Event Recaps

A set of three t-ball caps repeated three times in a row.
Re(peating) Caps by Michelle Cox
Event Recaps

After the event, come here to read a recap.

Jan
25
2023

Second January meeting

Very short board meeting
- No updates from most of the board.
- Need judges March, April, May
- From Debbie:
Business Meeting N4C Notes:

4 of the 6 categories for this months competition are in. We have 10 images so far that have received Merit or above. I will share results when I have all of them. Our club is judging the N4C March Nature competition and we have 3 judges for that. Judges are: Mike Hanson, Cindy Hanson, and Debbie Hanson. (I do need to let Cyndy Thorn know we have judges!)

Business Meeting LACC Notes:

Remind those interested in attending the Composite Workshop on February 25th to email me!! I have files to share prior to the workshop via Google Drive. It will be helpful to have them downloaded beforehand.
 

Oct
11
2022

First October meeting

29 in person, 2 on Zoom

Business meeting
- Upcoming meetup 
- Judges needed for November.
- N4C awards.
- November N4C judges needed. Contact Austin or Cyndy.
- Refreshment signup needed.

Editing tip by Austin
- Linear gradient to balance exposure.
- Select sky in masks to darken sky.

Fundamentals - Groups by camera

Sep
27
2022

Second September meeting

27 people in attendance. 2 on Zoom.

The meeting started out with an editing tip by Austin explaining the difference between saturation and vibrance. We then moved on the the fundamentals program in which Austin presented the exposure triangle.

Business meeting:

  • John gave the treasurer report. Dues were deposited. 
  • Austin and Michelle went over some of the details of competition entry.
  • Steve reported that the next meet-up is on Oct 6 at 5:30. First meet on Apple Blossom drive for some photography followed by heading to La Crescent for dinner. More details will be coming by email.
  • Michelle reminded everyone to update profiles & mentors
  • Sue needs judges for Oct 9. The judging signup sheet was passed around.
  • The refreshments signup was passed around as well.
  • Debbie, our new N4C submitter introduced herself and gave updates on the contests and results.

The main program was part workshop and part chatting with other members about photography and more. 

May
10
2022

First May meeting

The meeting came to order at 6:36pm with 22 members present.

Pre-program:

Election of the Executive Board followed by a vote on the rewritten bylaws.

Brian presented the list of candidates for the Executive Board:

  • President: Brian Narveson
  • VP: Austin Miller
  • Secretary: Michelle Cox
  • Treasurer: John Zoerb
  • Director 1: Terry Zalewski
  • Director 2: Kristi Olson
  • Judging Chair: Sue Retzlaff

A request was made for nominations from the floor. None were made. Brian asked for a second on the list of nominees and several people granted it. As all roles were running unopposed, the slate was presented as a whole. 24 members were present. 22 voted in favor. 2 abstained. Motion passed by majority vote.

Welcome to the returning officers and new VP Austin Miller. Thank you to Jerry W for serving as VP for the past couple of years. And a thank you to the current board for serving this past year.

The bylaws had been posted and a request for any suggested changes to be made in writing. Only one suggested change was made:

Article 6 section 3: Change "husband and wife" to "spouses". During the meeting, that was verbally amended to "partners" to be inclusive.

27 members present for the vote. 24 voted in favor of the rewritten bylaws including the proposed changed. 3 abstained. Motion passed by majority vote. The new bylaws will take effect in the 2021-2022 camera club year.



Business meeting:

  • Treasurer report: Expenses and balance given.
  • Website report: The N4C Video Essay contest is open. Details on the website. Also, the latest update broke user profiles so hold off on making any changes until the all clear is given. Also Mailchimp is deleting contacts and we are working on figuring that out.
  • Photo outings: No updates.
  • Volunteer event update: Looking into whether we are going to photograph the Solar Plunge that replaced the Polar Plunge this year.
  • N4C update: We judged last month and we are not able to enter when we judged so there were no entries from our club for April. Thank you to Cyndy for running the judging.
  • Oktoberfest photo contest: Hoping to have the first committee meeting in July. Volunteers needed for the committee.
  • Summer program: Proposal made by Steve but he was not able to attend the meeting to discuss so further information will come by email.
  • May workshop: Was going to be a milky way shoot but that is not going to work out so it will be scheduled in June.
  • Next meeting: Meet at the International Gardens in Riverside park. Start with a flower shoot in the garden and then branch out to a downtown photo walk. Looking for someone to lead the walk. Contact Brian if interested.
  • First meeting of next year: Tentatively planned to be a picnic instead of having a picnic over the summer. Details TBD.
  • Member topic: John McCormick created a Facebook page for Hotrods and Harleys that lists all the local car shows so is a good source if you like to shoot cars and motorcycles.
  • Member topic: Mary Ann brought up the free Lightroom app
  • Suggestions wanted: The Leadership Team will be meeting in June to make the schedule for next year. We are looking for ideas on program subjects and presenters, including presenters from outside of the club. Please send any suggestions to the leadership team.

