Today I encountered a remarkable
series of photos of waves while
cruising the web (please note that I
avoided using the obvious pun--
the word surfing-- which would have
been too lame, even for me.




To see all of them go to this website: http://internetpopculture.com/2009/09/15/inside-the-tube-incredible-wave-photography/

Byron

Meeting November 4th

I e-mailed Dr. Jim Terman who, unlike me, is a real practicing physician, and who is quite tuned in to the H1N1 flu situation.Here are the exchange of our recent e-mails:

Jim--
I haven't heard anything that would indicate that there is
currently an H1N1 epidemic here in La Crosse and thus there is no need to
cancel our November 4th meeting. Do you agree that we can go ahead?
Thanks and regards,
Byron

Yes. There are a number of absences in schools but that shouldn't
affect our plans given the comments I made earlier.
Jim

Please scroll down to an e-mail from Dr. Terman which was posted about 10 days ago in which he discusses the risks of H1N1 and some sensible precautions. You will find it very informative.

Byron

Booknotes

I've uploaded scans of the covers of some books that may be of interest to you. I'll have all of them readily available at our November 4th meeting if you care to take a look at them.

Designs on the Land is much more that just a collection of aerial photographs. Rather it documents how significantly the face of the land is being altered by human activity. Anyone concerned about runaway development may enjoy this book.

Zoe Strauss' America is a wonderful document of impressions of America in the early 21st century. It reminded me in some ways of Robert Frank's seminal work The Americans. This book is highly recommended.

Finally, John Szarkowski's book Looking at Photographs. I purchased this book from Amazon with high expectations. Szarkowski is the very esteemed former curator of the photography collection at the MOMA and the person who put together the exhibit and book The Family of Man. To say that this book is a disappointment is an understatement. It fails as a collection and for me there was hardly a worthwhile image in the entire book. The collection lacks any kind of coherence. But the worst aspect is the text-- the author indulges in a kind of art criticism which is vastly over-intellectualized and so obtuse that I'm not sure that I understood what he was talking about with most of his commentary. This kind of thing is commonplace in the the Art world and I think that it is fortunate that it is less so in Photography.

I suspect that most of you are aware of this image which was used in a universally despised Ralph Lauren ad. Bloggers far and wide copied and posted the image to accompany their caustic comments. Ralph Lauren's initial response was to sic the lawyers on the bloggers. Shame, shame on them! When the incident went viral, they pulled the ad and apologized. Like all good things Photoshop can be turned into something malign when misused (the first analogy that comes to mind is the use of prescription meds that relieve pain).

Byron

Links (see previous posts)

Here are the links to the 2 websites referenced in my previous post. I won't explain why they're not included because it's somewhat technical and complex. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Byron
1--http://www.lightstalking.com/

2--http://beforethecoffee.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/pontiac-chiefton-1953/

Fabulous Photography Website

At our next meeting one of the things that I intend to explore about is the use and abuse of HDR. As you may recall I have been very enthusiastic about HDR, in fact so much so that I shot 5 images of almost every photo I take so that HDR can be used if called for. However, as I've gained more experience with the technique my goals have shifted. I prefer that in the final result the observer has no clue that the photo has been manipulated. The first 2 images are from a collection entitled 17Awesome HDR Shots and are great examples of what I am trying to acheive. They were found at a really remarkable Photography website Lightstalker.com . Rather than post a lenghty description and rave review I suggest that you click the link and check it out for yourself. The "Flu Bug" I include in the prior post (actually a Southern Yellow Jacket) is from a collection of fantastic macro photos of insects posted there as well.

Fially here is an example of an over the top HDR. Some digital imagers love producing images like this and it is generally known as The Illustrative Technique. I think that there are actually easier ways to acheive even better graphic images, which I may demonstrate if time permits at the next meeting.

H1N1 Flu

I asked Dr. Jim Terman for advice about the potential for spreading the H1N1 virus at our meeting. This was his slightly edited reply:

1) Anyone who is sick should stay home. Flu, including H1N1,
comes on suddenly so folks need to note how they feel soon before the meeting:
fever, malaise, aching muscels, cough, sore throat. A few days later, no one with flu will want to come. Virus shedding [this is when one is congagious] is over by 1 week in 80%, by 10 days in the rest. Old individuals are less suseptible.
2) With a meeting in a private home, the most practical advice is to put out a couple of alcohol-gel hand sanitizer bottles, a couple of Kleenex boxes and nearby
wastebaskets, and point them out.

