Omaha Camera Club

Monday, February 1, 2016

OCC Minutes September 1, 2015

Meeting called to order by Tom Pfeffer @ 6:30

This is the first of our 3 monthly meetings with the exception of November & December.

Guest tonight Doug Watson whom was a previous member and joined in 1961.

Treasurer Report OCC General $2830.13 N4C $14734.01

There was a donation to the Library of 3 books written by Scott Kelby

Equipment:

We are in need of a screen for the conference

Marty Barker is looking for Cookie Monstes for September / October

Introduction of board members: Directors Larry Headley, Gary Prill & Paul Evans

OLD BUSINESS:

Review of conference updates as listed above, we are in the final countdown to the 17^th of September when the conference will be in full swing.

121 people registered, 9 competition judges & spouses

Vendors – offered meals

Need 131 people // 8 more at $189 or 15 day registrants to have no out of pocket costs

Volunteers still needed please see Linda Davis to sign up.

Need Print Competition judge – suggested that the club judge as we did in the spring.

It was mentioned to go to less meetings per month and a proposal will need to be put together in order to bring this in front of the general membership.

NEW BUSINESS:

OHB to come and speak at the 9/29 meeting. And we will wrap up any conference loose ends

Fort Akinson both Saturday/Sunday 1820’s this is over Labor Day weekend get out there and take some photos. Living History Group

Fort Calhoune 10am – 4 pm each of the two days over Labor Day. Good family fun

Nebraska State Fair, Fort Omaha Pow Wow, Dittmars CB Hot Air Balloon , Florence Mill on 10/10 OCC Club Showing 1:30 – 4:30 Pleas participate. Florence Mill has a huge email list and will promote this event for us.

Rockbrook Plaza Art Festival @ 108^th.

Paul Evans has a showing at Metro on 11/11

Tax exempt status IRS has application, no decision as of yet.

Business portion of the meeting was adjourned.

Digital Reveal was started for the September Digital Competition.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ina Ohnmeiss, Secretary

OCC Minutes August 18 2015

Meeting called to order by Tom Pfeffer @ 6:30

Tonight is show and tell

Welcome New People

Tom explained Myers’ absence

Treasurer Report OCC General $2830.13 N4C $878.01

Library – Ron Schmidt no change

Equimpment – Dhruba color monkey is out

New Members – none

Cookie Monster – Linda Davis, THANK YOU!!

Website – Don Cross

Status of our 501(C)3 – Still waiting on State approval

September assigned is Glass

Suggested that OHB have free membership as long as they are at the school and are an employee of the OHB. Craig made motion Al seconded motion carried. Membership will have to be renewed annually.

Linda is working on Volunteers for the N4C Conference e please see Linda to volunteer

Paul made a motion that we give the following free meal at the N4C conference:

2- OHB 2- Edward Jones 2 – Andi/Rob AHL Magazine

1 – Kara @AKSARBEN 2 – Chuck Rockbrook Camera 1 – Mangelsens

A second was made by Jeff Wild and motion ;carried

Business portion adjourned and Show and Tell was started.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ina Ohnmeiss, Secretary

OCC Minutes July 21, 2015

Meeting opened by Larry Hadley. Seven guests introduced themselves and may become members.

Note – All seven joined at the meeting.

Treasurer’s report: We have enough money - Please turn in convention registrations to Tim.

Linda Davis The annual picnic will be Aug 15, 11-2 at Lake Manawa, another main dish is still needed.

Showing at Edwards Jones on August 7 for a week, members may want to stop by and view.

Convention registration is due as soon as you can get them in.

Omaha Home for Boys needs 2 photographers on Aug 1 and Aug 2. General photos of the events are
what is needed. Let Ina know if you can help out.

Larry needs 2 people to help with the N4C photo contest. Paul Evans and Paul Bellinger volunteered.

The Sept competition will be coming up quick so entries should be summited in August. The August
meeting will call for volunteers to be judges.

N4C September contest entries are due by Sept 10.

Show and Tell plus cookies followed.

