From the Newsletter Editor 2010 2011 and 2011 2012 Board ... · From Your President What a year!...

From the Newsletter Editor

Many of you may not realize how far our club

has come in three short years. At the end of

our 2007 – 2008 season, our club had roughly

5 to 10 members. With hard work and

dedication from past boards, our current

board, as well as numerous committee

members throughout the years, we ended our

2010-2011 season with 153 members! We

have grown to be the largest club within

CACCA and offer something for everyone.

Being part of the growth over these years, I

am left in awe at what we have accomplished.

And there is still so much more to come! The

programs this upcoming season look to be the

best we’ve had and new ways of earning

awards in our competitions and from the club

will soon be announced. I can only imagine

where we will head next!

I want to thank all of the other board members,

committee chairs and members for all of their

hard work this season.

I also want to thank Alex Molozaiy for his

continuing to allow our club to meet at the

church.

And lastly, all of you members! Without you

we wouldn’t be here.

What an another amazing year!

Margie Hurwich

2010 – 2011 and

2011 – 2012 Board Members

President

Ron Meyers

President Elect

John Williams

Secretary and Vice President,

Communications

Margie Hurwich

Vice President, External

Operations

Jim Ross

Vice President, Internal

Operations

Bill Sullivan

© Lake County Camera Club. The contents of “Exposures” are copyrighted. No material may be reproduced in any

manner without the written permission of the Newsletter Editor or the material’s specific contributor.

The Lake County Camera Club is a proud member of the

Photographic Society of America and the Chicago Area Camera Clubs Association.

Year End Awards

Large Color Photo of the Year and

Image of the Year

“On A Beautiful Day” by Margie Hurwich

Congratulations to Margie!

© Paul Kurek

Exposures, Year End Special Edition 2010 - 2011

© Margie Hurwich

Small Monochrome

Photo of the Year

“Ol’ Doc” by Linda Kruzic

Large Monochrome

Photo of the Year

“Jim” by Quintin McGrath

Small Color

Photo of the Year

“The Geisha” by Allen Weintraub

Digitally Projected

Image of the Year

“Good to the Last Drop” by Mike Trahan


© Linda Kruzic© Allen Weintraub

© Quintin McGrath

© Mike Trahan

Photographer of the Year

Congratulations to Bob Kruzic for earning the

“2010-2011 Photographer of the Year

Award”! The Photographer of the Year

Award is awarded based on Awards,

Honorable Mentions and Photos of the

Month earned throughout the season. Not

only did Bob have the most accolades, but

he also had the highest average points in our

club this season.

Bob joined the Lake County Camera Club

with his wife Linda in August, 2009, and from

that point on, he showed us some amazing

photographs month after month

We congratulate Bob on his photographic

accomplishments!


© Paul Kurek

Most Parcipation Award

Jim RossAn award given to the member who participates the

most throughout LCCC's season by attending club

meetings, Shutter Cafe's, photo excursions and

CACCA competitions.

Ambassador Award

Margie HurwichAn award given to an individual who brings value to

LCCC by best promoting the club as an

ambassador for new members, presenters and

activities.

Contribution Award

Don ChenAn award given to an individual who has added

value to LCCC based on a single significant

contribution.

Distinguished Service Award

Margie HurwichAn award given to an individual for outstanding

contributions and overall service to LCCC. It honors

the dedicated service to the club in furthering interests

in photography, the club, CACCA and/or PSA.

Will Fletcher Award

Jim RossAn award given to an individual who best exemplifies

the spirit and efforts of Will Fletcher in mentoring or

teaching members of LCCC.

Congratulations to Jim, Margie and Don!

Exposures, Year End Special Edition 2010 - 2011 Page 3

© Paul Kurek

© Paul Kurek

© Paul Kurek

© Paul Kurek

© Paul Kurek

From Your President

What a year! 2010-2011

goes into the books as

yet another successful

and exciting year for the

Lake County Camera

Club.

Over the past year the

Lake County Camera Club (LCCC) has

seen tremendous growth in club

membership, individual photographer

skills and engaging activities. In just three

short years the Lake County Camera Club

has grown from a small club into the

largest in CACCA (Chicagoland area’s

umbrella organization).

At last count LCCC membership was at

153 members (a new record!). This

growth is driven by the hard work and

participation of club members in the

planning and execution of programs,

outings, assignments, and competitions

that provide LCCC members with a quality

experience as a camera club.

As a learning club we've seen substantial

growth in club member photography skills.

