From our April 2 Meeting

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Ways for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantine.

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• Create a Flickr page for the club with images and commentary.

 

• Group meetngs ia Zoom, Google hangout or other internet sofwaree

◦ Sca enger hunt

▪ create a list of items for a tme of year, holiday, current e ent, etc.

▪ members create a short presentation in whatever format, i.e. image by image with

commentary, slideshow that can be shown ia Zoom or Google Hangout

◦ Either competition or photos for a particular theme to be shown via PhotoContestPro or

other competition vehicle. Similar to the Scavenger hunt above.

◦ Continue competitions via Zoom or other sharing software. Judges can either judge in

advance or during the contest, as they do in person.

◦ What do you think? Or What are your feelings? Images can be shown ia the ways above

or on a shared screen on an internet meeting: The members discuss what feelings are

evoked by the images. The maker may or may not describe what the intent was.

◦ Presentation by non-club speakers.

◦ Salon Panel: a panel of more experienced photographers in the club answer questions

various processing software programs from the members. he panelists rotate with quick

round of responses.

▪ This can be done for other photography questions, but limit it to one topic per meeting

(processing, camera settings, etc)

◦ Take the most mundane area of their homes to see how create the members can be. The

results can be an evening of enjoyment and enlightenment.

◦ How creative can the members be with mundane objects such as pots and pans?

◦ Upload the results of any of these ideas onto a page on the club’s website.

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Special addition to the minutes: A tremendous thank you to Ed Lee from PWCC for these ideas sent

after the NYMACC meeting:

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• From www.petapixel.com Here’s an amazing short film titled "The Old New World” by

photographer and animator Alexey Zakharov of Moscow, Russia. Zakharov found old photos of

US cites from the early @900s and brought them to life. It's a photo-based animaton project

that offers a "travel back in time with a little steampunk time machine; the main part of this

ideo was made with camera projection based on photos. See: https://petapixel.com/2016/04/06/animation-created-using-old-photos-early-1900s/?fbclid=IwAR3VAFGNAZsHkJnP_0hlagK9n1KFd6DlQCbdWpWuDKO1lbO4lCSQKLte3UY for article. Click here for the original Vimeo video and list of credits and resources:

https://vimeo.com/160024074. You'll notce he used of-the-shelf software like Photoshop and

After Effects among others.

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• Very often, when selling or buying cameras, you may want to know the number of shutter

actuations or "clicks." Obviously, a camera with a 100 thousand clicks is worth a bit less than

the camera with @000 clicks. Here are three free sources to determine this number, two are

websites and one's software.

http://myshuttercount.com/Myshuttercount.com provides a tool for you to check your digital

camera shuter count and basic EXIF information. Just simply upload a photo which is taken by

your camera. he site will show you the shutter count of your camera instantly. Sa e or print

the page or use Win10's Snipping tool for a screen capture. At this moment the site supports

Nikon's NEF, Pentax's DNG and PEF formats.

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• https://www.camerashuttercount.com/ is a similar website but actually lists cameras that

ha e been successfully read on the Home page.

 

• http://www.freeshuttercount.com/index.html is free standalone sofware that will handle

Nikon, Canon and Sony but not all models due to the camera's firmware especially Canon

cameras.

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• Speaking of Exif information. Here's a piece of advanced free software that will educate you

about EXIF information and everything you ever wanted to know, ExifTool by Phil Harvey, Read,

Write and Edit Meta Information! htps://exifool.org/.

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• Here's a photo utility that I find very useful and ha e been using for years: Awesome Duplicate

Photo Finder: https://www.duplicate-finder.com/photo.html. Free and complete instructions,

download link and articles and reviews. Unfortunately, the other software links are dead.

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From our May 20 Meeting

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I Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantne

 

• Weekly topic can be assigned:

◦ Pots and Pans Challenge: have members get creative in photographing their cookware. The

images can be shared on FB, at a Zoom meeting, club critiquing and/or competitions.

◦ Falling water/milk/other liquid drops, various lighting shown through household objects

such as cheese grater, various objects, materials.

◦ Flash distances from very close to further away for various effects on any of the

suggestions in this group. Speed lights are all that are needed, more elaborate lighting

systems only if available/desired.

◦ One technical skill: challenge the members to work on one particular skill, share the results

with discussion.

