Our first in person digital image competition occurred May 5 at Abbotts Creek Community Center. The meeting was well attended and we had, over 65 images total in monochrome and color for Simon Griffiths to judge. The quality of the images projected onto the screen was less than optimal, so Simon had to make some last minute changes with our Competition Chair, Lynne Necrason, but it all worked out in the end.

At the April 21 meeting on Zoom Nick Palmieri gave a presentation on image manipulation and the use of AI entitled "How Much Manipulation is Enough."

For a print critique on April 7 Ray Pfeifer from "A Photographers Place" and "Click" reviewed the 30 or so prints on display, gave his insights into what he liked about them, and discussed what the maker might consider to improve their work. The presentation was informative and entertaining.

At the March 17 meeting Mark Bowie an Adirondack based landscape photographer presented via Zoom. Mark's topic was "The Art of Seeing Creatively". If you missed it, be sure to look at the recording from the meeting - it is a very informative and entertaining presentation.. You can find more of Mark's work at his web site: https://www.markbowie.com

Attended 160th Anniversary of the Battle at Bentonville on March 15. We had a great time at Bentonville. It was a beautiful day for photographing the battle, encampments and the many re-enactors. At the battle site there were many spectators surrounding the site so it was difficult to get good photographs.There were about 2000 re-enactors in the battle, some firing cannons, guns, riding horses as the north and south(in full attire) approached each other on the battlefield.

During the March 3 meeting, Kevin Lord gave a great talk on his experiences with theater photography. I think everyone learned something, even if you don't do this type of photography. Kevin made it both informative and fun.

Great day at the Wilmington Train Museum in Wilmington, NC. The main attraction was the model railroad layouts in the building. It was fun shooting the model trains and model buildings. And of course the lunch at the Kitchen Sink was fantastic. The restaurant was a little small, but the food was good. It's always nice getting together after a field trip to talk about photography and whatever else comes up.

We had a terrific presentation last night by Mark Edward Harris. The topic was The Travel Photo Essay: Describing a Journey Through Images.

We had 33 members in attendance for our first print competition of the year with the theme of "Weather". 50 prints were entered for judging and scoring. Our scheduled judge fell ill and could not participate. Dick Cicone, a long time club member and experienced judge, stepped in and saved the day. Thanks, Dick, for volunteering on such short notice and for doing an outstanding job. Results can be viewed in 2025 First Competition Results

Jackie Kramer gave an excellent talk on improving your bird photography with plenty of useful and practical tips and tricks. She emphasized the importance of understanding bird behavior and habitat to create more artistic images. Jackie discussed different ways to present birds, including portraits, environmental portraits, and scenes. She also highlighted the significance of light, including incidental, backlight, high key, and low key.

Our speaker for the evening was Mike Ligett who gave a talk on abstract photography. Mike is a wonderful presenter with a casual and engaging style. He went through the history of this art form and showed the works of a number of abstract photographers of the 20th and 21st century. He also shows abstract work from some of our own members, as well as his own work. It was a great evening of education and discussion.

On December 17 some club members met to tour the Raleigh Art Walk. There were a number of holiday light installations up and down Fayetteville St., and more opportunities at the State Capitol and Governor's Mansion which are nearby.

The annual dinner meeting was a well attended success! There was more than enough food to go around. For those of you that did not attend, you missed out on a great night of wonderful food and friendship. The business meeting commenced around 7:30 PM. The presentation also included POM winners for November, POY winners for the year, and a special nod to Bob Carpenter for his fabulous work on the club’s website. The winners of “Photographer of the Year. " For this year there was a tie. The Photographers of the year for 2024 are — Dawn Willis and Frank Clemmensen! Congratulations to the winners! Last but far from least, the club elected its new officers and chairs for 2025. A special thanks to Bob Starkenburg and Lynne Necrason for stepping up to support the club.

Sterling Stevens served to judge our last print competition of 2024 on November 4. He offered comments on composition, focus and color balance in the image and suggested ways in which improvements might be made. The theme of the competition was “Heavy Metal or Machinery” with results available at Fifth Competition Results page.

Our guest speaker for the second October meeting was Bryan Peterson who has written many books on photography. His website is: http://www.bryanfpeterson.com/. His topic for the evening was “Contrast.” He showed us and awakened an awareness of many varieties of contrast. Of course the obvious light and dark — light on dark and dark on light. He introduced us to the “Sunny 16” concept — taking pictures against a sunny background with camera settings of f/16 and shutter speed the inverse of the ISO — this provides wonderful silhouette pictures, of which he had many. Other concepts of contrast were: contrast in patterns, contrast in size, one “foreign” object in a repetitive field, big verses small, in focus versed out of focus, complimentary colors, etc. It was a very enjoyable and illuminating presentation

Mike Gillman, one of the club’s new members, presented an interesting discussion on event photography and displayed an illuminating assortment of photographs he has taken at various events. His presentation covered considerations from first accepting photographing the event to the final delivery of the product. Loved the spontaneity of the pictures! Definitely an informative presentation for anyone considering event photography.

