General Meeting & Piute Ponds Presentation: August 18th, 2015
Contributed by:  Sue Craft

A crowd of 57+ people from LPA, Audubon Society and Friends of Piute attended an information packed presentation from Wanda Deal on our local preserve…Piute Ponds. Wanda has been the manager of the preserve for many years and her passion for the conservation work that has been done was inspiring. Her working partner, Mark Hagan was also in attendance answering questions about this eco system that has been carefully developed over the years.

Wanda reviewed the history of this local treasure that many of us have yet to discover. She also displayed images of the wildlife that inhabit the Piute Ponds. Many audience members were surprised at the diversity of the wildlife there.

More information on Piute Ponds and how to gain access to the area can be found at piuteponds.com .

In addition to Wanda’s presentation, a bird photography tip sheet by Sue Liberto was distributed.

Membership - See Kurtiss or Bill to join LPA.  July 1 started a new LPA Year.  Please fill out a new “Member Application” for dues renewal.  Update your information and sign a new Release of Liability form that will be valid for as long as you are an LPA member (instead of one year).

Douglas Wade thanked the Audit Committee, Ramon Rosario (absent) and Sarah Osenga.  Wayne Staley presented them with Membership Recognition mugs.  

Upcoming Events/Announcements

Programs/Workshops - Rock Myers

• August 25th - Photo Sharing - 10 images (Website or Flash Drive)
• September 15th - Introduction to Photography pt 1
• September 22nd - Introduction to Photography pt 2
• October 27th – “Under the Night Sky” – Pete Scifries
• November 17th - Rob Sheppard

Competitions – Bonnie Matthews-Franke

• October 20th – Open – Judge – TBA
• January 19th, 2016 - Creative – Judge – TBA
• March 15th, 2016 – Step into the Past - Judge - TBA
• May 17th, 2016 - Flowers, Judge – TBA
• LPA website “Competition Rules” have been update with “Entry Agreement”

Field Trips – Christine Wilkins

• September 19th – Street Architectural Photography, Los Angeles – Douglas Wade
• October 17th – Ghost Walk at Ft. Tejon – Need Leader
• November 8^th or December 6^th – Date TBD - Mentryville & Rancho Camulos Festival – Chris Wilkins
• February 5th and 6th, 2016 – Lewis Kemper Photography Field Trip, Organized by Don Goeschl. Photograph nature/wildlife along the Sacramento River. Details on website.
• February, 2016 – Date TBD – Calico Ghost Town – Douglas Wade
• April, 2016 – Date TBD – Cactus/Flower Macro Photography – Diane Cable

PSA Report - Nan Carder

• See PSA report on LPA website

Friday Night Discussion Group – Glenn Olson

• 2nd & 4th Friday of month (August 28^th & Sept 11th) -Denny’s 2005 West Ave K @6:30pm

Sunday Breakfast - Dale Ware

• Sunday September 20th, 7:30am Patty’s Cafe, 43943 Sierra Hwy, #A Lancaster

Library – Ron Yagi

• Books and videos available for checkout

Newsletter - Douglas Wade

• August 24th - deadline for August newsletter

AV Fair - Douglas Wade

• Sue Craft - Congratulations to Douglas Wade for 2015 AV Fair Volunteer of the Year!
• Tickets for hours already volunteered and for monitors -  back table - see Sue Craft
• If not here to pick up tickets or handicapped parking needed, contact Sue
• Volunteer Signups on the back table (see scroll) - monitors still needed
• Help needed for Pick Up Day - Monday August 31st (hours volunteered go towards 2016 AVF Volunteer hours for passes).
• Thank you to all those who helped for 2015!!!

Announcements – Douglas Wade

• Membership Chair Needed
• Webmaster Needed
• LPA Board Meetings moving to 2nd Thursday of month in Senior Center Library 
• LPA Name Tags w/new logo order form on Website -$7.50 including tax - forms on back table, or download on LPA website

Meeting Adjourned

 

General Meeting & Action Competition: July 21, 2015
 

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 44 members to our General Meeting and Competition night featuring “Action” as the theme, and Ross Way as the judge.

Ross Way is an event photographer with AV Media who specializes in sports and action photography. Mr. Way has a background in graphic arts and illustration, and after receiving his Associates Degree at Antelope Valley College, he attended the Art institute of Southern California in Laguna Beach, CA. He covers a variety of local sporting events and is currently the team photographer for the Lancaster JetHawks, the Advanced Class A Affiliate of the Houston Astros.

We had a total of 74 digital entries and 10 prints.  For print entries, we had 10 Masters.  For digital entries, we had 8 Novice, 19 Amateur, 24 Advanced, and 23 Master.  Congratulations to all the winners!  The 2014-2014 End of Year Trophy Awards were presented.

Membership - See Kurtiss or Bill to join LPA.  July 1 started a new LPA Year.  Please fill out a new “Member Application” for dues renewal.  Update your information and sign a new Release of Liability form that will be valid for as long as you are an LPA member (instead of one year).

