In Focus: November 2024
Stephen Shoff - “Bull Elk Crossing the Snake”
This e-newsletter contains OPCC events, reminders, and news and will be published on the first Sunday of each month. Please send contributions to the newsletter to opcc4news@gmail.com. Contributions are due at noon on the Friday before publication, but if time permits, we will attempt to accommodate late contributions.
NEWS
OPCC Final Curtain Call Scheduled for Dec 2024
As most of you know by now, we are planning to close down OPCC at the end of December due to dwindling membership and a lack of volunteers. We are planning to merge with the Olympia Camera Club (OCC) next year and to share events with them. Our club will provide a free membership to OCC for any of our current members who would like to participate in the merged club for 2025. Those interested in this offer should fill out the sign-up form on the web by clicking HERE. Only those members who fill out this form will receive a free membership in the merged club.
We will likely have some assets left over at the end of the year, including money, equipment, and some miscellaneous items. Article X of our by-laws states:
Upon dissolution of OPCC, any remaining assets shall be distributed to one or more educational, charitable, scientific, or philanthropic organizations as determined by a majority vote of the remaining interested members.
We will vote on where to distribute our assets at our final meeting in December. We will also accept votes by email for those unable to attend the meeting. A letter containing all this information and a ballot will be sent out to all of our members in the near future.
WOW Competition
From Peggy McClure:
Our fourth (and final) WOW competition upload is open, and the final deadline for submissions is midnight on November 13. You may submit up to 3 images. This is an OPEN competition, so anything goes except for images generated using AI. The image must have been created between December 1, 2023, and November 12, 2024. Click HERE for the complete rules, including sizing and naming your images.
The images will be posted to the WOW 2024 gallery on November 18 and voting begins on that day. You will have until November 30, 2024, to select and vote for your 3 favorite images. Remember that this is a fun competition in which the WOW factor of the image is more important than the technical aspects of the image. ALL members are encouraged to participate, and ALL members should vote on their favorites. The winners will be announced at our year-end meeting on December 5.
Poems and Poets Book Launch Party
From Kevin Talbot:
The Olympic Peninsula Authors group held their "Inspired By Art" book launch party at Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim on Oct 30th. The book turned out beautifully! It's 160 pages in length and has sections with poems inspired by paintings, sculpture, and photography. Many of the contributors were at the party.
Copies are available at Blue Whole Gallery and can be ordered on Amazon via this LINK. It would make a good Christmas present for any art or book lover!
Studio Bob Exhibit
From Kevin Talbot:
We booked the Studio Bob space for November 2025. We need a few people to step up and decide how we want to use it and to plan the event. We could simply have a "gallery" show like last year, we could do another collaboration with the Authors group, maybe we could have a show where we have a night where we talk about the images and how we created them to inspire and help other photographers?? Please think about this and consider volunteering to head a group to plan the event.
SPEAKER SERIES
Josh Hauge – How to Use Light to Your Full Advantage in Wildlife Photography - November 21, 2024, 7:00 PM
Josh Hauge is a 20 year old photographer based in Maryland. He has always enjoyed nature and wildlife, but as he started getting interested in photography, it became a great creative outlet and also a way to showcase the natural world in a visual manner. Overall, photography has quickly become one of his biggest passions, and he finds himself constantly learning as he attempts to capture moments creatively.
The presentation will be an in-depth discussion about understanding how to use various types of lighting situations to your full advantage while photographing wildlife. The talk will particularly focus on how to plan for multiple lighting situations in advance, how to be mindful in the field about how light changes and affects the resulting images, and how to take more compelling photos through a better understanding of light.
Field Trips and Workshops
Field Trip to Butchart Gardens / Victoria, BC
From Peg Hanson:
Peg and Jim Hanson have offered to lead a field trip to photograph holiday lights at The Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, BC. on Dec. 18-19, 2024 (midweek). They will be visiting the gardens on the afternoon/evening of the 18th and will gather at the gates between 3:00 and 3:30 pm. Participants will be responsible for their own travel arrangements, transportation to the gardens, and lodging. Adult tickets are $37 CAN pp and tripods are NOT allowed. Please let Peg know in advance at jpegprofiles@comcast.net if you plan to join them.
Parliament and the Empress Hotel will be lit with holiday lights as well. If you planned to arrive early or to stay late the next day, they offer some great photographic opportunities.
Informational links:
Butchart Gardens: https://www.butchartgardens.com/
Ferry from Port Angeles: www.cohoferry.com
NWCCC News
2024 NWCCC Conference and Print Salon
From Stephen Shoff:
The Northwest Council of Camera Clubs (NWCCC) Annual Conference is rapidly approaching. The Conference is being held on Saturday, Nov 9, 1:00-5:00 PM in Anacortes. The conference format is returning to its roots as an in-person event, featuring a keynote speaker (Audrey Garbacik), the Print Salon exhibit, and awards ceremony for the Salons and the Traveling Image Salon (TIS) that we’ve been voting on throughout this year.
There is still time to register! Full details can be obtained on the NWCCC website by clicking HERE.
I will be providing car-pooling. I have room for 2 more people in my vehicle. The car-pool will meet at the old Penny's parking lot at 10:15 AM, Sat. Nov. 9. Return will be about 8:45 PM. The conference doesn't provide any meals but there will be drinks and snacks. There will be opportunity to stop for a fast-food meal on the way back.
Since there are moderately high winds forecast for that day, I'll be checking with WSF around 9:30 AM to ensure the ferry will be sailing. If you are interested, please let me know by e-mail at sshoff.cp@gmail.com.
Other News
From Bruce Livingston (OCC):
My name is Sianita Natalia and I am the treasurer of a newly formed WA State non-profit, Passaddhi Vihara Support Foundation, based in Olympia. The non-profit was formed August 2024 and will hold its first gathering event this coming November 17th, 2024.
We are seeking a volunteer to photograph our event from 2:30pm - 4:30pm. Details can be found HERE. Please send me an email HERE if you are interested in volunteering to photograph this event. We really appreciate it!