Noble Horizons

~~Salisbury, Connecticut~~

~~This Evening’s Program~~

NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

7:00 PM Sharp

The Life Long Learning Center

(Wagner Building on the Left)

Noble Horizons

Salisbury, Connecticut

This Evening’s Program

"A Secret Garden"

Hosted by Brian Wilcox

Late one afternoon last July, members of our club were honored to be invited to visit and photograph the truly lovely and extensive gardens at the home of Mike and Katie Gannett of West Cornwall. This is one of those best kept secrets sort of places and we thank the Gannet's for their kind hospitality. Tonight we will be treated to a tour of the gardens through the lenses of those members who attended. ð

Presidents Corner

I wish to welcome everyone to our first meeting for the 2004-2005 season. We meet the third Tuesday of every month from now till May at the Center for Lifelong Learning at Noble Horizons at 7 P.M. except for some dinner meetings which will be announced.

Being your new President will be a difficult task for me after the years of our wonderful President Bill DeVoti. I do not plan on trying to keep up with him especially in jokes! We have just put together a great program for you for this year. All the old favorites will be back but we have added two new lecturers, one is Tom Zetterstrom, a super photographer, and the other is Barbara Winters who works in restoration on PhotoShop and is nothing short of a miracle worker. She will be showing you how to meld [stitch] 2 pictures together for a panorama.

I have decided to go totally digital and will go to George Lepp's Institute for a week of concentrated work on the computer with Adobe PhotoShop. I will report to you about how that was if I can still see and sit after 5 days from 8AM to 5PM at the computer.

We will have our competition days as usual. Judy Becker will tell you all about those. We really need more entries to get some higher scores at NECCC. Do not be shy. Bring in your slides, and prints for judging.

Our web site is up and running. Chris Bleuher will introduce all of us to the site at our first meeting and show you how it can be used.

I have been reading the Photo Mags and it is astounding how digital they are getting. The big news in new items are all for digital cameras. The number of pixels captured moves up although not as fast as I would hope. The major camera companies have pro SLR's with Kodak leading the way with 14 megapixels and down to 5.47 megapixels in the Nikon D1X. There are literally hundreds of consumer digital cameras. The better ones have at least 6 megapixels and the best ones have 8. You film lovers have all sorts of new films that are faster, better, and finer. Now that the scanners for slides are all at least 4000 dpi resolution the digitized and film people can meet at Adobe PhotoShop and do the same kind of work no matter how the photo was captured. It should be an exciting year and we will try to keep you all abreast of the moves in the camera world. Join us, join our exhibits, join our contests and join our dinners and outings, and do not forget to bring your cameras!

Rita Mathews ð

Changing of The Guard

Our club just seems to get better as the years pass by. The new administration baton has been passed on once again as it has been over the years in accordance with our by-laws and, at times, even to the same person(s). The normal term of office for our president is two years. Bill DeVoti served faithfully and productively for the past four as did some others who preceded him. Now we welcome Rita Mathews as our new President and Chris Bleuher, Vice President. Enthusiasm in and knowledge of photography would well describe them both. But that's not enough to fill the bill these days. Our medium is changing before our eyes in such leaps and bounds that truly, no one person can stay ahead of it let alone even keep abreast of it. Of course, I'm talking about the digital age. Film is still with us and widely used by the likes of yours truly but we have really turned the corner. Needless to say, digital technology has turned our world upside down. Chemistry is much on the wane though still, thankfully, practiced by labs such as The Snap Shot in Great Barrington.

Here you can still have B&W reproductions chemically processed by Tony and rest assured that they are in safe hands and that the finished product will be to your liking. Additionally, don't forget; B&W photographs have an archival track record exceeding 160 years, a feature yet to be proven digitally. Think ancestry and images you wish to leave for future generations. Old fashioned mind set you say? Yes, most likely. But still worthy of consideration.

For those of you, like me, who for whatever reason have opted to stick with film, don't despair and think you are being left out in the cold. Your "film world" can stop the moment your negatives are developed. At this point you can start being just as digital as you wish. It's just a matter of equipment and your pocket book. Starting with a computer system you add such items as printers, scanners, CD burners; the whole array. Then you start adding software such as one of the PhotoShop products and voilà, you're off and running with the pack.

Now for the zinger. You have to learn how to use all this stuff. And it ain't easy folks. But we have a BIG advantage; leadership and in-house members who do know the process and are willing to give of their time to advise and guide us through the rough spots. You still have to get into the trenches and do it on your own but it's nice to know you have back up. Rita, Lazlo, Chris and others will be the first to tell you that they don't have all the answers. But each of these members are "paying their dues" learning through study, practice and investing in equipment to one degree or the other.

So get out there gang no matter your camera's technology. Expose those frames. Remember, when all is said and done it's the human eye that sees the picture and one click of the shutter that paints it.

Ian McCunn ð

Things to Consider

· Larger than ever this year is our Salon Committee chaired by Bill DeVoti. Expect some exciting activity from this department. Comments? Participation? Venues?

· Tonight, we need to select judges for this seasons competitions.

· Very important is exploring options regarding our new WEB page. Lazlo is our WEB Master but he deserves input from the membership [committee?] regarding all aspects of it's construction. Don't leave him hanging. This includes the melding in of the Newsletter and the possibility of the WEB page [supplanting] the [paper] edition without leaving out members who do not have access to the internet. Editor ð

Refreshments

Yes! Thank you Nancy. Volunteers should come forth tonight to fill in for the rest of our season. Don't leave Nancy holding the bag. SEE NANCY NOW AND SIGN UP! ð

= = = Ebb Tide = = =

Richard J. DeProdocini, 43, son of long time HCC member, Cynthia (Johnson) DeProdocini and the late Bruno DeProdocini, passed away at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital June 30^th after a long convalescence. He attended Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Memorial services were held at the North Canaan Congregational Church. We extend our sincere condolences to Cynthia and her family. ð