OCC Minutes June 16, 2015

OCC Meeting called to order at 6:30 by Tom Pfeffer vice president. Myers Burmeister current president is traveling for work.

We tried to skype Myers in but it timed out and we moved on with the meeting.

Tom, stated that Myers was traveling and that we will be cutting the meeting short as we need a fun evening since last month the entire meeting was taken up with N4C Conference business.

Guests – Rob he has been here before a year or so ago and is becoming a new member

Tom Pfeffer is the cookie monster

Ron Schmidt – list of items in the library are now part of our assets. $1100 value. Ina did an Amazon search for cost of items and this is now listed on our website.

Dhruba – Equipment //Color Monkey is out and wolverine is out

List of equipment and description of what it does will be added to the website

Old Business:

August 7^th is the Edward Jones Benson First Friday window exhibit. See Linda Davis if you are wanting to participate.

August 15^th is our Annual Club Picnic at Lake Manawa park. Thank you Linda Davis for obtaining this location.

Linda and Tom will be visiting camera clubs to boost the attendance for the Focus on Omaha N4C Conference in September.

New Business:

Incorporated as Nonprofit Organization. The bylaws are signed right or wrong they can be amended. The 501C(3) is to be overnighted to the IRS by Dave Wilson the attorney.

Focus on Omaha – we have dropped the breakfast and lunch options and lowered the cost to $159. OCC Members cost will be $80.

Don Cross had suggestions for the website and the board gave him a 100% go ahead with the web changes.

We need to reconstruct our history – Larry Headley took the old club minute books and said he would make this a “winter project” if no one else is willing to do this.

We should obtain a “media guru” to take care of the FB, OCC Website, Printrest, Twitter so we can attract more of the under “30” crowd to our club.

WWWWH – Who, What, Where, When , Why, How – we should all be talking about this and explaining to people about the Focus on Omaha Conference

Dropped off additional materials to Rockbrook and the employees did not know about the conference. Tom offered to do a quick educational session but has not heard back from Chuck.

Now on to the fun of seeing photos for show and tell…..

Submitted 9/29/15

Ina Ohnmeiss

Secretary

OCC Minutes May 19, 2015

Tom Pfeffer, (our new vice-president) opened the meeting at 6:30.

Treasurer: Tim White reported the club balance is $2736.88 and the N4C balance $763.58, but we need to pay

$450 in printing.

Secretary: No news to report

Library: Ron Schmidt says to email him if there is anything you’d like to check out. Tom Pfeffer asked Ron to

make a PDF of library inventory for the website.

Equipment: no report

Old Business: Ina brought prints from the N4C contest to be picked up. Tom read the list of new officers and

board members for 2015 – 2017. He also reviewed the assigned categories for competitions in the upcoming

year. Gary asked if the new bylaws for the OCC as an incorporation had been voted on and then requested they

be posted on the website.

Photo ops in Upcoming Events (check each group’s website for details)
UNMC is sponsoring a Lauritzen Garden Walk; Tom Green questioned the fairness of their allowing easels for

artists but not tripods, although Larry Headley said tripods are allowed when he teaches a workshop.
Countryside Village
Summer Art Festival
Sand in the City
Special Olympics in Omaha
Nature Conservancy has a photo contest going on for the next month.

It’s proposed that there be a calendar of shooting events that members can easily access on our website.

OCC Summer Picnic: August 15th is the set date with Walnut Creek as a suggested site, but Linda Davis will

also investigate other places.

N4C: Tom Pfeffer is in contact with Omaha Magazine and will meet with them to further discuss how we can work

together.

Next Meeting: June 16

Break for Pizza

Post Pizza Business: Ina presented plans for the N4C convention and gave each member a handout. Ina and Tom

will meet with the lawyer this Thursday. We are behind in getting our incorporation and 5013c status because

Tom says the state of Nebraska, not the lawyer, is in control of the process. However, the status is

retroactive so we can accept donations now. We could more easily be a 5017, but that doesn’t give donors the

ability to deduct donations.