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• Ask a Salon Photographer: club members submit brief technical photography questions to one

designated board member. They are then distributed to the club’s salon photographers who

volunteer to provide brief answers at a meeting. The responding salon photographers create a

5 minute Zoom video which is saved. All the videos are saved for showing at a meeting. They

can be organized by topic. More than one response is to a question reveals various possible

technical responses. Member questions included such varied topics such DoF, focus stacking,

getting started with a particular program, color toning, what judges look for and hyper focal

distance. Videos not shown one night can be held for another meeting.

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• Set up themes for fall competitions so members can get started on them now.

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• Lisa calls sheltering at home, “Artist in Residence.” every room in the home is full of things to

photograph with various lenses, macro, lighting, etc.

◦ This can be the basis of a program in which members discuss (for 5 minutes) how/why they

chose their subjects.

◦ These images can also be the basis of a club critiquing program.

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• Members can be encouraged to send in 5 minute videos, show a designated number, save

others for future programs.

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• Create virtual exhibits with other organizations such as health, community, local governmental

offices, chamber of commerces will have listing of other organizations and of course, libraries.

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• Reach out to foreign clubs for exchanges. With Zoom, it’s possible to hole joint meetings.

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• Encourage members to photograph in less populated venues such as cemeteries, lesser known

parks.

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• Set up self-guided field trips to one venue. Members can go at their convenience and share

their photos on a Zoom meeting. The various tmes of day and weathers would make for

interesting programs.

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• Stock image processing: send the same stock image to all members for them to process. The

results can be discussed and shown at a Zoom meeting.

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• Negotiate with professional photographers to present via Zoom.

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From our June 17 Meeting

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I Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantne:

NYMACC’s suggestons are geared to allow us to

socially distance, follow CDC regulatons for the safety of ourselves and others.

 

• Presentatons on Zoom: Zoom meetngs are most successful when two or three people a assigned to the important tasks of

◦ moderatng the meetngs

◦ admitng atendees

◦ monitoring the chat/Q&A

• Professional photographer's presentatons:

◦ We now have unlimited access to photographers throughout the world to present to our

clubs.

◦ For example: Mat ill, Natonal Parks at Night, will do a program on light paintng in your

house. Great presenters, such as Joseph Roybal and Steve Getle, can be found on unt’s

speaker’s list.

◦ Share Zoom presentatons with other clubs. All NYMACC clubs can share their invitatons by

sending a note to Deborah.

• Member driven program suggestons

◦ Questons and Answers:

▪ members submit either technical or philosophical questons on photography

▪ these questons are forwarded to club members. Those who feel they have the expertse to respond will do so.

▪ responses can be delivered either on a 5 minute Zoom recording or in person, for 5 minutes.

◦ Assigned subjects

▪ assign subjects readily available, such as household items (cutlery, furniture, etc), colors, shapes, etc for club critquing or compettons.

▪ Members can also create slide shows, with or without music, on a partcular subject.

◦ Breakout rooms within Zoom for small groups to discuss partcular photos, photo-based topics.

▪ Each “room” has a designated leader, the partcipants rotate. Everyone regroups atend to share their experiences and learning.

▪ The rooms can be called “workshops.”

◦ Create club meetups for technical issues and discussions, sharing expertse.

◦ With special thanks to Ed Lee:

▪ Shoot in the style of…

• select a famous photographer for the club to emulate in style, subject mater, etc.

• compare and discuss at a club meetng

▪ Show and Tell: each volunteer club member shows two images to discuss why, how, etc of what is important about those images

▪ Chit-chat: we’ve missed each other, just meet to socialize. Can be done full club or in

smaller groups

▪ Twice a year Portolio reviews. An expert analyzes 12-24 images and instructs on how to create a stunning portolio. Ed highly recommends Jean Miele, check out these links: https://bit.ly/37Cfl2n and https://bit.ly/37Cfl2n Clubs can consider partcipatng in the SVA Salon.

▪ Scavenger nights: Provide a list of items to the club members. A theme is preferred: a holiday, topic, etc. The items can be either specifc or general to the theme. Compare and discuss at a club meetng

▪ Theme nights: can be held three tmes a year; colors, shapes, leters, etc.

▪ Model shoot with less than 10 people total, including the model(s), if possible.

