Omaha Camera Club

Monday, February 1, 2016

OCC Minutes September 16, 2014

Meeting called to order at 6:30pm by our newly elected President Paul Bellinger. Nineteen members present.

Treasurer Tim White reports a treasury balance of $2,097.43 as of meeting time this evening. Dues are due -

see Tim.

As our club will be the host for the Fall N4C Convention - 2015, a second, separate bank account is

needed to process the monies collected. Motion made by Craig Niedbalski, second by Larry Headley, discussion

by club, vote taken. Unanimous vote to establish second account. Tim White will make the necessary

arrangements with our bank.

The next organizational meeting for the convention is Tuesday, September 23rd, 7pm

at Jason's Deli, 120th and L. Contact Ina Ohnmeiss for more information.

Larry Headley is collecting entries

for the next N4C competition. Please have your images to Larry no later then midnight, September 28th.

Ina

Ohnmeiss reports our club N4C winners from the 2014 Convention as Nikki McDonald with a third place award and

Mike Barker with two Honorable Mentions. Congratulations!

River City Roundup Rodeo is quickly approaching,

September 25th - 28th. If interested in applying for credentials to shoot at the event, contact Paul

Bellinger for details.

Our old club laptop is sitting in a corner collecting dust. After discussion, motion

made by Sue Baxter, second by Ron Schmitt to donate the laptop to Irv Cobb. He will refurbish the machine and

find a student that will put it to good use. All members present voted in favor of donation.

Lastly, our

condolences go out to Nikki McDonald on the sudden death of her daughter. We are here for you Nikki.

Submitted

by Sue Baxter
Substituting for Marty Barker

OCC Minutes September 2, 2014

New President: Paul Bellinger presided.

Library – no report

Treasurer: Our bank account has $2422.43.

Monthly Club Competitions: Contest info goes to Myers Burmeister whose email is mcburmeister@gmail.com.

He’ll send out a calendar of when photos are due and when the reveals will be each month.

N4C Competition: N4C comprises 50 clubs in 11 states. Monthly competitions have 5 – 6 categories.

Entries should be to Larry Headley by Sept 10. Our club is judging the creative category this month and we

need 3 judges. Judges will need excel knowledge because the photo info is sent by spreadsheet. There will

be 120 entries and comments are needed. Paul encourages people to enter and judge to learn more about where

their own photography stands.

Lauritzen Gardens: There are monthly workshops costing 15 dollars for garden members and 20 dollars for

non-garden members. The purpose is learning better photography with real practice and then critiquing with

feedback. This Sunday’s workshop will be on the model railroad – see Lauritzen Garden Website.

N4C Conventions: The OCC will host the N4C convention on Sept 17 – 19, 2015, at the Ramada Plaza on So 72nd

St. We need members to help with publicity, set up and tear down exhibits, vote on logos. We’ll use the

title “focus on Omaha.” The next planning meeting is on 23 with the place TBA. Ina and Myers will represent

the club at this year’s convention in Hudson. Ina moved that we have club t-shirts for 2015.

Traveling: If you plan to travel, it’s a good idea to get together with other members who have already been

there for tips on places not to miss and how to get there.

Photography Society of America - https://www.psa-photo.org is a very worthwhile website.

Press Credentials: Paul can help you get access to some special events if you contact him ahead of time.

He can help you know the requirements for getting in as a photographer. It’s very important to know the

end result (what kind of images) that the event wants from you BEFORE you go.

Tonight’s Program: Show and Tell

Next Meeting: September 16 - Competition Reveal

OCC Minutes August 12, 2014

Meeting Called to Order: at 6:35 by president Trish Place.

September Schedule: To assure that there is plenty of time for the September judging, we will have “show and

tell” at the first meeting on Sept 2, and the judging reveal at the third meeting on Sept 16th. September

contest files should be sent to Myers Burmeister mcburmeister@gmail.com by this coming Sunday Aug. 17th.