3) If you want, have some disinfectant tissues (Wet-one type) available to clean keyboards and other
common surfaces.

Thank you, Jim, for your much appreciated advice.
Byron

On the Program for the November 4th Meeting

In an e-mail received today Jim Taylor wrote:

If there is an open time slot in the next meeting, I have some examples of
scanned negatives, both black and white and color, taken a few years back
that have been tuned up in Camera Raw and Photoshop. I have made prints
that exceed the quality I was able to attain in the darkroom from
the original negatives. I have put a few images on a POWERPOINT (OFFICE 2007 version) and would be glad to share them with the group for comments. I don't think it would take more than 10-15 minutes depending upon discussion created.
Jim Taylor

I can't think of a more pertinent and interesting topic for our group. Thank you very much, Jim. Byron

Next Meetin November 4, 2009

All members should have received an e-mail announcing the next meeting. In case anyone didn't, I'm posting a slightly edited version here:

The next meeting of the Western Wisconsin Imaging Group will be on November 4th at my home (N2207 Pammel Pass West). I want to change the meeting time to 6:30pm because it will be getting dark so much earlier. Susann is returning from Colorado before the meeting and is happy to bake some good things for the social hour.

As you may recall this will be our last meeting for a while and I hope to make it a very good one. If there is sufficient interest, we will resume in March, but I plan to reduce the frequency to either every other month or perhaps quarterly.

Anyone interested in doing so is invited to join me every Monday evening from 8:30pm to 9:30pm for the Monday Night Light Webinar. Click this URL to go to the Light Workshops website for further information: http://www.lightworkshops.com/. From the website you can click on a link to the Webinar site which is actually a blog. These webinars are exceedingly well taught by Hal Schmidt. From my experience these sessions are aimed at intermediate level users of Photoshop and/or Lightroom, but even beginners will find much to gain from them, especially if there is some supplemental help available to guide them over the rough spots. Also, advanced users would likewise benefit since the topics are covered in a very comprehensive and well organized manner which I find especially useful. Even when one has learned an imaging technique, the user frequently has uncertainties or gaps. Going over the material in a logical progression can be really helpful. During the week after each session Hal posts a 10 minute recapitulation on the blog allowing attendees to review the material. This is a great asset.

You can eliminate the middleman-- that would be me-- by simply accessing the webinar blog and signing up. This will allow you to participate in the webinar from the comfort of you own home. If there is interest, I plan to add an hour from 7:30 to 8:30pm to discuss what was learned during the prior session, and to present additional interesting video tutorials covering unrelated topics.

As always, I am soliciting both images-- prints or digital-- and offers for presentations for our November meeting. I have several topics that I can present; so remember, the surest way to shut me up is for you to give a presentation-- pretty much any topic will be welcomed.

PS: It goes without saying that if we are in the midst of a raging H1N1 flu epidemic the November meeting will be cancelled.

Adobe Lightroom 3.0 beta has been released

The digital imaging blogs are all abuzz with the news that Adobe has released the beta of Lightroom 3.0. It is anticipated that there will be several more versions over a matter of months before the final version is released for sale. The beta can be downloaded for free in the meantime. Of course the beta becomes unusable once the official release occurs. I have tried mightily to switch from Photoshop to Lightroom but have been unsuccessful-- mainly because of problems transporting my files into LR. I have an organizational system that I devised and it doesn't lend itself to the LR format. I am probably going to download this version of LR to see if I can make it work for me because I believe that PhotoShop, as we know it, is going to eventually become an anachronism and evolve into something quite different-- perhaps returning to its roots as a tool for graphic designers-- and that Lightroom will become the principle imaging software for photographers. Adobe Camera Raw is really the Lightroom develop module simply tacked onto Photoshop. It may be foolish to continue to resist the rising tide that is taking place at Adobe.

