Nine of us braved the AV traffic to swap stories, brag, and ask questions.
Terri started out the discussion by announcing that she and Lee have joined PSA. She said that PSA has a program where, if you are a member, you can get in touch with PSA members at whatever location you are going to and ask questions about the area. This is a good way to get a local perspective rather than just the advertised perspective on the area.
Another fine night on the town for ten hardy revelers.
Bonnie got in her new strobe which brings her up to three, as I recall. Her studio is coming along nicely.
Lee showed off his new 10-22 wide angle lens which he hopes to use on their upcoming cruise and other activities. Terri said she's signed up for a walking tour of Old Town, Quebec City. We expect a great slide show when they return.
We had eleven this evening ranging from long-time participants to recent joiners and one first-timer. This was a good mix and the conversations were lively. Unfortunately, I ended up at one end of the table again and couldn't hear all that was said at the other end. But those folks sure seemed to have a good time, especially when they were looking in my direction. "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you." - Joseph Heller in Catch 22
This night we had five of the usual suspects plus two of their accomplices.
Someone (I hadn't gotten my pen warmed up yet) reminded us of Cartridge World which is located in the same mall as the Edwards Federal Credit Union and The Whole Wheatery on 10th St West. Being a little slow that evening I started thinking about bullets, reloading equipment, and gun powder. Then I remembered where I was. "Ink" cartridges. I haven't been to Cartridge World http://www.cartridgeworldusa.com/ yet but I've heard that they have reloaded ink and toner cartridges. I wonder if they have reloading equipment?
This night we had six unstoppable f-stoppers with questions, stories, and photos to share.
Deborah started it off by showing some prints of her tabletop work with uranium glass as the subject. Uranium glass, often referred to as Depression Glass or sometimes Vaseline Glass, uses a form of uranium to enhance its looks. It's usually green but may be yellow and seems to have an inner glow. If fact, under black light, it does glow which is probably where the movies got the idea of showing uranium as a glowing green blob. Anyway, I have three pieces but have only found the bowl so far. Deborah placed it in a light tent, on a piece of glass, on black construction paper with a hole in it to let the black light come up from underneath. She also experimented with black light from sources above as well as other types of lights to get some interesting images.
There's an old story about a statistician who put one hand in cold water and the other in hot water and said "On the average it's just about right." Last week we had two participants and this week we had 17, by my count. This means our average for the two weeks was 8.5, just about right. ;-)
Summer must be getting to people because it was only Bill and me this time.
Bill has an older, simple Pentax film camera he bought for Lee Bergthold's class at the college a few years ago. Because of the demands of his work he was never able to complete the class but still wants to get into photography. Of course, time has marched on and digital is now replacing film. I suggested that he try to find a "donor" digital camera that he can use until he figures out what he wants to buy. He plans to go to the LPA swap meet in August and see what he can find there.
On July 24 we had lucky number seven again. This was the first time for Donna and Phil had joined us.
Deborah and I brought in two homemade light tents (or light boxes), one made from old window screens and one from PVC pipes. Both were relatively easy to build, fold up small, and serve the purpose well.
