In Focus: March 8 - 14
Photo Credit: Natalie Hyde
This weekly list of OPCC events, reminders, and news is compiled by Lori Moilanen. Please send information on upcoming events, news items, and corrections to opcc4mail@gmail.com. This newsletter is currently published weekly on Sunday evenings. The deadline for new submissions for the following week is Friday at midnight.
MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER
This week’s cover photo is ’Lunch beneath Nevada Falls’ by new 2021 member Natalie Hyde. Nevada Falls delivers the full force of the Merced River off a 600 ft granite cliff. This is one of Natalie’s favorite locations in Yosemite, as it is only a half mile past the extremely busy Vernal Falls, yet more times than not, she’s the only person with this magnificent view. Natalie says this photo explains exactly why she got into photography in the first place.
Natalie’s grandmother, OPCC member Suzanne Anaya, raised her to be an avid hiker. Luring Natalie at 5 years old with candy along the 5 mile trek up Grass Mountain in Green Valley, CA, Suzanne instilled a passion for the outdoors that has stuck with her ever since. After serving in the Navy for 5 years, Natalie returned home (Santa Clarita, CA) to go back to school and found herself traveling more and more. At the time, she relied heavily on her iPhone’s camera and soon realized it was drastically limiting the potential of her photography. After researching a good camera system to bring on her adventures, she finally settled on the micro four thirds sensor. Recently, her travel companion is the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III with the Olympus 12-45mm f4 Pro zoom. She finds this camera to be the perfect compromise between size and image quality for her needs. Plus, the outstanding IBIS means she rarely needs to carry a tripod and the IPS weather sealing keeps her mind at ease with the Sierra’s summer thunderstorms.
At first, Natalie mainly focused on just snapping pictures of whatever she saw. But like most landscape photographers, more recently she’s become much more interested in lighting and determining the Aperture and Shutter Speed necessary for the particular scene. She still considers herself to be very novice, but really enjoys trying new techniques and seeing how they work out. She says her Mini Aussie, Luna, is by far the cutest and most frequent subject of her photos, but she always tries to spot wildlife while out and about. Her favorite photographer is Ansel Adams, for his work in the Sierra. She thinks it’s quite impressive how he trekked to some of the most remote areas in the West and composed his striking imagery well before these locations were well known and easily accessible. This year, she hopes to continue learning different techniques for her landscape work, as well as trying to incorporate more artistic elements into her work.
Natalie Hyde - Cheers!
Luna - Frequent Photo Model
NEWS
Quote of the Week
“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” - Ansel Adams.
Jeanne Scott’s Live Critique is a Hit
Our March 4 meeting featuring live editing critiques by Jeanne Scott was a new format for OPCC. It was a successful experiment, with at least 32 participants in attendance and great reviews. Jeanne was adept at providing honest feedback in an encouraging way, and we had plenty of active audience participation from our members. If you missed the meeting or would like a rerun, the meeting recording has been posted on the OPCC Zoom Codes webpage. Act fast, the recording will only be available for a few days. Many thanks to Witta Priester for making the connection with Jeanne, Ardythe Wendt for facilitating, and Susan White and Lewis Bennett for managing different aspects of the Zoom meeting.
PSA Washington State Membership Newsletter
The March edition of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) Washington State Membership Newsletter has arrived. There’s always something interesting in this publication. View it HERE.
Voting for Round 1 of the NWCCC 2021 Traveling Digital Salon is Underway - Vote Now!
The Northwest Council of Camera Clubs (NWCCC) is a regional organization of camera clubs. This year NWCCC introduced a new club competition - the 2021 Traveling Digital Salon. Each of the nine participating clubs (including OPCC) has submitted an entry of 25 digital images made by their members. Each month, participating clubs will receive a new collection of images from a different club for their members to review and vote on. NWCCC will tabulate club voting results. The final club and individual winners will be determined by external judges and announced later in the fall.
For Round 1, we’ll be reviewing and voting on images from the Puget Sound Camera Club (PSCC). All OPCC members are eligible to vote and were sent an email on Friday March 5 with instructions for voting, plus links to view the PSCC images and our automated club ballot. Voting is easy - just three simple steps - and we’re hoping for a great turnout at the ballot box! Voting closes on March 25. Please vote early, before the email with instructions sinks into the depths of your inbox.
