[image1_left]Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 50 LPA members and 2 visitors to our General Meeting and Competition Night with “Monochrome” as the theme and Mel Carll as judge.

Mel Carll is a Professional Photographer in Santa Clarita.  He also teaches beginning photography classes at his studio Santa Clarita Valley Center for Photography. Mel is currently the President of the Professional Photographers of Los Angeles County.  Mel’s passion is creating amazing and fun images. Mel’s comments on competition images were very educational as he referred to the importance of cropping, paying attention to “hot spots”, tonality, and offered tips on when a vignette helps to focus the eye on the subject, and how key lines can keep your image maximized in the frame.

We had a total of 92 entries with 18 prints and 75 digital.  For print entry participants, we had 7 intermediates, and 11 masters.  For digital entries, we had 21 novice, 2 amateur, 21 advanced, and 30 masters.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 53 LPA members and visitors to our General Meeting and Photo Critique session.   

This was the second in a series of a two month trial period for photo critique sessions.  LPA members anonymously submitted up to 5 images each, for a total of 68 images.   The images were critiqued by 2 of our Master level photographers. Nan Carder and Don Bennett commented on all the images and pointed out the specific qualities that made them stand out, such as “impact”, “rules of composition” and “technique”, and offered suggestions on how some could be improved (mostly by cropping and avoiding those white hot spots).  Nan, our PSA Rep, offered suggestions as to where some of the images would fit in for PSA and S4C competitions.  Everyone benefited from their comments and will no doubt capture better images in the future.  Afterwards, a survey was passed out so that the board can evaluate the members input and participation and decide on how to move forward. Thank you to all that participated and to our Master photographers.

Douglas Wade our President, welcomed 45 LPA members and visitors to our General Meeting and Photo Critique session.

Rock Myers our Vice President reported -  This was our first in a series of two free critique workshops (next critique workshop - Sept 16th).  Attendees enjoyed viewing 80+ images submitted by our LPA members. Members could anonymously submit up to 5 images each.  The images were critiqued by 3 of our Master level photographers. Tylene Trout, Dale Ware and Sue Craft commented on all the images and emphasized the specific qualities that made them good as well as offered suggestions on how they could be improved.  Everyone benefited from their comments and will no doubt capture better images in the future.  After we complete the two critique workshops test, we will evaluate the members input and participation and decide on how to move forward. Thanks to all that participated and to our Master photographers.

Douglas Wade our President, welcomed 52 people to our General Meeting and Competition Night featuring “Scapes” as the theme, and Noella Ballenger as a returning judge.

As professional nature and wildlife photographer and writer, Noella Ballenger's experience has included photographing some of the world's most pristine and spectacular locations. Traveling extensively, she has searched for pockets of beauty throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific.  Noella has lectured throughout the United States and New Zealand. She celebrates her 24th year of teaching photography and her 27th year as a member of the American Society of Media Photographers.

Noella has always been very impressed with the quality of photographs she judges at the LPA and wants you to start sharing them.  She is looking for outstanding examples of your work to be submitted for consideration in being published and critiqued in her monthly “Image Talk” on Apogee Photo.   Noella was offered an Honorary Membership to LPA.

David Wilkins, our President, welcomed nearly 40 members to our General Meeting night and very special “End of Year” Competition. Also included in the evening’s agenda were the PSA & S4C AwardsPresentation, and the Installation of Officers.

The 1st  place winners for the 2013-2014 competed for the Year End - Members Choice Awards. All results for the competition can be seen on the LPA website. Congratulations to ALL the Winners! Each will receive a certificate and a ribbon, and will be awarded an acrylic plaque with their name, and the title of winning photo.

Thank you to Tina Crowe and Bill Sutton, Competition Chairs for the past year. They will be notifying those of you who won your second LPA blue ribbon this year, in your level, as you will get to move up July 1, 2014.

David Wilkins, our President, welcomed 47 people to our General Meeting and Competition night featuring “Night Photography” as the theme, and Dan Holmes as our returning guest and judge.

Dan is past President of the Channel Islands Professional Photographers Association, a member of Professional Photographers of California, and the Professional Photographers of America. He specializes in Fine Art Nature, Events, Commercial, and Workshops.  He has traveled extensively: climbing, trekking, and photographing in Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, and the USA. He has a unique ability to capture light, color, emotion, and tension in his images.  “Whether it is a landscape, a wedding, or a farm worker, it is all about light, emotion and impact”. His photographic workshops cover: creating powerful photographs, digital workflow, field workshops & photo adventure tours. He will be leading photo workshops in Alaska, Nepal, Namibia, and the western US. Dan’s work has been widely recognized with regional, national and international awards, including: California Nature & Landscape Photographer of the Year; Kodak Gallery Award; Black and White Spider International, Creative Asia, and others. He has had multiple local and regional showings, with his images displayed in public and private collections in the USA, Mexico, Holland, Chile, Brazil, and South Africa. His commercial work includes projects in agriculture, retail, music, and events. Dan’s presentation will entertain, educate, and inspire us in this journey we call life and photography.  He will take us on a humorous journey through our evolution as photographers, lead us on a visual journey through some of our most amazing places, and discuss how to create powerful imagery.

Douglas Wade, our Vice President, welcomed 50 members to our General Meeting night.

Douglas Wade then introduced our speaker for the evening Rob Sheppard, who did his presentation on “Down and Dirty Close-Ups and Macro Photography”. Rob has written 40 photography related books.

Close-up and macro photography will take you into a whole new world of imagery that will surprise and delight you and viewers of your photos. For this presentation, Rob Sheppard shared the following techniques needed to get the most from your close-up and macro work, and can be done without ever owning a macro lens!

Douglas Wade, our Vice President, welcomed 54 members to our “Open Prints” competition night.

Tina Crowe introduced our returning  judge George “Hutch” Hutchison.

Hutch has had a lifelong passion for photography, growing up with a father and grandfather who were both avid photographers. The advent of digital photography in the 1990's further stimulated and broadened his interest. He is an award winning photographer active in many local photography organizations, and a frequent judge and/or presenter at clubs and competitions in Southern California. Hutch is available for portrait, architectural, product and event photography, as well as private photography workshops, tours or coaching. Hutch says “Photography is an art, and any form of art is subjective to the viewer. Some may call an image excellent while others see it as ordinary. However, both experts and people with utterly no knowledge of photography usually agree when they lay their eyes on a good image”.