Tom spoke on donor outreach along with the importance of financial donors and how to reward them. Tim White

suggested we compile a list of activities the OCC has done in behalf of the community.

Tom spoke about the 8.5 x 11 information sheet created for the conference and also the trifold flier or a

postcard to be given to Rockbrook Camera customers. There is an extensive email list we can use to send links

to our website, to facebook, etc.

Gary Prill presented on the website “Focus on Omaha” which he created for the N4C conference. He showed us

how it can link people to popular sites in Omaha they might want to visit. Attendees can see and print the

full page flier and the trifold flier in PDF format. There is a schedule of events they can download and

print. There’s a registration page with a link to the Ramada Hotel. Attendees can read about presenters, how

to be a donor, and how to contact the OCC. The site also has the 15 minute video that Gary created about

Omaha using member photographs.

Tom put links to our Facebook page on the pages of many area professional photographers. We still need more

people to “Like” the “Focus on Omaha” Facebook site.

Tom spoke about the budget: fixed costs of about $10,000 and variable costs. We’d need 320 people to break

even, but that’s a hefty number to achieve which is why we need donors. Tom also spoke about registration

fees which will have an early registration discount and a deadline registration to get a meal. Club members

will be charged less than the general public. If a profit is made, we will decide as a club if we want to

refund part of the individual registrations of OCC members. N4C wants $1,000 back and a small percentage of

the profits.

Tom asked member Barb Smith to review his Excel program for possible errors. He presented the number of

attendees at the last 5 conferences. We need to hope for more than 132. We also need many OCC members to both

attend and help with the activities. Even with 150 attendees and 20 club members, we still need $5,000 in

donations. Tom encouraged members to recruit donors.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30.

Submitted by

Secretary Marty Barker

OCC Minutes May 5, 2015

President Paul Bellinger opened the business meeting at 6:30. He presented the 3 panoramas (by Nikki

NcDonald, Paul Bellinger and Mike Barker) that went to the N4C Print contest at Springbrook.

Summer Meeting Schedule: only one meeting per month in June, July, August on the 3rd Tuesday. An August

picnic is in the planning stage.

Treasurer: Tim White reported the club balance is $2718.40 and the N4C balance $763.58 Tom Green is a new

member. Larry Fritz returned home from skilled nursing.

Library: no report

Equipment: no report

N4C: Larry listed our many winners from the April print contest. We’ll need to do headshots of OCC members

for the conference. A Trifold brochure about the conference is available at Rockbrook Camera Stores and

will be given to customers with their purchases.

5013C: Corporation status has been filed and the rest is still in progress so Meyers will contact the

attorney soon for an update. $533 will cover the club insurance.

Election of Officers and Board Members for a two year term:
Rules permitted Secretary Marty Barker to pass one vote for the following slate:
President: Myers Burmeister
Vice President: Tom Pfeffer
Secretary: Ina Ohnmeiss
Treasurer: Tim White
Digital Coordinator: Jeff Wild
Print Coordinator: Nikki McDonald
Equipment: Druba Chakravarti
Librarian: Ron Schmidt
Website: Don Cross
N4C Rep: Larry Headley
Board of Directors: Larry Headley, Gary Prill, Paul Evans
Events - see website or contact Paul Bellinger for more information.
OCC members were rejected as credentialed photographers for the Garth Brooks concert, but asking for the

status at least got us a contact on the MECCA board
Display at Edward Jones in Benson “First Fridays.”
Florence Mill near Mormon Bridge could provide some space for us.
Copies of calendar of events for members to take home are on the snack table tonight
Work with Metro Magazine and Spirit of Omaha so these publications will continue to call on us as needed
Sand in the City coming up soon
When shooting with credentials, it’s important to learn what can/can’t be done with your photos outside the

event.

Survey Monkey Results – Members want:
More education and understanding about the processes of cameras, websites, etc.
Pick assigned subjects that club members can work on together during outings throughout the year
Less competition, but perhaps more prints?
Allow judges to put comments directly on Smug Mug
Be sure all members know when digital and print entries are due.

