Fontenelle Forest Photo Club Meeting minutes

Agenda items

1. Welcome by President Phil Mininni.

New members: None

Treasurers report by Kathleen: She was absent. Amount in Treasury is:

$1444.67
No income or expenses last month.

Brent: Nothing new

Sue: Nothing new

Judy and Frank: Out of town

Donna Gray: Not present

2. Thank you to the Club and Margaret Block-West for the treats tonight.
3. Survey: 19 have taken it so far. Please take it if you haven’t as it closes next week.
4. The meeting with the forest to go over issues with our website as not been scheduled yet as they have not responded to Phil’s email.
5. Lorraine spoke about her 3 sunset pics. She had learned that the better pictures are after the sun goes behind the horizon and wanted to share her info with the members.
6. Phil wants each member to send him one winter picture and our members will critique them at the January 20^th meeting which will be a zoom meeting only.
7. Brent and Keith White were scheduled to bring treats next month so maybe you can bring them on March 17^th as there was only one person signed up. Just let me know if that would work or not.
8. Ken Smith presented on Astro/Star photography.

Submitted by Club Secretary: Sue Mininni

Survey Monkey Survey

Our survey is now closed. Thanks to all of you who participated.

Ken Smith’s slide presentation

Ken has given me permission to make available his slide presentation from our December meeting. Click on this link

Some members have asked to see the slides with the information Ken showed us. I had posted a link previously that only had his photos.

January 20, 2022 Zoom Meeting

I want to remind everyone that our next meeting in January will be a Zoom meeting only. No in-person meeting at the forest this time.

Winter Scene pictures

Send me one photo of a winter scene. Anything goes here, as long as it is a winter themed shot. At this time, not much snow on the ground. There is still time before the January 20th meeting. It can be an old photo, you are not limited to having to take a picture from this year. We will present your photos to the club on our Zoom call. Club members will critique. Be prepared to describe your photo and tell us what kind, if any, post processing you did.

More Winter Photo Ideas

This video is about 11.5 minutes. I liked the Scottish accent.

Closing Thoughts

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year. As always I am sure I’ve forgotten something to talk about. Please comment below if you have any thoughts about anything!

Phil

No In-person Meeting at the Forest

Our next meeting will be on January 20, 2022. I jokingly predicted a major snow storm that evening. We are going to have a Zoom call for this meeting. There will not be an in-person meeting in January, zoom call only. Kathleen will send out invites to all members in January.

Winter Scene Photos

For our meeting, we will be critiquing each other’s photos. I need each of our members to send to the webmaster one photo of a winter scene. Old, new, or one we may have seen before. Anything goes as long as you stay within the theme. Be prepared to discuss your techniques and post processing thoughts. Please be willing to take some constructive criticism. Remember that snow may come out with a bluish tint and you may want to research why it does. Send your photos to webmaster .

Tips for Snow Photos

Our December 16, 2021 Video on YouTube

Since I could not upload our meeting video to the website, I was able to send it to YouTube. You can skip the break we had. It is at 14:20-23:00 minutes. Ken Smith’s presentation is after our break.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Have you had one of those days, weeks, months? Your webmaster is trying to complete some projects at home, work out issues with the website and dealing with the drama that the holidays seem to bring out in people. The most frustrating is dealing with the hosting site officials in resolving already discussed issues.

Our website is owned and supposed to be administrated by the Fontenelle Forest. This is the issue, I can’t make any major changes because my name is not on the registered admin list. I am asking our board to break our website away from the Forest ownership and purchase with our own funds our own website. If approved I will attempt to get on a new hosting site and transfer. in total, our website. I will try to keep the same URL address, if that doesn’t work we will have to get a new domain name. Leave comments below, your thoughts, about taking on this expense.

There is a representative at the forest we will be meeting with in January to discuss the club and website. If I can get permission and rights to the domain, we will not need to go nuclear and start fresh.