The assigned subject is “Steps”. Remember to double check the contest rules for this year on our OCC

website. The new rules are more in sync with the N4C rules.

Treasurer’s Report: Dues are due - $25 per single member and $35 per family. Please pay dues to Tim White

at the picnic on Saturday, August 16th or as soon as possible. Our club bank balance is $2173.93 as of July

9th.

Equipment: All equipment is accounted for: Tim White has the scanner and Dhruba has the color monkey.

Judges needed: Trish sent around a sign up sheet for judging this year’s contests.

Picnic: Trish recirculated the sign up sheet to bring food to the picnic. Trish can’t be there so we need a

volunteer to be at the site from 10:00 – 2:00. Please remember there are no trash cans there and we need to

take our trash out with us.

Picnic Activity: Dhruba proposes we spend 30 minutes shooting photos at Werner park after eating. These

pictures would be shown at the next show and tell. Subjects could be trees, birds, people fishing, kids,

plants and flowers, bugs, butterflies, food, vehicles, graphic elements. Dhruba assigned members to lead

small groups shooting the various subjects.

N4C Conference in Hudson, Wisconsin sept. 11 – 13th. Ina Ohnmeiss will attend and bring home the awards

given to our OCC members in the N4C judging of “the best of the best” for the year.

Iowa State Fair: Ribbon winners were Mike Barker and Nikki McDonald. Larry had 2 photos displayed which

was an honor because only about 20% of all entries are displayed.

Change of Meeting Site? We’d like to consider moving our meetings to the Millard Library, but postponed

further discussion until September 2nd.

Tonight’s Program: Show and Tell

Minutes submitted by

Marty Barker, Secretary

OCC Minutes July 8, 2014

Club Business

President Trish Place opened the meeting at 6:30 at the Millard Public Library. 31 people were present.

Treasurer’s Report: We have $2152.23 in the bank.

Library Report: Ron Schmidt reported no changes but had a question about how long to keep photo magazines

such as PSA journals and others. We decided to keep them18 months and then give them to assisted living

places or libraries.

Snacks: Nikki McDonald brought treats.

Club Picnic Aug 16: 10:00 – 2:00 Saturday Aug. 16th @ Walnut Creek Park at 96th and HWY 370. We’ll be in the

larger shelter farther back from the entrance. Trish sent around a sign up sheet for the potluck. She’d

like a headcount - for example Nikki +1, along with what each person plans to bring: main dish, munchies,

dessert, etc.

Tonight’s Program: Show and Tell

Next Meeting: Aug 12 will be back at the Omaha Home for Boys

Fun Things Coming Up (will be posted on the club blog)

Rockbrook Tent Sale: At both stores at 108th & Center and at 169th also; Thurs, Fri, and Sat from 9:00 to

5:00; they sell good used gear and have bargains on new items. At 108th St. ONLY yoou can sell your old

stuff for cash or trading credit; equipment doesn’t necessarily have to work to sell.

Railroad Days July 12 – 13 from 9:00 – 5:00 at 5 locations; $15 for a family pass;

Planes at Offutt: July 19 – 20 with Blue Angels

Burwell Rodeo: July 23 – 26 at Burwell, Nebraska

National Balloon Classic at Indianola, Iowa: July 25 – Aug 2

Iowa State Fair: Begins Aug 7th

Submitted by Marty Barker Secretary

OCC Minutes June 10, 2014

Meeting called to order: President Trish Place called the meeting to order at 6:35. 26 People were present.

Next Meeting Reminder: MILLARD LIBRARY!! July 8th.

Treasurer’s report: Tim White reported that our balance is $2152.23. Anyone is welcome to look at the bank statements. Hotshops sales - 10% on 535.23 gave the club 53.52 coming from: Beth Button, Mike Barker, Sheryl Lee sold pictures.

Tonight’s meeting: Trish brought the lighting equipment she bought for taking portraits. She gave a demo and said she is willing to loan it out to club members.