Society for Preservation of Old Mills: brochure contains a photo by Paul Bellinger

7:30 Break with snacks provided by Nancy Oudheusden

Assigned Subjects for 2015-16:

September - Glass
October - Straight out of the camera
November - People (print competition)
December - Motion
January - Macro
February - Night Scenes
March - Black and White (print competition)
April - Bokeh (blurred images)

Next Meeting: Show and Tell (10 images), N4C volunteer sign up

OCC Minutes April 28, 2015

President Paul Bellinger opened meeting at 6:30 pm. 20 member, 0 visitors
Treats: Trish Place
Treasurer Report: $2718 OCC account, $763.58 N4C account
N4C digital results April 34 entries, 7 members (check website) – last N4C digital contest due 5/10/15
Myers reported on Springbrook conference – attendance 68, 22 panoramic print entries – Nikki 2nd place,

Paul 3rd place, Mike Barker honorable mention, good presenters/information, a lot of interest in Omaha

conference in September. Future conferences: 2016 Fargo, ND, 2017 Rapid City, SD
Club is set to display at Benson First Friday, August 7 at Edward Jones, 6200 Maple St. Further details to

come.
Handout on summer events in Omaha area.
Upcoming Meetings:
May 5th – Business meeting to nominate/vote on officers, discussion on results of Survey Monkey.
May 19th – Business meeting to decide assigned subjects for next year.
June/July/August – 3rd Tuesdays
August – picnic to be determined
Presentations:
Tom Pfeffer had powerpoint presentation on status of N4C conference. Flyers, brochures, registration forms

were discussed, as well as sponsors, volunteers needed. Website/facebook sites go live May 1st.

Paul Bellinger had Lightroom presentation tips, i.e. storage selection, labeling photo priority, applying

settings, changing backgrounds.

OCC Minutes April 21, 2015

President Paul Bellinger opened the meeting at 6:30. 22 members/2 guests present.

Tonight’s Treats: brought by Ina Ohnmeiss Tonight’s program: Show and Tell
Social: Tim White prepared a tiger photo poster we can sign for Larry Fritz in rehab in CB;
Treasurer’s Report: Tim absent because of surgery
N4C Conference at Springbrook: Ina has brochures; only Ina and Myers are going.

Events: Benson has “First Fridays”Art walk; 6200 Maple, Edward Jones May 7 – 9. May’s walk will be a

window display only, photos displayed for one week. Also will happen Aug 7th, when office WILL be open so it

will be a bigger open house. Contact Linda Davis.

Railroad Photo Ops: Contact Paul Bellinger for info on upcoming RailRoad events.
Garth Brooks: Contact Paul Bellinger about photo ops at this musical concert.
Sand in the City: June 5 – 7. Trish not available but help will be needed. Contact Paul B.
Horsemans Park: Horses and horseracing May 7 – 8

Nebraska Schools Activities Association: No shooting of championship events this year. We didn’t meet their

criteria.

N4C Conference: Finalized N4C brochure, 501c3 status corp papers filed, and form to IRS’s OK is in process.

There is a grant $5,000 to cover expenses of process.
Members attending N4C conference will pay $150 for 2 days and $75 for 1 day.

Upcoming Meetings:
May 5 – new officers to be elected, results of survey monkey.
May 19 – choose assigned subjects for next year.
June, July, and August have one meeting only; we need to decide on August picnic date.

Guest Presentation Tonight: Tom Pfeffer introduced “Metro Magazine” publisher and CEO Andi Hoig, and Rob

Kilmer. They cover the nonprofit community, philanthropy, etc. Their network might help us as a 5013c make

community contacts. Metro Magazine could also provide a forum through online and print media here in town to

promote us. Our member Tom Pfeffer could be a liason. As a quid pro quo, the magazine could enlist our

photographic services. Maybe Andi and Rob could help our progress with the championship issue with NSAA.

Andi and Rob’s contact info (esp. emails) are in the magazine samples they handed out at the meeting.

People can go to spiritofomaha.com to create an account, put an event on it and they will start the

connecting process to see how they can help promote the event.

