October Education Night – Special Presentation by Alan Shapiro – “Shooting Food from the Comfort of Your Home”

Join us on Thursday, October 26, 2023, for a special presentation by renowned photographer, Alan Shapiro.

Summary of the Presentation

Alan Shapiro is a lifelong storyteller and a story gatherer.
These days, he just happens to always carry a camera.
Some days, when he isn’t roaming around some foreign city or garden, he likes to putter at
home in his kitchen and studio.
A walk around a farmer’s market can turn into a weekend adventure capturing his treasures
both raw and cooked.
A walk over to the refrigerator for a snack can have him grabbing “something from the door,
something from the crisper and something from the pantry” and running into his studio to
create for a few minutes or a few hours.
This is all quite fun for him but also has become a sort of constant “creative exercise.”
And as you will hear…it’s ridiculously easy.
Join Alan for an evening of stories, tips, and techniques about his experiences making art with
food and props and a spontaneous idea or two.

Alan’s Bio

Alan grew up on the creative side of the advertising world, working with clients around the world; telling their unique stories in very unique ways. He had the pleasure of collaborating with many, talented photographers and film directors. He became envious of their art and craft. At first, he saw it as a means of reducing his stress-filled life.

As a Chief Creative Officer at the world’s largest Advertising Agency Network Omnicom, he needed a
distraction. A friend gave him a camera. Then he bought another and another. His new hobby and daily “creative exercise regimen” turned into a joy-filled and all-consuming passion. Then, his first photo client called, followed by many more.
His work can be seen throughout the entire hospital set on ABC’s The Good Doctor, in launch campaigns for the Apple iPhone and Nikon as well as for Cadillac, OnStar, Lockheed Martin, Die Zeit, Ricoh, Cotton Incorporated, Scholastic, and numerous others. His work fills entire walls in Bose stores and Ritz Carlton Hotels worldwide and hangs in numerous private and corporate art collections. His macro, food, and still-life work can be seen in countless editorial publications and products from housewares to clothing to puzzles.
As much as Alan loves creating images, he genuinely loves to teach; sharing his workflow from capture through post-processing and printing. He is a super high-energy instructor with a knack for getting people out of their comfort zone as well as helping them discover and capture beautifully simple things in beautifully unexpected ways.

Instagram: @alanshapiro515
Facebook: @alanwshapiro

Website: https://www.alanshapirophotography.com/

A Few Examples of Alan’s Images

Who Should Attend

Everyone! Alan will get you seeing thing in your kitchen in a whole new way! These techniques can to used on food, but other small subjects as well!

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2023) members a few days prior to 10/26/2023.

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.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 10/19/2023 and at our Education Night on 10/28/2023, for this special presentation.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

July Education Night – Special Presentation – Abstract Architecture Photography- Creativity in Composition by Angie McMonigal

Please join us on Thursday, July 27th, 2023 at 7 PM EDT for our next special presentation, Abstract Architecture Photography- Creativity in Composition by Angie McMonigal!

I hosted Angie McMonigal’s session at the 2023 Out of Chicago Live Online Conference earlier this year and knew immediately that she would be an amazing addition to our roster of special speakers!

Angie’s Bio

I’m a fine art and commercial architecture photographer based in Chicago striving to bring a detailed, thoughtful perspective to my work, whether for clients or through the workshops I lead. Having grown up surrounded by nature yet fascinated by the big city I’ve called home for more than two decades; I bring the meditative calm of my upbringing to a terrain that’s always transforming. Drawing from my education in the micro sciences (molecular biology, microbiology, virology) my focus is more frequently on bold architectural details rather than sweeping cityscapes, creating images that celebrate those unexpectedly iconic elements hiding in plain sight.

Presentation Summary

Join Angie for a discussion focusing on creative approaches to architectural subjects. Emphasis will be on architectural details and creating abstracts of the built environment. She’ll share how to uncover creative viewpoints and how to best utilize compositional tools to create more compelling images.

Examples of Angie’s Art

Who Should Attend

Everyone! Angie will get you seeing things where you never saw them before! This is not only a great exercise for shooting architectural abstracts, but it will also help with seeing more intimate scenes everywhere!

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2023) members a few days prior to 07/27/2023.

