This e-newsletter of OPCC events, reminders, and news has been compiled by Lori Moilanen for the last two years. OPCC is currently looking for a new Communications Chair and/or e-Newsletter editor. Please contact OPCC President Bruce Fryxell (opccpres@gmail.com) if you would like to help out.

NEWS

As part of our final newsletter of the year, I would like to wish all of our members a happy holiday season.

This has been a great year for our club. After a long time seeing many of you only on Zoom, we finally began meeting in person again through our hybrid meetings thanks to the efforts of Dan McKenna and others. As far as I know, we were the first club in the area to try this, and a number of other clubs contacted us to learn how we do it. Our partnership with the Olympia Camera Club has been extremely well received by both clubs and has enabled us to attract some really high-quality speakers throughout the year as evident in the 2022 Speaker Series organized by Vice President Marian Bodart. With Peggy McClure’s leadership as Competition Chair, combined with expert input from PSA liaison Witta Priester, we have resumed our internal competitions to get feedback on our photos from PSA judges. NWCCC rep Stephen Shoff is working hard to keep us informed on competitions and conferences sponsored by that organization. The number and quality of outings organized by Field Trip Chair Ellen Bogenschutz, as well as the level of participation from our members is way beyond anything I have seen since I joined the club. It has also been fun meeting some of our OCC colleagues at joint field trips. Finally, it has been a great year for membership, with the number of members increasing by more than 50% since the first of the year. Thanks to Membership Chair Mary Swartz for keeping our membership information up to date.

All of this has been made possible by the hard work of the members of our Executive Committee and other volunteers from our membership. You have done an amazing job and I want to thank each and every one of you. Our club's success would be impossible without you. I also want to thank all of our members for their participation in all of our events. The percentage of active members that we have is much higher than for the other clubs I am aware of.

It has also been a great year for our photography. I believe that the quality of images being submitted to Share Nights and Competitions has improved substantially over the past year or two. Many other people have expressed similar opinions to me. It is also reflected in how well our members have been doing in external competitions. I believe that this is one measure of how well we are doing as a club. Well done everyone!

Of course, the glue that holds our club together is our website, newsletter, and email communication system. This has been a great year for that also. Due to Lori Moilanen's hard work and talent, our website received an honorable mention award from PSA. This is a remarkable accomplishment, considering how new our current website is. Congratulations!

We hope to continue the momentum we have built up over the past year into the new year. We have a lot of exciting events planned, including another array of impressive speakers along with fun and educational field trips. Check the website for more information. I hope to see you all again after the first of the year.

OPCC 2022 by the Numbers

Here are a few metrics to show what OPCC achieved in 2022:

68 members
23 Volunteers and 4 Donors (Click HERE for a list)
18 Field trips and meet-ups offered, with average participation greater than 10 members/outing
16 Educational speakers
6 Zoom only and 6 In-person (hybrid) Member Share Night meetings, including a year-end Potluck with 5 door prizes
3 External Image Evaluations/Competitions, plus the Second Annual WOW competition
25 Newsletters
25,000 OPCC website hits

Thanks to all of the club volunteers who made this happen!

Second Annual OPCC WOW Photo Contest Winner

The 2022 WOW contest received 28 entries from OPCC members. The rules were slightly different this year in that members could only vote for one image, versus three images in 2021. A total of 28 ballots were cast, with two ballots disqualified for double voting. The voting was very close at the halfway point, but Mary Swartz’s dramatic image View on a Cold Winter Morning (the featured photo this issue, see sbove) pulled ahead down the stretch for a decisive win. Congratulations Mary!

PSA Interclub Round 1 Results for the PID Monochrome Competition

Congratulations to Peggy Hanson on receiving an Honorable Mention award for her monochrome image The Finishing Touch in Round One of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) Pictorial Image Division (PID) Monochrome competition. Results of the PSA Interclub Round 1 Color competition were previously announced, with Bruce Fryxell, Suzanne Anaya, and Lori Moilanen receiving awards. See the Competition Section below for entering images for Round 2 or this competition.

PSA Washington State Member Newsletter

The December edition of the Photographic Society of America Washington State Membership Newsletter is now available. Click HERE to view or download.

Welcome to Our Newest Members

Please extend a warm welcome to Alexander and Alyna Weeks from Graham, WA. We’re glad you’ve joined us!