Main program:

  • PSE hint by Sue.
  • Sharing of this month's competition results.

Final note by John Z.: Be sure to pick up your prints, especially now so they don't get mixed in with EOY prints. The garage is open until 4pm or they can be left between the doors on the house. If you have any issues, call John.



Final note by Brian N.: Thanks to everyone for participation this year, especially in light of all the problems due to the pandemic and lack of in person meetings.

Apr
12
2022

First April meeting

22 in person, 7 on zoom

Business meeting:
 

  • Al's book
  • Treas report
  • No website changes
  • Galena trip, bird day at tremp refuge
  • N4c judging monday. Good on judges.
  • April workshop - Steve and Dan. April 21st 5:30 pizza at pizza ranch then myrick park for a shoot at 7.
  • Pizza party canceled because it got too late in the year and too much else going on.
  • Next month is the election.
  • Year end banquet June 26. Tentative.
Mar
22
2022

Second March meeting

24 in person, 4 on Zoom

Fundamentals - Austin and Dave shared some favorite gear.

Business meeting:
 

  • Dave - Galena trip. April 22-24. Tremp May 7th.
  • Steve - Lunches will continue into April then in May switch to dinners to catch sunset.
  • John M - Read off N4C results.
  • Cyndy - 3rd N4C judging. Prints. Judges are needed. Thank you to the previous judges.
  • Danette - Has membership cards for new members or those requesting new ones.
  • John Z - Financial report.

Main program - Austin's 2019 road trip

Mar
9
2022

First March Meeting

Business meeting:

  • Found lenscap from previous meeting.
  • HDR workshops scheduled. Will be in two sections.
  • N4C judging this month online. Looking for one more judge. Need 3 judges for print judging in April.
  • April 22-24 Dubuque trip.
  • World migratory bird day May 11(?) Trempeleau
  • Check with Steve on the lunch meeting.
  • People category changed from P&R to HI
  • Next meeting changed? Ask Austin

Main program:

Minimialism review

Feb
9
2022

First February meeting

32 on Zoom. Meeting not held in person.

Business meeting:

  • Treasurer - Payments to the church and judges.
  • Secretary - Jan/Feb GG is out. Aiming to get one out in March.
  • Judging - We are full up on judges.
  • N4C - Judging in March. Need 2 more judges. Judging is online.
  • Meetups - Meeting at Senior Villa next Thursday.
  • Workshop - PTM industrial shoot.
  • Next meeting is pizza party at Pizza Ranch
  • Figure skating club show
  • Photo ops - Galena in April. Tremp refuge migratory bird day May 11. Saturday La Crescent frozen apple candle light hike. 18th Norskedalen candlelight hike.
  • John has prints in his garage.

Main program:

PSA hint (hide the selection outline ctrl-h) and comp results
Judges Kristi, Kim, Judy Bautch

Jan
26
2022

Second January meeting

20 in person, 13 on zoom, and -5F outside

Fundamentals - HDR
 

Business meeting - Shortened due to speaker
 

  • Steve talked about the planned lunch meetups
  • Brian talked about his workshop
  • Pizza party
  • Skater shoot and polar plunge

Main program - Speaker

Renee Retzlaff, a professional nature photographer from RMB Graphics Design and Photography.

Jan
12
2022

First January meeting

19 in person; 15 on zoom

Fundamentals: Video on minimalism plus presentation from John and Austin.

Business meeting:

  • Treasurer: Gift cards for judges
  • Outings: Nice outing to the Rotary Lights until it started to rain.
  • Park & Rec: Could not hear report
  • Judging: 1 slot open for A judge in May.
  • N4C: No judging in December. Will do Dec/Jan photos for Jan judging.
  • N4C: Judging on Sunday. Have enough judges. Next judging in March.
  • Meetup - Lunch on the 20th. Rest unclear.
  • Workshop - Portrait lighting. Tuesday Feb 1st at 6:30. Presentation and hands on. Bring camera and tripod. Signup requested.
  • Austin has photography books.