Lisa Langell presented "Creative Photography Ideas". Learn how to think and be creative with your images. See what you can do with your camera, the world around you, and an imagination! Let go of "rules" and start experimenting! Create beautiful art beyond what traditional competitions are asking for.

On September 9 we welcomed Melissa Southern's return as judge for the print competition with OPEN theme. Her comments were well received and offerred opportunity for discussion.

Paul Atkinson presented his experience of being an “Artist in Residence” at a couple of our nation’s National Parks. Paul explained the program, how to become an Artist in Residence, and the planning that went into capturing the awesome pictures he showed us. If you were unable to attend the meeting, members may view the recording on the poll website.

The print competition for the evening was themed “Effects of the Sun” and was judged by Mary Louise Ravese. Mary Louise was a tough grader, but we still managed to give her plenty to consider. Thanks for the comments and educational tips, Mary Louise!

For August 3, the scheduled field trip was to 243rd Commemorative House on the Horseshoe in Sanford, NC. The weather forecast was not very promising so the event was cancelled. A couple of the members(including Steve Jahn) braved the weather prediction and went anyway. This event is held every 1st Saturday of August. It was a very photo friendly event with gunshots, fires and a reenactment of the siege on the house. The photo attached shows the actors in their period attire. Capital City Camera Club looks forward to the event next year.

On Saturday July 20, 2024 the club visited East Coast Classic Cars in Lillington, NC. There were over "100 Street Rods, Classics, Hot Rods, Trucks, Exotics and Antiques" in a 35,000 SF showroom. We had a large turnout of photographers and enjoyed taking photographs of the many cars.

For the July 15 meeting on Zoom, Rad Drew took us on a tour of the world using his photographs. We visited Cuba UAE, Tuscany, France, various locations in the US and other areas. Rad blended a lively discussion of each image with his thoughts about the photo and with information about the areas visited.

During the June 17 online meeting, John Tunney presented an overview of the use of the smartphone app, PhotoPills. John showed some first steps in the use of the app and showed images he had taken using the app for orientation.

On June 1st, 2024 Capital City Camera Club members participated in the 10th Annual Eyes on Main Street "First Walk" in Wilson, NC. The walk was about 90 minutes around the streets of downtown Wilson where 100 photographers from around the world displayed their photography on large displays. The walk was led by Jerome DePerlinghi who founded the Eyes on Main Street.

Our Jun 3 meeting included a critique of member prints. The judge for the critique was Michael Ligett, who provided outstanding comments and editorials for each photograph presented. A free-wheeling, informal discussion was held on many of the photographs with good suggestions on how to make many great pictures even more outstanding.

Christer Berg, a past club member, presented the story of his journey to become a professional photographer. He started in earnest about 2013 when he was between jobs and picked up his camera to concentrated on taking pictures. He described his path from picures of landscapes, of flowers, of objects and of the family. Eventually, he and a friend focused on portraits and, with the help of models, sharpened the necessary skills for that genre of photography. He thought he had portraiture down, until a chance acquaintance suggested he needed to focus on, or develop, a project of pictures. Many of us at the Club are familiar with Christer’s fantastic work and portraits of people in Raleigh and Durham, his first projects. He is now employed as an editorial photographer for Walter magazine and totally enjoys the challenges they provide.

Capital City Camera Club and other photography clubs watched and interacted with World War II living history interpreters as they brought the battleship to life by re-enacting daily duties and drills. It was a rather hot day, but we all really enjoyed the events and many of us ventured below decks to see how the sailors lived and went about their daily duties. There were over 2000 men on this battleship. The "North Carolina" was the 1st of ten battleships launched from the NY Navy yard in 1940 and commissioned on April 9,1941.

On April 15, our own Frank Clemmensen provided the presentation, “My experiences with wildlife.” Frank took us on his personal trip developing his love of wildlife, and in particular, birds. He shared with us his process in developing the concept of an image he wanted and how that image might be captured based on natural observation and persistence. He shared several stories of how pictures of his prey were captured and developed into pictures that had great personal meaning to him and in which he took great pride. Thanks, Frank, for a different and enjoyable presentation with a lot of great images!

The theme for the April 1 print competition was “faces” with judging by Brian Fullington.

Our guest speaker this evening was Amy Horn, a photography instructor at Northern Arizona University and an outstanding photographer of Splash and Water Drop Images. Amy described her journey of exploration as she used simple and readily available items to develope techniques for creating her photographs. She showed many examples as she described the techniques.

