Member, Photographic Society of America
Winner of the 2008, 2011, and 2012 PSA Henricks Award for best newsletter!
Sherm Edwards and Tanya Riseman, Editors, Cable Release, at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
Contents
KEY EVENTS
The following scheduled events will be conducted online as Zoom teleconferences, except for the Contest and Field Trip. Look for announcements and invitations by e-mail, Meetup, and on the club’s Website.
- January 4 – Speaker (7:30 p.m.)
- January 11- Competition Night: Open (7:30 p.m. at Northwood Presbyterian Church)
- January 14 – Field Trip: DC Architecture (10 a.m.)
- January 18 – Photo Forum (7:30 p.m.)
- January 25 – Board Meeting
2023-2024 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.or
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-2023-2024.
PLEASE CONSIDER PROVIDING MATERIALS FOR THE NEXT CABLE RELEASE:
If you’d like to share an article, announcement, or Letter to the Editor about anything photographic please email them by January 24. Email items or questions to Tanya Riseman and Sherm Edwards at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
DEADLINE: BY January 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS
MEETING LOCATION
For the 2023-2024 club year, the second Thursday meeting of each month will be in person, at Northwood Presbyterian Church (https://www.northwoodchurch.com/). Other meetings will be on Zoom. The in-person meeting will be Competition Night if the judge agrees, otherwise it will be Photo Forum and Competition Night will move to the third Thursday on Zoom.
SPEAKER NIGHT WITH JOE REARDON
Industrial Photography with an Emphasis on Architecture and Post-processing
Thursday, January 4 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Joe Reardon is a Master Photographer born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. His passion for photography began while in his teens when his dad presented him with a 35mm camera that he had won at a local tavern poker game. From the moment he saw his first images he knew that photography would be his voice in the world. Joe pursued formal photography training as a military photographer in the US Navy and graduated from the New England School of Photography. Joe’s work has afforded him the unique opportunity to travel the world and to capture the essence of nature everywhere he has visited.
Joe regularly leads workshops locally, nationally, and internationally. He has produced numerous videos for Topaz Labs over the years and currently also teaches individuals and groups in post process editing as well as a 6 month Mentoring Program for advanced photographers.
Joe is Represented by the following galleries:
Copley Society of Art – Boston, Ma
Rockport Art Museum – Rockport , Ma
South Shore Art Ctr – Cohasset, Ma
Plymouth Ctr for the Arts, – Plymouth, Ma
New Hampshire Art Association, Portsmouth, NH
Joe can be reached here:
joe@visionaryphorotgraphyworkshops.com
https://visionaryphotographyworkshops.com/
COMPETITION COLUMN
Our January topic is Open:
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.
Members may submit up to two images meeting this definition for the Projected competition. Look here for details on Projected submissions. Projected images should be emailed to: competition@ssccphotography.org by midnight (11:59 p.m.) on the previous Thursday. Usually, this is the day of the month’s Speaker Night.
Members may also submit up to two images meeting this definition for the Print competition. Look here (Section IV) for details on submissions. A label template for Print submissions may be found here.
(One important detail – In order to participate in either competition, you must pay the club’s annual dues before the start of the competition.)
Looking ahead, February’s topic is Industrial. If you’re not sure where to find appropriate subjects, check out an explication of the topic and some suggested sites here.
BOB WEBBER– JUDGE – OPEN
Thursday, January 11, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., at Northwood Presbyterian Church
Bob built his first camera out of a cardboard box, tracing paper, and his grandmother’s Opera glasses. He started serious hobby photography with a Praktica SLR in 1970, working with black and white film and developing and printing his own work. Later he also tried color slides with the Ciba Chrome process.
He moved to digital photography in 2001 and got serious about the art of photography in 2014 by joining Arundel Camera Club (ACC). He is interested in creative symmetry designs that provoke the question: How did you do that?
He regards judging images as a way to pass on the skills he has learned in his time with ACC. Photography is also a way to keep him out of trouble and try to answer the question of what is Art. He is a retired engineer/scientist in the biomedical field.
PHOTO FORUM
Thursday, January 18, 2023, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Join us for discussion on topics including: What do you enjoy shooting in winter? Outdoors? Indoors?
We have up to three presentations this month:
- Color Grading in Lightroom; It’s White Balance on Steroids” by Tanya Riseman The Color Grading panel can be used to produce monochrome, sepia, and duotones from grayscale images. In color images, it casts a different color for each of the shadows, midtones, and highlights; kind of like a souped-up version of White Balance for each!”
- A Wildlife Presentation by Steve Harvey
- We are looking for volunteers to present for future months. Contact Dennis ( dennisfreeman4510@msn.com ) with your idea.