EDUCATIONAL SPEAKER SERIES

Izzy Edwards - The Secret Life of North American Owls. Thursday January 19, 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

Izzy Edwards is a 19-year-old wildlife photographer and conservationist based in Longbranch, Washington. She has devoted the past four years to photographing and understanding all 19 of America’s owl species. During this time she has volunteered with multiple conservation projects meeting biologists from around the country, she hopes to follow the path of conservation as a career.

Use the OPCC Education Night Zoom Code to access this meeting. Click HERE for the OPCC Zoom Codes webpage.

MEMBER SHARING

Next Member Share Night Meeting is Thursday January 5 at 7:00 PM.

We will again hold a hybrid event for this meeting. The in-person meeting will be at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sequim. Anyone not wanting to attend the in-person meeting at the church will still be able to participate via Zoom as usual.

Use the OPCC Member Share Night Zoom Code to access this meeting. Click HERE for the OPCC Zoom Codes webpage.

For more information or questions about OPCC Member Share/Competition Night, consult the website or contact OPCC Member Share Night Chair Dan McKenna (opccphotos@gmail.com).

FIELD TRIPS, WORKSHOPS, & MEET-UPS

December Meet-Up - Wintertide Light Experience, December 13 at 5:00 PM.

Put this event on your calendar for December! Get into the Holiday Spirit! The Fine Art Center Camera Club has been invited to join us and we're looking forward to meeting them and making a connection with another local camera club.

Wintertide Light Art Experience - Visit Port Angeles Washington

Location: Port Angeles Fine Art Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles

Date: December 13, 2022

Time: 5:00 PM

Meeting Spot: Meet at the stairs in the parking lot. Tripods are allowed.

2023 Field Trip News - Start Planning for January and February Outings Now

Please read below for information from OPCC Field Trip Coordinator Ellen Bogenschutz about two upcoming EXCITING Field Trips in January and February. From Ellen:

The OPCC Planning Committee and Field Trip Coordinators are busy scheduling fun and educational field trips for 2023. The January and February excursions will be somewhat involved, so I wanted to take this opportunity to make all interested parties aware so you can start planning now and know to look for more details as the dates get closer.

For January’s Field Trip, we will visit the Glass Museum in Tacoma. This museum was inspired by the art work of Dale Chihuly, but also features other glass artists. Next door to the museum is the “Hot Shop”, where glass making and glass blowing is demonstrated. The Architecture of the Hot Shop is unique, as well as the immediate surroundings of the museum and the waterfront of Tacoma. All make for great photographic subjects. The planned date for this outing is Wednesday January 25, 2023.

The February Field Trip will be in Victoria, BC to visit the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Royal BC Museum. At this time there are no health restrictions on entering Canada or returning into the U.S., but this will be monitored as the date gets closer. This trip will entail a ferry ride from Port Angeles to Victoria, walking to the museum from the ferry terminal (6 minute walk), meeting as a group for lunch, and filling the hours after lunch until the ferry returns to Port Angeles. at 4:00 pm. The date for this Field Trip will be Saturday, February 25, 2023. Passengers must be on the Blackball Ferry in Port Angels in the morning by 7:40 am. The cost one way on the ferry is $21.75. Admission to the Museum is $18. for adults, $11 for Seniors. Passports are now required to travel to Victoria, remember!

These preliminary details are shared here so members can start thinking about joining and being aware of the plans that need to be made. We will be asking all interested participants to contact me or Ed Hartman to confirm your participation and submit contact information before the date of the field trip. Possibly, a meeting for the group to get details worked out will be held.

We are so lucky to have this wonderful exhibit “near” our backdoor and hope all will take advantage of the opportunity to see this show, and especially with your friends from OPCC!

Contact Ellen at fieldtrips4opcc@gmail.com or call Ellen or Ed’s phone numbers from Member List.

COMPETITION/IMAGE EVALUATION

Northwest Council of Camera Clubs' Third Annual Digital Traveling Image Salon (TIS)

From OPCC NWCCC Representative Stephen Shoff:

Newcomers to the club may not be aware of this annual competition. OPCC decided not to participate in 2022 so there hasn't been much discussion of it during this year's club meetings. In past years, though, OPCC has been an active participant.