Astrophotography

Ken Smith’s presentation was well received. He has provided a link to the slides of his presentation for you to review. Click on this link to see his beautiful slides of the night sky. Night Sky

Ken is willing to give us a field trip to one of the sites. There were some enthusiastic responses for this. It will have to take place in the late spring or early summer. Details to come out later. Keep in mind it will be a late night. Thanks to Ken for a great presentation.

December 16 meeting video

This is one of those things I mentioned about at the beginning of this post. I tried to upload the video of the meeting from December 16 and the system thinks it already has it. I can’t find it at all. I hope to be able to get it to the website after we have our meeting with the forest administration and get access to the hosting site’s support service.

Survey Monkey Results

We had 21 members complete the survey. Below are the results. Thanks to you who took the time to take the survey. I and the board hope to use this info to make our club a better club. I had to “Snip and Sketch” screen shots of the results. I was limited on what I could do. Most of the bells and whistles for this site cost money. I will start with question #1 and place comments that were made under each question. For those of you who did not take the survey, feel free to leave comments below about the survey.

Q1 depends on what is happening with covid

Q2 and I have some knowledge to participate.
Depends on my work schedule

Q3 Would have to be a day I am not working
depends on when and how vigorous (we can’t walk long ways or on too rough of ground)

Q4 I need more help than i can give.
I don’t know enough about digital.
I am not confident enough to do this
Only know my own camera
If I have a skill they don’t have

Q5 There were no comments

Q6 Depends on work load

Q7 Possibly
NA
maybe for certain jobs

Q8 Will Fields & Kurt Brink(professional photographer that heads Hobby Lobby Framing dept.
I found one for last year. Will continue to look.
Will Fields- maybe studio lighting?
I could suggest some interesting people, but I have never met them.
I sent Phil the name of someon who presented on phone photos at the Omaha photo club. Also the “Great Course” series has one on taking photos with a smart phone.

Q9 I need to think about this..
Lightroom develop module
Not confident enough to do this yet.
I am definitely not a professional but could present something on night Astro landscapes
NA
Not sure of any topics I am that proficient in

Q10 When there is notice of a post.

I have been working on the survey. A big thank you to Lorraine Feldhausen and Diane Kinney for coming up with most of the questions. An email will be going out shortly to our members with a link to the survey site. This is the first time I have used Survey Monkey and hopefully we will gather usable information to guide our club direction.

If you do not get an email with the link and you are a paid up member, email the webmaster at webmaster@fonenelleforestphotoclub.org and let me know you did not get the link and I will send it to you.

Treasurer’s Report for November

Greetings:

Nov. Treasurer’s Report:

No Income

No expenses

Balance: $1444.67

December 16 meeting

Don’t forget our December club meeting at the forest. It will be an in-person meeting as well as a Zoom call meeting. Ken Smith will be our speaker and the subject will be on an updated astro/star photography discussion. You all will be sent a Zoom invite. I hope to see most of you at the meeting in-person. There will not be a “pot luck” dinner this time.

Phone Photography

Below is a 15 minute video about street photography tips. I have been pondering a new challenge for our members. That would be a slide show of our phone photos. I would put these on the home page of the website. What do you think? Please comment below,.

We had our November 18 meeting at Fontenelle Forest. It was a live in-person meeting and a Zoom meeting too. I want to thank Kyle Sorys and Brent Headley for running the camera and monitoring the zoom call. I want to thank Kathleen Crawford-Rose for setting up the Zoom meeting and getting the invites out to our members. We also recorded the meeting to post on our website. I know now I have a face for radio. Not so much for video.

November 18, 2021 meeting minutes

Fontenelle Forest Photo Club Meeting minutes

Agenda items

1. Welcome by President Phil Mininni.

New members: None

Treasurers report by Kathleen: Reminder to pay dues tonight was given if you hadn’t already. Amount in Treasury is: $1444.67

Brent: Nothing new

Sue: Need one more volunteer to bring treats in December. Email Phil if interested.

