Special Guest for May 17 Meeting

You'll want to join us for the May 17 Camera Club Meeting.  Sam Bass will be presenting photos and telling stories from his time as a war correspondant in Vietnam.  His presentation "From Pigs and Chickens to the Flight Deck Ballet: Vietnam 1967 - 1970" is based primarily on the photography he made in support of the unclassified stories he produced both in-country as well as off-shore with the Navy during that period. 

Sam is an International Award-Winning Vietnam-era Combat Photojournalist.  He is a former Navy Chief and international award-winning combat photojournalist.  In 1972, Sam was selected Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association, the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the U.S. Defense Department based primarily on his Vietnam photoworks. His photoworks have been described as stunning and provocative, images that challenge the viewer with one stimulating visual experience after another.

We will be meeting at the Eastman Lodge in Room A1 starting at 6:00 PM.

Outer Banks Trip Info

The Eastman Camera Club is planning an extended photo outing to Outer Banks, NC for the week of Oct 7th (contingent on no Hurricane issues).   You don’t have to stay for the whole week…folks can come for the time period that works for them. 

We had so much fun on the Max Patch outing staying at the rental house together, that we are planning on renting a house again.  To arrange housing, we need to know who is planning on going, for what time period and if they are planning on staying with us or making their own arrangements.   

The Outerbanks has a lot to offer!  They have 5 lighthouses, wild ponies, dunes, and Elizabethton garden and lots of other photogenic opportunities.

Please let Tekii Boren know if you will be coming with us to the Outerbanks by May 15^th.  Contact info: tboren@eastman.com or 963-8066.

Outer Banks photos provided by Claude Kelly.

Photo Challenge for May Meeting

The photo challenge for the May meeting is F L A S H .   Photo must have been taken with an on camera or off camera flash or strobe. 

Upload photos to
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=A098EAD7E0361037&id=A098EAD7E0361037%211880&sc=photos#cid=A098EAD7E0361037&id=A098EAD7E0361037%211898&sc=photos

Userid is r.siggins@charter.net and the password is shutter.

Get out there and practice your flash photography.  It's harder to master than you might think.  Practice is your best investment.

Handy Software Tool for Viewing Images

I showed a free little software tool at the club meeting tonight that I've found much more useful and easier to use than the Windows picture viewer.  It is JPEGView Image Viewer and Editor.   I've never used it to edit photos but it's great for viewing.  It is fast, supports multiple file formats (JPEG, BMP, WEBP, PNG, GIF, TIFF), can display image data, including histogram, can manipulate photos and lots of other features.

Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/jpegview/ to download the program.

Monthly Club Meeting Thursday April 19

This month's meeting is Thursday April 19 at 6:00 PM in the Eastman Lodge on Bays Mountain.   The program for this month is how to use PocketWizards to control remote flashes.   The club has PocketWizards and flashes for both Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras so you don't have to lay out hundreds of dollars to buy the equipment to do this - just rent it from us for very low prices.

Mark Plemmons (Corner Lot Photography) has been using PocketWizards to do some of his portrait photography and has gotten some amazing results.  Mark will explain and demonstrate how to use these handy devices  to get the right amount of light right where you want it.

Don't forget the monthly challenge photos - Rock Formations.  Please upload your images to the club SkyDrive website before the meeting.

1. Go to https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=a098ead7e0361037#cid=A098EAD7E0361037&id=A098EAD7E0361037!1880&sc=photos
2. Enter r.siggins@charter.net as the Windows Live ID
3. Enter shutter as the password.
4. Upload your photos to the April 2012 - Rock Formations Folder

The edited photos should be saved in jpeg or tiff format. They will be scaled down to fit the display when we view them so there is no need to make them any larger and 1440 pixels wide and 900 pixels tall

Discounted Rooms Available for Waterfall Trip

Jim Rigsby has gotten a deal at the Cookeville Clarion Hotel for $35/night.   If you are going on this trip and want one of these rooms, contact Jim Rigsby at 863-6727 by the end of today (Friday 4/13).

New Local Printing Option

David Booth wanted to pass along to fellow club members that he is in the process of opening a brand new digital print studio which specializes in large photographic prints. They offer competitive rates on smaller photos (8x10 and less) and the best rates on larger photos (incl 18X24 24X36 and panoramic. Check out their new web page at http://www.shutterbugzz.com/

They are now offering a 40% discount to club members!  This is a limited time offer so don't delay.

More Information on Waterfall Trip to Middle Tennessee

Here's some more information.

We will be staying at the Country Inn and Suites on South Jefferson, Cookeville Friday 4/20 and Saturday 4/21.  Rooms are $79/night plus tax.  Discounts are available for AAA members or senior citizens.   Everyone should make their own reservations.

Those who want to drive down together should meet at the Colonial Heights Ingles parking lot at 4 PM Friday 4/20.   You can also just meet at the hotel Friday evening.  Let Jim Rigsby know if you will be meeting at Ingles so we won't leave you (in case lightning strikes twice and Jim is on time again).

Plans are to spend Saturday at Fall Creek Falls State Park.  There is more than enough there to fill a day.  Sunday will be spent at Burgess Falls State Park and Rock Island State Park before heading back.

Jim Rigsby is the contact for this outing.  Please let him know if you are going and if you will be meeting at the Ingles parking lot.  Jim's contact info is 229-8638 (work) and 836-6727 (cell).

Here's some info on the sites.

Fall Creek Falls State Park SaturdayIt isn't just the 256 foot vertical plunge, but the fact that the nearby area within Fall Creek Falls State Park has another five waterfalls, all unique and of those five a couple more that are really impressive, Cane Creek Falls and Rockhouse Falls.
There are also some short hikes along the gorge where you can get some distance shots of the falls, gorge and rock formations. There is a scenic drive where you can stop and walk to the gorge walls and take some panorama photos.

• Cane Creek Falls (link fixed)
• Cane Creek Cascades (link fixed)
• Fall Creek Falls
• Piney Creek Falls
• Coon Creek Falls
• Rockhouse Falls

Weekend Waterfall Trip - April 20 - 22

Mark your calendar for a weekend of photographing waterfalls in Middle Tennessee.   The Cumberland Plateau in home to a number of fantastic waterfalls, including Burgess Falls and Fall Creek Falls. Jim Rigsby (mmsdad@charter.net) planning this trip with great help from Claire Salvail who knows that area well.   More details will be posted soon.

Welcome to The Eastman Camera Club Blog Site!

There is so much going on in the club these days that a monthly newsletter is not enough anymore.  We've moved to this online blog so that you can get up to date information about club activities, helpful tips, see photos from past outings, and other relevant information.

The blog software does not allow us to manually add users to the list of people to get automatic notifications of updates to this blog.  You can sign up for email notifications here, or use your favorite newsreader software to keep up.   Eventually we will discontinue sending email notifications through the old email list.

Watch for more to come here.