The Northwest Council of Camera Clubs (NWCCC) recently solicited input from member clubs about their intent to participate in this competition in 2023. The OPCC Executive Board has decided to participate again this coming year. While the NWCCC hasn't yet published its decision or the rules and deadlines, I want to bring this information to your awareness so that we can begin preparing. The anticipated deadlines for image submission are likely to occur early in 2023.

The Traveling Image Salon concept is that each participating club submits a collection of images supplied by its members to NWCCC. Then, on a monthly, “round robin” basis, each club is given a link to a different participating club's submitted image gallery. Club members vote for their favorites in that gallery, a “people's choice” type of vote. At the end of this “round robin” voting cycle, each submitted image's votes are tallied. The top images by vote count for each club are then submitted by NWCCC to a jury for final judging. Awards will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place, Honorable Mention, and Special Awards in categories like Portrait, Photojournalism, Nature, Creative, Landscape, Monochrome, Macro, etc., with the exact list to be determined at the NWCCC TIS Director’s discretion.

For 2023, the Traveling Image Salon rules and deadlines are expected to be:

Each participating club must submit between 20-25 images [exact numbers TBD], and designate a TIS Director to manage the club's participation in the TIS.
Each club member can submit up to 3 images [exact number TBD].
Each submitter will be required to designate the their 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice to be included in the club's set of images. This tier designation will determine the order in which the club selects images for inclusion, i.e., 1st choices are included, then 2nd, etc. until the club max images limit is reached.
For 2023, there may be separate Color and Monochrome Divisions
Early February: NWCCC will publish image submission information, and presumably contest rules, to the Participating Clubs' TIS Directors.
Mid-to-late February Image Submission Deadline: Club member's must have submitted images to their club for inclusion and the club transmitted the images to NWCCC. [Date TBD]
Early March: NWCCC will distribute links to the gallery of images for a club to vote on, along with voting instructions to each participating club's TIS Director.
March - late October: “Round robin voting” by club members occurs monthly
November: Winners announced at the annual NWCCC Conference.

As you can see, there are only about two months (i.e., between now and mid-February) before we must submit our images. We may not know the exact rules for image content and image submission until early February, leaving us only a few weeks to get our images sized and uploaded for submission.

So, I encourage us all to review our portfolios, select a candidate set of images to submit, and make sure they are ready for presentation. Then all we will have left to do is resize the images according to the contest rules and upload them to an OPCC competition gallery [also TBD] during that narrow submission window.

REMINDER - PSA Interclub Competition 2022 - 2023: Opportunity to Submit New Images

From OPCC Competition Chair Peggy McClure

When we began entering the photos for the first round of the Interclub Competition, we discovered that PSA had split the competition into new categories of color and monochrome. Because monochrome images generally don’t do well in color competitions, we decided to actually divide our images and enter both the color and monochrome divisions. We have enough images to submit to the first round for both competitions without asking for additional images. The first-round images have been posted on the website (click HERE) and are ready to submit to PSA for judging.

To repeat, there are now actually two competitions: PID* Color and PID Monochrome. Therefore, we need additional images for Rounds 2 and 3 for both color and monochrome. Each member may enter 4 new images (2 color, 2 monochrome) for a total of 4 images. Submissions for the second and third rounds will need to be uploaded to the PSA Interclub Competition Dropbox by Sunday, January 8, 2023. We will again use external judges to evaluate and score the images to select the images to be entered.

NOTE: If you have already submitted images and they were one of the Finalists for the Open Competition, they will automatically be included in the images for rounds 2 and 3. You may still enter 4 new images. Additionally, if you have already submitted a PSA Release form you will not be required to submit another one.

Because we did not enter last year, our Club is in the F group, which is the lowest group. Our images will be competing with images from 22 other clubs. Submissions for the first-round closes on November 15 and we should see the results two to three weeks later. The results will be announced in the newsletter and posted to the website. If you would like more information on how the judging is done and the scoring system, the information has been posted to our website under the PSA Interclub Competition in the section titled PSA Judging and Scoring.

Hopefully the above explanation is clear but if you any questions, concerns or comments please contact Peggy McClure, OPCC Competition Chair at opcc.competition@gmail.com or by phone 714 403-3523.

*PID = Pictorial Image Division

In Focus: December 11 - 31