May Meeting

Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 16th. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 8:15: Presentation - "Environmental Portraiture" - Kenny Braun

8:15 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topic: Wildflowers!

Don't forget to send your 2 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, May 14th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com.

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website. Please note: our meeting room is on the first floor. From the main entrance, go straight to the back of the building and turn left.

About our Speaker

Kenny Braun is a Texas photographer that’s equal parts Thoreau and Avedon—an existential outdoorsman and consummate professional who adeptly captures everything from remote places to far away gazes. His curiosity about faces and places is evident in his work, which is so vivid you can’t even imagine a photographer being involved. He’s built a career and reputation as a no nonsense and exceedingly easy to work with pro. Braun is somewhat of an Indiana Jones of photography, shooting in the studio or meeting with art directors one day, then braving the elements on a picturesque escapade the next. Each informs the other and makes him a highly desirable photographer for editorial, commercial, and art photography work. David Wyatt / Wyatt Brand.

He is best known for his environmental portraiture, landscape and editorial photography. He brings a consistent visual identity to a wide range of subject matter by focusing on quality of light, color and mood. His approach is straight-forward and unpretentious with an M.O. that relies on natural light, decisive moments, serendipity and technical precision. He has traveled extensively and has a substantial catalog of images from his native Texas. Being a long-time contributing photographer for Texas Monthly Magazine has provided a steady stream of subject matter from every corner of the state. Music, surfing and photography have been his passions since high-school, each influencing the other. His personal work explores a sense of place and memory by returning to scenes from his childhood. His series on Texas Surfers and the Gulf Coast will be published by the University of Texas Press in 2014.

Among his clients are Texas Monthly Magazine, Women's Health Magazine, Spirit Magazine, Wired Magazine, Texas Highways Magazine, Southern Living Magazine, Pentagram Design, The University of Texas and UT Press.

April Meeting

Our next meeting is on Thursday, April 18th. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 8:15: Presentation - "Flight of the Bumblebee - High-speed Flash Photography" - John & Kendra Abbott

8:15 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topic: Recent Work.

Don't forget to send your 2 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, April 16th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com.

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website.

About our Program

John is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin and Kendra is a Professor at St. Edwards University in Austin. John has focused on dragonflies and damselflies throughout much of his career and has two books on these beautiful subjects that contain much of their photography. Among the many projects John and Kendra are currently working on, they are revising the Peterson Field Guide to Insects of North America. They have had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Latin America, Africa and other parts of the world where they enjoy taking photos of pretty much anything in the natural world. They feel lucky enough to be able to teach and excite students about the amazing biodiversity they have been able to observe through their travels and photography together.

Their talk, Flight of the Bumblebee: The Art of High-speed Flash Photography, will be a peek into the natural world using high-speed flash to capture behaviors and actions that pass to quickly for the human eye to see. We'll talk about the techniques used for this type of photography as well as some of the scientific questions we are using the technique to answer.

Update: March Meeting

There's been a late change to our March program! Our new program is a field trip - "Night Photography: Hands-on" with Andy Heatwole.

Don't worry, though! Carol Serur will present her "Howto - A Smilebox Slideshow" later this year.

The opportunity to hold a night photography field trip was too good to pass up. With the change this weekend to Daylight Savings Time and the days getting longer, we needed to have this program in March. If the weather is bad that day, Andy will present a program on Night Photography at our regular location. Keep your fingers crossed.

Our next meeting is on Thursday, March 21st. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 9:00: Field Trip - "Night Photography: Hands-on" - Andy Heatwole

We will skip the regular portions of our meeting, including the critique session.

 

Meeting Location: San Marcos Courthouse lawn, on the side facing LBJ

About our Program

                                          

You don't want to miss the March meeting! We are fortunate to have Andy Heatwole who will meet us in downtown San Marcos for a hands-on Night Photography workshop. Bring your camera and tripod, and be ready to learn tips from a pro on how to get great night shots. We will move around a few areas in San Marcos to get various kinds of evening images.

 

We will meet on the Courthouse lawn, on the side facing LBJ, at 7:00 pm, and will continue to 9:00 pm. You can park anywhere around the courthouse. Just look for the crowd of folks with cameras and tripods!

Andy is willing to stay another hour for those who would like to continue shooting, possibly moving to the river to get smooth water shots. Andy normally does a 4-hour workshop, charging $40 per person, so this is a great opportunity to learn settings and tips from Andy.

