Karori Camera Club

Inside This Month’s Newsletter…

• April 2: Show best of challenge pics and summer pics and get feedback.
• April 16: Guest speaker: Loma Dellabarca (creative photography)
• March’s events
• Exhibitions in Wellington
• PSNZ National Convention 2008, Timaru
• Hutt-Karori Interclub battle
• Regional Interclub battle
• Canon/TPM photo contest
• Fieldtrip accommodation
• Photo Finish

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Newman Centre is still in the throes of extensive renovations, which will hopefully be finished in late April. See below for the alternative meeting venues.

April 2: Show best of challenge pics and summer pics and get feedback.

Bring six of your best summer pictures, either prints or digital images.

And something else to work on before our next meeting on 2 April: the subject "plumbing", which is one of the subjects for the Wellington Regional Interclub Battle.

The venue is: Beauchamp Street Chapel, 21 Beauchamp Street, Karori. It's on the left side of Beauchamp Street as you come from Karori Road, a brick building almost at the corner with Lewer Street.

April 16: Guest speaker: Loma Dellabarca (creative photography)

I asked Stella to say a few words about Loma, and she replied: Loma has expressed her creativity in almost every medium you can think of. "I don't sing though," she says. "People have paid me to stop!" She enjoys being creative with photography to add a bit extra to her images, and enjoys the ones that are "a bit off the wall".

Hopefully we’ll be able to hold this meeting at the Arts & Crafts Centre, but will advise closer to the time.

MARCH’S EVENTS

March 5: Futuna Chapel photo-shoot, photos from Mount Victoria, Bill Leask’s member’s slot

Futuna Chapel is an iconic piece of modern architecture designed by John Scott and opened in 1961, “arguably the most significant New Zealand building of the 20th Century” (quoted in www.johnscott.net.nz). This building is not open to the public, and we’re grateful to Bruce Pool for organising permission to visit the chapel and to use it for the club meeting.

The first part of the evening was a photo-shoot inside the chapel, with its lofty ceilings and coloured glass skylights.

Secondly, we looked at photographs taken at our Mount Victoria field-outing. A number of people brought their best five pictures, and it was interesting and rewarding to see how many different aspects there were.

For his member’s slot, Bill Leask showed two audio-visual shows compiled on Proshow Gold, one showing a small oil-rig operation near Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, and the other a larger floating oil-rig drilling offshore Taranaki.

March 19: Bruce Girdwood on the fundamentals of Photoshop

Bruce focussed on the first steps of photo editing – adjusting Levels, Curves, Dodging and Burning, and Sharpening. He made the point that these should be adequate for most pictures, but also emphasised “try it and see what happens.”

Bruce also showed some audio-visual shows of his last trip to South Africa, which are a very fine set of photographs well worth a formal exhibition.

A big thank you to Clark and Matilda Figuracion for hosting this meeting at their home.

EXHIBITIONS IN WELLINGTON

Photospace Gallery - 1st flr, 37 Courtenay Place (above Sahara Cafe)

Hours: 10am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Saturdays.
6 March-4 April
ANDREW ROSS - Special Places

18 April - 10 May
ROSS COOMBES - Indecisive Moments

Thistle Hall - cnr Cuba St/Arthur St - 1 to 6 April

Pixel Nudes and Particlescapes - photos and other works by Canadian artist
BRIAN FERNANDES.
Hours:12 noon - 6pm daily

Te Papa - Cable St
Toi TePapa - includes photographers Aberhart, Richard Collins, John Johns, Noble, Peryer & Len Wesney, but also worth seeing for the Maori art and European paintings, sculpture and ceramics.

Hamish McKay Gallery - 1st flr, 39 Ghuznee St

2 - 26 April
GAVIN HIPKINS - The Terrace

National Library Gallery - cnr Aitken St & Molesworth St

5 April to 19 July
A Capital Suburb: Pipitea Thorndon - the story of a suburb at the heart of a city.

Bowen Galleries - 35 Ghuznee St
7 April to May
GRANT SHEEHAN - Photo Synthesis

Pataka - Cnr Parumoana/Norrie St, Porirua
22 March to 22 June
TONY WHINCUP - Water on Water - Kiribati in Crisis?

Thanks to the Photospace website, www.photospace.co.nz, for the above information.

PSNZ NATIONAL CONVENTION 2008, TIMARU

• Hosted by Focus Aorangi Photographic Society of Timaru
• Wednesday 9th April to Sunday 13th April 2008
• All information available on PSNZ website www.photography.org.nz
• (Registration Forms, Programme, Accommodation, Post Convention Trip)
• Further information or queries contact Max Diehl mdiehl@paradise.net.nz
• Fieldtrip: Historic Precinct in Oamaru (Organised by North Otago PS )
• Speakers: Ron Davies (Wales) World renowned expert on Audio Visuals.
• John Doogan FNZIPP (Christchurch) Adobe Photoshop Ambassador
• Robert Catto (Wellington ) Low light photography
• Gottlieb Braun-Ewart (Tekapo) Photography of the McKenzie High Country
• Matheson Beaumont (Dunedin) The Master of the Landscape
• Melanie Burford (Dallas USA) Top Level Photojournalism
• Emma Hughes (Waiheke Is.) Talented People Photographer

HUTT - KARORI INTERCLUB BATTLE

It’s our turn to host the annual competition with our friends from the Hutt Club. The battle will be on July 16, with selection on July 2.