Next meeting: Bring images in Lightroom. Paul Bellinger will teach post processing

OCC Minutes April 7, 2015

Treasurer: $2896.43 in the club account. $463.66 in the N4C Conference account.

Equipment: Sue Baxter said the scanner is available, but the color monkey is out.

Library: Ron Schmidt encouraged members to borrow reading materials.

Springbrook Conference: You must register for the cheaper rate by April 10th.

Lincoln camera club: invites all regional clubs on April 14 to see rodeo photos.

Quest Center: will have good photo journalism ops of horses and riders in action. These horses may go to the

Olympics. They have interesting different breeds in pens around the perimeter and you can talk to the owners

who let you take photos, which are better without flash so the horses won’t spook. Trish Place reported she

doesn’t know if theres a limit on lens size. Not sure if seating is assigned.

N4C digital photos: are due to Larry Headley by April 10th. In the travel category be sure to have the name

of the place in the title of photos. Paul Bellinger also discussed tips for great photo journalism pictures

which should be close-in and action packed. Go on the N4C website for examples.

Horse Racing Photo Ops: Horseman’s park has racing May 7 – 9.

Rebuilding Together as Community Service for Photographers, Too: On April 25, photographers are need to

document an event improving low income houses in Omaha. The served area is between Leavenworth and Vinton

and 16th and 24th. It starts about 8 or 9 a.m. and runs til 5 or 6 p.m. at the latest. Contact Trish Place

or visit the OCC blog.

Tonight’s Program Digital Reveal: 63 total entries. Comments are on Smug Mug. Myers will set up the

galleries so we can see the comments without a password.

Cannon Equipment for Sale: Jeff Patterson is selling top of the line Cannon items. See Larry Headley or the

blog for more info.

OCC Minutes March 31, 2015

President Paul Bellinger opened the meeting at 6:30. There were 35 members and guests present. Snacks were

provided by Jan and Irv Cobb.

Treasurer: Tim White reported $2871.43 in the club account and $463.66 in the N4C account.
Library: No report because Librarian Ron Schmidt was absent.
Equipment: Sue Baxter reported that the color monkey is available.
March Print Competition: Nikki McDonald has now returned all prints.

Tonight’s program: Tim White gave an excellent presentation about his personal experience with nature

photography and included many practical tips. He will also give this presentation at the N4C Omaha

Conference in September.

Next OCC Meeting: April 7th will be a digital reveal of April entries. The assigned category is “critters.”

We have a total of 63 entries in all 6 categories to be revealed.

OCC Meeting April 28th: Paul B will present working in Lightroom with raw photos, but other members can

bring computers to share processing in other programs if there is time.

N4C Competition: Larry Headley reported on the March competition. There were 38 photos from 7 member who

won 13 awards representing 33% of those given out.

N4C Springbrook Conference: April 24 – 26th; Myers Burmeister will present a show on storage; Ina

Ohnmeiss will present an update on conference information; panaramas for the print competition need to be

given to Myers by Tuesday, April 21 so he can take them to the conference. Be sure to pay strict attention

to requirements on the panarama photos which must have a ratio of at least 2 (width) to 1(height) and have an

area limit of 320 sq. in.

N4C officers ballot: See Paul Bellinger if you are interested in running.

OCC as a Corporation with 5013c Status: It will cost $583 per year for club insurance which will cover any

member at any event we sponsor or participate in.

Lincoln Club will meet April 14th at 7:00 pm giving a program on rodeo photography. Anyone from our club is

invited to visit.

Community Service for Photographers: an Omaha event improving low income houses needs photographers. The

served area is between Leavenworth and Vinton and 16th and 24th. See Trish Place if you are interested.

Info is also on the blog.

Selling Photography at Arts and Crafts shows: Steve Schwiesow shared his experience.

CREDENTIALED EVENTS:

Paul Bellinger and several members went to Wisconsin snowcross.
Paul Bellinger, Gary Prill, Beth Button, and Ron Schmidt went to motocross at Mid America
Garth Brooks is coming up.
If you’d like to attend a credentialed event, see Paul Bellinger for instructions.