Michael Reichman's site The Luminous Landscape (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/lr-3-beta.shtml) has a good summary of the main features which are new to LR in this version and PhotoshopNews ( http://photoshopnews.com/2006/06/12/adobe-lightroom-beta-3-released/)includes a series of excellent screen-grabs to illustrate these new features as well as very thorough discussion of the new aspects by Jeff Schewe an active participant in the development process.
Byron

Yesterday my friend Dr. Rich Fink and I went up to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. I had been there before and was particularly interested in returning because I had been told that they were showing "an exhibit of Monet's". It turns out that this remarkable museum recently expanded its display area and is now showing more of its permanent collection which includes perhaps a dozen Impressionist paintings and a few of the Hudson River School. There are 2 or 3 by Monet and a rather lovely Renoir. It is quite astounding to find works like this in a private collection on public display.

In addition to these paintings and an extensive number of marine themed paintings there was a very interesting exhibit of 90 photographs by Jim Brandenburg, the renowned Northern Minnesota nature photographer. It is certainly worth the drive up to Winona and the $6 entry fee to see these wonderful works.

Byron

From NAPP

The semi-annual NAPP convention was recently concluded in Las Vegas and the results of the "Guru Awards" have been posted on the NAPP site. Here are the 1st place award winners in a couple of categories. Each posted photo is a gem. You can see the winners in all of the categories here: http://www.photoshopworld.com/guru/winners.html.

I hope to find a source of all of the finalist images on the Internet but so far have been unsuccessful. I'll post the URL if I do.

Byron

Intriguing Image from Jim Taylor

Recently Jim Taylor sent this intriguing image and thought provoking comments about photographic subject matter-- something worth pondering. Here is the essence of Jim's e-mail and the image:

At the last meeting of WWIG we were treated to a series of
texturally modified images which were quite beautiful. Seeing through the eyes
of others has led me to seek beauty in the most unusual places, and often
finding it there. Would you ever look at 'pond scum' and see beauty? I think
I see it here. A file is attached if you care to post it. I was led to this
place by Jackie Rand who has a magnificently tuned eye for perception of beauty
in rare places. Jackie has some even more beautiful and fascinating images from
the same location, so perhaps you can prevail upon her good nature to share them. Here it is..."POND SCUM"

THANKS JIM!

Byron

Meeting October 7th

The next meeting of the Western Wisconsin Imaging Group will take place on Wednesday October 7th (the first Wednesday of the month, as usual) but the time, place, and format are changed for the upcoming meeting . This one will be held at the farm and new studio of Theresa Smerud which is located at N3097 HWY 16. The meeting will begin at 6:00pm. Theresa has invited us to bring our cameras and other gear for an approximately 30 minute photoshoot opportunity. We will then spend about an hour doing what we usually do at our meetings-- presentations and looking at prints and projected digital images brought by members. Finally, we will enjoy a social hour and studio tour hosted by Theresa.
Please let me know whether or not you will be attending the meeting by return e-mail. Once again we are inviting members to bring prints or digital media to share with the group and ask that you estimate how much time you would like to have.

We are excited about adding variety to our meeting format and hope that you will be able to join us.

Theresa sent this information about how to get to her studio and farm:

"The address is N3097 HWY 16… two driveways after Bittersweet on the left and the one before the Viterbo Ball field, if coming out of La Crosse. I have a Welcome flag on my mail box".

This is a photograph of a daylily taken this morning. Although I do have a couple of daylily plants that are still blooming-- actually reblooming for daylily purists-- these are rather undistinguished flowers. This one pictured here is a rather beautiful bloom and of considerable interest to daylily collectors. Over the past 3 or 4 years hybridizers have introduced daylilies in which the green color in the throat of the flower extends well into the sepals. This is one of the best of this type. Also green edges have been enthusiastically received.

As seen on the blog, there is considerable desaturation of the image compared to my final file. I thought that I had solved this problem by being certain that the posted images are sRBG but changing the profile didn't seem to help here. We should keep working to improve color rendition of images posted on the blog.

I did quite a bit of Photoshopping and printing today-- for the 1st time in many weeks (make that months)-- and I plan to post images frequently. Please consider joining the effort to improve this blog.

Byron

Some photography seen at the Uptown Art Fair

On rainy Friday, August 7, Nancy and I attended our first Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis. We went early and were able to fine one parking place four blocks from the Hennepin Ave. end of the show. After reading and dozing in our cozy parked car while rain fell, we then made our way to a good deli for lunch. The rain began to abate and we started down the rows of EZUp canopies. There were a goodly number of interesting nonphoto exhibitors, but here are some of the photographers that caught my eye. (This was all a month ago so I may not recall all the details).

