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Maurice Belanger and Sherm Edwards, Editors, Cable Release, at cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.

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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.

• May 7 – Speaker Night (7:30 p.m. on Zoom)
• May 14 – Competition: Monochrome (7:30 p.m. at Christ the King Presbyterian Church)
• May 21 – Photo Forum (7:30 p.m. on Zoom)
• May 28 – Board Meeting
• June 11 – End of Year Meeting (6:30 p.m. at Christ the King Presbyterian Church; see details here )

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2025-2026 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.

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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!

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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.

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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 June 24. Email items or questions to Sherm Edwards and Maurice Belanger at  cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.    

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

 

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MEETINGS AND FIELD TRIPS

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MEETING LOCATION

For the 2025-2026 club year, the second Thursday meeting of each month will be in person, at Christ the King Presbyterian Church, formerly Northwood Presbyterian Church. The address is 1200 University Blvd. West, Silver Spring. Other meetings will be on Zoom, except for Feedback sessions on the fifth Thursdays of October and April. The second Thursday 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.

FIELD TRIPS

The Silver Spring Camera Club offers free field trips for our members and their guests. Field trips are typically scheduled on a Saturday, Sunday or a Monday holiday during the club season, and sometimes during the summer as well. Most trips are to locations in and around the DMV. For further details about specific field trips, consult the current Cable Release newsletter, the SSCC website at https://www.ssccphotography.org, or the SSCC Facebook Group Page.

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SPEAKER NIGHT –  Alyce Bender  – Wildflower Photography:  Capturing Seasonal Beauty

Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.

 Alyce Bender is a professional nature photographer, writer, educator, and adventurer whose creative journey began with a camera in hand during childhood. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, her lifelong passion for photography evolved into a full-time career rooted in a deep love for wildlife and the natural world. Through compelling imagery and immersive field experiences, she seeks to inspire a greater connection to nature, promoting conservation, creativity, and ethical photography practices. 

Bender is a Tamron Ambassador, a contributing writer and photographer for the Journal of Wildlife Photography, and a mentor with the non-profit Girls Who Click. Her work has been showcased in both solo and group exhibitions across the United States and featured in publications spanning from the U.K. to Japan. During her tours and workshops, she guides photographers of all skill levels to ethically explore their creative vision while deepening their understanding of the natural world. When not out in the field, she offers a range of educational and mentorship opportunities, available both in person and online. 

Visit her website at: https://www.abenderphotography.com.

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COMPETITION COLUMN

Our May topic is Monochrome

The term “Monochrome Photography” encompasses images that use only a single color, including the full array of shades of that color. So, for example, black and white photos, with black as the single color and its multiple shades of gray to white, are monochrome. Other single colors and their shades are equally acceptable. Under this definition, a sepia tone photo is acceptable, but a sepia tone photo containing a red umbrella would not qualify as a monochrome. Any subject matter is acceptable. In addition, a photo is acceptable if it was originally taken as a color image, as long as the image presented for the competition has been rendered into monochrome.

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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 Competition Rules and Awards for information on the three levels); capitalization not required. 
• Maker’s Name: spaces allowed. Please use the same name throughout the year to aid record keeping.

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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.

The Club 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 (as of September 2025), separately for Projected and Print, click here. For details on what this change means for you, click here.

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

• June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply) 

Details about the End of Year Competition, including how, what, and when to submit, may be found here.

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MAY COMPETITION JUDGE: Bidyottam Mittra — Topic: Monochrome

May 14, 2026, 7:30 p.m., at Christ the King Presbyterian Church

Bidyottam is an infectious diseases scientist by profession, currently working at the NIH, and a photographer by passion. His photographic journey started with a Fuji point-and-shoot camera he received from his dad as a high-school graduation gift. The limitations of a point-and-shoot camera forced him to explore compositional ideas from his formative days, seeking unique light and point of views to make his photographs stand out; qualities that he found extremely helpful when he graduated to SLR, and finally to DSLR in 2005.

Bidyottam’s first and foremost passion has been nature photography, inspired by the masters like Ansel Adams and Sebastiao Selgado. He has extensively traveled and photographed the American West. He has also traveled and photographed across the globe with the sole intention of the capturing stories of the places and people in his images.

After settling in the DC area, he joined the Gaithersburg Camera Club in 2014, which opened a completely new world of photographic possibilities for him to explore and helped him mature as a photographer. He enjoyed planning and shooting photographs for themed competitions, particularly to experimenting with light and monochrome.

Currently, Bidyottam is one of the most successful members of the club, becoming a “Grandmaster” in 2018 and winning six “Photographer of the Year” awards between 2017 and 2019. He has won multiple awards in other competitions including a first-place award in the 2019 Maryland Photography Alliance (MPA) Photo Contest. His photographs have been published in magazines and images have also been exhibited in multiple juried exhibits including all of MPA’s exhibits from 2017-19.