▪ Internatonal photo club exchange:

• make contact with a photo club in another country

• exchange photos for a zoom sharing meetng.

• Other projects will come out of this as the clubs get to know each other.

▪ US based photo club exchange, see above.

▪ Zoom, or other such software, event presented by photo organizatons.

• NYMACC shared events: NYMACC members are welcome to share any of their events with other clubs. During these days, it is easy to partcipate via Zoom.

◦ Several of our NYMACC members have invited other clubs to join them for professional

photographers presentatons.

◦ NYMACC member clubs can invite other clubs to their creatve events by sending the

informaton to be emailed (dcohen99@icloud.com) and to be placed on the NYMACC

website (info@nymaccphoto.org)

 

II Miscellaneous discussions

• Online compettons with more than one judge

◦ send images to all judge ahead beforehand, judges send back scores and comments, when comments are requested.

◦ Sofware is available on most online contest sofware that allows for multple judges, contact the administrators of the program your club uses.

◦ ow do we contnue print completonss We had no way of doing it that did not require expensive shipping to the judges. Suggeston: contact Art Vaughn of NECCC who transports prints on a regular basis.

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III Post Pandemic discussions:

NYMACC was created to share photo-based ideas. It is exactly what we are doing during the

pandemic. The more input we have, the more creatve we can be during these tmes and certainly after the pandemic is over. We will contnue our monthly discussions on ways to keep our clubs vital.

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From our July 22 Meeting

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I Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantne: NYMACC’s suggestons are geared to allow us to

socially distance, follow CDC regulatons for the safety of ourselves and others. As most clubs are on

hiatus for the summer, we geared our suggestons for a dynamic return in September.

Presentatons on Zoom: Zoom meetngs are most successful when two or three people are assigned to

the important tasks of

1) moderatng the meetngs

2) admitng atendees

3) monitoring the chat/Q&A

• Stock photo processing: A variaton on a previous suggeston is to assign the members to process

a given stock image in two ways: one traditonally, the second quite manipulated. Clubs have

various names for creatng an image that cannot occur in reality: Open Mind, Altered Reality, New

Dimensions, etc.

• Weekly challenges: theme, subjects, etc. based on the creatvity of the club. Members share their

images for discussion.

• Discussion evenings: devote an entre evening to discussing various photographic topics:

• historic, ( camera types no longer or rarely used, i.e. pinhole cameras

• trends in photography

• the future of photography

• photographic processing,

• is photography art?

• Topics are endless….

• Non-club presenters: Lists of presenters will be put onto the NYMACC website. The advantage of

Zoom is the ability to atract out of town, even out of country, presenters.

• Member presentatons: Our members are incredibility creatve. They should be encouraged to

present on a topic of their choosing. Not only does this allow our members to learn from each

other, but also the member presenter is readily available for future questons.

• Small group mentoring: Breakout rooms can be utliied for this on regular meetng tmes. Or, as in

Color Camera Club of Westchester (CCCW), a club member sets up a mentoring session on a

partcular topic at a non-regular club meetng tme. These groups are limited in number and are

often requested to be repeated. Although these are not held on regular meetng nights, they are a

way for clubs to share their expertse.

• In the Style Of…: members each chooses a favorite photo of another photographer, well known or

not, to use as their base for this program: Members atempt to replicate that image or the style of

the image or to create their own image based on the emoton created by the chosen image.

• Member videos/slideshows: Meetngs where members show their own work, a theme, a locaton,

etc., in a video or slideshow. Sources for fnding music:

• htps://music.youtube.com

• htps://incompetech.flmmusic.io

• htps://www.smartsound.com/

• Photo-based documentary meetng: Show a documentary on photography or a photographer that

is legal to show. Depending on the length of the flm and the length of the club’s meetng tme, the

flm can be viewed by the members at a meetng or on their own tme with the meetng devoted to

discussion.

• One suggeston is “a documentary about on Jay Maisel enttled “Jay Myself,s directed by

Stephen Wilkes. The Maisel flm can be rented to $4.99 on Vimeo

(https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jaymyself).

• Resources for documentary flms include but are not limited to: Channel 13, ICP, public

libraries, documentary flm festval websites.