The first booth we came to was also the most atypical. Allen I. Teger (www.bodyscapes.com) of Vero Beach, FL, was showing a large collection of black and white photos of female nude torsos in angular light in such a view that they looked like a cross between sand dunes and a monochromatic view of the TeleTubbies lawn. On these bodies were placed small realistic toys shown in profile to create various tableaux. The prints were very well crafted, and, the artist reassured, were not digitally modified and were not created on the tabletop, rather, uh on the dermis. He didn't explain if the models were ticklish. It was strange, but we walked on.

David Korte ( http://home.earthlink.net/~dkortephoto/html/25words/index.htm) has a mailing address in Silver Spring, MD, but, according to his website, studio in Lansing, Michigan. He also has business "cards" from chopped up copy paper. However, he must be putting all his resources into his images which are delicate, sometimes ethereal, beautifully seen images from all over the world in either selenium or sepia tone. I could not decide for sure whether they were digital or film based silver gelatin until I saw his quite reasonable print prices. They're digital, and worth having.

Jay Anderson, of Cambridge MN ( http://www.jayandersonphoto.com/), has beautifully realized and executed, if somewhat standard, digital work approximately 75% color. His images of Santorini (has there ever been a bad picture of that island?) and rural landscapes are especially charming.

Kelly Povo ( http://www.kellypovo.com/kelly.html ) is a lady from Lakeville, a Twin Cities suburb who does diverse, often quirky images in black and white with some hand colored. She has a series of girls in playful poses, and a series of '50s memoribilia. But there are also really interesting landscapes and natural abstractions.

Richard La Martina of Earthtones Photography ( http://www.lamartinaphotos.com/) works out of Gays Mills, Wisconsin. He apparently works from color transparency film, but he must process digitally because his images, mostly of rural landscapes and atmospheric drama, are unnaturally sharp and supersaturated. They are mostly beautiful, although to my taste, one or two of them approach Thomas Kinkaid kitsch. Nonetheless they are very nice to look at, and his newest works should be of interest because they are panoramas, one of which, Meadow Lace, deserves a long look.

Michael Cole ( http://www.colesnaps.com/list.html ), is based at wherever area code 253 is, another printshop-deficient locale, because his business card and artist's statement was a full sized xeroxed sheet of copy paper, which indicated his technique as, " Gelatin silver, high quality papers, oil pigments and tar are some of the materials I use in my images." He wasn't very verbal and did not elaborate on the above, but his rather foggy, strangely brown toned (?tar?) images had a spare, moody, bromoil-like impression that did create some intrigue.

Barry Hendrickson ( http://www.irelandinblackandwhite.com/) provided the most affecting images of my visit. His portfolio show, Ireland in Black and White, features dramatic, moody pictures which are cast in that twilight that must exist in that special land we usually think of in tones of green. They do, like so much of work processed with the tempting tools of the digital workshop, carry drama to the very edge of excess, but just short of too much. I chatted with him for a while, a very pleasant exchange in which he let out his past with film imaging. I also told him about the digital plugin for black and white that Byron displayed in one of our earlier meeting. He seems like a very hard working artist, but he seems to work his family, too, because the next day we visited Irishfest in St. Paul, and there was an equally elaborate booth of his works tended by his wife.

How to travel with photo gear and what a pro carries

Joe Van Os, the director of Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris has recently started a blog and a couple of recent posts caught my eye. In this one he gives his recommendations for dealing with the very difficult problems encountered in doing US and international travel with photo gear:
http://www.photosafaris.com/blog/2009/the-luggage-game-carrying-on-about-carrying-on-carry-ons-by-joe-van-os/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=September%2B2009%20Email%20Newsletter.
The 2nd post describes what a very serious and constantly travelling nature photographer routinely carries to photoshoots:http://www.photosafaris.com/blog/2009/its-in-the-bag-travel-essentials-the-pros-carry-by-joe-van-os/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=September%2B2009%20Email%20Newsletter
Byron

Flurry of WWIG Blog Activity

WWIG stalwart Jim Taylor is kindly allowing me to post 2 of the images he showed as prints at our August meeting. I won't write much here about them because they speak for themselves and, more important, I don't want to disseminate any misinformation about these remarkable photographs. Jim did describe how these photos came about and also the back story of how they inspired John Sexton to visit and photograph power plants on the Mississippi which ultimately led to his well known book Places of Power (http://www.amazon.com/Places-Power-Aesthetics-John-Sexton/dp/0967218810/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4). I suspect that Jim would be willing to share this fascinating story with anyone who is would like to learn more about these photos and how they came about.

