Author: lwiezycki

January 2025 Education Night – Special Presentation – “Creative Toy Photography” by Shelly Corbett

Members, please join us, on January 23rd, for a Special Presentation by Shelly Corbett, “Creative Toy Photography”.

Summary of the Presentation

Somewhere along the way, we leave our inner child behind—the one who conjures magical worlds and imaginary friends, who falls in love with princes and princesses, who slays dragons and rides unicorns into the sunset.

I invite you into those forgotten worlds through my toy-based photography. My photo subjects used to be human. Now they’re two inches tall and made of plastic. (Not only do they have more fun but they behave better, too!) Using various photographic and lighting techniques, props, and special lenses, I create dreamy worlds for my tiny subjects.

I promise you will leave this presentation with lots of ideas to inspire you to jump into this fun and addictive photography niche. 

About Shelly

LEGO and their minifigures have always been a family favorite. Some years ago, between a creative rut and personal challenges, I watched a friend photographing minifigures at one of my adult-only LEGO-building parties. A lightbulb moment! I dove into this delightful toy photography world and never looked back. I discovered that we can’t afford to lose our sense of play and wonder. With toys as subjects, I can also explore a range of emotions that often seem out of reach. I hope you experience as much of a sense of joy and wonder with my art as I have making it.

Twelve years later, multiple blog posts and now encouraging others to follow in my footsteps through my workshops I want to bring a taste of this magical world to you. If you enjoy macro photography, portrait photography, storytelling, or nature photography, my short and entertaining presentation is for you. I will give you insights into the joys of toy photography. As a Lensbaby Ambassador, I will show you how to use Lensbaby lenses to create a magical world. And I will give you plenty of behind-the-scenes glimpses of my set-ups to inspire you. In addition, I will review briefly the tools you need to get started for either studio or outside set-ups. 

Shelly’s website: https://shellycorbett.com/

Some Samples of Shelly’s Images

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This presentation is for all photographers! Shelly’s toy photography is all about story-telling. This is something we should all try to do with our photos more often. Also, if you have physical limitations this is a fun way to continue being creative on a small scale!

HOW TO ATTEND

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2025) members a few days before 01/23/2025.

Non -Members – If you are interested in joining us to see what we are all about, we will send you a Zoom Invitation for our Exhibit/Comments Night only. Please send your Name and Email address with the Subject line “Zoom Invite Needed for MEETING on (appropriate date)” to mytbcc@gmail.com so we can get the invitation to you. Our Exhibit/Comment Nights are on the 3rd Thursday of each month except December.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on January 16th and our Education Night on January 23rd, 2025, for this special presentation. 

Just keep shooting!

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

Highlights of 2024 TBCC Annual Awards and Holiday Party

I want to thank all those members, and plus 1’s, who came out to Philippe Park on Sunday (December 8, 2024) to join in the food, fellowship, and fun for our 2024 Annual Awards and Holiday Party!

As usual, the food was amazing and yummy!

We had a great turnout for our “Story Display” exhibit; the stories were educational, inspirational, and funny!

I think everyone present won a raffle prize!

Susan Huckabay won our first 50/50 Raffle, and graciously donated her winnings back to the club!

Thank you to the Board of Directors, plus Lorrie Maniscalco, Susan Huckabay, and Lourdes Fusco, for putting the party all together and cleaning up in record time!

The Annual Awards

We had 14 members qualify per the eligibility rules listed on our website. https://mytbcc.com/about/competition-rules/

Congratulations go to:

1st Place – Lourdes Fusco, 2nd Place – Lee Brand, 3rd Place – Kathy Thompson, 4th Place – Liwen Tao, 5th Place – Jim McWilliam, 6th Place – Richard Edwards

Special thanks were given to me (thank you) and to our two Pros, Robert Rostick and Jim Sykes.

We are serious about learning photography but we do know how to have FUN!

Jim Sykes brought his herd of cameras and was taking video most of the afternoon so here is the highlight video, if you missed coming or want to relive the day!

Happy Holidays to One and All!

Lynn W.

TBCC Community Service Slideshow – November 15, 2024

A couple of years ago the TBCC Board of Directors decided that the club should find ways to give back to the community.

