Two Week Hiatus

I'm off to Japan in the morning and although I am taking a laptop it is unlikely that I will be posting here. Because it will be 2 months between meetings I am changing the header. The new one is Jamie Heiden's submission for the Digital Challenge. Thanks to both Jim and Jamie.

Byron

Here's one more snow shot from this morning - I was experimenting with a plug-in from Alien Skin.

Jackie

Snowy greetings -

I wasn't thrilled with the snow this morning but I did take a couple shots just outside my door.

Jackie

Workshop Opportunity

Phyllis Olson sent some very interesting information about a photography workshop on Madeline Island, WI in May. Here is the link: http://www.madelineartschool.com/Classes_detail.cfm?recordno=1&Product_CatalogID=124&ProductNumber=FCB050911&ProductCode=22&NewProduct=0 Phyllis has had a workshop with the instructor and highly recommends this one. I am seriously considering attending because I have had a great deal of difficulty photographing wildflowers and I do want to learn how to use Helicon focus or a similar technique that is available in Photoshop. Byron

From Madrid NM

Nothing new to write about, but I am trying to post images frequently in hopes that members will stop by the blog more frequently. This image is one of my favorites. This is my friend Kam who is the most naturally friendly, gregarious person I've ever done photography with. Do you think that he looks French in this photo? I do. Byron

How our own brave Jackie did it!

Yesterday I posted this picture of the Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado River taken by Jackie Rand. As I have told you in order to get the entire bend of the river one must go to the edge of the cliff. The closest I could get was about 15 feet and even then I experienced acrophobia. So how did Jackie do it? Here is how:

Jackie Rand sent this photo of the Horseshoe Bend in the Colorado River near Page AZ. It's terrific. I wonder how brave Jackie got close enough to the precipice to include the entire curve of the river in the frame? Come back tomorrow and maybe it will be revealed.

Byron

Post-Meeting Notes

Behold the new Header Photo. This is Jim Taylor's submission to the Digital Challenge. I was very taken with Jamie's version as well and it will be our Header Photo in May. While the Topic of the Month was difficult we had many excellent submissions which I will post here from time to time. Here is one from Sue Ratzleff:

 


 What music do you hear when you look at these images? For me it is Bach's Toccata & Fugue.












Because many members missed last evening's meeting, I am going to post some of the announcements made here.

• There will be no meeting in May. I will be in Japan. Unless some calamity occurs there will be a meeting on Wednesday June 1st.
• The Topic of the Month for June will be more straight forward: BARNS. It is hoped that everyone will bring some individual perspective to this frequently photographed subject.
• There was agreement that the Digital Challenge is fun and members present would like to see it continued. Roger Grant will be choosing and posting the subject photo.
• As mentioned previously we are committed to mounting another exhibit of prints at the La Crosse Public Library for August. John Zoerb plans to hang them on August 1st. Please plan to submit them to him well before this date. There are no stipulations about size and they can be either framed or simply matted.
• I have some topics I can present in June and don't mind doing so. However, the interests of our group would be better served if I step back and shut-up for a while. Those of you who have been attending meetings since the beginning can almost certainly recall some excellent presentations followed by discussions we have had by various members. Will anyone consider doing a presentation  in June? Let me know by email if you would be willing.

Byron

WWIG April Meeting ~ Program

Where was this photo taken? Hong Kong maybe?

Do you recognize this place? It's Navy Pier in Chicago. A great shot.

This photo was taken in Patagonia, in Argentina. The mountains are in the Fitzroy Range.

The Western Wisconsin Imaging Group will be meeting on Wednesday April 6th at 6:30 pm at my home (N2207 Pammel Pass W.; (608)788-1812). To set the mood for tomorrow's meeting I am posting 3 terrific images I found on the Facebook page of Trey Ratliff who's blog Stuck In Customs (http://www.stuckincustoms.com/) I have frequently referred to here and very enthusiastically recommend. And now on to the business at hand:

THE PROGRAM FOR APRIL 6th

SOCIAL HOUR AND PRINT VIEWING-

Susann Annis has prepared dessert coffee and tea. There will be several people who have not attended previous meetings. Please make them welcome. Also do take a few minutes to look at the prints that members have brought.

