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 Field Trip. Look for announcements and invitations by e-mail, Meetup, and on the club’s Website.
- Sept 4 – Field Trip! Maryland Renaissance Festival (10 a.m.)
- Sept 7- Speaker Night (7:30 p.m. on Zoom)
- Sept 14 – Competition – Open (7:30 p.m. at Northwood Presbyterian Church)
- Sept 16 – Field Trip! Elk Neck State Park (10:00 a.m.)
- Sept 21 – Photo Forum (7:30 p.m. on Zoom)
- Sept 28 – Board Meeting- (7:30 p.m. on Zoom)
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.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:
PLEASE CONSIDER PROVIDING MATERIALS FOR THE OCTOBER CABLE RELEASE:
If you’d like to share an article, announcement, or Letter to the Editor about anything photographic please email them by September 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 SEPTEMBER 24th TO cablereleaseeditor@ssccphotography.org.
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Welcome Back!
I hope everyone enjoyed their summer and is ready to participate in our 2023 – 2024 club year. The board and chair positions have been working hard this summer to ensure we have a well-planned and full agenda. Please look in the Cable Release and on our website for updated information. Our updated handbook will help guide you through the year as well.
We will be meeting in person on the second Thursday of each month during the 2023-2024 Club year, at Northwood Presbyterian Church. The in-person meetings will either be competition (if we have an in-person judge) or Photo Forum. Other Thursday meetings – Speaker Night on the first Thursday and either Photo Forum or Competition Night on the third Thursday, will be virtual, on Zoom. Please contact membership if you need assistance in joining us on Zoom.
I would like to introduce our board members. Dennis Freeman is returning as our Vice President, Bruce Schaefer is returning as Treasurer, and I am returning as President. We welcome Miriam Struck as Secretary. Our directors are Michael Koren, Bob Catlett, and Pete Morton.
Our current chair positions are as follows: Phil Boyer is Field Trip Chair, Norm Bernache is our Historian, Tanya Riseman and Sherm Edwards are Newsletter Editors, Will Rabinovich is running our website, Frank Gallagher is the Program Chair who finds our judges and speakers, and Lisa Auerbach, Marc Auerbach, and Andrew Rein are running Membership. The Competition Chair position is currently open.
We continue with the successful Photo Forum. David Blass, Pete Morton, Dennis Freeman, and Andrew Rein comprise the working group that plans the meetings. This program has a format with discussions, presentations, breakout rooms and photo critiques.
I want to thank all those who participate and volunteer to make this a successful group. We are looking for more help this year. Please consider volunteering some time to help the chair positions and Executive Council.
We added more new members at the end of last year and look forward to meeting new people with our gatherings posted on Meetup. If you are not a member of Meetup, please reach out and we can get you signed up to help let you know what we are doing each week. We are enjoying good turnouts for our various meetings.
We have a list of field trips ready, speakers and judges lined up, and competition topics available. Get ready for another exciting year. I look forward to seeing everyone again over the next few weeks!
Catherine Honigsberg
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.
BURKE SEIM – SPEAKER – THE STATE OF THE CAMERA INDUSTRY
Burke Seim has been the president/owner of Service Photo, Inc., since 1991. During that time, Service Photo has navigated the transition of photography from film to digital, along with the constant competition from big box stores and online mega stores. And now, as cameras and lenses transition from SLR to mirrorless, Service Photo is helping photographers with their new gear along with trade-ins of their SLR gear. Service Photo has been the only brick-and-mortar camera store in Maryland for many years now. Burke will discuss what’s happening in the photo industry, and answer all of your questions.
COMPETITION COLUMN
Welcome to the 2023-2024 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. To open our first competition on September 14, we are proud to have Roz Kleffman as our judge.
Our September 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. The images should be emailed to: competition@ssccphotography.org by midnight on Thursday, September 7. (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:
- October – Nature Photography
- November – Open
- December – Macro/Closeup
- January – Open
- February – Industrial
- March – Open
- April – Intentional Camera Movement
- May – Monochrome Photography
- June – End of Year Competition (special rules apply)
Please refer to the website link for the definition of each topic.