Main program: Competition results.

Dec
15
2021

December meeting

23 people attended in person and 12 on zoom.

The fundamentals program presented by Brian Narveson covered tips and advice for shooting the Rotary Lights.

Business meeting:

  • Meetups: 
    - Planning a pizza lunch this Thursday. Check email for details.
    - Kickapoo valley winterfest (January)
    - Galena reenactment April 22-24. Considering carpooling.
  • Judging: Still have 1 opening for a B judge in March. Cindy Hanson will fill it. Two openings for A judges in January and March. Austin will do January.
  • N4C judging: Looking for 2 judges. Debbie Hanson.
  • January workshop: Portraits with Brian. Date TBD.
  • Heider Center exhibit is ongoing until January 13th. MWF 12-4.

Main program:


- PSE hint by Sue. How to set preferences for floating the images. Settings are under preferences and then "General".
- Competition results. Judges: Joni Welda, Dave Halverson. Debbie Hanson.

Nov
24
2021

Second November meeting

17 in person; 6 on Zoom

Business meeting:

  • Treasurer's report - Judging gift cards, church charge
  • Website/GG - No nov GG. Will have Dec. Site got 3rd place in N4C competition.
  • Workshop - Rotary lights. Will be on the 28th since the meeting is the middle of the month.
  • Judging - A few spots open. Sheet is being passed around.
  • N4C judging in Jan. Done online. Needs 2 more judges. Contact Cyndy.
  • No meetups scheduled yet but there may be more this winter.
  • Can still sign up for PSE workshop. Contact Sue. Can go if you didn't go to 1st one.
  • Heider center exhibits. Mary Ann, Gates, Abraham
  • Next meeting Dec 14.
Oct
12
2021

First October meeting

35 in person, 8 people on zoom

Fundamentals was a video on f-stops as our presenter was unavailable.

Business meeting:

  • Treasurer report - Paid for cake and N4C dues and judge's gift cards. Took in dues.
  • Ground Glass looking for content.
  • No events report.
  • Judging report - We got a good number signed up but there are still open slots looking for volunteers.
  • No N4C news.
  • Summer meetup group is still going into the fall and is looking into a couple upcoming options. Stay tuned.
  • October workshop is Mounting and Matting on Thursday Oct 21 starting at 6:30pm at the Neighborhood Center. Please let Terry know if you are going to join.
  • Next meeting is the tour of The Studio. 419 Main street.
  • Al has calendars for sale. $12.
Sep
28
2021

Second September meeting

Jerry hosted the meeting due to Brian being out of town. 25 people attended in person and 4 on zoom.

Fundamentals: We gathered into groups based on camera brand and questions were asked and answered.

Business meeting:

Treasurer report.

  • Membership - We have some new members.
  • Website - Challenges will be late.
  • Activities - Norskedalen next event.
  • Talked about Park and Rec events.
  • N4C contest winners were read off. Discussed entering N4C.
  • N4C judging schedule is the same as last year.
  • Discussed summer meetups.
  • Next workshop matting and mounting.
  • Cookie signup was passed around.
  • Call for judges.

Main program: What makes a good image by Sue.

 

Jun
29
2021

Leadership Team Meeting

The meeting started about 8:35 with 8 people in attendance.

- Kathy and Michelle discussed the Photo Spots section of the site and gathering content.
 - Kathy will send out an email to gather content.
 - Suggested having a drawing for a $50 gift card to encourage participation.
 - Michelle will build the infrastructure to host it on the site.
- Discussed doing a class for beginners for the park & rec
 - Needs someone willing to teach it
 - Teacher gets a percentage of the cost of the class
 - Too late for fall schedule; would be winter at the earliest
 - Austin will find out more info on how they handle classes.
- Talked about getting events up on Facebook.
- Considering having SIGs. Will pick that up in the fall.
- Discussed using a meeting to do a portfolio presentation. Austin will look into organizing it.
 - Austin, Brian, Kristi, John, and Dave willing to bring prints. Michelle will bring digital.
 - Will organize around tables rather than presenting to the whole group.
 - Scheduled for March 22.
- First meeting Sep 14 at Mormon Coulee Park in Shelby. Bring your own tableware and a dish for the potluck. Club will bring a cake. Need to get word out to the community that they are welcome.
- Website training for the Leadership Team will be 2nd Tuesday in July.
- Dave has photo ops for us and will be putting them out in email.
 - NYE fireworks: Golf course. 27th street by the railroad tracks. Blessed Sacrement between king and cass on losey.
- Paul is trying to find out what Park & Rec would like us to shoot for them. Austin will ask as well.
- Brian is recruiting professional photographers to be guest speakers and is in communication with two but non set to a date, yet.
- Need to check who all will be participating in the Sep 28 meeting "questions about your camera".
- Need someone to organize refreshments -- Kristi volunteered.
- Went over program and the remaining TBDs.
- Michelle will ask Sue about the competition schedule.
- Will follow the Park and Rec's guidelines for COVID rules.
- Brian will reserve the meeting room at the BRBNC.


