The Dubuque Camera Club virtual meeting on April 5, 2021 was attended by 15 people. Here are the meeting highlights:

Opening date for the “Trees” exhibit at the Dubuque Museum of Art has been pushed back a few weeks to Saturday, November 13, 2021. It will be on display concurrent with a Vietnam War exhibit. We hope to be clear of the pandemic by then, so the opening reception can be held in person. About 24 photos will be chosen. Participation is limited to active club members. The club will have photos printed and mounted as a group. Many people already submitted “Trees” images before the exhibit was postponed last year — with the new date, there is time to make changes. Here’s a link to the gallery.

► The annual club picnic is coming up. It will be held the first Monday in June. We are leaning toward having it in person at a shelter at the Mines of Spain. The club is planning to explore food options. More details to be discussed at upcoming meetings.

► Henry promised to lead a caravan into Illinois on a photo day trip on an unknown date in the future. Because of his art tours and landscape photography, he’s got an insider perspective of the tucked away places to photograph in Jo Daviess county. He calls them “places you can go and kind of get off the road so you don’t get killed.”

► General Bob has been out and about lining up future club exhibits. Some will be themed (like the “Trees” exhibit), while others will be eclectic. For the eclectic exhibits, you can choose your own subject and have them printed any which way. The Smokestack exhibit — this summer — is coming up rapidly. There’s lots of wall space, and items can be for sale (minus a commission). Get ready to dust off your hoarded prints, or order new!

► Don’t forget about the fall N4C convention in Duluth. Tickets are on sale now. Learn more.

► Pamela is desiring to step back somewhat from her communications role with the club, due to other time commitments. Speak up if you want to help!

► Casey’s husband has been in the hospital, so reach out to her!

The club also went over comments and returns from last month’s N4C contest. Our hearts go out to Cara, one of our club N4C reps. She gets the virtual consolation prize for receiving the least helpful comment from an N4C judge. (Say it in a deadpan voice): “I’m sorry, this did not appeal to me.”

Congratulations to the following Dubuque Camera Club photographers who were recognized in the March 2021 N4C contest:

• Henry Matthiessen, second place, Digital Pictorial, Cloud Gods Rise
• Kevin McTague, honorable mention, Digital Black and White, Winter Fall
• Kevin McTague, honorable mention, Digital Pictorial, Winter Sunset
• Stephonie Schmitz, merit award, Digital Nature, Costa Rican Pygmy Owl
• Stephonie Schmitz, merit award, Digital Pictorial, Serenity at Red Rocks Ampitheater
• Stephonie Schmitz, merit award, Digital Black and White, Winter Light
• Jim Durrant, merit award, Digital Nature, Sharp Shinned Hawk
• Will Hoyer, honorable mention, Digital Pictorial, Morning Color at Negative 16 Degrees Fahrenheit

Fifteen people attended the Dubuque Camera Club virtual meeting on March 1st, 2021.

The next couple years of N4C conventions were discussed. In fall 2021 the Duluth-Superior Camera Club will host, and registrations are open now [more info here]. Possibly, Dubuque could work in partnership with another club (Iowa City?) to host the 2022 convention. It’s a big challenge for one club to organize everything, as we know from past experience.

Our club has 31 active members, as of the date of this meeting. This puts us over the threshold as a “large” club, according to the N4C definition. Club member Jennifer Tigges is on the ballot for the N4c board of directors, as a candidate for director #2 (she’s moving up!). See the March issue of the N4C Bulletin for bios of everyone vying for a spot on the N4C board.

The photography club in Minnesota that contacted us out of the blue to judge their non-N4C competition has found other judges (whew!).

At long last we’ve heard that the nature center will re-open, under a new collaboration. Dubuque County Conservation (Swiss Valley) is receptive to groups like ours using E.B. Lyons as a meeting venue. Tentatively, we hope to meet in-person at the Mines of Spain during the 2021/22 season, which starts in September. “The good news is it will be open and available for us, and for school groups this summer,” said Ron.