OCC Minutes March 17, 2015

Vice President Myers Burmeister presided with 24 members present.

Treasurer: No change in our balance from the last meeting.

Tonight’s Program:

Print Contest: Nikki presided over the finishing of the critique of the entries, followed by a reveal of the

winners.

Break: Cookies were provided by Larry Cameron.

Show and Tell: Members showed only 6 photos each because of the print contest.

N4C Business: We have received final papers for incorporation and then we can file for 501C3 status. We

will need 7 members on the board of directors (4 officers and 3 at large). A quarum is 25% of membership. A

report must be filed with the state every two years. Changes can be made once a year at the May meeting.

From here on, the officers are elected for two years.

501C3 status does not make us exempt from Nebraska tax, but there may be some kind of paperwork we could

submit to the state for an exemption.

OCC Minutes February 24, 2015

Treasurer’s report: OCC acct. $2847.23
N4c $463.66 with expected expenditure of $200.00
Equipment report: The Color Monkey is out and the scanner is available.
Library notice: Fr. Don Doll book available

Next meeting is March 3rd and will be the print competition reveal with a guest judge.

N4C winners for this month include a 1st place for Mike B.arker in the travel category. Congratulations.

Photo Ops and meetings:

Iowa Fair Linn Camera Club Speaker at Cedar Rapids Free April 25 (Springbrook weekend) (Sorry I didn’t

get the name of the speaker, but Paul and others expressed their opinion that it was a worthwhile trip.)

KPAQ is interested in video taping OCC meeting or broadcasting local video. Gary will send the club video

that he made. Anyone else interested in entering a self-created video may enter as well.

Arena Cross Event will be at Mid America - Feb. 26, 27, 28

Goose count at Squaw creek, various eagle sightings around the area.

Trips to Ecuador are available, with information to be obtained from Trish.

The Lauritzen Garden orchid show is next weekend.

Additional information and business
Ina was cookie monster, bringing home-baked goodies.
20 members including Barbara Smith, guest, were present.

Gary inquired if there were any problems with calendar? Please let Gary know if you cannot access meeting

information.

Larry expressed thanks to the judges of last month’s digital competition and the great comments on the

entries.

N4C convention notes : If anyone has any contact to any large corporations or potential sponsors, let Paul

know if you can be a contact person.

Ina has sample copies of donations letters to send (or take) to potential sponsors.

The Program schedule is now 2-tracked instead of 3. Members received a color-coded spreadsheet that is

clearer to read and visually appealing.

Check schedule to see if you are planning to present to make sure you are listed properly.

Nikki will contact steam punk group to schedule times and place of appearance

Program: Nancy Ouderhuisen presented a very interesting slideshow of her photos from Desoto Bend and gave

information about the history of the park and the flora and fauna that can be seen on the trails. She

mentioned that the wildlife is quite accessible without extensive walking, because visitors are not allowed

more that a few feet from the road or trail.
Pictures included a variety of birds and mammals, landscapes and experimental camera work showcasing the

colors and patterns to be seen there.
Minutes - March 3, 2015

Meeting called to order at 6:30 pm by President Paul Bellinger. Twenty three members and one guest present.

Treasure Tim White is home recovering from cataract surgery. We look forward to seeing you at our next

meeting. Best wishes for a very speedy recovery.

Special thanks to Nancy O for her DeSoto Bend presentation at

our last meeting. Great job Nancy, well done.

Larry Headley announced results from the last N4C competition.

Our club had 32 entries and received 11 awards. First place by Mike Barker, 4 honorable mentions and 5 merit

award! Well done!

This evening is our second and final print competition for the club year. Our judge for

this evening had a death in his family, so Nikki and David came up with "plan B". Each member present

received a group of judging sheets and all of us participated in the judging. We had great discussion on the

prints and were not able to get through all the prints, so we will finish at our next meeting.

Cookie Monster:

Tom Pfeffer, thank you Tom.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm.

Submitted by Sue Baxter
Standing in for Secretary

Marty Barker