HCC NEWSLETTER, FEBRUARY 2026

President's Message by Dawn Dingee

We had a highly successful Noble Horizons Show opening this past month. We had almost 50 photos with 16 members participating. Thank you to all who participated and attending the opening. The show runs through February 14 th . Pick-up details will be sent out as we get closer to the closing date. We have two more salon shows coming up in March and April. Stay tuned for details.
Voting ends January 30 th for the PSA competitions. It was nice to see many members provided comments on the photos. Providing constructive, thoughtful critiques will help our members grow their skills and confidence while feeling supported rather than discouraged. Helpful comments point out what’s working well and offer specific, respectful suggestions for improvement, turning each photo into a learning opportunity. When feedback is kind, clear, and actionable, it builds a culture of trust and creativity where everyone feels motivated to keep experimenting and improving. Let’s keep it up.
The HCC Committee had a very productive meeting last month. We had a very lively discussion with many ideas about presentations, field trips, and publicity for the club. We have some things scheduled for this summer such as the Sharon Fair. And we are already planning for next season.
Hopefully you’ve had time to clear out the snow. Looks like we will have another storm to start February. Thankfully, our February 17 th meeting will be via Zoom. The topic is Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice by Bert Sirkin. Lazlo will send out details for joining the meeting as we get closer.
Until then, happy shooting! Stay Safe!

Dawn

More pictures from Miguel de Allende, by Lloyd Baroody

Winter Minimalism by Jack Kearney

PSA and NECCC winning images

Noble show opening reception by Lazlo Gyorsok

Here are a few pictures from our very successful show opening at Noble Horizons on January 16th. The evening was filled with great energy, wonderful conversations, and an enthusiastic response to the work on display. We’re grateful to everyone who came out to support the show and helped make the opening such a memorable and uplifting experience.

PSA Is More than Just Competitions by Andres Valdespino

As Club members we are all familiar with the PSA through their numerous competitions during the year. But I have discovered that PSA membership offers many additional resources for photographers. Despite the name, the PSA is an international organization with members in over 80 countries. It is divided into six Divisions – Pictorial Image, Nature, Photojournalism, Travel Photo, Photo Print, and 3D. Each of the first four, Pictorial Image, Nature, Travel Photo and Photojournalism have digital discussion groups. In each group, typically composed of no more than five or six people, members of the group submit a photograph each month for critique by the other members.
The Pictorial Image Division has the most groups, currently 99. Most of the groups are “General Photography” but there are also groups which focus on birds, landscapes, cityscapes, monochrome, creative and fine arts. Understandably, because of their more specific parameters, there are far fewer groups in the other divisions. Members can join any discussion group, in any Division, simply by making a request to the group administrator. I belong to a General Photography group. The comments and suggestions I receive each month have been extremely helpful. Learning to critique others has also been a valuable learning experience.
The PSA Education site is also helpful. The section has both recorded webinars and online courses. The subjects of the webinars encompass every aspect of photography, including software, techniques, and instruction on evaluation and judging. The online courses are fewer in number but entail actual personal instruction. I always felt intimidated and confused by the many features of Photoshop. So I took a course on Photoshop. I was assigned an instructor, who happened to be in Singapore. The class was broken down into six sessions. For each, he would e-mail me a packet of written instructions about certain features of Photoshop, sample photos, and an assignment, which was usually to produce photos using the techniques and tools covered in the session. In addition, I would have to provide a narrative of the workflow used to create the photo and a screenshot of the Photoshop Levels panel for the photo. If he felt I had successfully grasped the features, he would send me the next package. I am comfortable now with Photoshop and use it extensively in post-processing. Other courses offered in a similar format are Street Photography, Portrait Photography, and a course on creating competition worthy photos.
Membership in PSA is currently $45 a year. Any photographer looking for an outlet to improve their work will find many opportunities with a PSA membership.