This is evident in both the quantity and

quality of member images submitted for

competition. In club competition alone

(not including individual competition) the

number of images submitted increased

22% over last year (from 394 to 482

images). The number of corresponding

CACCA Awards and HM's showed a 91%

increase over last year (from 22 Awards and

HM's to 42). With increased member skills

and the infusion of new member talent, our

2011-2012 competition year (which starts

October 2011) promises to be very exciting

competition year.

With a large club the challenge is to keep

members engaged with activities and events

that offer something for all members

regardless of their photography style or skill

level. To that end, the number of

participating members attending program

nights, excursions and outings this past year

has been very exciting. It is not unusual to

count 70-80 club members at a competition

or program night. Likewise, participation at

excursions and outings has typically

averaged 20 people or more.

Information and feedback from our recent

member survey is being used to help us plan

the 2011-2012 club year. The Board and

Committee members are currently in the

midst of planning the new

programs/speakers, challenging outings and

improvements to competitions.

I'm confident that 2011-2012 will be another

great year for LCCC.

Ron Meyers



A Year at a GlanceOur club timeline…another amazing

year!

September, 2010

The new season begins and the new

Board is thrilled to see 71 members in

attendance at our first meeting! Todd

Gustafson presents an awe-inspiring

program “Photography Around the World:

Capturing the

Decisive Moment”.

Todd gives the

members an

exciting and

informative night

filled with how to © Paul Kurek

take animal photography, the equipment

he uses and post processing of images.

Priceless!

20 members also head to the Bristol

Renaissance Faire. The day is cool,

jackets are needed for most, but once we

enter the portal gates, we are able to

capture an exciting village celebrating the

arrival of Queen Elizabeth herself! The

costumes, characters and even a joust are

all there for the shooting!

To date, 41 current members have

rejoined and 12 new members joined,

making our current membership 67. We

know more will be paying throughout the

next month just prior to competition, so our

year is starting out with a bang!

Additionally, with the amazing work on our

website done by Don Chen, PSA has

once again awarded LCCC with an

Honorable Mention in their website

competition!

October, 2010

We hold our first competition with 47

members participating and 137 images

displayed. It didn’t take long to know that

the competition this season is fierce! The

room is filled almost to capacity with 74

members and guests in attendance.

Thankfully, the use of a new PA system is a

welcomed addition!

Additionally we hold a second meeting

where Chris Knight shows us how to paint

with light. Chris spent many years perfecting

how to set exposures to actually paint

subjects and objects with strobe and artificial

light in the dark. Almost 40 members are in

attendance and learn how to make Jim Ross

take punches at himself and light a large tree

in the darkest of nights.

© Paul Kurek

However, using live flames via the Ball O

Fire will live in infamy!

The month isn’t done! Besides firemen

modeling, our club is able to shoot up close

and personal the historic fire equipment,

trucks and fire gear of today when 16

members head to the Libertyville Fire Station

for our October photo excursion.

We end the month with 88 members.

November, 2010

Jerry Hug gives a terrific lecture on basic

camera operation. Camera operation, the

importance of composition and depth of field

was also covered. He shows us all the nifty



year! - continued

gadgets he uses and answers

all of our questions. He also

covers advanced techniques

like white balancing cameras,

double exposure and HDR.

We have 62 members in

attendance.

We also head to the © Paul Kurek

Milwaukee Zoo where 22 of our members

attend. This is the largest turn out to date

of members at an excursion!

December, 2010

We hold our second competition with 38

members participating and 109 images

being displayed.

As well, despite the cold and slippery

roads, we head to the beautiful and scenic

Christmas at Kemper and the Gallery of

Lights.

© Jim Ross

Our membership continues to grow and

we end the month with 104 members.

January, 2011

With 69 members and guests

attending, John Williams

teaches us Adobe Lightroom

3. John covers topics such

as organizing images, sorting

DNG conversion, and the

use and operation of the tool

pallet and image correction © Paul Kurek

and enhancement techniques.

And WOW! We have our annual Table Top

and Model Shoot at the church. We have 36

members, 12 models, 3 lighting stations for

models and a table top station. In addition,

Jim Ross leads a beginners table to help

explain the basics of photography. It is

amazing! Many find the day to be a

wonderful learning experience, despite the

last minute change from thinking we didn't

have power to rushing to get the lighting

equipment set up.

We end our month with 114 members, which

is where we ended last season.

February, 2011

The competition season is half over when we

hold our next competition. 23 members

presented 126 images. The competition has

proven to be fierce!

We also hold another program

presented by Bob Benson who

gives us an amazing lecture on

creating special effects in

Photoshop and Adobe Elements.

Some of the amazing effects we

learned was how to make and

add lightning, rain, snow, frost,

fog and reflections to our © Paul Kurek

images.