The lighting equipment includes:
2 light stands,
lights (including bulbs WHICH SHOULD NEVER BE TOUCHED BY BARE FINGERS)
rectangular light shade,
electric cords,
shades (with velcroe attachments) that soften the light,
a flash trigger that attaches to two possible lights,
an intensity dial,
a hair light for mood lighting or in back of the subject – the color can be changed and the light comes with a socket and cord,
a cone to direct the light,
filters (red, yellow, blue, frost, honeycomb),
a barn door for directing light,
a light diffuser,
backdrops (one black, one white, one black and white marble),
does not have a user manual but the manufacturer has tutorials on line.
Paul Evans served as a model to see how the lighting works when taking portraits.

Library report: Ron Schmidt has some books and magazines to share.

N4C Committee Meeting: June 19 at Jason’s Deli at about 123rd and L

Tonight’s Meeting: Show and Tell

OCC Minutes May 20, 2014

Meeting Called to Order: by President Trish Place at 6:30.

Treasurer’s Report: Our current balance is $2182.23.

Hotshops: Paul Bellinger, Linda Davis and Paul Evans will monitor this weekend. All photos must be taken down by June 2nd - can be done during the day

Visitor: – steve found us on line.

Library: Dhruba will transfer the books to Ron Schmidt.

Equipment: Scanner found. Larry Headley has the monkey. A woman contacted the club saying she had bought Squarebox lighting equipment, but wants to resell it in new condition. Trish bought it as a resource for the club. Came with two soft boxes on stands, umbrella with tripod, lighting gadgets, barn door with filters, backdrops. All in a bag the size of a very large sports bag. Trish will have a meeting soon where we can all bring camera and experiment with it. Trish will loan it out if members are interested.

Lauritzen Gardens: wants photogs to teach classes but Larry Headley called Brian and hasn’t heard back yet, so we don’t know if Brian has filled the request.

Wedding Photog wanted: Chrissy Jackson - Sat. Jul 19th.

Iowa State Fair: Nikki posted a link for the fair photo contest. Aug 7 – 17th. All photos must be B and W because of Ansel Adams theme. Entries must be postmarked by midnight Saturday, June 7.

Upcoming Photo Ops:

Shakesbeer on the Riverfront: 5:00 – 9:00 pm, Friday evening the 23rd, lots of different beers, snippets of Shakespeare’s works, boats on river, see nebraskashakesbeer.com

Sand in the City first Friday in June

Other events: Special Olympics, Big 10 Baseball tournament, Junkstop, KC Maker Fair

Assigned category cards: Trish printed assigned categories on cards to put in your photo bag.

Tonight’s Treats: Irv brought snacks

Shakespeare on the Green at UNO: June 19 – july 6

OCC Minutes May 6, 2014

President Trish Place opened the May business meeting at 6:30.

Treasurer: Current Balance $2128.43 with a check pending for $200.00 from the sale of an old club projector; $70 – 80 has been received so far from sales at Hotshops.

Library: Dhruba didn’t have any news to report.

Cookies Marc Maschhoff provided tonight’s snacks

Hotshops: had lots of traffic last weekend; on Sunday photos were sold by Mike Barker, Myers Burmeister, Beth button; Trish sold coasters; now is the time to contact friends, family, etc to get more people in there. If you have more time to go help at the Hotshops, let Trish know.

Orange City, Iowa Tulip Festival: May 15 – 17; you can buy tickets for other events such as flower show, quilt show, car show, etc.

Lauritzen Gardens: wants to expand its educational shows and is looking for a photographer to conduct a class. Pay is $37.50 per hour. Contact Brian. Trish will invite him to speak to the club.

