Tonight’s topic: Filter Forge

by Tony Mistretta

This presentation will explore the use and capabilities of Filter Forge 3.0, a Photoshop Plug-in that allows users to build their own filters or use any of about 4,500 filters that have been created by others.  I have been using Filter Forge for almost two years now, and have found it to be useful for creating effects that I cannot find anywhere else.  I will demonstrate the use of filters in the library and show some of my images that have been successfully modified with Filter Forge.

The Filter Forge site: http://www.filterforge.com/

Tonight’s topic: TBA

Tonight’s topic: TBA

Occasionally, one of the other local camera clubs schedules an interesting event on our regular meeting night.  When this happens, we plan to join them instead of scheduling a conflicting meeting.  If there’s any interest, we can get together for dinner or a snack after the presentation.

The Newton Camera Club and the Boston Camera Club invite you to join them on November 25th at the Newton Free Library for An Evening with Damian Strohmeyer.  This program is free to the public and will run from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the library’s Druker Auditorium.

Damian Strohmeyer is a Boston photographer who has been telling stories with photographs for more than two decades. Adept with a wide range of skills he is comfortable working in portraiture, photojournalism, and fast moving news, sports and feature photography in the advertising, commercial and editorial markets.

Damian is a member of the exclusive Canon “Explorers of Light” program a group of 50 of the world’s most influential photographers and is a frequent speaker at education events.

He has been affiliated with Sports Illustrated magazine for over 20 years. Among the major sports events you might spot Damian are: The World Series, The NCAA Basketball Tournament, The World Cup, The Stanley Cup, The Olympics, and the past 27 Super Bowls. His work has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated over 60 times.

Some links: Damian Strohmeyer, Newton Camera Club, Boston Camera Club

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.  I’ll provide cups and paper goods.

The following movies feature the theme of photography in some way, and they all stream on Netflix.  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.

• High Art
• Calendar
• Photographing Faeries
• Memento
• The Bang Bang Club

On previous Movie Nights we’ve watched Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus and Public Eye.

Tonight’s topic: Portfolio Review

Donna Dufault will be visiting us for our Education Night on March 24, 2014 for a Portfolio Review.  This meeting will continue the process started several years ago when Donna came to talk to us about portfolios.  The concept we’re developing is for each of us (if we’re so inclined) to create and assemble photographs that share a common theme or concept.  The common theme could be something obvious like subject (e.g. portraits) or appearance (e.g. blue), or something more subtle.  Each portfolio can evolve, if desired, into a solo show, a book, etc.

We have three volunteers signed up to present portfolios, and have room for one more.  If you’d like to share a portfolio and receive feedback from Donna and the group, please let me know.  Our current volunteers are:

• Andrea Gardner
• Virge Lorents
• Linda Crews

Volunteers will be bringing a portfolio of ~ 12 to 20 printed images, ~ 8.5″ x 11″ in size, that can be laid out on the table for review.  

The meeting will be at 7:30 pm, as usual.  The location is 17 Fox Hill Drive, in Natick.  See you there.

David Fox will be our special guest for our education night meeting on April 28.  He’ll be sharing some of his commercial images and works from his personal portfolio, and talking about his experience as a commercial and artistic photographer.  The main topic for this meeting is “Pre-Visualization: A Technique for Photographic Artists”.

What’s the difference between “taking a picture” and “making a photograph”?  Come hear David share his perspectives on this interesting question.  His presentation will include:

• What is pre-visualization, and how do you do it?
• Where can one find artistic inspiration?
• How can an artistic photographer pursue personal projects while building a successful commercial business.

David’s Web site is: http://www.davidfoxphotographer.com/

The meeting will be at 7:30 pm, as usual.  The location is 17 Fox Hill Drive, in Natick.  See you there.

Tonight’s topic:  Photography Goals

We tried this last year, and had a great discussion!  I think 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 22, 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.

With Adobe’s recent change in licensing approach, many photographers have expressed concern that they can’t count on continued use of the latest version of Photoshop unless they agree to pay a monthly fee.  Even before this change, Photoshop was considered an an expensive, if useful, tool.  Are there any viable alternatives to Photoshop that photographers can consider?

For our October Education Night, Dick Miller will be giving us an overview of Fotoxx, a free, open-source Linux program for photo editing and collection management. The goal is to meet most user’s needs while remaining fast and easy to use. Fotoxx upgrades are monthly, and each includes some significant additions.  Did I mention it’s free!

Dick Miller is a recent NELP member, with background in electro-optical physics.  He helps develop Fotoxx, is an enthusiastic Fotoxx user, and will demonstrate some of its speed, power, and ease of use.  To emphasize these points, Dick will demo Fotoxx on an inexpensive computer.

Dick and his wife Jill are owners of Miller Microcomputer Services in Natick.  For those who are interested in FOSS (Free, Open-Source Software), they also lead a free Thursday-afternoon FOSS User Group at the Natick Community-Senior Center.

The meeting will be at 7:30 pm, as usual.  The location is 17 Fox Hill Drive, in Natick.  See you there.

Please join us on Monday (November 24) 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.

Our Education Night for November will be our annual “Book Night”.

For this year’s Book Night, please bring a book that says something to you about the concept of Color (or lack thereof).  How has this book helped you, and how might it help us?  (As always, our topics are a suggestion.  You’re welcome to share any book you think we should know about.)

Here’s a link to get you started: http://char.txa.cornell.edu/language/element/color/color.htm