Newsletter of the Silver Spring Camera Club, SSCCPhotography.org
Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Key Events
Jan 4 – Speaker night (CANCELLED)
Jan 11 – Competition night: Open (7:30 p.m.)
Jan 14 – Field Trip: Eastern Market/Capitol Hill Neighborhoods (Sunday, 11 a.m.)
Jan 18 – A Closer Focus meeting (7:30 p.m.)
Jan 25 – Board Meeting (7:30 p.m.)
LESTER PICKER TO SPEAK ON BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY IN JANUARY
CANCELLED Due to Weather!!!
Les Picker will be our speaker on January 4, with the subject “Black & White Photography”. Black & White (and other monochrome) photography will be the topic of our May competition.
Lester Picker’s interest in photography started at a very early age when his father gave him his first camera. Since then, Les has photographed for National Geographic Society publications and many other consumer and corporate magazines and newspapers. He has had more than 600 articles published in major national publications. He was a monthly columnist and features contributor to Oceans Magazine and a weekly columnist, op-ed contributor, and features travel writer and photographer for The Baltimore Sun. (read more)
COMPETITION COLUMN
The competition on January 11 will be on the Open theme:
In open competitions, free rein is given to the choices the photographer makes in the creation of the submitted image. Images of any and all subjects or themes, created using any photographic or post-processing methods or techniques, are acceptable. The images are evaluated based upon the judge’s general assessment of their creativity, emotional and/or intellectual impact, aesthetic beauty, uniqueness of subject, and technical skill. The judge need not assign any specific weight to any single attribute of the image.
Please be mindful that electronic submissions for projected images must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 4th, Speaker Night. The images should be emailed to: SSCCphotography@yahoo.com. (One important detail – In order to participate in the competition, you must have paid the club’s annual dues before the competition.)
To learn the nitty gritty about the competitions, and for the definition of each of the competition topics, please refer to the Member Handbook and/or 2017-18 Competition Topic Definitions (both of which are accessible from the SSCC website):
- January – Open
- February – Anything Washington D.C.
- March – Open
- April – Architecture Photography
- May – Monochrome Photography
- June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)
As always, if you have any questions about the competitions, please feel free to contact Larry Gold at competition@ssccphotography.org.
ELLIS ROSENBERG IS OUR JANUARY 11 “OPEN” JUDGE
Ellis Rosenberg has been an avid photographer for over 40 years. He has previously served for eight years as Chair of the Reston Photographic Society (RPS), and as a board member of The League of Reston Artists. Ellis also continues serving on The Nature Visions Photo Expo (naturevisions.org) as a board member and in other capacities. These positions have provided him with an excellent exposure in the area of judging. He enjoys photography competitions and is a graduate of The Joe Miller Seminar on Judging. (read more)
A CLOSER FOCUS (JANUARY 18)
An opportunity to share ideas, images, questions, and inspirations
For the January 18 meeting please bring in a couple of your images from your work – a recent field trip or any picture you are proud of or have questions about. We will spend about half an hour sharing.
Half an hour will be an open forum discussing issues at hand. There will also be half an hour for 10 minute presentations by members: further information about PSA, a book report, gallery review, equipment or gadget sharing. This month we will have the following:
- Last month David Terao covered a photo editor called Lumiere 2018, plus showed us easy and dramatic initial steps to apply to our photographs in Lightroom. In January David will continue showing the features of the new Photoshop CC 2018 and Lightroom Classic.
- Tanya Riseman will continue her presentation of the Three Legs of Exposure (ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed). She presented ISO in the December meeting.
- Dave Powell will discuss Exposure Bracketing (a method to ensure a great exposure).
- Gene Luttenberg suggested that we bring in some photographs taken from unusual vertical aspects, e.g. lie on the ground or up on a ladder.
Future topics might include: compositional strength, HDR, abstract images, 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
JANUARY 14 FIELD TRIP: EASTERN MARKET/CAPITOL HILL NEIGHBORHOODS

On Sunday, January 14 join the club for a fun visit to the Capitol Hill area’s Eastern Market. It’s a colorful location with lots of food, people and interesting architecture. (read more)
♦ CLUB NEWS ♦
SSCC MEMBER SNAPSHOT: MELINDA SALZMAN
Melinda Salzman is one of SSCC’s newest members, and is excited to explore mobile phone photography! (read more)
BOARD MEETING
The SSCC Board met on November 30, 2017. Read about it in the following link:
NOVEMBER 25 FIELD TRIP TO WASHINGTON D.C. AT NIGHT
Originally we had planned the November field trip to the Washington D.C. National Mall for night photography on November 18. The weather turned sketchy, so it was postponed to the 25th. Members met at the Smithsonian Metro on the Mall, and did a walking photo tour. We were treated to some of their work at our recent Low Light Photography competition! Two members and also spouses, Sherm Edwards and Melinda Salzman, provide us with some of their images from that trip.
WINTER SOCIAL ON DECEMBER 7
We had our Winter Social on December 7, before our speaker that evening. It was a pot luck, so the tables were loaded with snacks, desserts, and refreshments. Several members brought spouses, and everyone mixed for an hour. It was very nice! Thanks to Wendy and Sue for organizing this! While we were all having fun, Norm Bernache was busy with his camera, and shares these images:
HELP-PORTRAIT AT A WIDER CIRCLE
The Silver Spring Camera Club in conjunction with The Nora School conducted the Help-Portrait event on December 9 at A Wider Circle in Silver Spring. Help-Portrait is an international organization that offers free family portraits to families that would otherwise be unable to afford a professionally produced photograph.
We met at 9 a.m. for setup, and shot from 10:00 through noon. SSCC provided two studio setups with lights. We managed the families, took the photographs, post-processed the selected photos, and provided the results to Dave Mullen for printing and delivery before Christmas. The atmosphere was very festive with families mingling, food and drinks, and even Santa! We had lunch at Armand’s after the shoot.
FIELD TRIP TO THE MORMON TEMPLE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
On December 16 we met for our December field trip at the Mormon Temple for their Festival of Lights. The impressive Mormon Temple and its surrounding grounds shone brightly with more than 650,000 sparkling holiday lights. Here are some of our photos!
♦ FEATURES ♦
KERNELS OF KOREN
This month Michael talks about a complementary resource to SSCC members – the Montgomery County Photography Meetup Group, a Meetup “to create a fun, supportive, light-hearted community of people who want to share their passion for photography” that was started by Vickie Lewis many years ago. Michael also provides a list of descriptions of the camera clubs that comprise the new Maryland Photography Alliance. (read more)