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More N4C stuff. The N4C is still discussing changes to the print competition, which our club doesn’t currently compete in, due to cost and hassle factor. The idea, which we’ve detailed here before, is to use “disposable” 8×10-inch prints. It will save each club $45 or more every month in mailing print entries back to originating clubs. Only the winning prints will be kept, for the end-of-year display.

Our club has discussed many times the skewed point-counting system that makes us ineligible to receive Club of the Year due to not participating with prints. However, the pandemic, along with some prints lost in a snowstorm, has shown others the benefits of digital competition. Change moves painfully slow, but it does come eventually!

February Winners

Congratulations to the following Dubuque Camera Club photographers who were recognized in the February 2021 N4C competition:

• Stephonie Schmitz, Digital Travel (DT), first place, “Garden of the Gods”
• Henry Matthiessen, Digital Black & White (DB), merit award
• Kevin McTague, Altered Reality (DA), merit award

A couple of N4C contest tips, based on observation:

• Journalism (DJ) does better with people in the picture. Also, the new DJ scoring system is goofy.
• Travel (DT) is supposed to be an “iconic” image, aka recognizable as symbolic of a place.
• Titles are important. Some judges are influenced by them.
• Longer comments are usually better comments.
• Altered Reality (DA) must be UNREAL looking. Composites, etc.
• Focus stacking (and tilt shift) is okay in any category.

Most importantly, don’t give up hope if your photo didn’t do well in competition. “If you know in your heart you’ve got a great image, submit it again. Different clubs look at things differently,” Jenn advised.

Seventeen people attended the virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on Monday, February 22nd, 2021. Club president Ronald Tigges led the meeting, with Bob Felderman serving as virtual host.

First thing on the agenda (after updating antivirus software) was looking at the tiebreakers for this month’s Digital Pictorial judging. Last week, the three judges independently scored 117 images from other N4C clubs.

The virtual judging went smoothly this time around, except for a minor tech snafu where spreadsheets came back Read Only. However, N4C rep Cara Pusateri was able to successfully resolve it. “I had to beat the machine,” she said.

Cara had all the top images organized for viewing at tonight’s meeting. The club discussed a few tied images and the judges picked winners as needed. Lotsa discussion and a diversity of viewpoints, but no virtual fistfights, so we’re all good.

N4C rep Kenneth Kiss also shared the Digital Nature returns for February. The club that judged this category opted to use a 27 point scale, which is just weird, sorry. Change is confusing to us oldsters. The Official Competition Rules probably say something about this alternative scoring reality.

A couple of clunky remarks about cropping from that other judging club (we won’t name names) led to some opinions, which led to the club’s plan to Roll Your Own Magazine Cover for the virtual meeting activity on March 15th. More information will be going out to club members by email (or scroll down).

The answer to the voting problem. Speaking of grumbling, during the meeting, thanks to the synergy of groupthink, we figured out why people can’t comment in Smugmug. It’s a browser issue! One Mac user reported that Safari is a bust, but Firefox let him comment (or was it vice versa??).

One secret that stopped Yours Truly from logging in there involved cookies. I had to click on “Allow Cookies” in Chrome. Hint: Look for the hashmark across the little eyeball in the upper right corner of your browser (see below).

Newer members are probably wondering what this voting hubbub is about. It’s a polite way of culling surplus images. Whenever too many images are submitted to an N4C category (usually, our club limit is eight per category), club members can vote on which ones actually get sent in, to be judged by other clubs.

Voting, if voting is needed, happens after the meeting that submissions are due. That’s the meeting where we find out how many images have been submitted. If this all sounds confusing, just remember, your vote is important — because then Cara doesn’t need to carry all the weight of the world on her shoulders (and who would want that?).

Remember, whenever our club judges, it doubles the number of images we can submit in that category next time. This doubling works backwards for end-of-the-season contests (sort of like the logic behind Daylight Savings Time). Trust me, you’ll understand it all eventually. And if your camera is NOT a Canon, that’s okay. We accept diversity — honestly, we do.

