November 2, 2020 — Meeting notes

The virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on November 2, 2020 was attended by 16 people. Club president Ronald Tigges led discussion, and Bob Felderman served as Zoom host.

Member Directory. The club discussed the new Member Directory. Participating in this online directory is another benefit of club membership. Right now the page is password protected, but it will be made public after member information is added.

We need club members to send in their information. Think of it as an online brochure. This is your opportunity to showcase up to three of your photography-related websites or social media accounts.

Send the following to DubuqueCameraClub@gmail.com

  • A short personal bio (50-100 words)
  • Up to three website or social media links
  • One image (150px square thumbnail).

Finding Beauty. Congratulations to four Dubuque Camera Club members whose work appears in Finding Beauty, the latest virtual exhibit from the Galena Center for the Arts: Laurie Helling, Karen Durrant, Jim Durrant, and Robert Felderman. Click here to view the flipbook.

Riding the Light. This is a 50-minute documentary about a landscape photography journey through the desert Southwest. It features the still camera work of Henry Matthiessen III, and was filmed and produced by Dean Wellman. The film is now available online for rent or purchase. Here is the link: https://gumroad.com/l/nmWIq

Submissions and Returns. At tonight’s meeting, the club went over returns from the October 2020 N4C contest, as well as submissions to the November contest. You can view submitted photos in the club’s online gallery.

Congratulations to the following photographers who earned recognition in the October 2020 N4C photography competition:

  • Stephonie Schmitz, Digital Travel, First place, “Inspiration Point, Bryce Canyon”
  • Kevin McTague, Digital Travel, honorable mention, “Back of the Barn”
  • Kevin McTague, Digital Black and White, honorable mention
  • Kevin McTague, Digital Nature, Merit award, “Minnesota Black Bear”
  • Kevin McTague, Digital Nature, Merit award, “Grasshopper”
  • Casey Klein, Digital Journalism, honorable mention, “Golden Knights Jump Dubuque Skies with a Patriotic Flair”
  • Kenneth Kiss, Digital Nature, honorable mention, “Wood Thrush Singing”
  • Kenneth Kiss, Digital Nature, honorable mention, “Yep, All Feathers Accounted For” (Great Horned Owl)
  • Will Hoyer, Digital Nature, honorable mention, “Ice Ripple at Dream Lake”

“I hope Will knows that he got a winning photo already.”

— Club President Ron Tigges, about a beautiful winning landscape photo from new Dubuque Camera Club member Will Hoyer.

Treasures of the Tri-states. Photography by Casey Klein and several other local photographers appears in the KAT-FM/KDTH “Treasures of the Tri-states” calendar. The calendar is available for free at radio station headquarters.

Groovy presentation postponed. Ron’s groovy presentation on an unknown subject was postponed because sometimes that happens when your wife volunteers you to do something! That’s okay, because we like short meetings. In the future, he may demonstrate the nifty features in the recent Adobe updates to Photoshop and Lightroom.

Updated N4C rules. The 2020/2021 N4C contest rules are now online. The updated rules include both video and photo essay contests. The rules for the communication competitions are written down and included for the first time. See the links below or visit their cutting edge website.

October 19, 2020 — Meeting Notes

The virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club on October 19, 2020 was attended by 16 people. The meeting was led by club president Ronald Tigges and hosted on Zoom by Bob Felderman. Although we didn’t have an agenda, we got together for virtual companionship and sharing of photography-related news. Thanks to everyone who shares news and information during club meetings!!

The club is currently up to 30 active members who have paid their dues for the 2020/21 season. Active club members are eligible to enter N4C contests and participate in all club activities and events. The new online dues payment system is making record keeping much simpler. If you need to pay your dues, here is a link.

Member Directory. We will soon add another benefit to club membership: a listing in a member directory on this website. This member directory will allow you to browse the online photography, websites, or social media accounts of other club photographers.

If you are a club member and you would like to be listed in the club directory, send the following to dubuquecameraclub@gmail.com

  • One image (150px square thumbnail).
  • Up to three website or social media links
  • A short personal bio (50-100 words)

Hint: Look at the Reflections brochure for ideas on how to write your Bio.

Virtual Exhibit. In the near future we also plan to create a virtual exhibit. We really like the nice job that Galena CFA is doing on their virtual exhibits. Our club’s virtual exhibit may be online as a PDF, in flipbook format, or as a video slideshow. We haven’t decided on a format yet. Specific information will be shared at future meetings.

Photo Essays. At tonight’s virtual meeting, there was some discussion of photo essays. This is a special N4C contest category that happens only once a year. Our club was supposed to judge this year’s entries, but then Covid happened. This season’s winning photo essays were played during the “Best of N4C” virtual awards ceremony on October 14.

Photo essays can have LOTS of photos in them. The N4C rules state: The minimum number of images shall be twenty (20). There is not a limit on the maximum number of images, but the program time shall not exceed six (6) minutes.

If you decide to create a photo essay, you need to be conscientious about who owns the rights to any music in the soundtrack. Our club could potentially enter up to 8 photo essays. Entries will be due on March 31, 2021. Find complete rules here.

Other Misc. Ron Tigges did a quick demonstration of how to make video in Photoshop. You start by selecting multiple images in Lightroom. Edit them in Layers in Photoshop. Then choose the Timeline panel and create a timeline, dragging start/end boundaries as needed.

