David Wilkins, our President, welcomed 51 members to our October General Meeting and competition night. He began the evening by announcing the need for volunteers for open positions (field trip chair, assistant newsletter editor, and librarian). David then turned the evening over to Bill Sutton, our co-Competition Chair.

Bill Sutton introduced our judge, Diane Racey for this evenings “Human Interest” competition. In Digital we had 9 Novice, 8 Amateur, 17 Advance and 24 Masters. In Prints we had 4 Novice, 3 Amateur, 9 Advanced and 13 Master. All results for the competitions can be seen on the LPA website. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to those who helped in making this another great competition evening! There was a no host dinner prior to the competition. Ms. Racey was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation, an honorary membership, and $75 for travel expenses. Thank you Ms. Racey!

David Wilkins, our President, welcomed 51 people to our Program night featuring “Creating Powerful Images “ by Dan Holmes. 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 35 members to our Program night featuring Food Photography with Ed Ouelette. Ed educated the members on how the pros do quality food photography. Whether they just take photos of their beautifully plated dinner with their cell telephone cameras, or attempt a more serious gourmet photography moment, our attendees learned how to do it better.  Ed Ouellette showed our LPA members the secrets to quality food images. He set up a complete studio for food photography. Lights of varying sources, light modifiers, cameras, lenses, etc. Tethered to his laptop and our projector, attendees were able to view images live as Ed took the shots. He demonstrated how to make the food look more visually appealing and some of the tricks of the trade.  A few of the tips Ed shared:

Douglas Wade, our Vice President, welcomed over 40 members to our “Vehicles” competition night.

Our new competition chairs Tina Crowe and co-chair Bill Sutton pulled the event off flawlessly.  Our judge this evening was Suzanne Gonzalez.  She is the president of the Glendora Camera Club.  She has been a photographer since 1977.  She has attended Tri-Community Photography Program/School for almost 20 years continuously and sells photo packages to schools, groups, weddings, and special events.   She was accompanied by Diane Racey, who offered additional comments during the critique session.  We had 69 digital entries and 16 prints.  Congratulations to all the winners!

David Wilkins, our President, welcomed over 47 members to our End of Year Competition, S4C/PSA Photography Celebration, and Installation of Officers.   

The 1st place winners for the 2012-2013 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 received a certificate and ribbon, and will be awarded an acrylic plaque with their name, and the title of winning photo.

Thank you to Chris Wilkins and Wayne Staley, Competition Chairs for the past two years.  They will be notifying those of you who won your second LPA in your blue ribbon this year, in your level, as you will get to move up July 1.

Douglas Wade, our Vice President, welcomed roughly 39 members to our May General Meeting this evening.

The meeting started off with Christine Wilkins introducing or judge, Noella Ballenger for this evenings “Abstract” competition.

A 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. Her work has been published in Gardens & Landscapes, Natural History, Petersen’s Photographic, Zoo View, Lapidary Journal, Westways, California Highways, True West and many other magazines. In addition, her work has been selected for inclusion in the Smithsonian Guide to Historic America: Pacific Coast States, American Sampler, Focus on New Zealand (New Zealand); Great Mysteries: Ghosts (England); Death Trap: The Story of the La Brea Tar Pits, Ghost Towns of the American West, The Audubon Guides, Simple Prayers and Blessings, La Purisima, Erosion, The Pueblo, Encyclopedia of Native Americans and many other books. Ballenger's photographs are installed in the Kaiser Permanente, Ming Avenue Medical Offices, in Bakersfield, CA, Los Angeles Children's Hospital, Plastic Surgery Clinic, Brotman Medical Center; UCLA Medical Center's Tiverton House, Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and in private collections around the world.

Douglas Wade, our Vice President, welcomed nearly 40 members to our April General Meeting this evening.

The meeting started off with Douglas Wade introducing our guest speaker George Hutchison, or “Hutch” as he is commonly referred to. His Program Presentation was called “Elements of Award Winning Images”, which many seemed to thoroughly enjoy!

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”.

David Wilkins, our President, welcomed nearly 60 members to our March General Meeting this evening.

The meeting started off with Christine Wilkins introducing or judge, Stuart Lynn for this evenings “Close-Ups” competition.

Stuart Lynn is the president of the Southern California Council of Camera Clubs (S4C) and Competition Chair of the Coachella Valley Desert Camera Club (CVDCC). He has been awarded the HonS4C and DFS4C honors by S4C for his work in supporting S4C’s activities and for his photographic achievements, the latter including medals and other awards in S4C’s end of year competitions. He has several times won Photographer of the Year and Image of the Year awards in CVDCC competitions and is an experienced competition judge. He has also won Best of Show at the Riverside County Fair (Date Festival). He has chaired or co-chaired several international photographic competitions recognized by the Photographic Society of America (PSA). Rocking trays in his father’s darkroom at the early age of 4, he inherited his father’s passion for photography. As a teenager, he could not be separated from his camera. His professional career in academe inhibited his favorite hobby so it was with considerable pleasure that he could resume his interest upon retirement. He was an early adopter of digital photography – enabling him to combine photography with his professional background in the computing field. He has also developed many computer systems to support photography club activities and competitions, including support for international competitions.