• Unique Photographing: Encourage members to photograph in a way they’ve never done before:

pin hole cameras, solariiaton, use a fat bed scanner (ex. Elijah’s scanner video:

htps://www.instagram.com/p/CC1-YlFBBnuU/?igshidkkcinbilotbiw ). Each can be googled for

further how-to informaton.

• Equipment afnity groups: Zoom allows for breakout rooms so that members can compare notes,

questons, problems, and solutons on the type of cameras each uses.

• Ed Lee has shared a program taped at PWCC: 2018 Photoshop workshop at PWCC with David

Atlas which was recorded and uploaded to youTube. David has been involved with professional

retouching and PS for 20 years and uses examples from his commercial and studio work to speak

about the various techniques that he uses.

htps://www.youtube.com/watch?vknSGYG2JdmHY&featurekyoutu.be&oky

 

II Miscellaneous discussions

• Logistcs of paying club dues: PayPal, Zelle (free to users), other fnancial programs that make

it easier for members to join up or renew. Some clubs are lowering their dues since rents,

presenter fees, etc are not being incurred.

• Club calendars: most have yearly calendars

• Website constructon: CCCW uses htps://www.clubexpress.com The mail program is “clunkys

but emails can be sent out to club address list, members have the ability to opt out of having

emails sent to them, takes care of security, allows easy additons to several items, i.e. calendar,

and more. It’s worth looking into.

• Strength in Numbers: when a club cannot hire a professional presenter or have one sponsored

due to being too small, NYMACC members have been sending Deborah and Ron the

informaton invitng all addressees on the NYMACC mailing list to atend. In this age of Zoom,

greater atendance can be atained rather than having people drive to clubs across the tristate

area. This is available only to NYMACC members. https://www.nymaccphoto.org/proile.

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From our September 9 Meeting

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I        Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantine: NYMACC’s suggestions are geared to allow us to

socially distance, follow CDC regulations for the safety of ourselves and others. As most clubs are on

hiatus for the summer, we geared our suggestions for a dynamic return in September.

Presentations on Zoom:

 

• Handling competitions varies from club to club: All clubs have canceled their print

competitons untl in-person meetings are safe.

Various ways competitions can be held during the pandemic:

◦ have limited the number of digital entries per member to allow more tme for the judges to

critique.

◦ rather than having judges, have interactive sharing/critquing. More interactive members

evening are being planned

◦ competition winners talk about their images

◦ Greater Bridgeport CC asks members to judge; scores are submitted before the meeting,

the meeting are reserved for comments. The maker’s name is revealed after the

comments. Other members can add comments after the judges have completed theirs.

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• Breakout rooms:

◦ Clubs are experimenting with, or planning to experiment with, breakout rooms. Ideas

include:

• mentoring on various topics

• sharing/critiquing in small groups

• select a master photographer's image, members make their own version. Then ask

◦ what did you learn from this process?

◦ Did it make you see your own work from a different perspective?

• Another way of using a master photographer's image:

◦ Ground Glass used Cartier-Bresson’s image “Decisive Moment” for members to

interpret in their own way (literally, philosophically, emotionally) the idea of

“something about to happen.”

• The above ideas are applicable to both full club or breakout rooms.

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• Misc responses to Zoom meetings

◦ Some clubs have started ó hour earlier for the socializing all missed. Others socialize both

before and after the programs

◦ digital exhibits

▪ Ground Glass organized a virtual exhibit http://gg-revisited.ddns.net This link will be

available untl October 21, 2020. Please note that the exhibit was arranged to “fow” as

carefully as in-person exhibits are.

▪ hopefully next month we can learn more about how each of us can do this.

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II       Other Club issues:

• Rental fees to meeting places variations:

◦ venues allowing clubs to move the payments forward to future in-person meetngs,

keeping the payments “in the bank”

◦ twice a year or 3 month payments are held of with on-going discussion of the remainder

of any payments already paid

◦ venue waived the fees during this pandemic and clubs are on Zoom

◦ Another issue with rented venues is time limitations that curtail program lengths. This

includes competitions where the final category to be judged, usually Salon, is

shortchanged. This is not an issue on Zoom.

◦ Since the meeting, one venue has returned the prepaid fees through the end of 2020

allowing that club to start over when the pandemic is over.

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III      NYMACC website

• member clubs are reminded that we will post your events on the NYMACC calendar (send to

Ron at info@nymaccphoto.org and forward them to entire email list (send to Deborah at

dcohen99@icloud.com )

• member clubs are also asked to send about 10 images from your members for the photo scroll.

