Winter weather led to the second meeting this month being pushed back a week. Thirteen lucky people attended the Dubuque Camera Club meeting on February 24, 2020. Our club judged the Digital Pictorial category of the monthly N4C competition.
History Tidbits. Eleanor Schueller was at the meeting and fielded some questions about club history while the technology was being set up. We know she has been a club member since at least 1996, because that year she was mentioned in a Telegraph Herald article about the club. [“Camera Club Members Place In Contest,” Telegraph Herald, Nov. 1, 1996, p. C7]. See the About page for more on club history.
Ellie remembers the club before it met at the Mines of Spain. Previous meeting locations included the homes of members, at American Trust on JFK Rd., or in a community room at Finley Hospital. Some workshops were held at the former Interstate Power Co., located at 1000 Main St.
Ellie says that the club was already affiliated with the N4C when she became a member. She’s not sure what year she joined, but Dr. P____ (or was it Dr. M____?) from Finley talked her into getting involved. He took up photography as a hobby when he retired from medicine.
Door prize. Lois P. brought along a freebie door prize, a working Canon Powershot digital camera. Isn’t it funny how fast technology goes obsolete? We don’t know who claimed this goodie, but rumor is that General Bob was later seen whirling it from his pinky on his way out the door while lost in visions of sugarplums and grandkids.
General Bob may be more dreamy lately because he has done well in a couple of international photography contests. He was a finalist in a contest based in Japan, and he also earned honorable mention in another contest based in London. He entered some drone shots in the student category, which he’s eligible to do since he’s presently an online art student at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.
Mines of Spain Photo Contest. Another item at the top of people’s minds this evening was the Mines of Spain Photography Contest. March 1st is the deadline to submit your 8×10″ prints in the winter category. They must have been taken in the park. The next deadline, for spring images, will be on June 1, 2020. Keep this photo contest in mind as you get out and take photos over the next few months! More info here.
Digital Pictorial judging
Judging. The priority item on the agenda was judging the Digital Pictorial category of the February N4C contest. After the technology was set up, club president Ronald Tigges went over the official rules.
We evaluated 115 images from other N4C clubs. Typically, we browse through them once before the actual judging starts. Here is the three-screen setup that we use on judging nights:
Thank you to Bob Felderman, Casey Klein, and John Leicht for serving as volunteer judges. The judging process was facilitated by our club’s N4C reps, Cara Pusateri and Ken Kiss, along with club president Ronald Tigges, who led the meeting.
Photos are scored on Technique, Composition, and Interest, with each judge able to give up to five points per category. A perfect score is 45 points in this system. Feedback is given on each photo, with comments and suggestions taken from the audience. Cara is our expert at distilling audience feedback into helpful comments.
Digital Pictorial is a wildcat category, so we saw all of these subjects portrayed, and more: sheep, body painting, sculpture park, stars, musicians, fog, lighthouse, castle, food, water, hay bales, birds, beach goers, sunset, animals, human portraits, and the hoola hoop tree. [Note: The hoola hoop tree is located on E23 County Home Road, just northeast of Anamosa.]
Because it’s so important to have experienced photographers on the judging panel, our club follows the rule that an individual must be a club member for at least one year before serving as a contest judge.
We are very glad that Casey participated tonight for the first time as a judge. Without that feminine influence, the boys tend to give high scores to hood ornaments, for instance. You know how boys are. Sugar and spice and all that. In fact, when John sat down, the first thing he said was, “Frozen bugs are allowed.”
We saw some good ideas in the submitted images from other clubs. In fact, we made plans to hold a Still Life Workshop at the March 16th meeting (Click here to find out more). Here’s one of the photos that was inspiring:
As in previous judging experiences, there were also photos that made you scratch your head and wonder why they were entered. Some had typos in the filename. [Note to self: “Field in a Boob” will probably not be scored highly with a diverse panel of judges.]
Sam F. offered a couple of insights from the audience perspective: “Frogs do really good here, I’ve noticed.” He also brought up the term “vernacular photography” to describe questionable submissions. Like the ones where everything is blurry and nobody is facing the camera. Perhaps somebody wanted to document their life, he suggested.
“I don’t care what people submit,” said Ron. “It’s a better chance for people who are submitting nicer stuff.” He reminded the group that our club welcomes everyone with an enthusiasm for photography, from beginners to professionals. We are all learning from each other.
Finally, if your goal in competition is to evoke a group “Oooooohhh,” an ideal submission is a beach sunset. “I wanna be there…” comes universally from almost everyone in attendance, the minute it hits the screen.
At the end of the judging process came the tie-breaker decisions. Six photos had earned a perfect score of 45 points. The judges thoughtfully considered and discussed each one. They selected first, second, and third for the category, with the remaining photos awarded honorable mention. To see our club’s selections, look at the Digital Pictorial winners on the N4C website.
Next meeting
The next Dubuque Camera Club meeting will be on Monday, March 2nd at 6:30 p.m. Club members: Send in your N4C competition submissions before the meeting. Our club can submit double Digital Pictorial (16) because we judged this time. For details, see the email that was sent to club members. You can also visit the Competition page.