Summer meetups:

July 9 10pm - Astro shoot / Location TBD. Core starts being visible around 11. Fully rise around midnight or later. Wide lens that can open up to 3.5 or more. Bug spray. Head lamp.

July 11 4:45am for a time. N4858 Linse Rd West Salem. Meet at the Gazebo in the park next door. Dave's house. Keep address only in email.

Mailchimp training followed the team meeting.

Jun
8
2021

Leadership Team Meeting

The meeting came to order at 6:43PM with 11 members of the Leadership Team present.

Oktoberfest update:

  • Oktoberfest is taking over the photo contest completely. There will be no display and no prints; everything will be virtual. The subjects will be reduced to two student categories plus an Oktoberfest category. The contest will take place after Oktoberfest so people can enter photos from this year.


Went over items that were on the list last year that didn't happen:

  • Website training - needs to happen this year.
  • Mailchimp training - also needs to happen this year.
  • Dave & Darci will look into collecting various photo ops.
  • Brian will start linking to the N4C newsletters.

New ideas:

  • Favorite places to shoot. This will be a collaboration between Kathy and Michelle with Kathy gathering the places from the membership and Michelle providing a place on the website to hold them.
  • Classes for beginners. Possibly do classes through the Park and Rec which will give the club more visibility.
  • Need to get the events on Facebook and Michelle has been hit or miss for that. Austin and Cyndy volunteered to take care of it and will be made group admins.
  • Austin suggested adding special interest groups to the site. This is something that has been on the to do list but Michelle has concern that it won't be used as the forums we had previously weren't used. Will discuss with the membership to determine interest before adding to the site.
  • Suggested having a meeting where people present their portfolios to the club to show off what they like to shoot.


Plan of the first meeting:

  • Meet at 5:30pm for a picnic at Shelby park
  • Brian and Cyndy to teach a bit of portrait during the picnic
  • After the food we will have a portrait shoot where we can try out what we just learned by photographing each other.

Rest of the meetings:

  • The team planned out the rest of the club year.
  • The calendar will be updated soon.
  • Next Leadership Team meeting will be Tuesday June 29 at 6:30
May
11
2021

First May meeting

The meeting came to order at 6:36pm with 22 members present.

Pre-program:

Election of the Executive Board followed by a vote on the rewritten bylaws.

Brian presented the list of candidates for the Executive Board:

  • President: Brian Narveson
  • VP: Austin Miller
  • Secretary: Michelle Cox
  • Treasurer: John Zoerb
  • Director 1: Terry Zalewski
  • Director 2: Kristi Olson
  • Judging Chair: Sue Retzlaff

A request was made for nominations from the floor. None were made. Brian asked for a second on the list of nominees and several people granted it. As all roles were running unopposed, the slate was presented as a whole. 24 members were present. 22 voted in favor. 2 abstained. Motion passed by majority vote.

Welcome to the returning officers and new VP Austin Miller. Thank you to Jerry W for serving as VP for the past couple of years. And a thank you to the current board for serving this past year.

The bylaws had been posted and a request for any suggested changes to be made in writing. Only one suggested change was made:

Article 6 section 3: Change "husband and wife" to "spouses". During the meeting, that was verbally amended to "partners" to be inclusive.

27 members present for the vote. 24 voted in favor of the rewritten bylaws including the proposed changed. 3 abstained. Motion passed by majority vote. The new bylaws will take effect in the 2021-2022 camera club year.