Send these to info@nymaccphoto.org

• Joining NYMACC has become even easier. Click on htps://www.nymaccphoto.org/proele to

join or in December to renew: Zelle is now an option, use the address info@nymaccphoto.org.

​

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From our October 28 Meeting

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I        Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 quarantine: NYMACC’s suggestions are geared to allow us to

socially distance, follow CDC regulations for the safety of ourselves and others.

​

• Field trips

◦ small groups

◦ mentoring sessions run bl club members for 8-10 members limit

◦ self-guided trips with window to complete the trip followed by

▪ sending in photos and comments to the club newsletter

▪ zoom photo/comment sharing night

◦ no car pooling

◦ outdoors only

 

• Club photo shares to get/keep member partcipation. All ideas have worked for and/or

suggested by those present and can be tweaked as each club translates them to their own

membership. They are a key to club survival: interacting and a sense of community

• Club critiquing variations

  • send 2-4 images to central place (generally the one used for competitions, etc.)

  • each image is critiqued by members

  • score sheets sent with images to members; scores are then tallied and compared during meeting: this usually results in a wide spread of scores, very few images are scored below average

• Master challenge: Either the Board chooses a famous photographer or members choose one themselves      : Members then create their own image in the style of, their own representation of or what that image evokes in them. This challenge is quite flexible.

  • Sharing results can either be full club or in breakout rooms. CCCW chose full club sharing as everyone wanted to see/hear what their colleagues had created.

• Workshop nights

  • invite one to a few presenters on a topic. Try to encourage all levels to present. 

• “Help me with this image” membership make suggestions or unfinished images      

• “B Sides” Share images not chosen to enter into competition, members make suggestions for improvement.

• “Theme of four” members show images on one theme for positive feedback, not for critiquing.

• Self-portrait: send in a self-portrait (however they are sent for competition) for other members to ask questions such as: why did you do it?, was it amusing, etc. NO critiquing.

• 1 image, 2 ways: Board sends 3 raw images to the members on any subject for members to process 2 ways: traditional and non-traditional.  Again, discussion only, no critiquing. The results are always very creative.   

• Photo Club Pals: PWCC has developed a relationship with a club in Pretoria, South Africa. They share photos across the world. It is possible to have a relationship with national and/or international clubs.

• Expanding our skills...no critiquing

  • share 2-3 images taken with a lens rarely or never used, discuss results

  • share a grouping of one subject taken with various lenses. Members explain why a particular lens was the only one that captured their pre-visualized image.  

  • pushing the camera: share 2-3 images of motion blur, multiple images, lens twisting, etc

  • share 2-3 images using 2 cameras/2 lenses or an  infrared retrofitted camera: compare the results

  • A different perspective: share 2-3 images taken from perspectives member(s) do not usually shoot from: higher, lower, floor level, sideways—any perspective other than standing straight up.

• Competition variations:

  • 2-4 images each, depending on size of club’s normal entries

  • announcing judges is strictly a club decision:

    • some clubs do not announce judge’s names beforehand

    • others do saying it allows members to check him/her out while other members “game the system.”

  • titles are also strictly a club decision, there are pros and cons for including them or not        

    • at IPC and PPA 

      • sometimes no scores, just thumbs up/down

      • Professional clubs use them; time can be spent suggesting nouns and adjectives to use in titles

      • this year at PPA comments were made only when there was a challenge

      • most NYMCC clubs are amateur and do not abide by PPA rules

  • Print competitions:

    • for the duration of the pandemic, clubs have suspended holding print competitions

    • clubs

      • have replaced prints with other digital completions, i.e. themes

      • reduced the number of competitions in favor of sharing/interactive events  

    • pre-pandemic: RCP displayed all prints on a large table for members to view/discuss along with coffee/cake

  • After winners announced some clubs have them speak about their images   

  • at PWCC sometimes includes “ringers” by non-club members. If they win, the judge is told they are ringers.

  • At RPC the entire competition will sometimes be exact same images to another judge has scored. The results are informative.

  • Resubmitting images variations

    • can resubmit a second time but the maker can only get ½ the score if the image(s) have won previously

    • can resubmit if the image(s) a year later if it did not get any award, and can be reworked.

