POSTPONED: Field Trip to Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Furnace

POSTPONED: Field Trip to Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Furnace

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

1 POSTPONED: Field Trip to Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Furnace
2 POSTPONED: Field Trip to Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Furnace

KEY EVENTS

The following scheduled events will be conducted online as Zoom teleconferences, except for the Competition and Field Trip. Look for announcements and invitations by e-mail, Meetup, and on the club’s Website.

March 6 – Speaker Night: (7:30 on Zoom)
March 13 – Competition: Open (7:30 p.m. at Northwood Presbyterian Church)
March 15 – Field Trip: Worm Full Moon and DC Night Sky (6:30 p.m. at Netherlands Pavilion)
March 20 – Photo Forum (7:30 on Zoom)
POSTPONED – Field Trip: Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Blast Furnace (near Pittsburgh PA)
March 27 – Board Meeting (7:30 on Zoom)

2024-2025 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:
Officers and Committee Chairs

More information is available in the Silver Spring Camera Club (SSCC) Member Handbook: SSCC-Member-Handbook-2024-2025.

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 March 24. Email items or questions to Sherm Edwards and Tanya Riseman at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.

DEADLINE: BY March 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.

MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS

MEETING LOCATION

For the 2024-2025 club year, the second Thursday meeting of each month will be in person, at Northwood Presbyterian Church (https://www.northwoodchurch.com/). The address is 1200 University Blvd., West, Silver Spring, 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 — Michael Horsley — Photography: Of vs. About

Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 7:30 p.m.

Is photography a hobby, a passion, a pastime, a fine art? What makes a good photograph? How do you know if you are a photographer? Michael Horsley will explore the questions by describing his path with photography by looking at photographs and discussing with participants these topics.

Michael Horsley is a Washington DC based visual artist working primarily in photography, as well as filmmaking, theater/performance art, graphic design and music. He has been a member of I am Eye filmmaking collective, RicnMikenBill performance group, Theater du Jour, curator of KinoRama film series, and Fraudulent Productions. His work has been broadcast on BBC America, MSNBC, and WETA, and exhibited in the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, as well as numerous art spaces. His work has been published in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and the Washington Post, and reviewed in ARTnews, WETA’s Around Town, Washington Post, and the Washington City Paper. He has studied, performed, and collaborated with: musicians Robert Fripp, Bert Lams, and Tony Geballe; artists Michael Platt, Mark Power, Kerik Kouklis, and Frank Diperna; and performing artists Silvana Straw, B. Stanley, and George Kaperonis.

Check out his photo projects, especially “The District: Streets of Washington, 1984-1994” at https://www.michaelhorsley.com.

COMPETITION COLUMN

Our March 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.

Projected Portion of Competition

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 day of the month’s Speaker Night.

Remember:

Send projected image submissions to competition@ssccphotography.org
Format: JPEG, 1000 KB (max)
File Name: Level~Maker’s Name~Image Title.jpg Example: Advanced~Tom Jones~Washington Landscape.jpg . The tilde “~” character separates the 3 subfields of the file name
Level: Novice, Intermediate, or Advanced (see below); capitalization not required.
Maker’s Name: spaces allowed. Please use the same name throughout the year to aid record keeping.

Print Portion of Competition

Members may also submit up to two images meeting the 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.

As you may have heard, the Club has changed the competition levels starting in September 2024. The new levels are Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. To see a list of all 2023-2024 Club members with their tentative competition level assignments, separately for Projected and Print, click here. For details on what this change means for you, click here.

Here’s the schedule for the remainder of the year:

April – Abandoned
May – Monochrome
June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)

JUDGE MICHAEL BROWN – OPEN

I am a self-taught photographer. I started with a 35mm camera in 1964 and later moved to medium format, large format, and now digital. My photographs have been displayed in the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown’s Engine Room Art Space, Baltimore County Arts Guild, Gaithersburg’s Activity Center at Bohrer Park and the Arts Barn at Kentlands, as well as several locations around the state.