Next virtual club meeting on Monday, March 1st

The next virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club will be held on Monday, March 1st at 6:30 p.m. Send in your N4C submissions before the meeting. Our club can submit double in the Digital Pictorial (DP) category. Here’s a link to the club’s online gallery. To learn more, see the Competition page.

Roll Your Own Magazine Cover on March 15th

Looking farther ahead, the March 15th meeting will be about producing an image that could be used as the cover photo of a magazine. Each club member is invited to create and share up to three magazine covers. Use any images you’d like. Be creative!!! Find instructions at this link.

Sixteen people attended the virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on Monday, February 1st, 2021. Because the club president was absent due to family illness, Bob Felderman led the meeting. He was assisted by N4C reps Cara Pusateri and Kenneth Kiss.

Top of the agenda was lining up three judges for our club’s virtual judging of the Digital Pictorial category this month. The following individuals volunteered their time and photography expertise:

• Andreas Exner
• Kevin McTague
• Bob Felderman

Cara will send out the spreadsheet to judges when she gets all the images together, on or about Monday, Feb. 15th. The judges will have a week to look them over, score, and write comments. We’ll discuss results and any tiebreakers at the following club meeting.

Due to this judging schedule, attendees at tonight’s meeting voted to push back the date of the next club meeting by one week, to February 22nd.

Congratulations!

The following club members were recognized in the January 2021 N4C competition:

• Ron Tigges, digital altered reality, honorable mention
• Kenneth Kiss, digital altered reality, honorable mention
• Kevin McTague, digital nature, merit award
• Will Hoyer, digital nature, third place
• Stephonie Schmitz, digital travel, merit award
• Stephonie Schmitz, digital travel, first place
• Kevin McTague, digital travel, third place
• Ron Tigges, digital journalism, merit award
• James Durrant, digital journalism, honorable mention
• Will Hoyer, digital travel, merit award

Our N4C reps are building up a stack of ribbons for this season’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention winners. Merit awards get paper. Next time the club meets in person, be prepared to collect any awards you have received. As Cara said, “An award’s an award. Everyone likes to have them!” (Stephonie already has plans for stitching her ribbons into a baby blanket!)

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Other news and calls for images

New members. The club had a renewal of an inactive member. Please welcome Teresa Shepherd back into the club. If you or someone you know would like to join or renew a membership, click on “Pay Your Member Dues Online” on the home page. You can also simply click here.

Duluth photography convention. The N4C released its Feb. 2021 News Bulletin. It contains information about the 2021 N4C convention to be held in Duluth, Minnesota on Sept. 23-26. The convention will be hosted by the Duluth-Superior Camera Club. They plan a livestream as well as in-person events. Register by May 31 for an early bird discount. Click here to learn more. You can also follow updates on the Facebook event page.

Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial. The art museum is accepting entries to its Biennial exhibition through March 29th. There is a $40 submission fee for up to three pieces of artwork. More info here.

The Drift. Rountree Gallery in Platteville, Wisc., has a call out for art from people living within 100miles of Platteville. Submission deadline is March 5, 2021. There is a fee to enter. More information here.

Galena CFA — Animals. The Galena Center for the Arts is moving forward on another virtual exhibit. This one is themed “Animal Art—wild and wonderful.” Submissions are due March 23rd. For details, contact gallery manager Patricia Lehnhardt at gallerymanager@galenacenterforthearts.com

Smartphone camera workshop. The Shalom Spirituality Center in Dubuque is taking registrations for a daylong smartphone photography workshop on May 22. Cost is $40, including lunch. Click here for details.

Bedford virtual classes. Bedford Camera & Video has been hosting nice selection of virtual photography classes. They have more planned. Click here for details.

Share your news in the club’s Facebook group. If you know about any photography-related news or information that would interest club members, you are welcome to speak up during club meetings or share in the club’s Facebook group.

Next club meeting on Monday, February 22nd.