Note: A policy on the use of AI, particularly generative AI, is being developed. In the meantime, please be mindful of the Official Competition Rules and Awards r08-2023 The pertinent rules can be summarized as
- The photograph originates from a light-sensitive device (such as film or digital camera, as well as scanned film, enlarger, copier, or flatbed scanner, etc), (Section 1)
- The photograph is made by the entrant and any image editing, retouching, or manipulation of images must be done by the entrant. (Section IV)
- Respects others’ copyright. (Section 1)
ROZ KLEFFMAN – JUDGE – SEPTEMBER 14 OPEN COMPETITION
PHOTO FORUM
Thursday, Sept 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, photographically?
- Which online Facebook photography groups do you like and belong to?
- Suggestions for future Speaker topics? (will pass to Frank Gallagher)
- Future Photo Forum directions?
- Likes
- Suggestions
- Changes / Additions
Presentations:
- “Flash Photography, from on-Camera to Studio” – by Dennis Freeman & Pete Morton
- “Steep your Photos in Select and Dramatic Colors” – by Tanya Riseman
- We are looking for volunteers to present for this and future months. Contact Dennis ( dennisfreeman4510@msn.com ) with your idea.
Image Sharing:
- Send up to 2 images you would like to share and get feedback on. Use a “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!
- Your jpg images can be up to 1 MB size each. (please use our digital Competition specs: www.ssccphotography.org/competitions/digital-entry-specifications-r08-2023/ ) .
- If your prefer, include “Share Only” in your title to indicate that you’d like to just share and talk about your image, and are not asking for suggested critiques and processing suggestions. To get the default critiques and suggestions do nothing!
This month’s theme will be Open. Send your images to Dennis Freeman before 5:00 p.m., WEDNESDAY, Sept 20. (dennisfreeman4510@msn.com).
This is expected to be a great evening of sharing and learning. What topics would you like to explore? Topics can be wide-ranging, such as photo book reviews, an aspect of your own photography that you’d like to share, reviews or discussion of shows, photo gear, software, etc.
Please join us for a fun and educational evening!
FIELD TRIP — MARYLAND RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
Date & Time: Monday, September 4 (Labor Day) at 10.00
Location: Address 1921 Crownsville Rd, Annapolis. Meet at Front Gate.
Leader’s phone number—301-204-5549
**Carpool** See here for the carpool location at Forest Glen Metro Station.
Overview: Make believe 15th Century village fair, with King/Queen, hundreds of people in period costumes, games, entertainment, jousting, and general merriment.
Bring: Tripod, walking shoes, and appetite (lots of food and drink).
Leader: Phil Boyer –301-204-5549, philboyer60@gmail.com
Directions
Get on I-495 E in Silver Spring wherever you are
6 mi
US-50 E to Anne Arundel County.
20 m
Take exit 16 for MD-424/Davidsonville Rd toward Davidsonville/Crofton.
0.5 mi
Keep left at the fork, follow signs for MD-424 N
456 ft
Take Rossback Rd, Rutland Rd and MD-450 E to your destination
FIELD TRIP — ELK NECK STATE PARK
Date & Time: Saturday, September 16, at 10.00. Meet at Visitor Center.
Location: 4395 Turkey Point Rd., North East, MD 21901
Carpool: Meet at Glenmont Metro—Must contact Leader in advance.
Overview: State park along Chesapeake Bay in northeastern Maryland. Nature In all its glory!! Also, Turkey Point Lighthouse, which is located on huge cliffs, views of the bay, marshlands and two rivers—Elk Neck and Northeast.
To Bring: Tripod, walking shoes, and binoculars might be useful.
Leader: Phil Boyer – 301-204-5549, philboyer60@gmail.com
Lunch: TBD
Directions: Use GPS (recommended) or I-95 North to Bay View Md [past Susquehanna river]. Go right on Rte 272, follow south to the end.
CLUB NEWS
JULY FIELD TRIP TO PALACE OF GOLD AND WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY
Who knew that Moundsville WV held such photo-worthy treasures? Five SSCC members made the 5-hour trek to Moundsville July 14 and 15.
“A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) is widely regarded as the foremost Vedic scholar, translator, and teacher of the modern era. He is also the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. . . . In 1973 devotees decided to build a home for Srila Prabhupada, where he could write his books and enjoy the clean country air,” which became the Palace of Gold.
The Penitentiary is “an imposing stone structure fashioned in the castellated Gothic architectural style (adorned with turrets and battlements, like a castle),” according to the facility’s Website. These days, it is a tourist attraction for “historical and paranormal” tours.