Judy and Frank: When turning in photos for display at the library or the forest write on the back of your photo if you want it returned to you or not. They have been having a lot of trouble getting members to pick up their photos when brought to the meetings. Some members asked that we publish a new list a few months ahead of time of future topics to be on display so we have enough time to gather them to submit.

• Donna Gray: Photo contest will be back at Bellevue Univ for next year with dates locked in unless Covid takes a turn for the worse.
• Thank you to Terry and Donna Turner and Emmet Egr for the treats tonight.
• Update with Diane Kinney and Lorraine Feldhausen on compiling a 10-question survey for our members to complete through Monkey Survey. It will be published mid-December.
• The meeting with the forest to go over issues with our website as not been scheduled yet as they have not responded to Phil’s email.
• It was voted no for a potluck dinner in December. We will have Ken Smith present again on Astro/Star photography. He has an updated presentation from when he presented in the past.
• Tom Boggs was chosen by the forest to use one of his photos on a Thank you card sent to Forest members for joining the Forest. Congratulations Tom!
• All contest photos are on the club website now.  If there are mistakes or missing photos, please let Phil know.

Aaron Frey was our presenter from Rockbrook Camera and brought in some cameras and other equipment and talked about what is new.   

Submitted by Club Secretary: Sue Mininni

Rockbrook Camera

Thank you Aaron Frey for showing what’s new in equipment. Our members were impressed with the gear you showed us.

Next Meeting December 16

This meeting will be a regular meeting at Fontenelle Forest. By popular vote there will not be a “pot luck” dinner. We will also attempt to do a Zoom call as well as an in-person meeting. Kathleen will send out invites by Monday, December 13.

Astrophotography for December Meeting

Ken Smith will be our program presenter for the December 16 meeting. He has updated his program for star

photography.

October Expenses

Kathleen reports;

Hi Photo Club Board Members.

Updated Treasurer’s Report

August 31^st  Balance        $1331.16

                Dues income           324.00

Sept. 31^st Balance             $1655.16

                Dues income             36.00

                Expenses: Contest   246.49

Oct. Oct. 31^st Balance     $1444.67

Contest expenses are ribbons, $171.49 and judge gratuity, $75.00

   Contest ribbons, $171.49

    Contest Judge,      $75.00

New Balance         $1444.67

Christmas Lights Photography

Here is a short video about taking photos of Christmas lights.

Comment Below!

November 18, 2021, Thursday at 7:00 PM at the Fontenelle Forest. We are meeting in person. New photography equipment will be discussed. Go in the side doors.

Zoom Call in November

Kyle Sorys, a new member, has volunteered to be our cameraman. We will have a Zoom meeting for November for those members who still are hesitant to attend in-person meetings. We will also attempt to record the meeting to have available on our website. Brent Headley has volunteered to monitor the Zoom call as our quality control person.

Kathleen will be sending out invites soon. Check in will be between 6:45 PM till the start of the meeting.

Rockbrook Camera

Aaron Frey from Rockbrook Camera will be our speaker at the November 18 club meeting. Aaron tells me he will show off some new equipment that is available.

December 16th meeting

I have received 20 votes. There were three choices;

1. Do you want a pot luck dinner? Club would provide Fried Chicken. 5 votes.

Members bring a dish, salads or vegetables or a desert dish. We also normally have a slideshow showing off your favorite photos.

2. No, I do not want a pot luck dinner. I would rather have a speaker 10 votes.

present a program.

3. I would like both, a pot luck dinner and a speaker to present a program. 5 votes.

Now I have to find me a speaker, as we will not have a pot luck for the December 16. No pressure.

October Expenses

This from Kathleen;

Greetings:

Expenses in October:

   Contest ribbons, $171.49

    Contest Judge,      $75.00

New Balance         $1444.67

Contest Photos

Are now on the home page slideshow. If you see any mistakes, please contact me at Webmaster@fontenelleforestphotoclub.org

Congratulations to this years winners!

