From the Club President…
Does it seem to you that we were tricked by that cool spell a couple of weeks ago? Maybe, but at least I hope that we have finally seen our last triple-digit temperatures.
We have been making progress with our photo critique training. At least we have enough trained critics (or judges?) to cover the fall critiques. Many of those who are signed up for the winter and spring critiques are waiting to finish because as one critic said, “I’m afraid I would forget enough that I would have to do them all over again.” Maybe it is important to state why we are requiring all critics to go through this training.
First, we are NOT training because we want everyone to give identical scores and comments. And we are not training because our critics are doing a lousy job. We accept that there is a subjective component in all art critiques and that all of our critics are doing the best that they can to write good critiques. We have no professional judges, so our critiques are best described as peer critiques. For this reason, we should expect variation in the critique scores. Furthermore, our purpose is not to identify winners, but rather we seek to serve our educational mission.
The education goes two ways, as our critics learn as much as the image-makers. Critically examining many images helps critics learn how to make better photos for themselves. Foremost, we want every critique to be a learning experience for the maker. The scores should reflect the merits and faults of each image. There will be differences in scores between the critics. However, the scores should be correlated because all the critics are using the same criteria to assess the images. The comments in some ways are the most important feedback that critics give for each image because some makers may not fully understand the critique criteria. Therefore, the comments should provide a reasonable analysis of the composition as a whole, an interpretation of the emotion or message in the image, and an assessment of the success of the image.
We have also made progress with GoToWebinar, and we think that we have most of the issues ironed out. Some people, including our speaker last month, received a webinar reminder that showed the start time to be 1 am. Apparently, when GoToWebinar does not know where you are, it lists GMT time instead of our local time, which is +7 GMT.
We have also changed our registration procedure. Now you will have to register each month for the webinar. The biggest problem is that our membership is always changing (mostly expanding), so having a one-time registration did not work so well. In addition, we like to have guests at our meetings who have always improved our audience. There are also some benefits from creating a once-only webinar instead of a sequence of webinars that make managing the webinars easier.
Finally, we have been trying to make the recordings of our webinars available for members who might not have seen the live event. We should have recordings of our past webinars on the members-only website soon.
That’s all for now. Be sure to check out the info below because there are some significant updates on club activities. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Best wishes for good health and great photos,
Brad
president.sedonacameraclub@gmail.com
Next Club Meeting
At our next club meeting on Monday, September 28 at 6 pm, professional landscape, wildlife, and travel photographer Ian Plant will be our speaker. Please register for the Meeting at:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1326038920542013966. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Ian will share his favorite techniques for creatively using light, composition, and the magic of the moment to make unique nature photos that get noticed. Ian will drill down into some of his core artistic philosophies, as well as discuss practical ways of creating high concept photographs that stand out. Great photography is all about showing people something they haven’t seen before, and Ian will show you how to see the world with fresh eyes, allowing you to create photos that connect with people in a more meaningful way.
Attendees are eligible to win a copy of Ian’s Ultimate Landscape Photography Course: https://www.shuttermonkeys.store/collections/landscape/products/the-ultimate-landscape-photography-course. A drawing will be conducted at the end of the presentations.
Whether hanging over the rim of an active volcano, braving the elements to photograph critically-endangered species, or trekking deep into the wilderness to places most people will never see, world-renowned professional photographer Ian Plant travels the globe seeking out amazing places and subjects in his never-ending quest to capture the beauty of our world with his camera. Known for his inspiring images and single-minded dedication to creating the perfect photo, Ian has reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world in his mission to inspire and educate others in the art of photography. Ian is a frequent contributor to many leading photo magazines, the author of numerous books and instructional videos, and CEO of Shuttermonkeys, a site dedicated to photography education and inspiration. You can learn more at https://www.ianplant.com
Club Events, Workshops, Trips, and Board Updates
October Photo Critiques
You can submit images for the October Digital Critiques until September 30 at 9pm by going to the Submit Critique Images page under the Members tab on our website. This page has links to all the information that you need to submit images. At our September meeting, photos from our first Digital Critique of 2020-21 will be presented by Digital Chair Tim See, and detailed scores and comments will be available online.
Dues for 2020-21
There is a link to renew your membership on the homepage of our website. The due date for dues was September 1. Any member who has not renewed their membership by October 1 will lose access to SCC members-only website. In November, nonpaying members will lose access to our GoToWebinar and other club meetings. We hope that you value the work that the club does for you. When the COVID-19 situation permits, the club will return to face-to-face meetings. But in the meantime, we have a great set of speakers including Shane McDermott, JR Schnelzer, Sean Bagshaw, Adam Schallau and Dawn Kish. Please take a moment to renew your membership as soon as possible.
Membership Committee
In our efforts to better connect with our members, Membership Committee Co-chair Steve Wells held our first orientation for new members. Meeting via GoToMeeting, Steve discussed the benefits of club membership and how to access all of the benefits from submitting images for critiques to updating their profile. Attendees for this orientation responded that they were glad they attended and enjoyed the meeting. This orientation will probably be held each month depending on the response from new members.
At our last board meeting, there was a good discussion of how to implement our Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Jim Peterson started the first Infrared SIG last spring, but then COVID-19 happened. We have discussed SIGs for almost all of our subject/genre categories. It was decided that there is good reason to start organizing SIGs because these small groups could be active via GoToMeeting and in small social distancing groups. We also decided that we should survey the membership to determine which SIGs you members are most interested in. Please look for a survey from the Sedona Camera Club in the coming weeks and fill it out promptly, so we can get this and other activities off the ground.
Sedona Photography Symposium
As you should already know, our Sedona Photography Symposium has been postponed until 2021. This decision was not made lightly, as the symposium is one of our most significant educational activities. Unfortunately, the interactions that make the symposium so successful are the very activities that are prohibited under the COVID-19 pandemic. As an attendee last year, I am certainly looking forward to next year. If you are at all interested in the symposium, please consider signing up as soon as possible. In the coming months, we may have to increase the prices to recover our costs of extending the symposium date. Signing up now could save you some money. Please see the Sedona Photography Symposium website (https://sedonaphotosym.org) to register or for more information.
Arizona Camera Club Council Fall Round-up
The Arizona Camera Club Council (ACCC) Fall Round-Up is scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2020, from 9:00 – 11:30 AM. Like most other events, the round-up will be online and will only have a digital competition. You can access a flyer for the round-up here. You might also enjoy viewing the ACCC Fall 2020 Chronicle and the ACCC website.
