Eastern Maine Camera Club

I'm down in Portland at the PSA Conference.  Last night I saw the digital images that were awarded some recognition, and about half of the images that were submitted, judged, and considered suitable for "Acceptable for Competition" from which the images that received recognition were drawn.  2800 images were submitted from makers in 17 countries, and a little less than 700 were accepted.  I can say I did see some brilliantly done work.  The overwhelming majority of the images were well processed but not manipulated to any obvious degree. 

The upshot of the presentation to me is: we do work comparable to all but the prize winning images in the "Open" category.  Even then, we have work that is very close in quality and presentation.  We need a lot of work in the "Nature" category. 

The Nature images were quite spectacular.  Only about 10% of them were from 'exotic' locales (Africa, the Antartic, etc).  Many looked to be shot locally to the makers.  There were submitters from Breat Britain, Germany,The Netherlands, Australia. So to us that's pretty exotic, however the subjects were owls, raptors, and mammels similar to what we can see here. Most images appeared to be from North America.  Most of those were song birds, and raptors that we can see in our area.  There were a few dozen macro shots. Many of pretty common subjects including Tent Catepillars, and Dandilions, Maple leaves, mushrooms, and the like.

I think we should feel pretty good about what we do.  We just need to do more of it!

Our opening meeting has been scheduled and a letter has been mailed to all current and prospective members with details. There has been a change in VENUE since the mailing went out.  We have attempted to email everyone that received a letter to let them know of the venue change.  If you need more information about the current venue please contact us using this form on our web site.

Below are some excerpts from the letter:

August 2013 has arrived in a flurry of activity, with burgoning gardens, vacations, and long summer days.  Take a little time over this last month of summer to check out the EMCC website for the schedule of competition topics and get out shooting!

Once again, this year we have some new categories and an exciting year planned.  We will host the NECCC Interclub Digital image competetion.  We have added a black and white digital image category for our monthly competetinos along with the traditional digital and print categories. Speaker nights will be informative with a great slate of talented presenters to teach and inspire us.  Upcoming field trips promise to be fun and educational; all are encouraged to participate.

The Bangor Sate Fair competetion is once again complete.  . . .  Congratulations to all the EMCC members on your beautiful entries and to those who placed "in the ribbons".  Your efforts reflect well on our club.  Thank you everyone for all your efforts in pulling this event together in a new and challenging venue.  

It is time once again to send in your membership dues for the upcoming year.  . . .  Remember, you must be a paid member to participate in Club and NECCC competetions, and to have access to the member's section of our excellent web site. 

Our first cllub meeting of the year will be on Thursday, Sept 5th at 6:00 p.m. . . . Burgers and Hot Dog's will be provided. Please bring a desert or salad to share and your own beverage . . .  Please R.S.V.P using the contact us form for directions and to let us know how many are coming and what you will bring.

Thanks so much for the executive team for all the work you do to make the EMCC fun and dynamic and to all the members for your ongoing participation in our great club!

Jeanne Caron

Eastern Maine Camera Club President

On Saturday May 22nd, twenty-two camera club members and friends met at the Penobscot Marine Museum (PMM) for a special group tour arranged by Wayne Hamilton.  While I was prepared for a fun day looking at local artifacts I was totally surprised to learn about the extensive work being done with various collections of photographs. 

The museums web site describes their efforts very well;

"PMM has one of the largest archives of historical photographs in Maine, with more than 100,000 negatives, prints, slides, postcards and daguerreotypes available for research, reproduction and licensing. Revealing many aspects of life from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, the collections range from the vast archives of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company and the works of individual professional photographers to intimate family albums. Each collection has a connection with the Penobscot Bay region, either through the photographer, the publisher, or the subject matter. Along with images of Searsport and elsewhere in Maine and New England are photographs of distant lands; boats, ships and waterfronts; cities, towns and countryside; fashion, furnishings, industry, architecture and people."

Our tour started with a presentation by Kevin Johnson, Photo Archivist for PMM. Kevin's slideshow featured historical images from all accross the state and his narative gave us a great appreciation for the significance of PMM's collection.  Armed with a new respect for the collection our day continued with a tour of the entire campus. 

PMM's campus consists of over a dozen buildings.  Prints from their photo collection can be found sprinkled throughout the various buldings, which also include one of New England’s largest displays of classic small craft, with more than 50 boats on view in several buildings .  My personal favorite was a birch bark canoe. 

We finished up our day with a great lunch at the Brick House resturaunt, just accross the street from the museum.  They did an awesome job serving our large group, and I can say for sure the curry chicken sandwich is GREAT!