Photo Contest for 2022

From Donna;

Fingers crossed we can pull it off!!  

Donna

Once again I may have forgotten to add something or maybe I went too long. Please comment below your thoughts, criticisms and/or praises. Thank you all for your support.

Phil

Video

A challenge to step outside your comfort zone. A 10 minute video about what to take pictures of and how to look at your subject.

Congratulations to our winners of our photo contest. I will soon put the contest entries on the homepage slideshow. Thanks to Pat Mingarelli for judging our photos. There was a lot of cropping suggestions given. Though he gave technical suggestions, he also gave some positive things we could do to make our photos better. Thanks Pat. Keep in mind judging is also a subjective endeavor.

Nature Conservancy Global Photo Contest Winners

From Tory Ewing

I thought you might like to see this.  I came across a website with the winners of this years Nature Conservancy Global Photo Contest.  Some of the photos are almost as good as the ones from our photo contest.

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/photo-contest/2021-winners/

October 21 Meeting Minutes

Fontenelle Forest Photo Club Meeting minutes

Agenda items

1. Welcome by President Phil Mininni. He appreciates all of our members but some decisions he makes may not appeal to all but he is here for everyone. Example is having a live meeting and a zoom meeting. He cannot do both so if no volunteers to help assist then he makes the final decision.

New members: Mary Headley and Visitor Kyle Sorys (but will probably join)

Treasurers report by Kathleen: Reminder to pay dues tonight was given if you hadn’t already. Amount in Treasury is: $1655.

Per Brent there are no new website updates.

2. Donna Gray will fill in for Judy Dye in collecting photos for display as well as bringing old ones for members to pick up. Always check the table to make sure you have none to pick up. You may submit more than one photo of the same topic. We used to not have enough for a good display, but now we do so after a few weeks up of one batch then another batch will go up so all have a turn at their photo being displayed. The ones displayed at the forest have to have something to do with nature and the ones displayed at the Bellevue Library do not.
3. Donna introduced our judge Pat Mingarelli who went over all of the photos and announced the winners. The winners will be posted on our website.

Congratulations to everyone that won and thanks to all that submitted their photos. We had 96 photos submitted.

4. Thank you to Tory Ewing and Margaret Block-West for bringing treats.
5. The Treat list was passed around for members to sign up as a few spots were remaining. We still need two members to bring treats on Thursday June 16^th which hopefully we will be back at Bellevue University for the photo contest. We also need one more person for Thursday March 17^th.

Please just another reminder to bring items that are individually wrapped or you have placed in a baggie or wrapped in saran wrap (still because of Covid 19). Please no popcorn as too hard to clean up if on the carpet.

A reminder that it’s your turn will be emailed to you about a week before the meeting. (If I don’t forget-Sorry Tory and Margaret).

6. Member list passed around to be filled out with member contact information:

Again, if you were not in attendance or will not be in attendance for awhile because of Covid 19 concerns, please email the webmaster at Webmaster@fontenelleforestphotoclub.org ASAP your information (name, address, email, phone and yes or no if you will accept text messages) so we can verify your information and make any corrections. Thank you.

7. Update with Diane Kinney and Lorraine Feldhausen on compiling a 10-question survey for our members to complete through Monkey Survey. Should be ready to send out within the next two weeks.
8. There will be a meeting set up with the forest to go over issues with our website.
9. It is still undecided if we are to have our Christmas Pot Luck for our December meeting. We may add that as a question on the Survey.
10. For the November meeting, we have invited Aaron Frey back from Rockbrook Camera to bring some cameras and other equipment and talk about whatever we’d like. If our members have any suggestions, please let the webmaster know.