We wrap the evening up with Photo Sharing. Send 1 or 2 of your images to share if you wish; this month’s theme is Open.
In December’s Photo Forum, Tanya Riseman presented ” Evoke Depth with Vanishing Point Perspective – Plus Seven Other Techniques“. Check out the presentation here.
FIELD TRIP – DC ARCHITECTURE
UNION STATION, POST OFFICE, AND CAPITOL
Leader: Phil Boyer -30-204-5549
When: Sunday January 14th
Where: Meet at Entrance of Union Station 10 AM
To Photograph: Classic 19th Century Greek and Roman Architecture, at least as copied by Americans. We won’t be looking for the big tourist shots, but the architectural details and angles. If you’re an architecture buff, there is a lot of cool stuff nobody notices. Additional options include indoor street photography and train tracks.
Observe: As a follow up to a presentation at December’s Photo Forum, Do the buildings look like they follow two or three point perspective? In real life vs. the photo you take with your camera.
Lunch: Indoor Restaurants at Union Station; 1908 Café Recommended.
DIRECTIONS: Really?
CLUB NEWS
BOARD MEETING
The SSCC Board last met in December. Minutes from all meetings can be found in the board meeting minutes archives when they have been finalized. January’s board meeting will be on the 25th.
FEATURES
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. Here are the images submitted for this year’s challenge.
ART OF THE SILVER SPRING CAMERA CLUB SHOW
The Meeting House Gallery in Columbia, Maryland will be presenting “ART OF THE SILVER SPRING CAMERA CLUB”, from January 13, 2024 to April 13, 2024. Please support your fellow photographic artists by joining us at our reception on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2024, FROM 2PM TO 4PM. Music and refreshments will be provided.
The Meeting House Gallery is located at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, 5885 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia, MD, 21045.
Please direct any questions to Wendy Kates at wendy.kates.30@gmail.com
MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
Edited by Marc Auerbach
In our club SSCC, the membership runs from beginner to professional. Every member has a story to tell. Each month the Cable Release will shine the spotlight on some of our members. Read their spotlight biographies here.
MPA NEWS YOU CAN USE
MPA Announces New Workshops
The Maryland Photography Alliance is pleased to announce three (3) new workshops in its MPA Adventures in Light series. Whether you want to brush up on the basics, learn night photography, photograph the Milky Way, or just photograph the beautiful landscapes of Maryland’s Eastern Shore…then these workshops are for you.
MPA and Working Image Photography have worked together for three years and invite you to learn more about these great opportunities by going to www.mdphotoalliance.org/grant-program-1.
MPA Members receive a $30 discount off the public price. Tickets are limited so act quickly.
JANUARY’S ARTIST SPOTLIGHT – THE WEBINAR
A free virtual event Wednesday, January 10, at 7:00 p.m. ET
Kenneth Hines, Jr., presents “Creating Dynamic Landscapes and Cityscapes”, which teaches you how to combine your keen eye for image composition with the powerful editing tools of today’s photography software, utilizing Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to bring creativity to your travel imagery.
FREE Registration at https://www.mdphotoalliance.org/artistspotlight
Lisa Auerbach, MPA Representative
HONORING DAVE POWELL
SSCC lost a longtime member, friend, and mentor when David Wesley Powell passed away on August 1, 2023. Before his death, the Club presented Dave with a framed Certificate of Appreciation. Now, the Club intends to honor his memory with a donation to a non-profit that Dave was keen to help.
We asked his wife, Jane, which non-profit Dave would have wanted donations to go to. Her answer might surprise you, but Dave was passionate about many things. Beside making and showing his photography, Dave was active member of the International Plastic Modelers Society, and a saxophone musician in his church community. In his last couple of years Dave was working to master the harmonica.
Jane told us about Hungry for Music, a nonprofit organization whose “mission is putting quality musical instruments into hungry hands. We serve children who demonstrate a desire to learn music, as well as teachers who have students willing to learn.”
We invite members who wish to contribute by bringing a check made out to “Silver Spring Camera Club” to either the January 11 in-person meeting or by mailing your check by January 4, 2024.
To mail your check to us please send it to:
SSCC
P.O. Box 2375
Silver Spring MD 20915
The Club will then combine and send a single check to Hungry for Music, dedicating the gift to Dave.
Members who wish to donate directly to Hungry for Music in Dave’s honor may do so here.
PLAN NOW for the Spring Semester!
Registration is soon for short courses and full college courses at Montgomery College, all with heavy discounts for veterans and seniors 60+. Check out Karen’s Finkelman’s list of metro area courses and more.
