Tonight’s topic:  Photography Goals

We’ve done this for the past two years, and have had a great discussion!  It is a great way to start the year.  (Credit for the original idea came from the Worcester Photography Meetup group)

The topic for our next Education Night on September 28, 2014 will be a discussion about our individual artistic goals for the coming year  This meeting will start at 7:30 pm and take place at 17 Fox Hill Drive in Natick as usual.

I’m starting with the assumption that we all have our own ideas and our own pace.  We don’t all work the same way, and different approaches help each of us be productive.  That said, it is generally helpful to envision where you’d like to be in a year’s time and to express it in your own words.  This will be an open-ended discussion, including:

• What type of goals do you want to set for yourself?  Will you have succeeded if you produce a certain number of pieces, if you complete a specific project, or if you spend the desired number of hours each week.  How will you decide that your goal has been achieved?

• How much detail to you want and/or need?  Is it enough for you to just state your goal, or would it be helpful for you to identify some interim steps (milestones) in the direction of your goal?

• Would it help you to put your goals down in writing, or are you more comfortable just discussing them?  Would you be comfortable sharing your written goals with the group?  Would this help you?

• What can NELP do to support you and encourage you?  What can you do to support and encourage the rest of us?

• How often would you like to discuss progress towards your goals?  Annually?  Quarterly?  Monthly?

Please give a little thought to the above, and come prepared to discuss your goals (if you have any) for the coming year and how NELP can support you.  Please come even if you’re not sure what you want to set as goals (spectators welcome).  I’d like to have as many different perspectives represented at the meeting as possible.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tonight’s topic:  Urban Night Photography

This is a visual introduction to urban night photography by local fine art photographer Jürgen Lobert. Jürgen will show how to create urban nightscapes, hauntingly beautiful views of captured time and deepened colors. Night photography transforms the familiar and can create exciting cityscapes, revealing beauty in the mundane. Night images relay a profound serenity by capturing time, where clouds and cars become streaks, water ripples smooth over and stars form trails in the sky. Urban night photos require balancing highlights of a multitude of sources, which becomes a rewarding challenge needing different approaches compared to naturally moonlit scenes. Jürgen will show many examples of waterfront images, motion, different vantage points and, yes, even urban startrails! The presentation will also touch on equipment, basic camera settings, white balance, sources of light and how to process the outcome.

About the speaker:

Jürgen Lobert is a Massachusetts-based fine art photographer born and raised in Germany. He received a Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry from Gutenberg University in Mainz before moving to the US in 1991. Jürgen is a self-taught photographer who specializes in night photography, daytime long exposures as well as Urban Exploration. According to Jürgen, there is a profound peace in roaming the nights in remote places, capturing the element of time to create other-worldly, serene and hauntingly beautiful photos.

Jürgen is an executive member of the Boston Camera Club and the founder and organizer of the Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup group. He has organized more than 100 photo excursions and he is a lecturer, instructor and judge for regional camera clubs.

Jürgen can be found online at:

• LeyeTscapes.com
• facebook.com/JurgenLobertPhoto
• jmlobert.blogspot.com
• meetup.com/GBNight
• flickr.com/photos/brom-productions/

Tonight’s topic:  Donna Dufault “Culinary Imaginings” Opening Reception

I’m pleased to announce that the January NELP Education Night will be held at the opening reception for Donna Dufault’s new solo exhibit at the Krikorian Gallery in Worcester.  It is rare to have a special event that falls on our regular meeting date, and many thanks to Donna for inviting us to join her.

From Donna’s Meetup announcement:

Privileged to enter the inner sanctum (the kitchen) of chefs all over the East Coast, photographer Donna Dufault lets us discover the places where the chefs’ and the restaurateurs’ tools momentarily sit as they wait to be put into service. Over 30 photographs, some in groups and representing two series from her work, CULINARY IMAGININGS is the first major solo show of Dufault’s work. The show opens January 20 in the Center’s Krikorian Gallery with an opening reception on January 25, 2016 from 5:30-7:30 pm, a Monday evening so that those in the hospitality industry can help celebrate this remarkable work and photographer.

As artists, some of us are working to create a body of work with a solo show as one of our goals.  This reception will be a great opportunity to view this exhibit and to discuss the planning, preparation and creation of the displayed artworks with Donna.

Some of us may wish to grab some dinner in Worcester after the reception to continue our discussion.

Donna’s announcement is on Meetup (here), and there’s additional information on Donna’s blog (here).  If you plan to attend, you can RSVP for the reception via the Meetup.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Tonight’s topic: Movie Night

Please join us for our annual Movie Night—we’ll be streaming a movie via Netflix.  You’re welcome to bring some refreshments to share with the group – just let me know what you’re bringing so I don’t duplicate.  I’ll provide cups and paper goods.  You’re also welcome to bring your dinner with you if you wish.

The following movies feature the theme of photography in some way.  I’ve added some new movies that I recently became aware of, and removed ones that are no longer available.  Feel free to bring any other suggestions to the meeting.  We’ll choose one of the available options, based on a consensus of those who are attending.

• Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers (2014)
• Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
• Everybody Street (2013)
• Finding Vivian Maier (2013)
• Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012)
• Dark Light: Art of Blind Photographers (short HBO film!)

On previous Movie Nights we’ve watched Monk with a Camera,  Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus and Public Eye.  Please join us for an enjoyable evening.

For our April 25 Education Night, I’d like to review as a group the works of other photographers, famous or not.  Unlike our Image Review Night, where we review our own photographs, we’ll focus on a review of a few portfolios that are available on the Internet.  (sort of a variation on the “book night” concept).  Look around the Internet if you have time – I realize this is getting out late – and identify a photographer whose work you’d like to discuss.  It can be someone you like, someone you don’t like, or someone whose work you don’t quite understand.  If you find their portfolio online, you can send me a link, but we can Google their name during the meeting if needed.  The plan is to identify ideas that we can use to improve our own work, via group analysis and discussion of the work of others.

Tonight’s Education Night will focus on color.  What does it mean to use color effectively?  How does saturation impact the perception of color?  Do we each see color the same way?

In preparation for this meeting, review various photography sites and photographer portfolios, and identify a few photographs that in your opinion:

• Either make effective use of color or ineffective use of color. (great if you can find both!)
• Feature high/normal/low saturation.
• Make use of a limited color palette or a full range of colors.
• Feel free to consider images without regard to whether they are photographs if you wish.

There are two ways you can bring the images to the meeting:

• You can download the photos and bring them on a USB drive, as usual.  Name them so they will appear in the desired order.
• Send me an email with links to the images.

We will discuss the following as we review the images:

• How has color contributed (positive or negative) to your perception of the image?  We’ll try to get as specific as possible.
• Does the color appear to be inherent in the scene that was captured, the result of post-processing, or both?
• Agree or disagree?: “B&W photograhy is best for those images where color has a neutral or negative impact.
• How can we use tonight’s discussion to improve our own work?

Some Web resources you may find interesting:

• http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/understanding-color-in-photography/
• http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-use-colour-effectively-to-enhance-your-digital-photography/
• http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/2815/using-color-in-photography/
• http://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-use-color-in-photographic-composition-with-9-gorgeous-examples/

Tonight’s topic:  Photography Goals

We’ve done this for the past several years, and have had a great discussion!  It is a great way to start the year.  (Credit for the original idea came from the Worcester Photography Meetup group)

The topic for our September Education Night will be a discussion about our individual artistic goals for the coming year  This meeting will start at 7:30 pm and take place at 17 Fox Hill Drive in Natick as usual.

I’m starting with the assumption that we all have our own ideas and our own pace.  We don’t all work the same way, and different approaches help each of us be productive.  That said, it is generally helpful to envision where you’d like to be in a year’s time and to express it in your own words.  This will be an open-ended discussion, including:

• What type of goals do you want to set for yourself?  Will you have succeeded if you produce a certain number of pieces, if you complete a specific project, or if you spend the desired number of hours each week.  How will you decide that your goal has been achieved?

• How much detail to you want and/or need?  Is it enough for you to just state your goal, or would it be helpful for you to identify some interim steps (milestones) in the direction of your goal?

• Would it help you to put your goals down in writing, or are you more comfortable just discussing them?  Would you be comfortable sharing your written goals with the group?  Would this help you?

• What can NELP do to support you and encourage you?  What can you do to support and encourage the rest of us?

• How often would you like to discuss progress towards your goals?  Annually?  Quarterly?  Monthly?

Please give a little thought to the above, and come prepared to discuss your goals (if you have any) for the coming year and how NELP can support you.  Please come even if you’re not sure what you want to set as goals (spectators welcome).  I’d like to have as many different perspectives represented at the meeting as possible.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tonight’s topic:  Elyssa Conley will present “Creating Abstracts With Photoshop”

Elyssa will demonstrate the Photoshop Twirl technique along with some more advanced variations that can be used to create stunning abstract images from ordinary photographs.  Recent versions of Photoshop include more than two dozen blend modes, which each blend a layer with the ones below it in a different way.  There are also a wide variety of filters used in this technique including: distort, pixelate (Mezzotint) and stylizing the image.  When these effects are combined, the possibilities are endless!

For example …

Please join us on Monday (November 28) at 7:30 pm for the next NELP Education Night.  This month we’re having our annual “Book Night”.  Books offer so much by way of inspiration and technique, and this is an opportunity to learn from each other about book’s we’ve found useful.  Each year, we look at books from a different perspective, similar to the themes for our Image Review nights.

For this year’s Book Night, I’d like to focus the discussion on composition.  If please bring a book that illustrates image composition techniques that you find useful or interesting.

Option: If you don’t have (or can’t find) a book you’d like to share with the group, you can share a Web site or article with us instead.  If you wish to do this, please send me an email with the URL prior to the meeting.

Tonight’s topic:  Discussion: High-key and low-key images