The next virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club will be held on Monday, February 22nd at 6:30 p.m. Zoom info will be emailed to current club members. The club will review tiebreakers and look at the results of our club’s virtual judging of the Digital Pictorial category.

Remember, because we judged this N4C category in February, next month our club can submit double DP entries, 16 total for our entire club. Your next submissions are due by March 1st.

Fourteen people attended the virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on Monday, January 18th, 2021. Topic of the evening was “Creative Stuff Critique.”

Club members had been asked to submit up to three manipulated images before the meeting. Sixteen different images were submitted and posted to the club’s online gallery. The critique submissions included several before and after images. During the meeting, the club viewed and briefly discussed each image, with the photographer also sharing information about their work.

A highlight of the evening’s “Creative Stuff Critique” was an interlude when Ron demonstrated how to use Content Aware Fill in Photoshop, with General Bob serving as the remote mouse operator. Ken spoke up a couple of times to point the dynamic duo toward the right option. Amazingly, they got it done!

Photoshop has least three ways of doing content aware fill — for the most control, use the method that pops up its own panel so you can fine-tune which area of the image is used (or not used) for the fill. This technique helps photographers to expand a blank area or neatly fill in a spot after an object has been moved. Content aware fill has gotten bigger and better in recent updates, so check it out. The clone stamp tool was also briefly demonstrated at tonight’s meeting. If you missed the details, you can learn more inside Photoshop itself. Find tool tutorials simply by hovering on the tools menu.

Also at tonight’s meeting:

Kevin demonstrated, via a barn image that he had transformed from day to night, that it is possible to use brushes in Photoshop to paint stars. He got the star brush from Phlearn. Much of their stuff is for subscribers only, but they do have some free tutorials .

Lorna shared two smartphone-edited images that she altered with the help of an app called Painnt (with two Ns). To see what else this company’s apps can do, check their Instagram.

Casey, who recently had a photo in the TH, added a voice of encouragement in favor of submitting to area publications. (Scroll down for a call for images).

General Bob, with a cover photo on the February issue of Julien’s Journal, and drone photos in both the January and February issues of Neighbors of South Dubuque magazine, has been preparing for a post-pandemic career in world travel by spiffing up his professional website. It’s now a sharp-dressed website, see for yourself.

Ron recently invested in a new camera (the Canon EOS R5) and gushed enthusiastically about its auto-focusing ability.

Karen was listening, and winked and blushed at Jim, but we don’t know if he’s planning any shopping for Valentine’s Day (yet!).

Although Henry snuck away early, we’re confident his Photoshop skills are stellar so that’s okay.

Cara was only dreaming about the huge number of submissions that will roll in before our next virtual meeting. (Scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more).

Nick was the last one out the virtual door, so he must have learned something during the club’s “Creative Stuff Critique.”

I’m not sure what silly comment to make about Andreas, so maybe I’ll just pop over to his blog to see what he’s posted recently.

See you at the next meeting!

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Nature images wanted. The following notice appeared in the Jan. 10, 2021 issue of the Dubuque Telegraph Herald:

“TH seeks scenic, nature photo submissions. The Telegraph Herald wants to continue highlighting local residents who capture the beauty of the area. The newspaper welcomes submissions of scenic, nature and other photos for possible use in our print edition and on TelegraphHerald.com. Share those fantastic shots with the entire tri-state area.

“Photos can be submitted – now and at any time in the future – to photo@wcinet.com for consideration. All photos should be freshly taken. No old shots, please. Please include the name of the photographer, where the photo was taken and when, and a phone number in case we need to follow up. The photographer responsible for each photo will be noted when the image is used. For more information or with questions, send an email to photo@wcinet.com.

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Send in your N4C submissions before the next meeting!

The next virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club will be held on Monday, February 1st at 6:30 p.m. Club members, send in your N4C submissions before the meeting.

No Digital Pictorial submissions, because our club will judge that category in February. Visit the Competition page to learn more about the monthly N4C contest.

Judges needed. If you are an experienced member who is interested in doing virtual DP judging in February, be sure to attend this meeting and speak up to volunteer.