A Notch Above Photography Club
Minutes

December 8th 2018

Tim called the meeting to order at 1:05 PM Present: Bill H, Bob T, Karina S, Tim & Mary W, John F, guest speaker Kris Dobbins and his wife Betty We viewed a slide show of photo contest entries for Nov-Dec, and Tim passed out a ballot. Upcoming events: Karina has organized our Holiday Dinner and reserved a table for us at Colatina Exit in Bradford. Six people are attending. Tim thanked Karina for her efforts. The library will display our monthly and annual photo contest winners from Jan to Feb. Tim will print 8×10’s for the display. The cost will be $5 per photo, which the members voted to have the club reimburse. Prints will be given to the owner after the display. Treasurer’s Report: Bob reported a balance of $250.12 in our account. Bob introduced our guest speaker. Kris Dobbins is a professional photographer and specializes in wedding photography. Kris gave an interesting presentation and showed a video of his portfolio, emphasizing composition and capturing the emotion of the moment. Kris believes getting to know the wedding party beforehand is important in order to personalize his photographs, and his portfolio reflects this. He discussed proper composition, briefly demonstrated his equipment, and mentioned a phone app called “Light Trac” which is useful to predict the lighting at a specific location. Members asked a number of questions and everyone enjoyed the presentation. Kris may return at a future time to talk about “Seeing Creatively”. Tim gave Kris a gift certificate on behalf of the club as a token of our appreciation. Members voted on the Nov-Dec contest photos. The winner was Mary’s photo, entitled “Tango at Christmas”. We then voted on the Annual Winners. Bill’s “Foggy Sunrise” took 3rd place, 2nd place was shared by Mary’s “Patriotic Pups” and Tim’s “Windmills at Zaanse Schans”, and 1st place went to Tim’s “Canadian Rockies”. Appropriate ribbons will appear on the library display, and Tim received a gift certificate. Tim discussed his upcoming surgery, most likely in January. He will be recuperating for at least 4 to 6 weeks afterwards, and will miss at least the January meeting. Scott has decided to withdraw from the club for now, although he has agreed to maintain the website on a trial basis. Tim explained Scott’s frustration with members’ failure to respond promptly (or at all) to emails and requests for RSVP’s and with the underutilization of the website, for which Scott has contributed significant time and effort and incurred significant expense. Tim told the members we have all been guilty of these things at one time or another and need to be more involved and responsive. Members took this to heart and agreed to do better. Everyone said these omissions have nothing to do with Scott personally. Tim explained that he will maintain our Meetup site, but needs someone to step in during his post-op recovery and also later, as he can’t do this alone. Bob T volunteered to be our new co-organizer with responsibility for planning meetings and arranging speakers (members and/or guests). Next we discussed future meetings (format and topics). John suggested a lighting workshop as one possibility. Karina asked for more “hands-on” experience. Another suggestion was a workshop on depth of field. Bob will consider these suggestions and offer an agenda in a week or so. The topic for this month’s photo contest is “Photos with Composition Elements” (lines, shapes, textures, patterns, form, symmetry, rule of thirds, etc.). The meeting ended shortly before 3:30 and six people adjourned to Colatina Exit for a great dinner and fellowship.