Bidyottam considers his association with the camera club to be a major influence in his personal development as a photographer, and believes in giving back to the club in various capabilities – in mentoring new comers as well as a member of the board. Recently he discovered a new avenue to share his photographic experience and passion with fellow enthusiasts in the role of a MPA certified photo competition judge. 

To see his work, visit his website, https://bidyottammittra.smugmug.com/.

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PHOTO FORUM

Thursday, May 21, 2026, from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. (on Zoom)

May planned discussions and presentations:

• Critiques and Image Sharing – Members may send up to 2 images to share and receive critiques, if they want. This month’s theme is Open. Send your images to Dennis Freeman before 5:00 p.m., WEDNESDAY, May 20.   (Dennisfreeman4510@msn.com). 
• Presentation: “New Tools/Capabilities of Lightroom and Photoshop/Camera Raw” – Pete Morton
• Presentation: “The Godox iT32 Compact Flash” – Dennis Freeman
• Open Discussion: What’s on your mind, photographically?  

We are soliciting presenters. Contact Dennis ( dennisfreeman4510@msn.com ) if you’d like to present something!

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MAY FIELD TRIP — Assateague Island National Seashore

On May 16, club members will make a journey to Assateague Island for an overnight trip that will include making images of the Milky Way. This field trip is already sold out. If you are interested, contact the trip leader, Gerry Woods (gerrywoodsdc@gmail.com), to get on the wait list.

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.

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CLUB NEWS

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END OF YEAR MEETING

The annual End of Year Meeting will be held on Thursday, June 11, at Christ the King Presbyterian Church. Click on the buttons below for more information and/or to sign up to bring food or drink or to help with setup, cleanup, etc.

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TREASURER NEWS

Our esteemed treasurer, Bruce Schaefer, has relocated, so we need one or more volunteers to help manage Club finances. If you are interested, contact Club President Catherine Honigsberg, president@ssccphotography.org.

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LAST CALL – HELP SELECT A NEW LOGO FOR THE CLUB – POLL CLOSES MAY 7th

This is your last chance to have a say in choosing a new logo for the club. We have a ballot with three new logos plus the original one. Join your fellow club members now in electing the one that will represent our club for years to come.

Why an acorn, you ask? Francis Preston Blair proposed to his wife under a white oak. He celebrated the event with an acorn inspired gazebo near the mica-flecked spring in his estate and future city of Silver Spring. The acorn has been part of Silver Spring’s identity ever since. 

Please vote only once, even though you may get multiple reminders. Note: Only Silver Spring Camera Club members may vote. The deadline is 11:59 PM May 7th, 2026, which is our speaker night.

The voting link is: 

https://forms.gle/uaPwVWUjuWNF47dq6

Curious about the results of Quiz One and Quiz Two? Here is the summary: http://www.ssccphotography.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Logo-Quiz-Summary-and-Short-List-20260326.pdf

Thank you so much for your input!

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ARE YOU ONE OF US?

Check out SSCC’s new recruiting poster! You can download it from this page if you want to use it yourself.

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LOOKING AHEAD: UPCOMING FIELD TRIPS

By Gerry Woods

Field trips are a great way to make new friends and learn from other club members.  We attempt to schedule at least one field trip per month.  Most field trips are open to both member and non-members.  However, we must occasionally limit participation to members only (usually due to space limitations).  When possible, field trips end with a group lunch.  

Ride Sharing 

Ride sharing is encouraged to reduce the size of our vehicle presence and enhance the traveling experience.  If you need transportation to a field trip, or if you are willing to provide transportation, please send an email to gerrywoodsdc@gmail.com.

Please note that SSCC does not have insurance for carpooling arrangements and assumes no liability for them. Carpooling, ride sharing, or anything similar is strictly a private arrangement among the participants who shall assume the risks associated with this travel.

Tentative Schedule of Field Trips into the Summer

• May 16 and 17: Overnight field trip to the Assateague Island National Seashore. [This field trip is currently sold out. See above.]

• June 20: Trip to the Glenstone Art Museum & Gardens in Potomac, Maryland. 

The current field trip schedule is always posted in the Cable Release. However, the schedule is subject to last minute changes due to the weather and other unforeseen factors.  For the latest news about field trips, you may also check the Meetup App, or the SSCC Facebook Group.

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MARYLAND PHOTOGRAPHY ALLIANCE

by Lisa Auerbach

MPA’s 4th Annual Black & White Photo Contest: The awards ceremony will be online on Sunday, May 3, at 11:00 a.m. For more information go to https://www.mdphotoalliance.org/2026-bw-photo-contest.