So, the moral of this story is; if you want to have some extrodinary fun and learn something about our area at the same time, you don't need to go any further then 5 Church Street, Searsport Maine. Tell them the camera club sent you.  Happy Shooting!

Related Links:

• The Penobscot Marine Museum
• The Brick House

Photo by club member Joel Holcomb

Here's the results of the category voting that was announced at the awards banquet.  Next years categories in no specific order will be:

• Open (twice)
• Nature
• Animals
• People
• Reflections
• HDR

We will update the schedule with specific dates after this season concludes, and we will also elaborate on the definitions for each of these categories.  There was some discussion regarding HDR definitions at the awards banquet, so we'll make sure to continue those discussions prior to carving the HDR definition in stone.

Happy Shooting!

A quick reminder that Thursday May 16 is our Annual Awards Banquet at the City Side restaurant in Brewer at 6:00 PM.  The address is 393 N Main St, Brewer, ME 04412. 

John Foster will be our guest speaker.  He will be discussing printing in the digital age. 

We will also be revealing next years categories, reviewing last years winning images and of course, presenting awards. 

If you haven't already voted for next years categories it's not to late.  You can find the survey here:

http://easternmainecameraclub.org/category-survey.aspx

We've added a survey to our member area with questions regarding some possible changes to our monthly competitions for next season.  Members, please take a few minutes to complete the survey to be sure your opinions are heard.  There are only three questions and a place to add your own ideas or comments.  Here's a link to the survey (members only as you will need to log in): http://easternmainecameraclub.org/contest-survey.aspx

If you prefer not to answer online you can contact any of our Executive members to answer the questions.

If you aren't a member and would like more information about our monthly contests send us a note using our Contact Us form:  http://easternmainecameraclub.org/contact-us.aspx

Here's the information from our web site Event Calendar, please note the special date and time:

December 13 – 6:00 PM – Holiday Party – Mary Hartt will provide lasagna. Please bring salads, deserts, and your favorite non-alcoholic beverage. The theme for our party this year will be "Show and Tell." Have a photography tip or technique you would like to share? Or how about some photos that you are particularly proud of, and would like to talk about "how you did it?" Depending on the number of people who want to participate in this, you will have up to five (5) minutes to present something to the club after the dinner. You can bring digital images or prints to show as part of your presentation.

Please email Don or Jeanne if you are panning to bring something, so they can co-ordinate that. You can use the contact form to get in touch with them, or email them directly if you know their addresses.

Click Here For Contact Officers Form 

August 2012

To: Eastern Maine Camera Club current and prospective Members

From: Jeanne Caron EMCC President

Hello Everyone! Here we are into August again. What a busy summer. I hope everyone has taken time to get some shooting in. We have some fun new categories this year……..stretch those comfort zones! Check the great EMCC website for the schedules and specifics.

It should be an exciting and educational year with great speakers as always, field trips and classes, and the new Creative Nights concept, with a variety of topics to build our skills.  We will also host the NECCC Interclub Print Competition for the first time in many years. More information will follow on this exciting addition to our schedule.

Congratulations to all the club member entrants into the Bangor State Fair competition. The club had a very respectable showing, with many members winning ribbons. Thanks to all of you who gave of your time and effort to make this event happen.

Club dues are now due! Please take the time to fill out and send the attached membership application form with a check to our club treasurer, preferably before our first meeting.

Our first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 6^th at 6:00 p.m. We will have a gathering and cookout. Burgers and hotdogs will be provided. Please bring a salad and/or dessert, a chair, and your own drinks. Please RSVP with what you will bring using the contact form on our website. Watch for an email update with directions.

I look forward to the 2012-13 season and my second term as club president. Thank you for your confidence. Thanks to the great executive committee members for all the work they do.

See you in September,

Jeanne Caron

EMCC President

It's time to pay our dues!  If you would like to mail your dues now this form will give you all the information you need - Annual Membership Form.

In order to enter competitions new members will need to pay their dues by our first meeting on September 6th.  Larry will be available at that meeting to collect dues, or you can mail a check in advance using the form above.

Existing members will need to pay before the first competition on September 20th in order to be eligible. 

Shortly after September 20th we will be synchronizing the web site and Facebook group with our current paid member list.  Member access will be disabled for those that have not paid. 

If you have any questions you can use this form to contact the Camera Clubs Officers. 

Those of you that attended the first meeting may remember me talking about the possibility that our Facebook group was scheduled to be archived and that we hadn't been given the option to upgrade it, which was necessary to avoid losing our membership list.

Good news. Shortly after the meeting the button to allow us to upgrade appeared, so I did that and our group was updated without losing our members. So everything that I said about our Facebook Group in the last meeting…well…never mind. We're good to go.

Here's a link to our Facebook Group (members only): 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/105932616322/