PHOTO FORUM PDF SLIDES
Evoke Depth in Your Photos
Evoke Depth with Vanishing Point Perspective; Plus Seven Other Techniques.
by Tanya Riseman
Presented on December 21, 2023
Evoking the sense of depth and volume in two dimensional images is one of the important aspects of successful photography. Constructing or highlighting one, two or three point perspective is very helpful. Other techniques include overlapping objects, diminishing object perspective, the use of light and shadow, atmospheric perspective, and the contrast of warm and cool colors. We also speculate on how our physiology and evolution is the bed-stone of some of these effects. Read more here.
FLASH WORKSHOPS
Pete Morton and Dennis Freeman have kindly given two flash workshops to club members, with one more group to go. At the second workshop in December, we learned about fill flash (unfortunately on a rainy day). They exposed us to the use of multiple flashes all triggered at the same time to create more compelling images than one can usually get just using ambient light. Thank you, Dennis and Pete!
CONFERENCES AND EXPOS
MEMBER ARTICLES
COMPETITION RESULTS
MACRO/CLOSE-UP COMPETITION – December 14
December’s competition was Macro/Close-up for projected and print images. Joel Hoffman was our judge.
Three categories were judged: Advanced Projected (i.e., digital images), Novice Projected, and Advanced Print. Due to insufficient submissions, there was no Novice Print category. There were no Beginner entries. Awards are generally 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: David Terao ~ Flash Tube
2nd Place: Karen Finkelman ~ Barkitecture
3rd Place: Wendy Kates ~ Dancing Coneflower
HM: David Blass ~ Focused on the Game
HM: Ilona Linnoila ~ Feather
HM: Sherm Edwards ~ Garden in Winter
David Terao ~ Flash Tube
This image depicts a flash tube as it is being triggered. The blue Xenon gas inside the tube is real, not photoshopped. I first shot the flash tube being discharged at its lowest setting to capture the lighted gas. Then, I removed the flash tube, placing it on a reflective, black plastic sheet and photographed the tube with two strip softboxes. The two images were combined in Photoshop using the overlay blending mode.
NOVICE PROJECTED
1st Place: Anne Golfer ~ End of the Season
2nd Place: Will Rabinovich ~ Inner Glow
3rd Place: Anne Golfer ~ Fly In a Tulip
Anne Golfer ~ End of the Season
I'm always looking at details in a scene, which is why macro photography fascinates me. I can walk around my house on any given day, take 100 shots, and feel lucky if I end up with one that's a keeper. I shot this a while ago with my Canon T3i and 50mm lens. To some, it may look like a dying weed. To me, the dandelion's minute intricacies were breathtaking.
ADVANCED PRINT
1st Place: Beth Koller – Silverware Camouflage
2nd Place: Beth Koller ~ Hanging on – Tight Rope
3rd Place: David Terao ~ Dragonfly
Beth Koller ~ Silverware Camouflage
This was my first foray into the tilt-shift world. I set up the scene using a roll of dotted wrapping paper (on sale from Michael's $1) on a table with a sweep back. I took test shots with a mounted trigger to adjust the overhead and 45 degree side lighting. I had to learn how to use a grid system to focus on the front of the object and then focus again on the back while using the opposite hand. Maintaining a still position while shooting freehand was the most difficult thing. Next time I will use a camera mount.
NOVICE PRINT
Due to insufficient submissions, there was no Novice Print category.
COURSES, CALLS FOR ENTRY, AND EXHIBITS
PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
by Karen Finkelman
The following list describes various photography classes and workshops in the Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington DC area. Specific workshop offerings may be held in the classroom, in-field, online or via Zoom. Please see individual classes for the instruction format.
The list is organized into three categories:
- Classes and Workshops in the Washington DC area
- Online Courses
- Multi-Day Photography Workshops Within & Beyond the DMV
PLAN NOW for the Spring Semester! Registration is soon for short courses and full college courses at Montgomery College, all with discounts for veterans and seniors 60+.
Please feel free to recommend any classes or workshops you have taken. Email the Cable Release Editors at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org and we will forward the recommendations.
Note: Inclusion in this list is not an endorsement of the provider or a particular course/workshop.
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.
See the full Calls for Entry article here.
EXHIBITS AND EVENTS
An occasional column by Karen Finkleman
The following is a list of current exhibits and events in the Washington DC metro area, many taking place over several months.
Last Chance: The exhibit Perspective: Coriolana Simon, until January 13, 2024, at The Mansion at Strathmore. The artist uses objects that would have been appropriate in the 17th century and re-interprets historical themes in a contemporary fashion.
See the full Exhibits and Events article here.
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
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David Terao’s Dew Drops in a Poppy is exquisite. I’d like to know more about this image.
Tanya, thank you for continuing this project. I am always inspired by the images.
I love the Member Spotlight feature. We learn stuff about them that would never come up in casual conversation. I am dying to ask some of them about things they’ve revealed here next time I see them. Keep it up!