The March field trip took the club to the Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site for "Always on Duty" in Johnston County. The event was the 159th Anniversary of the largest battle on North Carolina soil. Approximately a dozen members turned out to photograph the site and exhibits.

The March 4 meeting began with a viewing of the images that have been submitted to the Sister City's competition occurring on March 12. Club member Drew Trenholm followed that showing with a discussion of his experiences with macro photography. Drew encouraged us to get down and look close, really close, and discover a wonderful world of small things — things that we usually tramp on as we go in search of “the picture.” We have seen many of his winning photos in the monthly POMs and our print contests — prints of which make the little look big. He showed some of his photos of flowers and bugs. He also shared his techniques, his tools, and options such as the use of focus-stacking.

Susan Candelario gave an interesting and informative presentation on the use of drones in photography. Susan showed images and in some cases compared photos taken with and with and without the use of a drone to illustrate differences in perspective. She also discussed drone hardware and regulations involved with using drones.

On this February 5 meeting the first Print Competition of the year was held with approximately 40 prints prints in monochrome and color presented for judging. We welcomed Ray Pfeiffer back as judge. Ray offered comments based on composition, focus and color balance in the image and in some case suggested ways in which improvements might be made. to the image.

The speaker for January 15 was Susan Magnano discussing Light Painting. But this wasn’t just light painting as might be done in a graveyard — this was light painting gone crazy on steroids! Susan apparently has had lots of time to come up with new and crazy, creative ways to light paint! The resulting pictures were amazing and other worldly! Her presentation included the tools of her trade and videos of how the effects were created. Truly an interesting presentation.

The speaker for January 8 was Jerome De Perlinghi, Artistic Director for Eyes on Main Street, Wilson, NC. He provided a very informative talk of the behind the scenes workings of the establishment and operation of Eyes on Main Street, which has run for nine consecutive years. He described the search for an organization capable to print pictures to a large scale and the effort to secure approval for mounting them on store fronts. Teams were assembled to mount them and, after 100 days, teams are again assembled to take them down and destroy the huge pictures.

The annual club meeting and dinner was held on December 4. A brief business meeting was followed by David Strevel giving a short presentation on Community Service activity. Then the club president presented the awards. Chuck Milber was awarded Photographer of the Year. Steve was given an award for his service organizing field trips and providing baked goods for refreshments at meetings. Kevin was recognized for his work chairing both Program and Competition committees. Mark was recognized for his work promoting membership and camaraderie.

The speaker for November 20 was Nick Palmieri with the topic of “How to Get a 9”. Nick’s presentation not only took us through the various aspects of a “perfect” image, but also the competition as viewed by the judge. What is the judge looking for and at? What is going through his mind during the brief time he / she views it? How sharp is the image? What is the focal point? Is it exposed properly? Any post-processing issues? Does it have good composition? Nick also discussed an area that is seldom brought up in these presentations. Why do you enter competitions? What do competitions do for you? Do you need to take a break and reconsider what or why? On the evening of the competition, listen to the judge and try to learn your own critiques and patterns for scoring. It is also important to review your images a few days after the competition in light of the critique.

Brian Fullington, local fine art photographer and a former member of the club evaluated the prints for our fifth print competition of 2023. Brian did an excellent job of judging the prints based on composition and technical criteria and made many useful critical comments and suggestions.

For Monday October 16 the topic was “Abstract Geometric Architecture” as presented by Dan Waterman. Dan emphasized his reliance on inspiration, the Zone System (think Ansel Adams), and what he learned from studying other photographic masters (such as Ansel Adams and Brett Weston). He reviewed basic 2 and 3 point perspective and lenses that worked well for him. His view is that lines in this type of photography need to be sharp, so the longer the focal length, the more the aperture needs to be stopped down.

Our presenter last night was Mr. Vanelli (just called “Vanelli”) of Skylum who provided a impressive presentation on studio lighting using an animated application which depicted a studio, various types of lights that could be used, positioning of lights, and the resulting impact on the picture of a model. It was very instructive and entertaining! One year’s access to Skylum software was awarded to three lucky people present.

Mark Battista, a nationally recognized painter and fine art photographer specializing in still life and portrait imagery, presented for the September 18 Zoom meeting. His award winning images and more information can be found on his webpage: https://www.markbattista.com/. Mark’s comprehensive presentation covered all aspects of still live art and photography from camera and equipment, to subjects and arrangement, to post production. Much of Mark’s presentation stressed the importance of lighting and the deliberateness of its use. It definitely placed a renewed awareness of the importance of light for the photographer as well as the artist.

For this first meeting of September was a print competition with theme of Open, for that reason the prints represented a wide range of subjects. Ray Pfeiffer, a frequent judge this year, gave a lively and interesting evaluation of the prints. Ray described his analysis of each print and in some cases suggested ways in which he might make modification to the image.