Business meeting:

  • Treasurer report: Expenses and balance given.
  • Website report: The N4C Video Essay contest is open. Details on the website. Also, the latest update broke user profiles so hold off on making any changes until the all clear is given. Also Mailchimp is deleting contacts and we are working on figuring that out.
  • Photo outings: No updates.
  • Volunteer event update: Looking into whether we are going to photograph the Solar Plunge that replaced the Polar Plunge this year.
  • N4C update: We judged last month and we are not able to enter when we judged so there were no entries from our club for April. Thank you to Cyndy for running the judging.
  • Oktoberfest photo contest: Hoping to have the first committee meeting in July. Volunteers needed for the committee.
  • Summer program: Proposal made by Steve but he was not able to attend the meeting to discuss so further information will come by email.
  • May workshop: Was going to be a milky way shoot but that is not going to work out so it will be scheduled in June.
  • Next meeting: Meet at the International Gardens in Riverside park. Start with a flower shoot in the garden and then branch out to a downtown photo walk. Looking for someone to lead the walk. Contact Brian if interested.
  • First meeting of next year: Tentatively planned to be a picnic instead of having a picnic over the summer. Details TBD.
  • Member topic: John McCormick created a Facebook page for Hotrods and Harleys that lists all the local car shows so is a good source if you like to shoot cars and motorcycles.
  • Member topic: Mary Ann brought up the free Lightroom app
  • Suggestions wanted: The Leadership Team will be meeting in June to make the schedule for next year. We are looking for ideas on program subjects and presenters, including presenters from outside of the club. Please send any suggestions to the leadership team.

Main program:

  • PSE hint by Sue.
  • Sharing of this month's competition results.

Final note by John Z.: Be sure to pick up your prints, especially now so they don't get mixed in with EOY prints. The garage is open until 4pm or they can be left between the doors on the house. If you have any issues, call John.



Final note by Brian N.: Thanks to everyone for participation this year, especially in light of all the problems due to the pandemic and lack of in person meetings.

Apr
7
2021

Executive Board meeting

  • Went over bylaws. Approved.
  • Discussed remainder of the year schedule.
    • April workshop mounting
    • May 25 photowalk
  • Went over who will continue serving on the board and possible candidates to fill open spots.
  • Proposal for summer activities by Steve Mitoraj and Dam McKenzie. Board approved proceeding.
  • Picnic for first meeting in September.
  • Oktoberfest. Discussed the issues with not having a chairperson and whether we should do it if we can't find a chairperson this year. Looking to start meeting in early July.
  • Meet 2nd and 4th Tuesday (entire leadership team) to discuss next year's program.
  • Leadership team meeting in May to kick off planning and wrap up the year. No date set. Will be mid to late May.
     
Mar
10
2021

First March meeting

The meeting started at 6:35 with 30 participants. We reached a high of 37 participants during the business meeting.

For the fundamentals program, Brian demonstrated a couple of his favorite photography apps. 

  • Photopills (Apple and Android): This has many functions related to astronomy such as to tell you when the golden hour is, when the moon will rise, and when you can see the galactice center. 
  • LExp - Long Exposure Calcs (Apple only): This can be used to calculate the direction of the sun hitting your location. It also has a calculator to help you get still stars when doing astrophotography.

Business meeting:

  • Treasurer report: Paid judging gift cards and church.
  • Membership report: Four new members.
  • Website report: Things in progress but nothing ready for use.
  • Photo ops: The ice is opening up and eagles are around. A few swans have shown up. St. Patrick's day parade in La Crosse.
  • Competition report: Need A judge for May. Need suggestions for challenge topics.
  • N4C report: Judging in April. Judging will be done virtually with a follow up meeting on the 18th. Two more judges were requested and found during the meeting.
  • HDR workshop part two was held. The third part will be a virtual workshop on post processing the images. May attend even if you didn't attend the shoot.
  • Need to find out if next meeting can be made virtual as it was intended to be a tour of The Studio. Also need new fundamental topic to replace the "questions about your camera" one that is intended to break into in person groups.

The photo hint was postponed due to time so we moved onto the main program which was the results of this month's competition.

 

Feb
24
2021

Second February meeting

32 people were in attendance with the meeting starting at 6:35.



Pre meeting chat discussed where to get panoramic issues printed. AB Images was suggested. https://www.abimages.net/index.html

The fundamentals meeting was a video on Minimalist Photography by Judy Hancock Holland from June 2019.

Business meeting:

  • Website has some content updates. No new features.
  • Dave on Maiden's Rock ice sculptures
  • No polar plunge this year.
  • Looking for judges for March and May. March got taken by Cyndy. May still up for grabs.
  • Idea for challenge category: Minimal
  • N4C judging in April. Will be done online. Looking for judges. Date TBD.
  • HDR workshop tomorrow at Riverside Park.
  • Next meeting. Smartphone apps & competition results.



Main program - India Photo / Travel Workshops. Rajasthan 2014 / Agra/Varanasi 2016