N4C Committee Meeting: May 13 at Jason’s Deli, 12320 L St., 7:00 p.m. in the L St. Market Place

Sand in the City Invites Photographers to Record Sculpturing Process: Ryan Rourke, Development of Events coordinator for Nebraska Children’s Home, spoke on this year’s theme “Family Fun in the Summer Sun” which will be June 6 – 8th. He said 19 teams corporate teams will participate usually donating about $45,000 dollars/year. On the 6th teams start creating sculptures by compacting sand from 10:00 – 12:00 eventually producing sculptures from Leggos, Frozen, Turbo, Clash of Titans, etc. No admission charge. If shooting photos on Friday, dress in clothes that could get wet and sandy. Set your camera on the right date and time so Gary can organize them chronologically as a club group. Sue asked if we can use Participant parking. Go to Lot B North of Hilton west of Century Link and south of baseball field.

46th Annual Garden Walk: June 8, from 9:00 -5:00, see spiritofomaha.com, 6 gardens to stroll in, sponsor UNMC Monroe Myers Institute, $15 in advance - $20 on day; call 402-614-1721

Darkroom Equipment: Bob Hughes brought a timer and film tank. If interested contact Bob.

Free National Public Garden Day: 9:00 – 5:00; free admission to Lauritzen Gardents, Fri May 9.

Tonight’s meeting is election of officers & committee chairs

We nominated and voted for President and Vice President:
Nomination for President: Paul Bellinger was nominated, seconded, and approved.
Nomination for Vice President: Myers Burmeister was nominated, seconded, and approved.

Election of officers and chairs (cont’d)

The following people volunteered to begin or continue to fill the following positions:
Program Committee: Ina Ohnmeiss, Dhruba Chakravarti, Marc Maschhoff (new)
Digital Chair Person: Myers Burmeister (new)
Librarian: Ron Schmidt (new)
Secretary: Marty Barker (continue)
Snack Coordinator: Marty Barker (continue)
Equipment Coordinator: Sue Baxter (new)
Treasurer: Tim White (continue)

Nikki McDonald will be asked if she wants to continue as Print Competition Chair.

Club Competition Rules and Regs:

Trish reviewed the current competition rules. There was a discussion about the September digital reveal because it’s the first one after the summer break. We voted to have it be the 3rd Tuesday of the month with the first Tuesday for Show and Tell.

Mike Barker suggested we follow the competition categories and rules of the N4C but include our Assigned category. N4C categories are as follows:

Nature – natural world no hand of man exept finceposts used by critters, but not feeders, setting natural at zoo
Photo Journalism: tell a story – no altering; no elements modified but can crop, naturally sharpen, brighten
Travel – must have location in title so that truth can be verified.
Creative – similar to our “anything goes”

We discussed whether N4C’s stricter rules would encourage or discourage new members. We also discussed the generational gap within photography because younger people see it as an art going from the camera to the computer with filters and post processing. We need to keep this in mind in our competitions.

We voted to adopt the N4C categories but not necessarily their strict guidelines.

Reminder: Assigned Category photos must have been taken after April 15, 2014.

Tim White: Reminded us that for the Hotshop sales he’s in charge of the money for inventoried items only.

OCC Minutes April 29, 2014

Different Meeting Venue: We met at the Hotshops at 6:00 after hanging our photos at 3:00. Photos will remain displayed and for sale through June 1.

Hotshops project: Tim White reported on how to report your own sales or another member’s sale and collect the money. June 2 is the day for taking down the photos. We discussed other details about handling the weekends. Marty sent around a sign-up sheet. Normally Hotshops is open 9:00 - 6:30, but this weekend it’s until 8:00 on Saturday and 5:00 Sunday.

Next Meeting May 6th: This will be our business meeting covering elections, rule changes, etc. We need lots of input on running the club next year.

