Wow! This newsletter marks the end of our first year. There have been lots of changes, a bigger venue (thanks Tammy), lots of great instruction (thanks everyone), and lots of great images.
Shoot-Out
This past month, we had a great “Shoot-out” but our attendance was poor – only Rachel and myself attended the event at the Chicopee ski hill. That’s unfortunate because the day turned out to be beautiful and there were some awesome opportunities for pictures. Hopefully we will have some more great events coming up in the months to come. Next Shoot Out
That being said, we don’t have a “Shoot-out” planned for this month. We want you to take some time to consider where you would like to go, and if you think you have a great place you would like to take us to, we’d love to have you lead an expedition! Come with your ideas to the next meeting.
4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each month, we have a new challenge and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks (because we want you thinking fresh, not digging through your stock of images. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.
The Last Challenge: Lights in the Darkness
We challenged you to work with your shutter (curtain) or use the night shot mode on your camera, and we got some interesting and creative shots.This ghostly image was taken by Tammy Burden using a long exposure and a pinlight. (note it has been cropped from the original).
Brooke Anders, created this great image from downtown Hespler. Members commented that the streams of light hide the vintage of the vehicles, giving the image a timelessness. Welcome Brooke and we look forward to seeing more of your work. 
Another new member, Derek Marsh, didn’t have a theme picture, but shared some great images, including this striking one from his trip to Disney that we all loved (and I had to share). Great work Derek. Our Next Challenge:Cold
Well, the warm weather came, the snow was melting away and some of us even thought winter might be over, but it was all just a cruel trick! We got dumped on this week and the snow has returned – and it’s cold! Cold enough for Winter Olympics – at least on this end of the country.
So what better theme for our challenge this month than “Cold” – the challenge is to take an image that depicts cold. Be creative – use colour (usually blues) to give the cold feeling, or depict something that makes us feel the chill as we look at the images. I’m sure Tammy will provide the heater again to warm us up after.
Make us shiver with your images.
Freebie of the Month: GIMP
Wow, I cannot believe that in a whole year I haven’t posted a link for this freebie! It’s a little cumbersome, but it’s a great layered photo editing tool and it’s (you guessed it!) FREE. http://www.gimp.org/
This GNU licensed program is available for several platforms. It has some great effects and the fact that you can work with layers makes it a great alternative to the ever popular Adobe product!
Next Regular Meeting: March 28th, 2010 - 4:00-6:00pm We want you to come to the next meeting with your ideas and thoughts. Come with ideas for challenges and outings, and if you think you can, bring some suggestions of how you might be able to help the group – bringing goodies, leading an outing, or any other great idea, bring your thoughts along.
We're still meeting at the usual place: the Video 99 store in Hespeler - come in the front door and meet us out back in Tammy's Studio. See you there! Bring a friend and bring your photos on a memory stick or in print so we can all share.
Upcoming Meetings:
April 25th Regular Meeting
– Brooke will lead a workshop on studio lighting basics.
May 30th Regular Meeting