Our Treasurer, Jack Maniscalco, and his wife, Lorrie, have been doing the photography for the CWE Fundraiser Golf Tournament for a number of years. CSW is a Christian group that does medical missionary work in underdeveloped countries.

In 2023, Jack asked the club to start helping out so we pulled together several members who braved the rains to make photos of the participating golfers and the sponsor signs.

Twelve members volunteered in 2024. We had a beautiful day, and we were stationed at tees with food stations next to them, so we had a great time and made some memorable photos for the golfers.

They only had to take the images. At the end of each person’s 3-hour shift, they gave us their storage card, we downloaded it and they were free to go home. Jack went through all the images and set up the gallery that CWE placed on their website where the participants could obtain their photos.

Jack put together a sideshow to show some of the images we made.

Please consider joining us in 2025 as a volunteer for this and our other community service outings.

Thank you to all our members who participated! You are the BEST!!

2024 Annual Awards and Holiday Party – Sunday, December 8, 2024

On behalf of your TBCC Board of Directors, you are cordially invited to the TBCC Annual Awards and Holiday Party that will be held on Sunday, December 8th, at Philippe Park in Safety Harbor (map below).

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST!

The fun gets started at 1 PM in Pavilion #8 and will go on until about 4 PM.

There are many big picnic tables in the pavilion, but you are welcome to bring your own chairs if you prefer. The club will supply grills, hand sanitizer, ice, plates, cups, silverware, napkins, and some basic drinks. There is no electricity so plan accordingly. There is a restroom nearby.

We are counting on all of you to bring all that wonderful food and drink that TBCC is famous for!

The food/drink signup form is below.

Story Display image! Please bring one photo that is at least 8X10 (so everyone can see it). It should be on a piece of foam core or matted for rigidity while hanging from our photo lineup! This is not a competition but a chance for you to get up and tell everyone the story behind your image. So keep that in mind when making your image choice. Please, only bring an image we have not seen before.

This year, we are having a 50/50 Raffle! $4 per ticket or 5 tickets for $15. The winner will get 50% of whatever amount we take in and the other 50% will go toward the club’s educational endeavors.

Annual Photography Gift Raffle – Be sure to get your one free ticket, when you arrive.

Our end-of-year Awards Ceremony will be for those who qualified in our monthly Exhibits.

Please join us for an afternoon of fun, food, fellowship, and photo sharing!

If you have any questions, please let me know at mytbcc@gmail.com

Lynn Wiezycki

PLEASE CHECK THIS LIST OF FOOD AND DRINKS TO SEE WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN ADDED:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Vshyd8DXSsB5dBy5_fJPqayNhq-Nn2q0_CYDOWBehtk/edit?usp=sharing

SIGN-UP FORM BELOW FOR FOOD AND DRINKS (be sure to hit submit when completed).

MAP TO OUR PARTY VENUE

Pier & Beer! Our August 2024 Education Night is at St Pete Pier!

Please join your fellow TBCC members at St Pete Pier for an evening of sunset, skyline, and whatever, shooting. You can top it off with beer, wine, or whatever.

Instead of a Zoom Education Night, we are getting together, in person, to enjoy an evening in St Petersburg. On Thursday, August 22, 2024, we will meet at Benoist Plaza (the Bi-Plane Statue next to the Pelican Parking Lot – Map Below) out on The Pier at 6:30 PM. You can drive out onto the pier and park in the Pelican Lot (it has solar panels as a roof).

Please remember to pay for parking! You can use the ParkMobile app.

We will shoot around the pier until after sunset and then go for a drink and some food up at the top of the pier. Hopefully, there will be some storm clouds out over the Gulf with The St Pete skyline and the pier in the foreground!

Bring your tripod and lens(es) for wide to telephoto zoom. Bring water to keep hydrated until we get up on the upper level of the pier where they have drinks and bar food. Bring a raincoat, just in case.

Here are some images from a couple of years ago!

I hope to see everyone out there! The last time we did this we had a great time, and great drinks and food up at the top of the Pier! The view was amazing!

Any questions, please email me at mytbcc@gmail.com.

Lynn W.