N4C: There is one month left for competition. Please submit entries to Larry by May 10. The N4C represents 11 states. In April, the OCC had 29 entries by 9 members who won 11 awards in these categories:

Travel: Paul Bellinger, Mike Barker, Rick Yang
Pictoral: Rick Yang
Creative: Larry Headley, Mike Barker, and Rory Dillon
Journalism: Rick Yang, Trish Place,
Nature: Nikki McDonald, Rory Dillon

Club Projector for sale: Irv Cobb’s church wants to offer $200 for it. Gary moved to sell it to them at that price and the club voted to approve the sale.

Rebuilding Together: Will need many photographers next April to document the changes made in the homes as they are updated and improved by volunteers.

Springbrook N4C: Paul and Linda went to the N4C conference in April. They saw a mock judging of images as a training session for clubs to help people judge by the rules and give positive comments along with helpful critiques. Paul gave some specific examples of what could be learned by a mock judging. He also explained the N4C scoring system which often comes down to several decimal places in close competitions, resulting in a score of 43 out of 45 only winning an honorable mention. It’s really important to know the N4C rules before entering photos.

Paul and Linda recommended that club members go to N4C special meetings next year since we are hosting the 2015 conference.

Another lesson Paul demonstrated is “ETTR: Expose to the right” of the histogram because the darker side is where the noise is when shooting jpg. Histograms in the viewer of the camera are given for JPG but if you shoot in Raw you can recover some of the bright spots. He learned this from photographer David Graham and dxomark.com is a website with specific data for cameras.

Paul also suggested a contest called “Choose the Spot” and members have a week to get a shot. gotomypc.com and dropbox.com are apps for ipad that can later send photos to your computer.

(Continued below)

OCC planning meeting for the N4C conference: On May 13, there will be an OCC planning meeting for the N4C conference in 2015.

Treats: were provided by Linda Davis.

OCC Minutes April 15, 2014

Trish Place presided at the meeting with 23 members present. Snacks provided by Ginny Evans. There will be an assigned subjects discussion after Show and Tell tonight.

Treasurer’s report: Tim White says our balance $2128.43.

Equipment: Irv Cobb wants the color monkey, but we’re not sure who has scanner.

Trip to Ecuador: Dan Suzio, an area phototgrapher, has spots available for a trip to Ecuador. He will go to Costa Rica next March. His link is on our website.

Wants Photog: A woman named Emily Horn wants a photographer for a Celtic theme wedding in September in Omaha at a barn south of Louisville around sunset. She only wants a disc of photos.

Facebook “Snapknot": a site on which you can post your info as a wedding photographer.

Filmstreams: Jordan at Filmstreams Theater near Ameritrade Stadium says the film “Finding Vivian Maier” will run from Apr 25 for 1 week. Maier was a photographer in the 1950’s.

July 8 Meetng: The club can’t meet at Wurdeman Center on July 8th, but Sue found another place at the Millard Public Library at 13214 Westwood Lane, about 1/2 way between Center and L Streets on 132nd and is near interstate exits. It has a good size room for free if we sign up early, and we can move there starting in November. Members voted to go there July 8th.

Corsica Grand Exhibit 2014 - a world-wide photo competition with 5 classes; entrance fee $20 or 15 euros, sponsored by the Photo Club of Arizona

Funeral Services for Rory Dillon: There will be a viewing Thursday from 4 to 7 at John A Gentleman on 72nd near Creighton Prep HS, and the service is Friday at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints at176 and Spaulding at 4:00.

Hotshops: Turn in photos titles and prices to Larry by April 16th. He also needs the info on extra photos to replace those sold. Also indicate if any photo will be replaced by a duplicate. Trish wants to meet with people tonight after the meeting to discuss a few more details.

N4C Ina - wants to meet with committee people on the 2nd Tuesday of May, the 13th.

Nikon Night at Rockbrook Camera: May 1, at Embassy Suites in Lavista. Nikon rep will talk about models: d7000, d7100, d600, d610; $25 registration, info on rockbrookcamera.com

April 29th Meeting Change of Location: We will meet at 6:30 at Hotshops at 1301 Nicholas just north of Ameritrade Stadium. Hotshops participants will hang their photos starting at 3:00.