  • Composite images variations

    • can be submitted only in non-traditional categories (Open Mind, Alternate Reality, New Dimensions, etc)           

    • amateur clubs require that all components of an image must be the work of the maker including textures, skies, etc. Professional clubs must show the components on the side and can be work of others.

  • Traditional/photo realistic: generally, the manipulation is not obvious but is basically merely enhancement of the image.

  • Prescreening images

    • before the actual judging begins: Some clubs do, others do not.

    • Images sent to a committee before the competition. If there seem to be problems, the image is returned to the maker for corrections or for submitting a different image, if there is time.

• Non-club presentations

  • recording on Zoom

    • ask presenters beforehand for their permission

    • some clubs record, recordings are available to members only, unless specified

​

II          NYMACC website

• member clubs are reminded that we will post your events on the NYMACC calendar (send to Ron at info@nymaccphoto.org and forward them to entire email list (send to Deborah at dcohen99@icloud.com )

• member clubs are also asked to send about 10 images from your members for the photo scroll.  Send these to info@nymaccphoto.org

• Joining NYMACC has become even easier. Click on https://www.nymaccphoto.org/profile to join or in December to renew: Zelle is now an option, use the address info@nymaccphoto.org  

​

​

From our December 3 Meeting

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I           Misc club issues:

• How clubs are dealing with the loss of club member interaction:

  • breakout rooms:

    • small groups of about 5 to chat

    • used for mentoring programs, i.e. different cameras, processing software, etc.

    • used for small group critiquing but that was dropped by one club as members preferred to critique/share as a whole.

    • some clubs’s issues

      • negative: small groups preclude general interaction, members often feel “left out” of other conversations

      • positive: when each room has a distinct area of a subject (ie. see above, different cameras, or Photoshop and Elements)

  • open club time before and/or after meetings for people to chat          

    • open the meeting ½ hour early for chatting and leave open at end

    • clubs that record their meetings do not keep a record of the socializing times

• Zoom sessions

  • more people are attending meetings: it’s convenient and more members contribute during the meetings

  • guest speakers and judges:

    •  Zoom precludes the need for travel making the guest speaker and judge pool national and international.

    • NYMACC assists NYMACC members to advertise club programs. Send the information to Deborah (to be sent via email to entire NYMACC mailing list) and Ron (to be posted on our website.

  • Advantages after the pandemic:

    • can see/hear better

    • continue to have non-regional guest speakers and judges without the concern of the numbers attending

    • have “blended” meetings: part Zoom/part live. At a future date NYMACC will discuss the technicalities involved

    • clubs do not have to cancel due to inclement weather        

    • Annotation possibility when screen sharing: When the host sets it up, anyone with permission can annotate. This is helpful during competitions and club sharing. When a screen is shared, there is a drop down “view options” menu on the top of the shared screen which includes “annotate.”

  • Disadvantage: Zoom bombing

    •  

    • Although this has become rare, one club was recently zoom bombed. Someone took over the screen share and could not be removed’ the meeting had to restarted with that person restricted. Once an address is restricted, Zoom does not allow it to ever return. Solutions offered:  

    • preregistration

    • Host can stop the screen sharing: on the top of the screen “X is sharing their screen” is highlighted in green. Next to that is a drop down menu “view options.” The host can restrict who can share their screen as well as close down a screen share. The host should only allow individuals to share their screens rather than allow all attendees to do so.

    • Other host capabilities:having a co-host has several advantages

    • keeping an eye on the waiting room

    • muting all or individuals and/or monitoring screen sharing. The mute all button is on the bottom of the participants list.

    • if the host has to leave a meeting, another participant can be made the host with full host capabilities (next to that designated person’s name, the host can click on “more” to do this. Only a host can create a co-host or another full host.

​

​

• Public forums/groups

  • Yahoo sharing groups are disbanding their informal forum for posting photos, ad hoc walks, share links, etc.

  • FB and instagram are being used more for sharing

  • RCC has opened a Flickr page for their members to share PDF files

  • PWCC is looking into using FB for publicity

  • Ways of sharing photos

  • Google Drive: each sharer must have a google account. It is now called WeTransfer, but it can be confusing.     

​

II          Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 during quarantine: NYMACC’s suggestions are geared to allow us to socially distance, follow CDC regulations for the safety of ourselves and others.