PRESENTATIONS--

• 
  
  Invited Guest John Blaschke of Village Custom Framing will discuss print framing and matting options with emphasis on conservation issues.
• 
  
  A short video featuring the work of Jay Maisel with his commentary will be shown along with an introduction to a long video of Jay Maisel and Scott Kelby walking the streets of Manhatten talking about how Jay does his work-- much of it is very ideosyncratic.
• 
  
  Byron Annis will discuss some of his images that show why he finds digital manipulation fulfilling. You are encouraged to disagree.

ANNOUNCEMENTS-

• 
  
  Upcoming meetings.
• 
  
  The next Topic of the Month.
• 
  
  The WWIG exhibit at The La Crosse Public Library.
• 
  
  Please help by filling out a questionnaire that I have prepared. It really isn't as dumb as most of the ones you get.

ASK THE EXPERTS-

Jamie Heiden's question. "How do you back up your images? CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, outside sources such as Dropbox, other? I've heard that DVDs last a bit longer that CDs and that external hardrives are not super stable. Outside sources are not realistic for me because out in the country where I live we don't have fast internet and my large PSD files would take just short of forever to upload. Looking for input on how you all handle this digital dilemma. Thanks."

IMAGES-- This is what you came for.

• The Topic of The Month images-- Hearing the music
• The Digital Challenge images
• Show and Tell-- Members present anything related to photographic technique, gear, digital imaging, books, videos, etc. Marti Sullivan will discuss an interesting opportunity that she learned about on her recent trip.
• Open Mike-- Digital images previously submitted by members via e-mail will be displayed and prints will be viewed by the group. Comments are encouraged.
  Byron

Google Is Letting Me Down

It seems the height of ingratitude to whine about the service when one gets a product a no cost. But I'll do it anyway. When I made the previous post I did separate the paragraphs but the space disappeared when I published. Many strategies were tried to work around the problem and I found by doing a search that this has been widespread. You might also notice that font size has been reduced but I was able to overcome this change. Finally I have been having considerable difficulty uploading images to the blog. I assume that Google has made changes in E-Blogger to save space on their servers and understand that since they do not charge it is entirely their choice, but it is annoying and diminishes the quality of what I am sending to you. Sorry, but it isn't my doing. Byron

Update: Meeting April 6, 2011

I am very much looking forward to our upcoming meeting on Wednesday, April 6th. It may be somewhat different than recent prior meetings and some of the differences will reflect changes which result from the continuing evolution of the format and activities of our group. I'll post the actual program on Monday or Tuesday (this allows me some wiggle room), but it is pretty well set now. We will have a guest presenter, John Blaske co-owner of Village Custom Framing, will speak about matting and framing issues, with special emphasis on photo conservation. I will show a professionally produced video done by the Santa Fe Workshops presenting some remarkable work by Jay Maisel and brief segment of a much longer video of Jay and Scott Kelby doing a photowalk on the streets of New York with a stream-of-consciousness tutorial from this gifted photographer and teacher. I have taken two workshops from Jay which have profoundly affected my work but not without distress. I'll make a few comments about these experiences. We will, of course, view member's submissions of the Topic of the Month images, the Digital Challenge images, and the Freestyle (formerly known as the Open Mike segment). There has, so far, been one submission for Ask The Experts. It seems strange to me that there aren't more question about taking photos, digital imaging, gear, books, Internet resources, art, commerce, intellectual property law, or any other topics that fall under the rubric of Photography. Submission, so far, have been really underwhelming-- the quantity but definitely not the quality! I'll remind you again (and I will persist in doing so) that the success of our meetings depends almost solely on the members willingness to share their ideas, experiences, problems, goals, future plans, and, most important, their images. The polling results are in. 12 members voted on the question of digital imaging discussion at our meetings. You can see the results in the column on the right. I am going to query the members in order to get a better sense of the range of expertise so that future presentations can be targeted more appropriately. As always your opinions, via this blog, by email, or phone, will be appreciated. I have invited a couple of photographers I know to join us at this meeting to see if they would like to participate regularly. Also some current members have asked about bringing other interested photographers. We are only limited by the physical space available at my home. Generally, about half of the members show up at any one meeting, so I believe that we can accommodate several additions to the group. Finally, there is good news and bad news about the desserts during the social hour. The bad news is that Susann Annis will probably not be here in May--she will be visiting our family in Japan-- but the good news is that she is already preparing for next Wednesday's meeting. We attended a wedding extravaganza in New York last weekend and she is truly inspired. Byron