Jim noticed that in the prior iteration of this blog I had, in the header, misspelled the word 'pursue'-- a not uncommon failing of mine. In addition to correcting the text I revised the photograph of Roger. You may notice that the color of the image is vastly improved-- it was dull, very dark, and somewhat desaturated. The improvement is a result of changing the color profile of the image from Adobe RBG to sRBG which is more appropriate because that is the color space of almost of monitors. This is, I think, something important to know when posting images to the Internet.

Byron

Book Review

This is a last minute addition of a book review: I just obtained this wonderful collection of photographs taken in a part of the country that I have recently visited twice and to which I will likely return for additional photography-- the Southern Plains. This collection probably will not appeal to many, if not most, readers. No one would consider the area to be particularly scenic, but if one has an interest in 20th century American history, particularly the dust bowl there is a harsh beauty and some lasting truths about the land and people to be told here.I'll have the book at our meeting and invite you to have a look at it.

Byron

Meeting Tonight

This is a last minute addition of a book review: I just obtained this wonderful collection of photographs taken in a part of the country that I have recently visited twice and to which I will likely return for additional photography-- the Southern Plains. This collection probably will not appeal to many, if not most, readers. No one would consider the area to be particularly scenic, but if one has an interest in 20th century American history, particularly the dust bowl there is a harsh beauty and some lasting truths about the land and people to be told here.

I'll have the book at our meeting and invite you to have a look at it.

Byron

Sorry for the Confusion

Roger Grant informed me that when, in my prior e-mail, the link to this blog was incorrect. This proved to be due to a typographical error that I made-- sorry for my lame performance.

The Wednesday Sept 2nd meeting is taking shape and should be enjoyable and informative for those who can attend. I have yet to hear from one person who I hope will show some remarkable prints. Once I do, I'll post a list of presentations here. Please do bring any images you have made in response to the Orange Challenge.

Some decisions about future meetings have been made. The October meeting (October 7th) will be held a Theresa Smerud's farm where she has established a studio. It is just off highway 16 near the Viterbo athletic field. You will be receiving details--time, directions, program,etc-- by e-mail as the time grows nearer and, of course, on this blog.

There will be a November meeting but none during December and January. We will resume in February, but the meetings will be held every other month. If there is interest, there will be tutorials about various Lightroom and PhotoShop techniques on the off months.

More to follow. Please check back.
Byron

Meeting September 2nd

The WWIG will meet on September 2nd at 7:30 pm at my home (N2207 Pammel Pass W.)

I'm looking forward to seeing you then.

Byron

Meeting Tonight

Remember there will be a meeting tonight and I think that it will be a good one.
There is so much to cover that I decided to post a couple of links here so that you can, if you wish, peruse them at your leisure.

If you haven't seen the remarkable panning studies-- I don't really know what to call them, they seem to be hybrids of videos and photographs and are sometimes named GigaPans-- you can see some good examples here: http://www.panoramas.dk/.

Here's what you need to know to link to the recent YouTube phenomenon. This is from the blog DigitalProTalk by the eminent wedding photographer David Ziser:

OK, wedding photographers if you haven't seen the wedding couple dancing
down the aisle on YouTube lately, you must not be connected to the web because
this video has been causing splitting laughs everywhere - including the national
news like in the New York Times. Here is the link
to the story and the YouTube video righthere.

But wait, there's a sequel.

Check this out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbr2ao86ww0

Byron

Another Excellent Resource

For many years I have subscribed to Tim Grey's daily e-mail newsletter The DDQ (The Digital Darkroom Questions). Back in the day it was a valued source of terrific information about all aspects of digital imaging. It went downhill considerably when Tim went to work for Microsoft and actually go worse when he left that job. He is now a freelance teacher and writer and way too much of the newsletter is devoted to hawking his books, seminars, and workshops. But, what the hell, one can't beat the price-- its free!

