In Focus: July 12 - 18
Frozen Flowers - by Witta Priester
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 Frozen Flowers by Witta (pronounced VEE-da) Priester. It’s from a project (“Frozen Wildflowers”) that she’s currently working on, where she collects flowers, arranges them, and freezes them in ice. These arrangements are then photographed using a macro lens.
Witta is an award-winning photographer who regularly exhibits her work, makes photo-presentations, and judges competitions. Her serious interest in photography began In 2002 when she was traveling around the world for a year, and she was posting travelogues online. In New Zealand, her camera, a 1-Megapixel Olympus zoom camera, “died” —it only produced “weird“ photos. These inspired her to learn Photoshop Elements. Then she spent 3 months reading a “how-to” book and learning to use the very first version of Photoshop CS. Since then she’s been hooked on “arty” photography and post-processing.
Witta earned her associateship with the Photographic Society of New Zealand in 2007. Her most famous photo, Asperitas Clouds over New Zealand, has been chosen as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day three times. Witta’s photos span the genres of B&W, nature, creative and fine art photography. Her skills in the digital darkroom allow her to mesh imagination with vision, often by combining, modifying and transforming her photos.
Witta has 4 cameras: her iPhone, a Canon D90 DSLR with lots of lenses; a big-zoom Lumix point and shoot (FZ1000ii), and an infrared modified point and shoot zoom camera. She says that remembering how to work them all is becoming difficult!
A dedicated competitor, Witta has won the Clallam County Fair’s People’s Choice award for best photo, and some silver and bronze medals in International photo competitions.
Witta joined OPCC in 2008 and has contributed to the club in many ways over the last 13 years. For the last several years, she’s been OPCC’s Photographic Society of America (PSA) Representative. She was the Photography Barn Superintendent for the Clallam County Fair for 2 years and she is a past recipient of OPCC’s annual Service Award. Her contributions in 2021 include recruiting guest speaker Jeanne Scott for a very well-received “live review” night in March; co-organizing the OPCC submissions to the PSA PID Interclub Competition; organizing the club’s first in-person event since March 2020 at Carrie Blake Park on July 10; and her upcoming Education Night talk on July 15. Thanks Witta!
NEWS
Quote of the Week
“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the photo is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Great Turnout for Carrie Blake Outing/Celebration
A total of 30 people, (27 members plus guests, according to OPCC Membership Chair Peggy McClure) gathered at Carrie Blake Park on Saturday July 10 for the club outing and celebration organized by Witta Priester. This marks our first in-person event since early 2020. We had a great cross-section of our membership present, ranging from long-time (and oldest!) OPCC member Dick Hazelton to Norman Hunter and Tess Agesson, two of our newest members. Thanks to all who helped with this event. A selection of event photos that have been shared on the OPCC Facebook page are shown below.
OPCC Field Trip Chair Sandy Woods invites all participants in this event to submit 1 or 2 photos for a “Carrie Blake Outing” gallery on the OPCC website. Please name and size your photos using the guidelines for submitting photos to Member Share Night. Detailed instructions for naming and sizing can be found at the top of the Member Share Night page of the OPCC website by clicking HERE. Email your photos to fieldtrips4opcc@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is midnight on Sunday July 18.
Field Trips are Back - Volunteer Now to Lead an OPCC Outing!
Everyone who attended Saturday’s event agrees - we need more in-person events. Given current Washington COVID guidelines, OPCC is relaunching its field trip programs (We suspended face-to-face field trips in March of 2020.) All field trips will be subject to existing Washington COVID guidelines. Please protect one another and be kind.
Please email OPCC Field Trip Chair Sandy Woods at fieldtrips4opcc@gmail.com if you are willing to organize a field trip. It can be very simple and local and can focus on any type of photography that interests you. By creating a member-led field trip program, we take advantage of the broad expertise and interests of our club members. Field trip leaders select the location, date and time for the event. They simply facilitate the event - organizing the group, being present, and answering questions. Field Trip Chair Sandy Woods is more than happy to talk with you about field trip ideas.
Thanks for considering this and let’s get back to photographing together!
Topaz Studio 2 Course Continues - Videos of Classes 1 and 2 Now Available
OPCC member Bob Selby’s four-session class on Topaz Studio 2 continues this week. More good news - it’s still possible to sign up for the remaining sessions! The videos from the first two sessions have been posted to YouTube, so it’s easy to get up to speed on or review the content. To go directly to the videos, click HERE for the Session 1 video and HERE for the Session 2 video. The videos can also be accessed via the Class Videos and Handouts page of the OPCC website by clicking HERE. Contact Bob (rlselby@yahoo.com) for more information or to register.
PSA Washington State Membership Newsletter July Edition Now Available
Click HERE for the latest edition of the PSA Washington State Membership Newsletter. This edition includes detailed entry information on the 80TH NORTHWEST INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHY at the Washington State Fair.
OPCC Welcomes Two More New Members
This week we extend a warm welcome to new members Christine Blondino and Linda Perkins, both from Sequim. We look forward to meeting you virtually and in person! OPCC now has 78 members,
Last Chance to Vote for NWCCC 2021 Traveling Digital Salon July Round
Voting on images from the Olympia Camera Club closes on Thursday July 15. The voting link for the July round of the NWCCC 2021 Traveling Digital Salon was sent out in an email on Friday July 2. Contact opcc4mail@gmail.com if you need the voting link to be resent.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Education Night - Witta Priester (OPCC Member): Talk About Textures
Thursday July 15, 2021 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Click HERE to access the Zoom Code for the meeting.
About the Presentation
Witta’s presentation will focus on textures when creating composites. She will help us understand and appreciate adding textures and their use in composite images. She will also demonstrate use of other photoshop techniques to create a more realistic and compelling composite.
ONGOING ACTIVITIES
Visit the OPCC Website for more information on these events.
Member Share Night - Monthly Themes and More
For more information visit the Member Share Night page on OPCC website. For questions, contact Share Night/Projection Chair Susan White at opccphotos@gmail.com.
Class
For more information visit the Field Trips/Classes page on the OPCC website.