Submitted by Club Secretary: Sue Mininni

Fontenelle Forest Photography Club – Annual Financial Report 2021

Balance September, 2020 $1296.95

Income from dues $464.00

Expenses $429.79

2020 Contest ; judge, 75.00, treats 12.00
Microphone: 42.79
Donation to FF Raptor Team; $300.00

Balance August, 2021 $1331.16


*Because our contest schedule has been delayed, the ribbons and judge
expenses for 2021 Occurred in Sept.

Zoom Meetings

Kyle Sorys has volunteered to set up his camera equipment to do Zoom meetings for us. He and I are going to do a trial rehearsal to see if it will work out. And if it does we will Zoom our November meeting. Kyle was a visitor at our October 21 meeting. He plans to join our club.

December 16 Meeting

Our December meeting is normally a “Bring a Dish” event and the club provides usually fried chicken. We did not have one last year because of the Wuhan virus. This year it was suggested we have a regular meeting without the food. Another member ask why not both. So I will be sending out a questionnaire via email to our members through Kathleen;

Vote for one:

1. Bring a Dish. Food night
2. No food, hold regular meeting. Find guest speaker
3. Do the food and also hold regular meeting

Free Photo Editing Programs

If you do not wish to subscribe to Adobe for Photoshop, here are some free editing programs to look in to.

Top 5. 7 Minutes long.

Thursday at 7:00 PM, October 21, 2021

Just a reminder that our photo contest critique and awards will be presented. Our judge is Pat Mingarelli. You will be able to move your chair as far away or as close as you want to the person of your choice. Mask are optional at this time.

Member’s Choice

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite photo from contest entries. Email the number of the photo you like the most. This vote tally is for members only. I do not know if we have a very large internet presence for a public vote. Click on the link http://www.fontenelleforestphotoclub.org/members-choice/ . Donna is taking votes till October 18, 2021. Email Donna . Do not use the comment section below to vote your choice. Please comment on any other topic or item.

Dues

Dues will be collected by Kathleen if you haven’t already paid.

A Camera Records Light

Lorraine Feldhausen sends this;

I have two photography places that send me emails. This is not a direct quote from one of the lessons, but it gets the idea across:

A camera records light.  What you choose to focus on in that light becomes your picture.

I am attaching two pictures.One was taken on one of the many cloudy days we have had recently.Today I waited until the sun sifted through a tree and landed on this blossom that opened a day or two ago.  Same autumn crocus (different blossom). But the light makes all the difference in the world for color, tone, and mood.The crocus is actually a light lavender. So the second photo is closer to what my eye saw.

This might be something to share at a meeting. Perhaps we could get club members to share different examples of things they have learned like this.

It could be a baby step to getting more involved.

Lorraine

Thanks Lorraine for the input and suggestion.

Kathleen Crawford-Rose

Reports that they have put up the Forest photos up at Fontenelle Forest. There were so many photos that they will be split, half now and the other half later will be displayed.

Monkey Survey

Lorraine Feldhausen and Diane Kinney are working on putting together an on-line survey on Monkey Survey. This is the first time these young ladies have attempted to do this with Monkey Survey. Thank you to Lorraine and Diane. A list of questions will be posted that members can vote on. I believe we will have a password to allow, club members only, access to the survey. I want to get a feel from you where we should go as a club.

I’m sure I probably forgot something

Video on Lighting

Since Lorraine brought it up. About 7 minutes long.

Please comment below

Top of the Website home page

Some of you may not be familiar with our website. The website is at http://www.fontenelleforestphotoclub.org/

Then click on Members Choice “see image above” or click on this link http://www.fontenelleforestphotoclub.org/members-choice/ .

You will see the 2021 contest entries and they are labeled by a number.

Submit your choice to Donna by October 18, 2021

Email Donna at djg618@yahoo.com with the number of the photo you choose as your choice. Vote for only one photo.

Next Photo Club meeting is October 21, 2021

Photo contest winners will be announced and our photos will be critiqued by our judge, Pat Mingarelli