           

 

Presentations on Zoom

• How I Got this Shot: Each member is invited to chose one image to discuss from start, what attracted him/her to the image, to finish, the processing to final image. Thought process before going out to shoot should included

• pre-scouting, lighting, perspective, etc.

• Copy a Master: several images of various works of art are sent to the members, or they are sent to a website for the members to access, with various choices. Members are then asked to do put themselves in the shoes of one artist and then do any of the following:

• copy the image in style or literally

• translate from another medium (painting, sculpture, etc.) to digital cameras

• create an image inspired by the chosen work of art

• “Expert” enhancing. An expert member tweaks images submitted by other members.     This can either be done ahead of time or in real time. Before and After images are shown and discussed.

• One angle of light: Members shoot only one angle of light, i.e. backlight, sidelight, window light, etc, etc.

• One subject/several days: choose one subject to photograph over a period of a few days, different times of day taking advantage of various lighting and using various compositions.

• Small group visit to Home Depot for one hour. The; using only a phone to photograph and process images taken.

• Phone photography only: all images shared had to have been taken and processed on a phone.

• Step out of your comfort zone ideas: photograph in ways or using equipment not your norm: lightning, angle, camera, setting, etc.

• One lens only: use a lens you don’t usually use, learn to “see how the lens sees.” Prime, telephoto, wide, fisheye, etc.

• 3” Street photography: photograph only 3” away...not using a long lens!

• Blur panning: using panning or twisting the lens show only blurred images; what did you learn? What was frustrating?

• Short Photo Essays: create a 3 image photo essay

• Member mentoring: a member leads a series of 5 sessions on a particular subject. During Covid the subjects can be confined to your home: still life, food, flowers, etc, etc. PWCC uses this for attracting new members: non-members are charged $9 per session, free for members. All who join have these fees pro-rated into their memberships dues. However, other clubs can certainly do this activity within house at no charge.

• Twice a year slide show/social can still be done on Zoom. RCC creates a club themed slideshow with music of 5 images submitted by each member.

• Learning/teaching sessions: explore the exposure triangle. How does shutter, aperture and/or ISO help to tell the story. This is an on-going teaching activity.

• One images/two processing approaches:

• traditional, one open mind (altered reality, new dimensions, each club has its own nomenclature.)

• Black/white and color versions

• Creativity Unleashed: 4 images are sent to the members to process. Members discuss how/why they chose a particular method. This is an opportunity to learn from each other.

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III         Competitions: A lively discussion on competitions occurred.

• People want to show their work in a non-judgmental atmosphere. Photography is an artistic endeavor. Competitions are for people starting out, they want to test themselves. Later, they want to explore areas that don’t conform to the “rules.”

• In some clubs, members need competitions.

• There’s a difference between club competitions and photos that sell.

  • Fine art, magazine, portraiture, studio work, etc more often than not differ from what does well in competition.

  • Often what does well in club competitions does not do well in national and international ones.

• Correction of a suggestion from our last meeting:  PWCC has 2 “ringers” in each of their competitions. Each year 2 images are chosen that are not made by members and are sometimes by professional photographers. The judges never know these are included. At the end of the season, the comments on these images are shared for a laugh at their annual meeting.      

 

IV         NYMACC website

• member clubs are reminded that we will post your events on the NYMACC calendar (send to Ron at info@nymaccphoto.org and forward them to entire email list (send to Deborah at dcohen99@icloud.com )

• member clubs are also asked to send about 10 images from your members for the photo scroll.  Send these to info@nymaccphoto.org

• Joining NYMACC has become even easier. Click on https://www.nymaccphoto.org/profile to join or in December to renew: Zelle is now an option, use the address info@nymaccphoto.org     

• A reminder fro 2021 dues will be coming out shortly.

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From our January 12 Meeting

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I           Misc club issues:

• Keeping members engaged: Many clubs’ members want to share in other ways than Zoom.

  • Weekly Updates: Ridgewood CC shared their informative and beautiful weekly update.

    • All information needed by their members are in one place with links to further details.

    • RCC was concerned that previously members were not reading the updates...so they made it more both informative and more aesthetically pleasing. They felt the website is good for non0members, but members should not have to “dig for information.”

  • Private club FB page for sharing images and discussions.