On August 21, Melvin Guante presented on infrared photography. Mel discussed some of the technical basics of infrared photography, the characteristics of different filters and explained some of his experiences with IR.

The August 7 print competition was targeted at the details found in architecture. Sterling Stevens, a local architectural photographer, served as judge. Sterling experience as an architect and photographer led to interesting discussions.

Guest speaker for July 17 was Joe Edelman and the topic was “The Art of Creative Portraiture.” Joe put on a very professional and awe inspiring presentation on creative portraits. The portraits, although absolutely stunning, are not the same as the typical family portrait. In order to create these works of art, Joe mentioned the need for “divergent thinking” — going beyond creative thinking — and not being afraid to fail. the big take away was collaboration and communications which was an element of all of the steps. Joe’s team for most any shoot is the model, a make-up artist, and the photographer.

Greg Kiser presented on July 10 the topic of “My Evolution as a Photographer.” He shared his growth and evolution in the photographic profession. It was an interesting, and at times, humorous trip through many of the axioms of photography. As he moved toward each one, he learned that wasn’t the silver bullet, but only part of the whole. One the routines he practices each year is reviewing his best 12 pictures for that year, examining and evaluating his style. He finished his presentation on his use of filters and their importance to him.

Kelly Walkotten, described her introduction to scuba diving, her desire to share the underwater sites and her experiences with others through photography. She detailed her introduction to underwater photography and the several stages she went through in her journey to gathering all the right equipment. Completely outfitted and ready to take underwater pictures, Kelly wears 80+ pounds of diving equipment and another 35+ pounds of photography equipment! And someone needs to accompany her to carry and manage the lighting, a very important and key element to good, colorful, pictures. Not much lighting in the deep! Kelly explained the different way light performs at various depths and how she compensates for the lack of light and various factors that need to be considered for getting the perfect picture.

On June 5 an open theme print competition was held. Ray Pfeiffer was our guest judge for the evening and did an excellent job of evaluating and providing comments on the prints. He noted that evaluating and grading the Black and White prints in particular was a daunting task — he grumbled a bit about not being able to use a half point scale! Great work photographers! A silent auction of the printer paper was also held during the meeting. Everything was sold and it netted the club $63!

The May 15 presentation introduced us to floral photography with a twist. Jackie Kramer’s presentation opened the possibilities of reflecting motion and emotion in floral pictures by comparing a floral picture juxtaposed to a picture of human expression. She discussed the tools and props she uses as well as some of the camera equipment such as Lensbaby lenses.

The first meeting of May, held in the Abbott's Creek Community Center, was a print critique. Melissa Southern did an excellent job of critiquing each image, providing great comments, suggestions, and possible things to think about in shooting such images.

We had the pleasure of meeting Luke Colwell in our monthly zoom meeting the night of April 17. Luke is a young nature photographer from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, introduced to us by Hunts Photo. Luke described techniques he has used to enhance the impact of his bird photos illustrating with photos he has taken.

A print competition was held on our first meeting of April. The theme for this competition was "Wheels". Some very creative interpretations of that theme were presented. The scheduled judge was unavailable and by chance a member from the past was in attendance. That past member, Chris Schonwalder, volunteered to judge. His critique of the prints was well received.

Billie Weiss described his role as photographer for the Boston Red Sox baseball team showing a number of examples of his work. His discussion included equipment and techniques for use in the fast motion sports photography.

On March 6, Simon Griffiths’ presentation was a review of his experiences and the visual art he creates. He shows a number of examples illustrating his work and discussed the techniques involved. He closed the presentation by looking to the future and showing an image created using AI, followed by a discussion the implications.

Our Field trip on February 23 to the NC Museum of Art was well attended. Everyone seemed to enjoy walking the museum grounds on a beautiful spring-like day. And there was photography.

The second meeting of this month was held on Sunday the 19th for the joint Sister City Photo Competition with the Brooklands Photo Society in Kingston-Upon-Hull in the UK. Brian Fullingham judged this competition.

On February 6, Kate Medley gave an in-person presentation entitled: "Documentary Photo Journalism". After some technical difficulties associated with the video equipment, Katie gave an interesting and informative presentation. She showed a number of examples of her work at demonstrations and other current events.

The club enjoyed an informative presentation by Gerri Jones on the 16th. Gerri illustrated her techniques for adding textures in Photoshop and described the process in detail.

On January 14 we had our first field trip for the new year. We went to the Aloha Zoo. There was a good attendance.

For the first meeting of January,on the 9th, Charlie Twine gave an in-person presentation on his experiences photographing the NASA space shuttle, its launches, and on the remote operation of cameras in very harsh conditions. He and others taking these amazing pictures, learned a lot of the hows by true "trial under fire” — literally fire! The videos he showed, and the earth shaking audio he played, were truly stunning.