MPA will host several other exciting events in the upcoming months. We hope that you take advantage of them. You will find more in-depth information on the MPA Website. 

• Artist Spotlight – The Podcast: There have been several additions to Mitch Stinger’s interviews.  They include: Fine Art Photographer and Film Director Mark de Paola; Street Photographer Daniel Fetherston; Wildlife, Landscape, and Cultural Photographer Art Wolfe; and more. Find more information on the podcast website.

• Artist Spotlight – The Webinar: The next event, on May 28, will feature Jo-Anne McArthur. In this presentation, Jo-Anne draws upon twenty-five years of field experience to share stories captured through her own lens and those of the many photographers at her non-profit, We Animals. Together, they demonstrate how strategic visual   storytelling serves as a vital piece of the puzzle in the global mission to reduce animal cruelty and foster a more compassionate future.

• Maryland Masters offers web-based educational opportunities by Maryland based speakers and raises money for many Marylanders. During each webinar, attendees will be asked to make a donation to The Maryland Food Bank or Flashes of Hope, our current recipients of all donations. The webinars will always be free to MPA Members and making donations will always be voluntary. Recently in Maryland Masters MPA’s Sandy Imoel talked with Leo Howard Lebow about Blue Note Moments and Other Points in Time.

Take time to visit the MPA website for all the information about what MPA achieves. If you have questions, contact membership@ssccphotography.org.

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MEMBER NEWS – Images by SSCC Members Selected for N VA Exhibit

The Northern Virginia Alliance of Camera Clubs’ 15th Annual Joseph Miller Abstract Photography Exhibit — named for an area photographer who was known for popularizing abstract photography — is “an online juried exhibition celebrating excellence and innovation in abstract photographic imagery. This annual event welcomes photographers worldwide who explore abstraction through lens-based practices. The exhibit continues a long tradition of presenting work that emphasizes line, form, texture, color, and imaginative interpretation.” The online gallery opens May 1.

SSCC members represented in the exhibit include Beth Koller (two images), David Terao (two images), and Sherm Edwards (one image). One of Beth’s images that will be on display was featured in the February issue of Cable Release.

If your images are going to be exhibited, or you’ve won awards, or if you have other news about your photography you’d like to share, send your news to  cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org. The deadline for the following month’s issue is the 24th of the month.

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BOARD MEETING

The SSCC Board last met on April 21, 2026. The date for the next meeting via Zoom will be May 28. Normally the Board meets on the 4th Thursday of the month. Minutes from all meetings can be found in the board meeting minutes archives when they have been finalized.

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FEATURES

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CONFERENCES AND EXPOS

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MEMBER ARTICLES

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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 June 24. Email items or questions to Sherm Edwards and Maurice Belanger at  cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.    

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

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COMPETITION RESULTS

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COMPETITION: Images from SSCC Field Trips – April 16, 2026

April’s competition topic was “Images from SSCC Field Trips” for projected and print images. Ron Peiffer was our judge. Here is the definition for the field trip image competition, from our website:

This month’s competition is open for any picture that was taken while on an SSCC field trip. There are no time restrictions on when submitted images were taken.

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, Intermediate, and Novice levels. For the April competition, in the Projected category, Novice and Intermediate were combined due to insufficient entries, and first, second, and third place were awarded, with two honorable mentions. At the Advanced level, first, second, and third place were awarded, with one honorable mention. In the Print category, all categories were combined due to insufficient entries, and first, second, and third place were awarded (with no honorable mentions).

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ADVANCED PROJECTED

First Place: Backlit, Wendy Kates

Second Place: Heading Up, Wendy Kates

Third Place: View of Freedom, Maude Svensson

Honorable Mention: Boots Made for Rockin, Beth Koller

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INTERMEDIATE AND NOVICE PROJECTED (combined)

First Place: Pretty in Pink, Gerry Woods

Second Place: Kenilworth Second Life, Michele Destin-van Rijn

Third Place: Nobody Comes, Nobody Goes, Maurice Belanger

Honorable Mention: Kenilworth Lotus Bud with Dragonfly, Diane Sanders

Honorable Mention: Man’s Best Friend 3, Gerry Woods

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COMBINED PRINT COMPETITION

First Place: Green Sink and Toilet, Ilona Linnoila

Second Place: LaLa at Noon, Tom Allen

Third Place: Sly Eye of Glen Echo, Beth Koller

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COURSES, CALLS FOR ENTRY, AND EXHIBITS

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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

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.

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CALLS FOR ENTRY

by Dennis Freeman

The link below 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. One notable local call is below the link.

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Exhibits and Events

by Karen Finkelman

For a list of current museum and gallery exhibits, and a list of photogenic events taking place in the area in the coming weeks, click on the button below.

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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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