Also at tonight’s meeting, Henry gave the group an update on the upcoming screening of his film, Riding the Light. General Bob — who does a great job navigating webpages using screenshare in Zoom — treated the group to some of his drone photography.

Are you a club member who hesitates to join a virtual meeting after spending long workdays at the computer? Tonight’s virtual meeting ended at 7:37 p.m. — a new record for a short meeting!

Next meeting on Nov. 2

The next virtual meeting of the Dubuque Camera Club will be held on Monday, November 2nd, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. N4C submissions are due before the meeting. See the competition page for more details about submitting to monthly N4C contests.

Best of N4C presentation

On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, the N4C hosted a “Best of N4C” virtual awards ceremony via Zoom. This online event recognized photographers from N4C clubs who won awards in monthly contests during the 2019/2020 season.  

This event typically is held at the annual N4C convention. This year it was held virtually because the 2020 N4C convention was cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.

Ron and Jennifer Tigges of Digital Dubuque, from the Dubuque Camera Club, hosted this event virtually. There were 27 attendees, representing some of the 38 clubs in the N4C.

Recognition was given to the following Dubuque Camera Club photographers:

  • Ronald Tigges, 3rd place, Digital Journalism, “Good Night.”
  • James Durrant, 3rd place, Digital Travel, “Nighttime at Falling Water, Pennsylvania.”
  • Stephonie Schmitz, honorable mention, Digital Travel, “Monument Valley, Arizona.”

Upcoming N4C gatherings:

  • April 30 to May 2, 2021 — Spring Mini-convention, Wesley Woods, near Pella, Iowa. More info here.
  • September 23-26, 2021 — Annual Fall Convention in Duluth, Minnesota. Hosted by the Duluth-Superior Camera Club.

If you missed the “Best of N4C” presentation, the full list of winners is available here. The video presentation is available as a 28-minute video on the N4CTubes YouTube channel.

Autumn opportunities

Enjoy images from our autumn photoshoot. Learn about photo contests and other opportunities to share your photography.

  • ** Remember, before entering any photo contest, READ THE RULES. Make sure you are agreeable to their terms and know what rights you are giving them. Some contests post entries to their social media accounts. Some contests have an entry fee.
  • Galena Center for the Arts is calling for submissions to their 3rd virtual exhibit. The theme is “Finding Beauty,” and the deadline is Oct. 23rd. More info is in their October newsletter.
  • Silos & Smokestacks is accepting entries to their annual photo contest. Deadline is Oct. 31. Learn more on their website.
  • America’s State Parks 2020 Photo Contest. Deadline is Oct. 31, 2020. Camping, wildlife, friends and family, scenic, or activities. More information here.
  • Tamron is hosting a photo contest. Deadline is Dec. 18, 2020. You must use a Tamron lense. Find all the details here: https://www.tamron-usa.com/70th/70th_contest.html
  • Keep Iowa Beautiful photography contest. Deadline is Dec. 18. Entry fee is $5 per images. Learn more here: https://keepiowabeautiful.org/photography-contest/
  • The Dubuque County Conservation Board will soon be needing images to promote outdoor recreation in natural areas of Dubuque County. Tag your images now so you can find them when the time comes. For a map of DCCB parks, go to the Parks and Trails section of their website and click on Dubuque County Recreation Areas (PDF). When they issue a call for images, they must be taken in these parks.

The Dubuque Camera Club held a Fall Photo Shoot at Eagle Point Park on October 11, 2020

Visit the club’s Facebook group for other fall photos by club members and tri-state photographers.

Oct. 5, 2020 virtual meeting

Eighteen people attended the Dubuque Camera Club virtual meeting on October 5, 2020. The meeting was hosted via Zoom by Bob Felderman. It was led by club president Ronald Tigges.

  • The club finalized the details of an outdoor photo shoot the following Sunday at Eagle Point Park.
  • Club membership numbers were mentioned. As of this meeting, the club has 26 active members. If your membership is inactive, simply pay your club dues to reactivate your membership and become eligible to enter N4C contests and participate in all club activities and events.
  • Several photo contests were mentioned. See a list in another post.
  • Henry Matthiessen mentioned an upcoming in-person screening of his film with Dean Wellman, Riding the Light.
  • An announcement was made that N4C print competitions (which our club does NOT enter) are on hold. Apparently, few people are entering due to the challenges of mailing prints back and forth during a pandemic.
    The N4C print competition will need to see some updates in the future. Disposable 8×10″ prints are one suggestion that would reduce hassle and costly mailings. If the print contest is streamlined, our club may participate in the future. Right now, we only enter digital competition categories.

Submissions and Returns. During tonight’s meeting, we went over our club’s submissions to the October 2020 monthly N4C contest, as well as returns from the September contest.

Remember, submissions are always due by the first club meeting of each month (see the Competition page on this website to learn more). Past submissions by individual club members may be viewed in the club’s online gallery.

Congratulations to Dubuque Camera Club member Stephonie Schmitz for winning First Place in Digital Travel for her photo, “Horseshoe Bend, Arizona.”

In September 2020, the following Dubuque Camera Club members were recognized:

  • Stephonie Schmitz, 1st place in Digital Travel, and two honorable mention awards
  • Ron Tigges, two merit awards
  • Ken Kiss, two merit awards
  • Kevin McTague, two merit awards
  • Jim Durrant, merit award