 

Andy Heatwole is a professional architectural photographer and works with clients throughout the US. He was inspired to take up photography over a decade ago when he discovered the possibilities of night photography on the Internet. What started as a hobby became a passionate pursuit and eventually a career. When he's not shooting commercially, he enjoys photographing the landscapes and natural beauty of the Central TX area. For samples of his work, please visit www.bluehourphoto.com.

 

His night photography workshops blend his love for night photography with his enjoyment of teaching it. These workshops serve as an introduction into an area of photography that offers virtually unlimited opportunities for creativity. By demystifying the process, participants gain an understanding of the photographic techniques required for capturing great photos at night. His goal is for each participant to come away some great photos and the skills to continue exploring night photography on their own. All skill levels are welcomed and participants receive personal instruction to meet their specific needs.

 

March Meeting

Our next meeting is on Thursday, March 21st. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 8:15: Presentation - "Howto - A Smilebox Slideshow" - Carol Serur

8:15 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topic: Recent Work.

Don't forget to send your 2 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, March 19th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com. 

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

 

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website.

About our Program

Are you the family or club photographer for special events? Do you like to document your vacations? How do you share the images with others after taking all of these photos?

Carol Serur will demonstrate a quick and EASY method to share your photos in a way people will want to see them again and again, and even share them with others who they just know would want to see them.

How easy? Come to the March 21st meeting and see how simple it is to prepare a fun and interesting slideshow of  your recent special moments.

Carol  has been a member of Hill Country Photography Club for about 6 years, after searching for a club that might help her learn more about photography. She has found the photo club programs, and the sharing of information among the members,  to have been  invaluable in helping her learn photography in the retirement stage of her life. She also served as club co-Vice President for 2011-2012.

Carol has shown her work at Watson Studio Gallery,  A. Smith Gallery, PhotoPlace Gallery, Dark Room Gallery, Blue Lab Gallery,  the Bob Bullock Museum, and Starbucks,  and currently serves as a board member of Texas Photographic Society.

Meeting on February 21, 2013

Our next meeting is on Thursday, February 21st. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 8:15: Presentation - "Flower Photography 101" - Rose Epps

8:15 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topic: Matters of the Heart. Our topic is inspired by Valentine's Day. Be creative!

Don't forget to send your 2 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, February 19th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com. 

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website.

About our Program

Our own Rose Epps will present the program this month! She will share a short slide show of her flower images, and will cover her equipment (including flash), camera settings, tips for shooting outdoors, tips for shooting indoors, post-processing possibilities and examples of before & after. If there's time and interest, she can also show a few processed images and go through them, layer by layer, to quickly show the changes made.

Rose will also have many of the small equipment items that she'll talk about - i.e. right angle finder, extension tubes, ring flash, etc.  She'll also have a couple of small floral canvases and a few of the notecards that she sells.

Her interest in photography began in the early 1990s when she purchased an SLR to replace her broken P&S. She learned she could control the outcome! As she approached retirement from the telecom industry, she took an excellent darkroom class at the local vo-tech school in Oklahoma City. Realizing she could have even more control, she purchased all the darkroom equipment necessary and "played" with various chemicals until late 2005. After purchasing the first Canon 5D (full frame) camera, she never returned to the darkroom. Since that time she's been continually learning to shoot better, through photo workshops (such as RMSP) and better post-processing NAPP workshops. Although she shoots a variety of subjects, esp. landscapes, her favorite subject is flowers.

She belongs to several photo groups in the Austin area and participates in group exhibits. She's also a volunteer Heart Gallery photographer. Last year she won 2nd Place in the Battlefields category with the Civil War Preservation Trust and her image is August in their 2013 calendar. She's also had several images in the HCA calendar over the years.

Meeting on January 17, 2013

Our next meeting is on Thursday, January 17th. Please mark your calendars!

The program this month is club business. We need to elect officers and report on our finances. Members in good standing are eligible to run and vote. "Good standing" mainly means you've paid your annual dues.

The current slate of officers is:

• President - Art Arizpe
• Vice President - Tom Delaney
• Secretary - Carolyn Whiteside
• Treasurer - Winifred Simon

We will also take nominations from the floor. If you are interested in running for one of these positions, please let me know. Many thanks for your active participation and support!

Carol Serur has served for 2 years as co-Vice President, along with Tom Delaney. She is not running this year. Many thanks to Carol for all the hard work she has done for us!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 7:45: Club Business

• Officer Elections
• Finances
• Planning

7:45 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topics: Recent Work & Before & After.