Prints: open subject (10 images from each club)
Prints: set subject: portraits (10 images from each club)

Digital: open subject (10 images from each club)
Digital: set subject: weather (10 images from each club)

REGIONAL INTERCLUB BATTLE

This year‘s battle will be hosted by the Kapiti Coast Photographic Society on August 12. While this is still a way off, I suggest that you cut out the following list of topics, carry it around in your wallet, and LOOK AT IT from time to time.

• Plumbing
• Clouds
• Night
• Abandoned
• Liquid
• Glass (not reflective)
• Rocks
• One Tree
• Glint in the Eye
• Wide
• Interior (Architecture)
• Orange

Perhaps, for both the Hutt and Regional battles, you’ve just looked down the list and thought, “oh yes, I’ve got a good one for that category.” OK, so write it down, or put the image in a separate folder, or something like that. These events are fun, and stimulating, and well worth being a part of.

THE CANON/THE PHOTOGRAPHERS MAIL COMPETITION

The latest issue of The Photographers Mail is advertising this year's Canon/TPM annual photo contest, subject "Shape and colour", one entry per person, closing date 11 April. The Photographers Mail is a free publication available from camera/photo shops all around town (or you can subscribe to it by mail for $20/year, $35/two years).

MORE FIELD TRIP ACCOMMODATION

Another brochure for photographic field trip accommodation: High Country Lodge and Backpackers, Twizel caters for 266 people. Bill has the brochure, plus others from Mokau and Reefton.

PHOTO FINISH

Aryn Baker, in Time magazine, 14 March 2008:

“With multifunctional digital cameras shrinking to near charm-bracelet size, it seems that any vacationer has the capability of turning an exotic holiday into a National Geographic photo safari [don’t you hate that? – all you need is a camera and you can do as well as a NG photographer? Bollocks.] But who cares if the only way to enjoy the results is to stare at a computer screen, with your friends rolling their eyes as the next snap uploads?

Clearly, photos look better in print. And what better way to brag about your latest trip to Mongolia than with your very own coffee-table book? We found three specialist websites that will make one for you with a few clicks of a mouse. MyPublisher.com offers a downloadable program that allows you to choose books up to a deluxe 11.5 inches by 15 inches (30 cm by 38 cm) in size. You also get to pick the cover style, and specify captions and layout vis a simple drag-and-drop process. In addition to hardbound books, PhotoWorks.com offers customized calendars and greeting cards for all the friends who didn’t eve get a T-shirt. Alternatively, for those seeking to memorialize a wedding or a baby’s birth, Shutterfly.com features cute backgrounds, pastel-striped covers and caption fonts that lend an arts-and-crafts feel.”

I recently saw a book of photos that the owner said had been compiled by Foto Buch. I searched for this on Google and found http://fotoalbum.onlineprint24.com. A couple of other addresses that came up were www.printmyalbum.co.nz and www.MakeABook.com.au. I haven’t researched any of these, but these addresses, plus searching Google with keywords like “photo album” may help you if you’re interested.

FOOTNOTES

The Karori Camera Club is part of the Karori Arts & Crafts Centre. For information on all Centre activities, contact Stella Mason, 476-6817 during working hours.

Karori Camera Club meets on the first and third Wednesdays of every month at the Karori Arts & Crafts Centre, at 7.30 pm. Remember that we do have our own website http://karori.cameraclub.org.nz , which lists current and recent events, and links to individual members’ websites. For any enquiries, or a copy of our 2008 programme/information to newcomers, contact our co-convenors Stella Daniel (twinkle@paradise.net.nz) or Mark Berger (photosoc@moothall.co.nz). For contributions to the newsletter, contact Bill Leask at bill.sue.leask@paradise.net.nz.

And if you haven’t paid your subscription yet …

As in previous years, it costs $25 to join the Arts & Crafts Centre and an additional $10 to join the camera club. Treasurer Heuchan says he’d prefer that the Centre's fee was paid directly to them and not through him or the club's account, and that he just collects the $10 from each member. If you’d like to pay your $10 directly to the club account, the details are: Photo club account, BNZ, Wellington Branch, Achiever Savings 02-0500-0562691-097.

Postscript: Art & Photography Exhibition and Sale

Just received the latest Karori Arts & Crafts newsletter, and noticed that there will be an Art & Photography Exhibition & Sale on July 5 to 11 (with a wine & cheese on July 4). While this is still a way off, I wanted to point out to all the potential new members out there that the KAAC exhibitions give you an opportunity to formally exhibit one or two pieces of work with a minimum of cost or hassle – it doesn’t get any easier than this!

We will show you how to cut mattes and frame your print, suggest a price range to advertise it for, and if you want, give feedback on selecting a picture or cropping/editing a picture. KAAC takes 10% of the purchase price if you sell your picture.