You can view the OPCC entry in this competition on the OPCC Competition Slide Shows webpage.
Mike Shaw - Free Webinar “Night Photography 101” on Tuesday March 9.
Preview our upcoming speaker. Mike Shaw, our Education Night guest speaker on March 18, is offering a free Night Photography 101 webinar on Tuesday March 9 from 6:00 - 6:30 PM PST. Learn what gear you need, how to set it up, and how to capture your first photograph of the night sky. For more information and to register for this webinar, click HERE.
Nature Photographers of the Pacific Northwest (NPPNW) Announces Spring Meeting and Photo Competition Details
NPPNW will hold its 41st meeting on Saturday April 3 from 9:00 -12:00 PM via Zoom. Attendance is free, but you must pre-register. Deadline for registration is March 30. The invited speaker, wildlife photographer Weldon Lee, will present “Wildlife Photography: My Art and My Life.”
A digital image photo competition is included as part of this meeting. Up to two images may be submitted. The categories will be Plant Life, Scenic, and Wildlife. The deadline for submitting images is Saturday March 20.
For more information, visit the NPPNW website.
OPCC Zoom Meeting Guest Attendance Policy
From OPCC President Peg Hanson - Members, if you’re thinking about inviting a guest or guests to any of our Zoom meetings, please notify our Membership Chair, Bruce Fryxell at opcc4info@gmail.com in advance. Please do not email your guest the meeting invitation and code directly. Bruce is tasked to record the number of members and guests in attendance and will notify you of the procedure guests need to follow to attend.
Also, please remember that visitors may attend up to two free meetings and while we welcome guests, we welcome new members even more. If they’re at all interested in joining, please encourage them to do so.
Watch Your (Snail) Mailbox
From OPCC President Peg Hanson - watch your mailboxes for OPCC business cards and car window clings which will be mailed Monday, March 8, via the USPS. Hopefully, you’ll all feel inclined to attach the cling and share one of the business cards for a nonmember. If you’d like more cards, email President Peg Hanson at opccpres@gmail.com.
Congratulations to…
Congratulations to Mary Swartz, whose bald eagle portrait was used this week as the cover photo for an emailed article titled “Big, Bald, and Beautiful” from the Dungeness River Audubon Center. Multiple members shared this item for the newsletter - Mary, you have fans!
Big, Bold, and Beautiful
Photo Credit: Mary Swartz
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Deadline for Submitting PSA Inter-Club Competition Images Extended to Thursday March 11.
Last chance to submit your images for consideration as part of the OPCC entry for this competition. OPCC organizers Jonas Benjamins and Witta Priester are hoping for more entries. Full instructions for submitting photos are available on the PSA inter-Club Competition event page on the OPCC Website.
For more information on this competition or submitting images for it, contact Jonas Benjamins (jonasben@msn.com).
NEXT WEEK
Guest Speaker Mike Shaw: Planning and Creating Trophy Milky Way Nightscapes. March 18, 6:00 PM.
Dr. Mike Shaw is an award-winning photographer, author, speaker and workshop leader based in St. Paul, Minnesota. See Mike’s full bio on the Education Nights Event Page. Visit Mike’s webpage for examples of his work and lots of good information on planning, techniques, and gear for nightscape photography.
There will be a special door prize for this meeting - an OPCC logo sweatshirt donated by President Peg Hanson and husband Jim Hanson. Log into the meeting via Zoom and your name will be added to the hat for a drawing at the end of Mike’s presentation.
Mike’s presentation is sponsored by OPCC members Lori Moilanen and Bruce Fryxell.
Dr. Mike Shaw
Photo Credit: Dr. Mike Shaw
ONGOING ACTIVITIES
Member Share Night - Monthly Themes and More
CLICK ON THE IMAGE OR THEME TITLE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. For questions, contact Share Night/Projection Chair Susan White at opccphotos@gmail.com.
Virtual Field Trips
There are currently two Virtual Field Trips in progress. CLICK ON AN IMAGE OR FIELD TRIP TITLE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. For questions or to suggest a new Virtual Field Trip idea contact Sandra Woods (fieldtrips4opcc@gmail.com).
External Competition Opportunities
CLICK ON AN IMAGE OR EVENT TITLE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. For questions or to suggest a new competition or juried exhibition opportunity contact Competition Chair Suzanne Anaya (OPCC.competition@gmail.com).