Due to the extra critique time available, let's do a combo critique theme this time. You can submit up to 4 images in either or both categories. As usual, the Before & After ones are in pairs. For example you could submit 2 recent work and 2 pairs of before and after.

Don't forget to send your 4 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, January 15th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com. 

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

 

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website.

Meeting on November 15, 2012

Our next meeting is on Thursday, November 15th. Please mark your calendars!

7:00 - 7:15: Introduction of New Members/Guests, Announcements, Member News

7:15 - 8:15: Presentation - "Wildlife Photography" - Greg Lasley

8:15 - 9:00: Image Reviews - Topic: Motion Blur.Don't forget to send your 2 review images (jpg 800 pixels wide) by Tuesday, November 13th via email to: hcphotoclub@gmail.com. 

Reminder about our image review process:

When we display your image we'll ask you to select one of these reviews:

1. Critique - You have specific questions you'd like to ask about your image and you want feedback from the other photographers at the meeting. Come prepared with your questions.
2. Show and Tell - You'd simply like to share information about this image with us such as technique or location.

More about our image review process here:

http://hillcountryphotographyclub.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-image-review-process.html

 

Meeting Location: Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) in San Marcos. Map and directions available on our club website.

 

About our Program

Greg first pointed a camera at a bird in 1971, a Horned Lark at Great Salt Lake, Utah, while he was in the U.S. Air Force.  By 1976, as a novice, but enthusiastic bird-watcher, he became interested in documenting appearances of rare birds by photographing and tape-recording them.  From the late 1970s until the late 1980s, most of Greg's wildlife photography focused on documenting rarities and obtaining slides of birds to illustrate his lectures for Audubon Societies or other nature-oriented groups.

In 1983, Chuck Sexton and Greg took over the editorship of the Texas Region for American Birds, later known as Field Notes, and now known as North American Birds, a publication of the American Birding Association. Greg continued to be the Texas co-editor of that publication through the year 2000 and was the Secretary of the Texas Bird Records Committee of the Texas Ornithological Society from 1986 until 2000. Greg also served on the Bird Records Committee of the American Birding Association for two terms, ending in 2005. In these various capacities he became more involved with rarity records in Texas and the rest of North America. In 1988, Greg took some photos of the Golden-cheeked Warbler, an endangered species which nests only in Texas. One of these photos was published on the cover of a birding guide-book, which led to other requests to publish Greg's bird photos. In the next several years many of Greg's photos were published in Texas Highways Magazine, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, America Birds, Wildlife Conservation, and a few of other publications. After these initial publication successes, Greg became more serious about his photography. Over the next few years he continually upgraded his camera equipment, developed the skills necessary to become a good wildlife photographer, and traveled the state of Texas and much of the United States photographing birds. Through the 1990s, hundreds of his photos found their way into various publications.

In 2000, Greg, along with Larry Ditto of McAllen, Texas, a fellow photographer and friend, entered the Valley Land Fund Wildlife Photo Contest as partners. The contest was a six-month-long wildlife photo competition in far south Texas.  Participants included more than 100 other accomplished photographers from around the country. Greg and Larry spent long hours on a single piece of land, working to capture wildlife images in 50 different categories. This contest forced Greg out of his "photographic comfort zone" of birds and into the world of spiders, dragonflies, mammals, and other types of wildlife. Greg and Larry won first place in this prestigious contest in 2000 and finished third in 2002. Since then Greg has continued to branch out with his photography, finding new subjects at which to aim a lens. Dragonflies and damselflies have been a favorite subject for him in recent years, however birds are still a prime focus as well. Butterflies, mammals, and other wildlife are photographed as well. Greg's photo credits now exceed 2000 published images in more than 100 different books and magazines.

Greg spent 25 years in law enforcement, retiring from the Austin Police Department in 1997 as a lieutenant. From 1997 through early 2005 he divided his time between photographing wildlife and leading bird-watching trips over much of the western hemisphere for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. He had also led trips for VENT part-time from 1985 to 1997. In March, 2005, Greg decided to take a sabbatical from regular tour leading and now concentrates on photography and other wildlife pursuits. He still leads occasional trips for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT). His photos appear regularly in a variety of nature and wildlife-oriented books and magazines. He and his wife, Cheryl Johnson, reside in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Greg also served as juror for the 5th Annual Naturescapes Photography Contest and Exhibition in 2009.

http://www.greglasley.net/index.html