THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTO GROUP
Summer is quickly coming to a close. The weather has been great this summer and many of us have taken holidays all around the world. It’s getting time again to get back to the daily grind – kids go to school and vacations are over. As we settle back into our routines, we’ll have some time to sort through those thousands of images we took over the summer and start to find the best ones. Be sure to save a few of your absolute best images to bring to the open house and share with all the customers of Video 99 in Hespeler.
That’s right! At the next meeting, bring your best images in 8x10 format for display at the Video 99 store. The images will be voted on over the next month by customers and the winners will receive half the entrance fees. Sound worth your while?
4 Week ChallengeEvery month, we challenge each other with a task – try our challenge and bring your photos to the next meeting on a memory stick to share with everyone. We’ll tell you what we like about them. If you don’t do Digitial, bring a print! We’d love to see your images.
The Last Challenge: Old Barns 
There is a strange attractiveness to an old run down barn. The ghosts of past lives still seem to live on in the rustic boards of the weather worn buildings, whispering their stories to those who pause a moment. David seemed to have captured a few of those stories in his images of boards and windows and 
old trucks. In this image, the bicycle, long abandoned seems to beckon it’s rider to return as David waits, hiding behind a fence.
Still as if peaking into history, Gary preferred to stay a little further away from those ghosts and framed the barn behind a field of wild flowers and a crop of Soy Bean.
Scott brought a number of great images, some of which you will have to come to the open house to see – they are really marvelous, but sticking with the barn theme, he used an HDR technique to enhance this image. He also managed to crop and replace the sky skillfully enough 
that we had a hard time telling that he had done so. That’s not an easy feat when cropping the leaves of trees!
Rachel didn’t really bring us a picture of a Barn, but her macro shot of Noah’s arc was close enough for us to add it to this small gallery. Nice “Rule of Thirds” Rachel.
Next Challenge: Three part story
Images should tell a story, right? So what about three images? Will they tell three stories? Well, not if they are all in one image. Confused? So am I.
But the challenge is not that confusing. Rather like a cartoon strip, simply take three or more sequential images and put them together to tell a story. There are different ways to do this – one way is like the cartoon strip, another is by combining the sequence into a single frame much like you have seen on sports shots. In fact, there is an entire flickr group dedicated to this kind of sequence shot… check it out: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sequence_photography/
As always, be creative, use your surroundings and let the story be heard!
Open House
At our next meeting, September 26th, we will be having our first (hopefully) annual Open House – and you are invited to participate by bringing and displaying your favorite images in the Gallery to be set up in the Video 99 store in Hespeler.
This is an opportunity to share your talent with All of Cambridge. And there will be prizes too. Don’t worry if you don’t think your photo will win – it’s not just about the prize money, though we want to encourage those who do win, we also want you to have an opportunity to show your talent.
On September 26th, Tammy will be firing up the barbeque out back - bring your own food and a little for someone else to share. We'll be enjoying a mix and mingle time and be displaying our images. Entry to the contest is $5.00 per photographer and the total of all entry fees will be returned to the winning photographers in two categories: 50% will go to the best "local" image (Cambridge and area), and 50% will go to the best image in an "open" category.
To enter, bring between one and three 8x10 printed images that we can display at the Video 99 store between the Open House on the 26th and our closing date of October 24th (the following meeting). During that time, Customers at the Video 99 store will be able to leave an anonymous ballot with the number of their favorite image in each of the two categories. In October, the ballots will be counted and the prizes awarded accordingly.
Sound exciting? I know I’m looking forward to being able to display some of my work, whether I should win the prize or not, and I hope you are too!
Freebie of the month: Stock Xchng
This month, in stead of free software or tools to create images, how about a site that provides free images? That’s what Stock Xchange is all about. On this site you can download literally thousands of images royalty free for promotion and commercial purposes. Many photographers are happy to have their work used and all they ask is a credit. Signing up for an account is free, and if you’re ambitious, you can even submit your own images to see if the “Stock Gods” will smile upon you and accept them for publication – it’s not an easy task to get published, but it’s rewarding to see your images promoted on the site.
Visit here: www.sxc.hu
Oh, and if you’re curious, you can visit my portfolio.
Next Regular Meeting: September 26th, 2010 – 4-6pmBe sure to update your calendar, print your images and bring some food for the barbeque. Bring your photos on a memory stick too so we can share some of them on the blog and a friend to share in the fun. Meet us at the back of the Video 99 store in Hespeler – see the side panel for a map to the location.
Upcoming Meetings
October 24th – Contest Closing, judging and prizes.