    • Also, competition winners can be posted in an album.

    • Club challenges: a perk of being a member.

  • Instagram:

    • can tag photos

    • private meetings/activities set up by/for club members

  • Mail Chimp: their free account allows for a finite number of mailings to 2000 people. A problem is that attachments don’t always go through.

  • Social media – Private club FB page for sharing images and discussions. Also, competition winners can be posted in an album.

  • Although there are other programs similar to Zoom, no one recommended any.

• Zoom bombing concerns:

  • as Zooming allows for national and international membership/guests, the possibility of zoom bombers increases.

  • We discussed whether clubs limit themselves by not opening up to national/international membership or are we containing membership as we envision a return to face-to-face meetings. The final decision rests with each club.

  • Mailing weekly updates to members only limits the possibility of zoom bombing.

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II         Ideas for photo clubs to handle COVID-19 during quarantine: NYMACC’s suggestions are   geared to allow us to socially distance, follow CDC regulations for the safety of ourselves and others. Although during our brainstorming we come up with ideas that are better suited for a post pandemic world, we include them in the minutes.

            Presentations on Zoom: At several clubs the sharing programs have been so successful the members are asking for two of these programs per month.

• Correction: (sorry for the typo) 3’ Street photography: photograph only 3’ away...not using a long lens!

• Blur panning: using panning or twisting the lens show only blurred images; what did you learn? What was frustrating?

• Short Photo Essays: create a 3 image photo essay

• Member mentoring: a member leads a series of 5 sessions on a particular subject. During Covid the subjects can be confined to your home: still life, food, flowers, etc, etc. PWCC uses this for attracting new members: non-members are charged $9 per session, free for members. All who join have these fees pro-rated into their memberships dues. However, other clubs can certainly do this activity within house at no charge.

• Twice a year slide show/social can still be done on Zoom. RCC creates a club themed slideshow with music of 5 images submitted by each member.

• Learning/teaching sessions: explore the exposure triangle. How does shutter, aperture and/or ISO help to tell the story. This is an on-going teaching activity.

• One images/two processing approaches:

  • traditional, one open mind (altered reality, new dimensions, each club has its own nomenclature.)

  • Black/white and color versions

• Creativity Unleashed: 4 images are sent to the members to process. Members discuss how/why they chose a particular method. This is an opportunity to learn from each other.

• Signage as the subject: go against the norm by making sharing photos where signage/words are crucial to the image.

• Mirror image: share photos where the image seen in the image is the subject.

• Car shots: share photos taken from the comfort of your car.

• Most Meaningful photo: members have a few minutes to share their most meaningful image: Why is it so meaningful? What prompted you to take the image?

• Show and Tell: members choose whatever they want to share. Anything they want to share, other work done, place(s) visited, etc. This is especially good for those members who are not photographing as much at the moment.

• Why is it a classic? Members discuss various well known classic photos: Is it really “good?”  What makes it a classic? This program is possible for either full club or in breakout rooms.

• Photo Club Zoom Pals: PWCC collaborates with a photo club in South Africa. Each club sends images a few days prior to their meeting date. The two clubs share reactions to each other's photos.

• The Incredible Egg: One common household object or common food item is pre-chosen for the members to be as creative as possible photographically. The results are amazing.

• Virtual Summit: archived lessons taught by either club members or professional photographers. i.e. Dave Cross posts his lessons for a short time. Hunts’ Education, Kelby, B&H Optics, Adobe Max, Lynda.com, udemly.com, LinkIn Library, Creative Live and many more are excellent sources.

• Field Trip planning:  Several clubs are trying to get their members out again.

  • smaller numbers for social distancing

  • set up a time frame for members to go to a particular location.

  • when detailed links to what is available to photograph at a location are provided, more members attend.

 

 

III       NYMACC website

• member clubs are reminded that we will post your events on the NYMACC calendar (send to Ron at info@nymaccphoto.org and forward them to entire email list (send to Deborah at dcohen99@icloud.com )

• member clubs are also asked to send about 10 images from your members for the photo scroll.  Send these to info@nymaccphoto.org

• Joining NYMACC has become even easier. Click on https://www.nymaccphoto.org/profile to join or in December to renew: Zelle is now an option, use the address info@nymaccphoto.org       

• A reminder fro 2021 dues will be coming out shortly.

​

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