Older Club Equipment and Old Prints - Gary and Sue suggested we sell these at Hotshops

Assigned Categories for 2014 - 2015:

Sept - STEPS,
OCT - SIGNS,
NOV - REFLECTIONS, (prints)
DEC - DOGS AND CATS,
JAN - TWISTED,
FEB - SPRING FLOWERS,
MAR - DOORWAYS (prints)
APR - LITTLE CRITTERS

OCC Minutes March 25, 2014

Vice President Paul Bellinger conducted the business meeting. 20 members signed in.

Big Blue Ranch - Tim White is setting up a blind to look at Prairie chickens.

Photo Shoots: Several members are going on photo shoots soon. Contact Paul Bellinger or Irv Cobb if interested in going along.

Possibilities for new meeting sites: Marty Barker is still looking into the Arboretum and Sandy Wentworth said we should contact Calvary Christian in Shadow Lake.

Library: Dhruba was not here to report.

Treasury: Tim White reported we have $2,103.4.

Snacks: George Sinos brought cookies tonight.

N4C: Larry Headley reported we had a good month with 30 entries by 9 members. There are 9 photos yet to be judged, but we have 9 ribbons so far.

Hotshops in May: Tonight after the presentation on Africa there will be a Q & A about the Hotshops sale in May.

Squaw Creek has been popular among members

PHOTO OPS
Car shows (shine and show) are starting soon. The Bushwacker show will be at 7400 Main Street in Ralston
Shriner show
29th orchid show at Lgardens

Paul Evans has photos at Fort Omaha and will have photos at Connect Gallery starting April 2

N4C Springbrook Meeting will be April 25 - 27.

Tonight’s program: “Africa” presented by Donna Gustafson, from the Lincoln CC

Next Meeting: April 1 digital results with out of state out of state as the assigned category.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

OCC Minutes March 18, 2014

President Trish Place conducted the meeting. There were 27 people present.

Several people visited the Lincoln Camera Club and did get a number of people to sign up for committee positions for the N4C Conference.

A website called Lynda is being researched for a possible club membership because it provides photography courses and tutorials.

An organization to help people stay in homes by updating and redecorating is “Rebuilding Together.” They need persons to take photos before and after the work is finished, April 26th. More information to follow.

The international horse jumping show with 200 horses is April 11 and 12th.

The Bluffs Arts Council is sponsoring marketing workshops for artists. There are 3 weekends: March 28-29, April 11-12, and May 9-10.

Hotshops update: There will be a 4x6 ft. space per person and we need to hang everything and supply all hanging materials. Each photo needs a name, contact info and a price. People must have all information about the photo WITH each photo. Participants must have a bio sheet for visitors to read. Cards and flyers are a good idea.

Treasurer’s report: We have $2103.41.

The committee to search for a new meeting place reported that 2 churches and the Boystown Hospital all said “no” because we are not a service organization. The College of St. Mary wants $75 per meeting and the National Guard did not reply to our inquiry.

Paul Evans volunteered to provide snacks on April 15th.

Minutes taken by Mike Barker

Minutes typed and submitted by Marty Barker

OCC Minutes March 3, 2014

There was about 30 members in attendance, 2 visitors.

The meeting was print reveal in all categories with assigned subject being “color”. There were over 40 prints submitted with the overall winners print going to Steve Schwiesow.

Rory Dillon brought treats.

Trish mentioned a print entry she received via email titled Water Collective. Contact her for information.

Larry Hedley mentioned 14 entries in N4C last month with 4 awards, posted on website.

Tim White is doing a presentation on Thursday 3/6 at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center at 7 pm.

Digital prints for April competition are due to Don Cross by Sunday 3/9 – subject Out of State.

Several members will be attending the Lincoln Camera Club on Tuesday 3/11/2014 as guests and to talk to them about helping with our N4C conference in 2015.