To me, photography is an expression of mindfulness – a respect for what I see and the tools I work with. The present moment captures my full attention so that I may explore the subject of my interest. My intent is to create an image that can transport me back to this moment later. It doesn’t matter to me if thousands of others took photos from the same perspective because the perspective is new to me, the exploration and visualization are new to me.

I assess photographs the same way I assess any art, if it grabs my attention, I get closer. If it holds my attention, I explore. During exploration, I critique. What do I like or don’t like? Why? How can it be improved, or what would make it better? As with all art, assessments are subjective, therefore prone to error and bias, and valuable only to those interested.

PHOTO FORUM

Thursday, March 20, 2024, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

March’s planned discussions and presentations:

Your Ideas for Next Year’s Competitions
Your Ideas for Next Year’s Field Trips
What’s on your mind, photographically?
“Monochrome – Why, When, & How” – Pete Morton
“The Library of Congress Field Trip” – the participants
We are soliciting presenters. Contact Dennis ( dennisfreeman4510@msn.com ) if you’d like to present something!

You may send up to 2 images you would like get feedback on or just share. This month’s theme will be “Open.”

More about this Month’s Photo Forum

MARCH FIELD TRIP #1 — Worm Full Moon and DC Night Sky –- Netherlands Carillon

Leader: Gerry Woods, 202-494-2131

When: Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Netherlands Carillon, Arlington, VA. (Near the Iwo Jima Memorial)

Photograph: Night Photography of the “Worm Full Moon” & the DC Skyline

Meet Up: Meet at the Netherlands Carillon (Bell Tower)

Transportation: There is a free parking at the Iwo Jima Memorial parking lot, and lots of on-the-street parking nearby on North Meade Street. Contact Gerry if you need help with transportation. The closest Metro Stop is Rosslyn which is about one mile away.

Bring: Your camera, tripod and a shutter release cable. A lens which extends to 300mm or 400mm is great.

About: Take sunset photos of the Iwo Jima Memorial and then take some “postcard quality” photos of the iconic D.C. Skyline with the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol Building from the vantage point of the Netherlands Carillon.

This is an excellent opportunity to practice “multiple exposure” photography. If your camera has multiple exposure capabilities, you can take a photo of the full moon, and a second photo of the DC Skyline and position the full moon in your image above the DC skyline. If your camera does not have “multiple exposure” capabilities, you can take one photo of the full moon and a second photo of the DC skyline and combine the two images in post processing.

RSVP: To gerrywoodsdc@gmail.com if you plan to attend this event.

Share your images from the trip: With the SSCC Facebook Group, on Meetup, and/or send to cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org for inclusion in the next month’s Cable Release.

POSTPONED: MARCH FIELD TRIP #2 — Abandoned Pennsylvania: Yellow Dog Village and Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historical Landmark

Date & Time: Saturday, March 22^nd. We are scheduled for 1 PM at the Village. It’s 238 miles, about 4 hours [depending on speed] . We drive on Sunday to the Blast Furnace, which is towards Washington. It’s about an hour’s drive from Kittanning, and we should try and be there early, although I’ll take care of the administrative stuff. I scheduled the shoot for 11.

Location: Worthington PA and Pittsburg/Rankin PA

To do: Photograph an abandoned village with 16 buildings still standing [mostly houses] and the occasional ghost. https://yellowdogvillage.com

Maurice Belanger ~ Abandoned

Image 1 of 11

Then: Night with friends, food, and liquid refreshment; and on Sunday we visit an abandoned blast furnace at the Homewood Steel Works. The furnace is about an hour’s drive [towards home]. https://riversofsteel.com/attractions/carrie-furnaces/

Fees and arrangements: I have arranged a private visit for both locations—only Club members, no tourists, but it’s not cheap: $50 per person at Yellow Dog Village. At the Blast Furnace, there is a complicated sliding fee for the group. It is roughly $30-40 per person, depending on the number of people. For example, 5 people would be $40, 8 people $30, etc.