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.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 07/20/2023 and at our Education Night on 07/27/2023, for this special presentation.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

June Education Night – Syncing Lightroom, the Latest Magic in Photoshop, and Much More! presented by Jim Sykes on June 22, 2023

A couple of years ago when Adobe first changed things up with LrC, Lr, and Lr Mobile Jim did a presentation but I think it was too soon! Most of us were just trying to figure out why there were so many Lightroom apps. Well, we are all a bit more used to all this Lr stuff and our phone cameras are comparable to our DSLR and Mirrorless cameras, so syncing what we shoot on our phones makes more sense being processed in LrC and stored on our home external drives and not cluttering up the phone’s storage.

Also, the Photoshop developers have been dabbling in the AI world lately and their latest update to regular Ps has added a new tool that is amazing. If you want to play even more, you can download Ps Beta (it’s free with your Adode subscription) and play with the new Generative Fill Tool. It is magic! We will spend some time with these new Ps tools.

Jim has some other tips and tricks up his sleeves to share as well!

Who Should Attend

If you use LrC and want to sync Lr with your phone or are curious about it, this is for you! If you want to see the latest magic that is in PS, this is for you! Jim may throw in some tips from other post-processing apps as well.

If you have questions about any of the Lr apps or PS be ready to ask them!

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2023) members a few days prior to 06/22/2023.

Non -Members – If you are interested in joining us to see what we are all about, we will send you a Zoom Invitation for one meeting 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.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 06/15/2023 and at our Education Night on 06/22/2023.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

May Education Night – Special Presentation – “7 Secrets of Outstanding Telephoto Landscapes” by Joshua Cripps

You are invited to a special presentation to get you ready for our July assignment, Telephoto Landscapes, and make your future landscape images so much better!

Presentation Summary

“7 Secrets of Outstanding Telephoto Landscapes”

Ask a random photographer what lens to use for landscape photography and 90% of the time
they will answer, “a wide-angle, duh!!” Wide-angle lenses and landscapes are so closely
connected it sometimes feels like “thou shalt use a wide angle” is the first commandment
handed down from the landscape photography gods.
But in my opinion, the BEST lens for landscapes is actually the telephoto! What?! Heresy!! I
know, I know…
You see, photography is all about telling visual stories. And every complete story needs to do at
least three things:

  1. Establish the environment.
  2. Provide storytelling moments that showcase what unique things happen at a place.
  3. Show intimate details about the subjects/places/things in your story to help your viewers
    understand the place more deeply.

Telephoto lenses can do all of these things, and they are particularly good at numbers 2 & 3.
Which means telephoto lenses allow you to be a clearer, more personally expressive
storyteller since the specific moments and details you notice are very likely to be unique to you
and you alone.
However, shooting landscapes with a telephoto lens is extremely challenging. There are
compositional challenges, technical challenges, and visualization challenges, just to name a
few. But fear not. In this talk, I will cover 7 secrets that will allow you to harness the power of your
telephoto in order to tell more effective visual stories and become a more complete
photographer.

Joshua’s Bio

Joshua Cripps is a wilderness landscape photographer who has garnered widespread acclaim
for his strong compositional style and dramatic use of light and color. His images have been
published by National Geographic, NASA, CNN, BBC, Nikon, Outdoor Photographer Magazine,
and many others. He is one of today’s most sought-after photography educators, speaking at
conferences and leading photo tours in North and South America, Europe, and the Pacific.
Josh grew up in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada and has been exploring the Range of
Light for most of his life. Since 2015 Josh has made his home in the Eastern Sierra, one of the
most spectacular and photogenic mountain landscapes in the world.
In 2023, Josh founded The Mount Whitney Gallery as a way to share his passion for the
stunning landscapes of the Sierra Nevada and beyond. Located at the base of stunning Mount
Whitney in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the gallery features fine art prints of Josh’s
signature photographs. The gallery also serves as a classroom where Josh teaches other
photographers how to capture their own spectacular photos.

A Few Examples of Joshua’s Art

Who Should Attend

If you shoot landscapes (which is pretty much all of us!) then this presentation will help you narrow your point of view. This seems counter-intuitive but believe me, I shot landscapes with an 80-200mm lens for many years. I still use my 70-200mm lens a lot. I needed that very narrow view to start to see the landscape in smaller bits. Now I am much better at using my wide-angle lenses and eliminating what the telephoto lens did for me.

