i.e., Speaker Night, Competition Night, Photo Forum, and Field Trips.
Please ATTACH (not embed) your Landscape Orientation images (16:9 ratio) to your email to dennisfreeman4510@msn.com by Wednesday, January 18, at 5:00 p.m. to be included! Use “SSCC Masthead Images” as your email subject.
Resources for cropping to 16:9 ratio:
- Lightroom: https://expertphotography.com/aspect-ratio-in-lightroom/
- Free Online Tool: https://redketchup.io/image-resizer
- In Photos on a Mac: crop-and-straighten-photos-pht13f0918f0/mac
FIELD TRIP — COLOR BY THE CREEK, FREDERICK
Overview: Walk a display of twinkling lights and glimmering displays on Boats lining Carroll Creek. Sailing Through The Winter Solstice displays a number of boats, lit up with Christmas lights. The boats are anchored in Carroll Creek, between Market Street and Carrol Street. The fleet includes gaff-rigged ketches, yawls, three-masted schooners, and pirate ships, moored with their sail outlines, rigging and decks lit up from dusk till dawn. The Walk is about a mile, on a brick pathway [unless you wade in the water for a close-up]. https://coloronthecreek.com/about
Directions: I- 270N from Washington, DC to exit 31A and follow Rt. 85.
Notes: Dress warmly!!!! Tripods/monopods recommended.
Dinner: Cacique Restaurant, 26 N. Market Street (Spanish/Mexican}
Leader: Phil Boyer—301-204-5549
Date & Time: Saturday, December 10, 6.00 – 8:00 PM.
Location: Meet at the intersection of Market Street [Rte 355] and Carrol Creek, at Carroll Creek Linear Park.
CLUB NEWS
BOARD MEETING
The SSCC Board did not meet in November. Minutes from all meetings can be found in the board meeting minutes archives.
FEATURES
REMINDER: WINTER PHOTO CHALLENGE: “WORDS AND IMAGES”
The idea of the “Words and Images” challenge is to use the text and the image together to create an artistic composite that is greater than the sum of the parts. The text does not have to be long and can range from a longer poem or prose, to a Haiku (Write-a-Haiku-Poem), or to a one line phrase. The intent is for you to be creative in using both the text and the image together. You can either place the text on your image or send it separately as a caption that we’ll add for you.
Please use our digital Competition specifications: ssccphotography.org/competitions/digital-entry-specifications/ . Follow the naming convention as follows:
“Words and Images~FirstName LastName~Title.jpg”
Please submit these to cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org by Thursday, December 15 (earlier than usual).
OUR CLUB’S WINNERS IN THE MARYLAND PHOTOGRAPHY ALLIANCE 2022 PHOTO CONTEST
Two of our club members, David Blass and Sherm Edwards, received Honorable Mentions in the 2022 MPA photo contest, in a field of over 1,000 entries. Congratulations on your beautiful images!
CONFERENCES AND EXPOS
MEMBER ARTICLES
COMPETITION RESULTS
OPEN COMPETITION – NOVEMBER 10
November’s competition was Open for projected images only. Cynthia L. Keith was our judge that evening. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was held remotely using Zoom.
There were two categories judged: Advanced Projected (i.e. digital images) and Novice Projected. No Beginner entries were submitted. The Print categories are suspended until we start in-person meetings again. Awards are given for first, second, and third place, with the number of honorable mentions (HM) dependent on the total number of entries in the respective Advanced and Novice categories.
ADVANCED PROJECTED
1st Place: Dennis Freeman ~ Lion in Winter
2nd PLace: Wendy Kates ~ The Flow of Nature
3rd PLace: David Terao ~ Great Blue Heron
HM: Dennis Freeman ~ Bodie Lighthouse and Milky Way
HM: Elizabeth Koller ~ tinytriceratop
HM: Sherm Edwards ~ Lisbon PigeonscapeDennis Freeman - Lion in Winter
This was taken in front of the topiary garden at Longwood Gardens in May. I liked the stone lion and the tree above it framing the scene. I used my magical infrared camera with a filter that lets a bit of visible red light in with the infrared. Chlorophyll reflects bright white in infrared, giving the appearance of snow. The sky was a reddish-brown in camera. I switched the red and blue channels in Photoshop to turn the sky blue.
NOVICE PROJECTED
1st PLace: Larry Brauer ~ Staple City at Night
2nd Place: Steven Harvey ~ Kakamega Sunrise
3rd PLace: Kim Keller ~ Cardinal
HM: Kim Keller ~ Penn Treaty Powwow
HM: Anne Golfer ~ Falling LeavesLarry Brauer - Staple City at Night
While sequestered at home during the Covid pandemic, I took lots of photos indoors, mostly still-life scenes that I set up. In one situation, I took a box of staples, broke them into smaller pieces and stood them up vertically next to a wall on a kitchen counter. (I can’t tell you how many times they kept falling!). I tried to make them look like a cityscape with several different size buildings. (I did not use a flash.). Once I looked at the photos on my computer, I noticed that the marble on the kitchen counter picked up the reflection of the staples and made the foreground almost look like water. I then converted the color photo into black and white, which I thought made the image look more realistic.
COURSES, CALLS FOR ENTRY, AND EXHIBITS
PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
Needed: Someone to author the Classes and Workshop List for the 2022-2023 Cable Release club year. Please let Catherine [ president@ssccphotography.org ] know if you might be interested. This is an opportunity to inspire the learning of club members. In the meantime, we will show some online sources.
One vendor typically included in the Photography Courses/Class List has announced a few online classes: See Capital Photography Center: https://online.capitalphotographycenter.com/collections?category=courses . The rest either have suspended courses or are communicating to registrants by email.
The online course providers typically listed in The Cable Release are obviously still operating—
- Coursera
- KelbyOne
- LinkedIn Learning free through Montgomery County Libraries (formally Lynda.com)
- Photographic Society of America (PSA)
Also offering free webinars—on photography printing—is Moab Paper. See: https://www.moabpaper.com/moab-tv?rq=tv I have never taken one of Moab’s webinars, but Moab is a major producer of artistic photo papers. Other vendors are offering free webinars, but they tend not to give advance notice, so the ones I have located are offered only in April.
Please let us know of other online opportunities you discover by emailing us at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
CALLS FOR ENTRY
by Dennis Freeman
The following offers a number of competitions for your consideration this month. Some of these sources have standing calls for entry, and others are one-time calls. Some offer cash and prizes, and others don’t.
THIS MONTH”S FEATURED CALL FOR ENTRY:
9TH ANNUAL ALLEGANY NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION AND EXHIBITION – APRIL 2023
Martin Heavener, a prior SSCC judge, reminded us about this nearby national photography competition and its fabulous prizes: $$$. The April 1-22 exhibition will be in Cumberland, Maryland. The entry deadline is February 10, 2023. For further details, read the announcement: ANPCE-2023-Call-for-Entries-Announcement.pdf
See the full Calls for Entry article here. (Read More)
EXHIBITS AND EVENTS
AN EXHIBIT BY A FLEDGLING NEW CLUB IN THE DMV
WASHINGTON POST
Here is a link to the online Washington Post’s lists of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia photography-related exhibits and museums. The various photography-related exhibits appear in different parts of the online paper, making a simple search or link unreliable. You can search within:
Photography section: Photography
Going Out Guide: Going Out Guide
Art Section: Art
Take a look at what our sister camera club, the NIH Camera Club, has going on. Here is a link to their site. There you can find their newsletter, the Cameraderie: nihcameraclub.com
© 2022 Silver Spring Camera Club and its contributors.
Copyright Notice, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy and External Link Disclaimer