Yellow Dog Village is pay on arrival [cash is best]. Carrie Blast Furnace is a group fee; once we have a firm number, I’ll pay and be reimbursed.

The Carrie photo application may be found here. Please provide me with the required personal info and be sure to include your car. I’ll submit for the group. If possible, please submit the application to me by March 15. My email is philboyer60@gmail.com.

Liability: Carrie Blast Furnace noted that there is an assumption of the risk for visitors; that’s why there is required guide at $55 per hour for group. There is also a flat group fee, depending on size of group]. I will post a waiver of Club liability to be signed and given/sent to Leader.

Overnight suggestion: It’s about a 4-hour drive to Yellow Dog village [hence the 1 p.m. start]. Plan to stay overnight. We will drive on Sunday to Carrie Blast Furnace which is on the way home. Carpools suggested. I recommend Wingate by Wyndham [$139] but there is also a Quality Inn Royal [$96]; both are in Kittanning, about 7 miles from Yellow Dog Village. Wyndam has much better reviews. Note: The Quality Inn is not listed on Expedia, and don’t confuse it with the 20 other Quality Inns in the area.

Contact me at philboyer60@gmail.com or 301-204-5549 if you wish to coordinate.

Bring: Tripod, Telephoto Lens, flashlight [Furnace is dark] appropriate shoes/clothing for the Blast Furnace [e.g., no flip flops or shorts. ].

Leader: Phil Boyer –301-204-5549, philboyer60@gmail.com

Directions to site: Use GPS, OR Per MapQuest.

RSVP NOW FOR MAY FIELD TRIP – Birds of Prey

Gerry Woods is organizing a “Birds of Prey” photo opportunity on Saturday, May 17, 2025, from 1-3 PM.

Note: The date has been changed to May 17th. Gerry will contact you if you have already signed up.

RSVP to gerrywoodsdc@gmail.com if you plan to attend this event. Please provide both your email address and cell phone number if you wish to receive text messages regarding any last minute updates. Tickets are $30 per person. Please make your check out to “Silver Spring Camera Club” and write “Birds of Prey” in the memo line. We will need to receive your payment by April 26, 2025. Checks can be mailed to

SSCC Treasurer, Bruce Schaefer
P.O. Box 2375
Silver Spring, MD 20915.

We will meet at: 1212 North Poes Road, Flint Hill, VA. 22627.

We will photograph close-ups, one at a time, of the birds of prey (condor, falcon, hawk, owl and vulture); then, we will photograph the birds in flight one at a time.

Please contact Gerry Woods if you need transportation, and we will attempt to arrange a carpool.

Earth Quest (https://www.earthquest.org/) is doing this event. Click below to see some sample “Birds of Prey” photos that I took on my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcgerry/albums/72177720323207334

Let me know if you have any questions.
Gerry Woods
202-494-2131

SPRING FIELD TRIPS – Plan Ahead

Apr 5 – Dunbarton Oaks – Georgetown
Apr 22 – Huntley Meadows Park
May 17 – Birds of Prey. Must RSVP – see announcement above. (change of date)
May 22 – Fort McHenry
Jun 7 – US Botanic Garden Conservatory
Jul 12 – Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
Jul TBD – Burnside Farms Sunflowers

CLUB NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS TO KAREN COMSTOCK!

The Washington Gardener Magazine has chosen one of Karen’s photographs, “Out of Darkness,” for publication in their February on-line magazine (p. 17). “Out of Darkness” will be on view this June at Meadowlark Botanic Gardens in Vienna, VA. The Garden Photo Exhibit will be June 6 – July 3. The opening reception will be June 22, 2:00-3:30 pm.

FEBRUARY FIELD TRIP TO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

On February 22, 14 Club members gathered to visit and photograph the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Afterwards, they walked to the Hawk and Dove for lunch in a longtime DC politicos’ haunt.