Nonetheless, I recently decided to subscribe to Tim's other DDQ, The Digital Darkroom Quarterly and this proved to be a very good decision. Tim is an unusually skillful writer and he makes complex digital imaging topics understandable. Note the topics dealt with in the issue in this illustration. It is hard to find information about blending modes anywhere and I doubt that you will find any as lucidly presented as the one here. Give it a look-see.
Byron

Book Recommendations

During the past month I have acquired 2books that I found to be exceptionally worthwhile and can recommend highly. I'll have both books available at the meeting and you are welcome to peruse them.

Byron

PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE

At our August 5th meeting I am going to present a photography challenge to the group. This is simply an exercise to demonstrate how each of us sees and composes images in our own individualistic way and to stimulate discussion at a subsequent meeting about the process. This is entirely voluntary, no grades will be given nor will anyone be declared a winner. I won't divulge the subject until the meeting. I think that this will be an easy, enjoyable, and, most important, an instructive exercise.
Byron

New Cameras and Lenses from NIKON

Two new cameras and 2 new lenses were introduced by Nikon this past week. The new D3000 is Nikon's lowest price SLR camera and occupies the space that the very popular D40 once filled. The D300s seems to be an incremental step forward from the D300. Its main attraction is that it adds HD video capability. Also introduced are a f2.8 70-200mm zoom lens for full frame sensor cameras (very expensive) and an 18-200mm DX lens which features VRII (whatever that is). Detailed information and reviews have been scant so far on the photography blogs, but should be forthcoming. In the meantime you can learn more at http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/ProductDetail.page?ctc=DIGSLR&pid=25462

Byron

Seeking Advice

I am hoping to get some suggestions about how to improve these images at our August 5th meeting. Thank you.

Byron

Submitted by Eric Thompson

Eric Thompson is seeking suggestions on how to improve this remarkable closeup of a moth.

August Meeting

The next meeting of the WWIG will be on August 5, 2009 at 7:30pm at my home (N2207 Pammel Pass W.; La Crosse WI; phone 608-788-1812).

Tom Donovan will be demonstrating some photographic gear that will be of interest to all of us and Byron Annis has a couple of items that he would like to show.

Antendees are urged to bring prints and digital images for projection. Please let me know if you are willing to so that I can plan time allotments. If anyone would like to make a more lengthy presentation (30 minutes to an hour) for this or any future meeting, please let me know. I do have several things that can present or I can use video tutorials that are available online. Just remember that the way to shut Byron up is by offering to give a presentation.

I will be explaining how to use this blog for communication among th members in detail at the meeting.

Finally, there will be a drawing for a small light box that will be given away at the meeting. Yes, you heard this right... it's free and it even works.

Invitation to Visit and Photograph Garden

You are cordially invited to visit and, if you wish, take pictures in my garden this week (July20-July25th). We will try to insure that the daylilies look decent and provide photographic opportunities by removing the spent blooms each day. I do have to warn you that although the daylily bloom is at or very nearly at its peak, this year the display is quite disappointing. Because night time temperatures have been so low, the daylily flowers are not opening very well in the mornings and the weather predictions for the coming week are not really encouraging. Also for the first time ever deer have been munching on daylily buds. Even so, most of the 500 or so daylily plants are covered with flowers and the colors and variety of form is impressive. In addition, I do grow about 100 hosta and we have been so far successful avoiding deer damage to them. Finally, our prairie garden is blooming although there will be more flowers in it toward the end of the month.

I can't promise that I will be here for the entire week to show you around but Ryan McKenny, who helps me, will be here every afternoon and will be happy to answer questions. Feel free to call me for further information at 788-1812.

I am going to post this message on our blog as well. Over the next couple of months I hope to make the blog the primary way of communicating among the members so that you won't have frequent e-mails clogging up your inbox. Check out the blog at http://westernwisconsinimaginggroup.blogspot.com/.

WELCOME TO THE WWIG BLOG!

Greetings to members of the Western Wisconsin Imaging Group as well as guest and friends! I have created this blog as a vehicle to make announcements, to foster communication between members of our group, and to provide a forum for exchange of information about photography and digital imaging.

This blog is a work in progress but it is hoped that it will be serviceable by our next meeting which will be held on Wednesday August 5th at 7:30pm at the home of Byron Annis (N2207 Pammel Pass W., La Crosse WI). At that meeting Byron will review how to access the blog, to sign on and to post. In the meantime there will be additional post but these will not replace the e-mail notices. Let's consider this blog to be the beta version for the time being.
Regards,
Byron