As was the case with one of our programs

the year before, the weather has gotten in

the way of our plans for a sunrise ice shoot

along the shores of Lake Michigan. We

cancelled the event due to the horrible snow

storm of 2011.

We end our month with 115 members.



year! - continued

March, 2011

We host our most

attend program ever

when Lou Nettlehorst

presents to 78

members and guests!

Lou teaches us how

to take better macro

nature photographs, © Paul Kurek

the equipment he uses and the thought

process he goes through in placing his

subjects within the camera frame. He

provides us a handout of his talk with a

resource page packed with

recommendations for equipment and

preferred vendors.

With this meeting, our membership is

boosted beyond everyone’s expectations

and we end the month with 134 members.

Additionally, when the club heads to the

Chicago Flower Show for our monthly

photo excursion, everyone is thrilled to

have the whole show to themselves

before the crowds came in at 10:00 a.m.!

April, 2011

We have our last competition of the

season with 38 members participating and

110 images displayed. We have a second

meeting of the month when Lukas Mhina,

a guide for East African safaris, is a

featured speaker. Lukas has been a

guide for several companies in East Africa

for the past 15 years, hosting many great

photographers (including National

Geographic Photographers). Lukas

shares some of the interesting facts about

safaris, and discuss the safari experience

in detail.

After these two meetings, we have 143

members.

Lastly, 20 members attend our photo

excursion to The Rookery. Those who didn’t

go missed a great opportunity to shoot some

outstandingly beautiful architecture.

Hopefully the outing gave those who

attended a chance to photograph something

out of their normal comfort zone.

© Jim Ross

May, 2011

We open the floor to any and all members

when we have a program night to allow

members to share techniques and/or tip with

the entire membership. In a no holes barred

night, 73 members and guests benefit as we

have presentations on Photoshop and

Elements techniques as well as

photographic techniques that help make

better images. Grunging, color to B&W

conversion and portrait retouching were but

a few highlights of the evening. We also

have a show and tell from anyone who made

or modified their equipment to take better

images or helped to make their images

easier to take or achieve a unique look. That

same evening, the current board is reelected

to hold their positions for the upcoming

season.

Our club has once again been given a great

opportunity to give back to our community by

photographing the Gardening Together Work

Day with Habitat for Humanity.



year! - continued

Additionally, we put into action everything

we learned from Lou Nettlehorst in March

when we head to Hawthorne Hallow and

Petrifying Springs. 10 members are able

to work directly with Lou this day to get

hands on experience while others practice

on their own.


June, 2011

June offers us all a great opportunity to

learn from Paul Kurek as he presents a

workshop on portrait photography to 60

members and guests. He demonstrates

the equipment used in a studio operation

such as studio strobes, wireless triggering,

use of softboxes and the proper use of

umbrellas and modifiers. He not only

educates us on the 4 basic lighting

patterns like short, broad, butterfly, and

Rembrandt lighting but showed us how to

achieve them on real models live! He also

disclosed the all important “facial analysis

technique” used to select which type of

lighting goes best with which subject to

make every client look their best.

It clearly seems that we love to shoot

models. 20 members took 8 models to

Illinois Beach State Park for a model

shoot. An amazing day!

© Krzysztof Hanusiak


July, 2011

We once again learn some amazing tips on

Photoshop Elements from Bill Brown. Bill

continues to come to our club ready to share

all of his knowledge about Photoshop.

We also head to Old World Wisconsin.

Beautiful weather, a great location to shoot

and 14 members equals a great day of

shooting!

© Jim Ross

August, 2011

An amazing night to end an amazing

year…The Year End Party and Competition!

Over 70 members and guests attend when

we celebrate the successes of our season,

vote for the best of the best in our year end

competition, award our Photographer of the

Year as well as the recipients of our

Specialty Awards.

© Paul Kurek



year! - continued

Almost 100 images compete for the title of

Image of the Year with members and

guests voting on their favorite.

The votes are tallied while members and

guests enjoy some wonderful food,

friendship and photography.

All photos © Paul Kurek

The tallies are in and

the awards are given

for the individual

divisions.

We also have a 50/50 drawing with the

proceeds being donated to Alex Molozaiy

and the Community Protestant Church. A

true appreciation is

given to Alex for

allowing us the use

of the church.

Quintin and Megan

McGrath win $154 in

the 50/50 drawing.

All photos © Paul Kurek

Our club now stands at 153 members strong.

I can’t wait to see what next year has in store

for us!

From the Newsletter Editor 2010 2011 and 2011 2012 Board ... · From Your President What a year!...

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Transcript of From the Newsletter Editor 2010 2011 and 2011 2012 Board ... · From Your President What a year!...