 

 

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 44 members to our General Meeting and special “End of Year” Competition.  Also included in the evening’s agenda were the PSA Youth Showcase photos, Member, Board member & Chairperson Recognitions, Installation of Officers, and taking a LPA group photo at the park.

See images in the Gallery.

The 1st place digital winners and print EA winners (plus HM’s from July/Oct) competed for the 2014-2015 End of Year – Members Choice Awards.  The votes were tallied and a run off was needed for Master Digital and Intermediate Print.  View all of the entries and winners on the LPA website.        

While waiting for the results, Nan Carder shared a presentation about the PSA Youth Showcase program and photos submitted by our local high school photography students

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 42 members to our General Meeting and Competition night featuring “Portraits” as the theme, and Dee Hunter as the judge.

Dee Hunter is the owner & photographer of Hunter Photography, located in Antelope Valley, CA.  She specializes in children and pets, but also shoots everything from aircraft to weddings. Dee’s favorite thing to do is to create unique and custom works of art that her clients will display and treasure in their homes and offices for many years.  Dee has been doing award winning photography since 1977.  Dee enjoys entering her work in the Antelope Valley Fair every year, where she has won numerous awards including Best of Show 4 times.

We had a total of 51 digital entries and 7 prints. For print entries, we had 7 Masters. For digital entries, we had 24 Novice, 0 Amateur, 18 Advanced, and 9 Master. Congratulations to all the winners!

Vote on Slate of Officers for 2015-2016 – Dale Ware presented slate: President - Douglas Wade, Vice President - Rock Myers, Secretary - Sue Craft, Treasurer - Bill Liberto, Voting Board Member - Bonnie Matthews, Voting Board Member - Michael Tanner, Past President - David Wilkins. A motion of acclamation was made by Dale Ware “to accept slate of officers and vote by a show of hands”, 2nd by Sue Craft, vote, 38 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstain. All voted in.

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 52 members and guests to our General Meeting and presentation by LPA member Holly Peskin, on “Action Photography & Back Button Focus”.

A bit about Holly… ten years ago, she bought a Canon Rebel entry level digital camera. She said she’s always had a good eye for composition, her only saving grace!  It wasn't until she went to the AV Fair in 2011 and walked through the photography exhibit and the President at the time handed her an LPA flyer, and encouraged her to join. She joined LPA, and it literally catapulted her enthusiasm, her desire to learn how to get her camera off of automatic, and finally learn how to really work her camera!  By self-teaching, and getting better at it, she developed a great hobby, and a true passion for photography! She is more technically savvy now, and interested in learning most types of photography in order be well rounded. In the vast sea of photographers these days, she is trying to find and create her own style now, and says that is a challenge in itself!

After joining the LPA in 2011, she quickly progressed to LPA Master Photographer. She has learned so much from being part of LPA and her fellow photographers and she wanted to “give back” and created a presentation for the LPA, to be followed by a field trip, where one can practice their newly learned skills.

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 50 members and guests to our General Meeting and Competition Night with “Nature” as the theme and Lin Craft as judge.

Marine biologist and world traveler, Lin Craft, from Fallbrook, CA has won numerous awards for her photography and her images have appeared in various publications including books, brochures and calendars. Lin has had several exhibitions of her work and sells fine art prints and cards in local art venues. She regularly judges for local camera clubs and for International Photography Exhibitions. Lin is president of the Fallbrook Camera Club and a past president and Fellow of the Southern California Association of Camera Clubs. She has held numerous positions in PSA and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Nature Division. Lin received her APSA in 2000. She is multi-starred in Exhibition Competition in Color, Nature and Travel.

We had a total of 82 entries.  For digital entries, we had 33 Novice, 2 Amateur, 16 Advanced, and 24 Masters.  For print entries, we had 0 Novice/Amateur and 7 Advanced/Master.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 53 people to our General Meeting and “Nature” Critique Night.

LPA Master Photographers (also grads of the PSA Image Analysis course) Nan Carder, Tina Crowe and Sue Liberto offered critiques on 55 images submitted by 19 different photographers.  Subjective opinions were offered on how the images could be improved and how well the image fit with the LPA “Nature” definition, especially the “story telling” value.  Entrants were encouraged to read the competition definitions and a handout was provided.

The movie trailer for Finding Vivian Maier was shown.  It’s a documentary about a mysterious nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that were hidden in storage lockers and discovered decades later, and is now among the 20th centuries greatest photographers.  A show of hands was taken to see how many might be interested in viewing as an LPA event.

Kathy Newman, Best of Division Winner for Amateur Digital Creative, demonstrated how her image was created using Photoshop.  She gave a demo on layers, masks, clipping masks, and brushes.  Check out the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkcS8YayxHA to see the process she used.

Douglas Wade, our President, welcomed 44 members and 2 guests to our General Meeting and Competition Night with “Photojournalism” as the theme and Stuart Lynn as judge.

Stuart Lynn is 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 APSA honors from PSA, along with his HonS4C and DFS4C honors by S4C for his work in supporting S4C’s activities and for his photographic achievements. 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 chaired or co-chaired several international photographic competitions recognized by the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

He was an early adopter of digital photography and combined 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.