I have had Joshua as an instructor, in-person and online. He is a dynamic teacher and an amazing photographer and he knows more about PhotoPills than anyone else I know!

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2023) members a few days prior to 05/25/2023.

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.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 05/18/2023 and at our Education Night on 05/25/2023, for this special presentation.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

The Sunflowers 🌻 are Blooming! Outing at a Sunflower Field, Saturday, April 29, 2023

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST FOR ALL THE IMPORTANT DETAILS! 🌻

The sunflowers🌻, in many varieties, are blooming! So, it is last-minute outing time! Saturday, April 29, 2023, at 8 AM, we will meet at Three Son Farms on 3830 McIntosh Rd, Dover (map below) to have some fun in the flower field! This is one hour before their normal opening time so please thank them for letting us in early to get the earlier light!

They charge photographers $25 each to shoot this year but we have once again gotten a good deal. The group fee is $100 so the cost per person will depend on the number of people who show up!

Since last year they have moved the produce stand into the large barn that they were building last year. There is a lot more produce. Plus they are serving all kinds of goodies, ie, milkshakes, smoothies, etc. as they added a kitchen.

There are many picnic tables and a bar where you can sit and look out at the flower field.

We want them to continue to plant the flowers every year so please purchase some produce. It is the best! I buy from them weekly while they are open.

The field is planted in rows this year (like a strawberry field) so getting around in it will be a bit easier. They planted at least 7 varieties of sunflowers. Note: The zinnias may not be blooming yet as they have been affected by the lack of rain (which is good for the sunflowers as a lot of rain ruins the blooms)!

RAIN! If it happens to rain we will still have the outing…last year it rained just as we arrived and we had some wonderful drops on the flowers to add to the beauty of the flowers. So, be prepared to get dirty and possibly muddy, and bring rain gear just in case!

Bring your macro lens, a small scrim/reflector, and a wide angle for full-field shots. Your phone can make some great images as well!

Afterward, we will go get an early lunch at a local taco place!

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

Hope to see you all there!

Lynn W.

Here are a few iPhone images I took on April 20 in some very bad light! The field will be quite different on 4/29.

April Education Day – Special Day and Time and Very Special Presentation on Travel Photography by Rick Sammon

Yes, the “Godfather of Photography” will be doing a special presentation all about Travel Photography!

This Education Day Zoom meeting will be at 3 PM EDT on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

Presentation Summary

In this fun-filled and info-packed presentation, Rick Sammon will take us around the world, from Alaska to Africa and from the High Arctic to Antarctica. He’ll share with us his tricks, tips, and techniques for making images with impact – which is one of Rick’s goals. If you are interested in wildlife, nature, and landscape photography, this meeting is for you.

Rick’s Bio

Award-winning photographer Rick Sammon loves his day job. A tireless, prolific, and inspirational image-maker, Rick, called by some “The Godfather of Photography,” has authored 43 books. His latest are: “Photo Therapy Motivation and Wisdom–Discovering the Power of Pictures” and “Photo Quest–finding your photographic and artistic voice”.

He also has 40 photography classes on KelbyOne.com.

While Rick describes himself as “evolving” and an Explorer of Life, he hesitates to categorize his work. “I’m an A-to-Z type of photographer. I do it all–and I enjoy the freedom of not specializing.”

With nearly 40 years of experience, this self-taught photographer has many accomplishments–and many more anticipated for the road ahead. As Rick suggests, “When you are through changing, you are through.”

Visit Rick at www.ricksammon.com. He can be contacted at ricksammon@me.com.

Some Samples of Rick’s Photography from His Travels

Who Should Attend

Rick is the ultimate generalist so his presentation is for everyone! This talk is focused on Travel Photography but travel photography in general includes most types of photography!

Rick’s “Sammonisms,” which are his very memorable lines of wisdom on photography, are, to me (who has many of them stuck in my head), one of the main reasons to attend!

We will record the meeting and send the link to our current members in case you can not make the meeting on this special day and time!

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2023) members a few days prior to 04/23/2023.

Non -Members – If you are interested in joining us to see what we are all about, we will send you a Zoom Invitation. 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.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 04/20/2023 and at our Special Education Day at 3 PM EDT on Sunday 04/23/2023, for this special presentation.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President