By spring I should have a whole stack of things lined up for camera club competitions, but somehow that never seems to happen. So, as usual, I spent the week before the salon entries were due (in mid-March) trying to figure out what I should enter. Prints: Open color Heading into Winter at Wind Cave Read More …
I showed up at the March salon hoping that some of my good fortune from February would continue. No such luck. Prints: Open monochrome In the Race to Win Last fall I printed black and white versions of several images from last summer’s bike race. This seemed like one of the better ones, so I Read More …
I was around for the February salon too, which was nice. Prints: Open color Blue Bug in San German, Puerto Rico I considered saving my highly stylized blue bug image for the upcoming Creative digital competition. However, the print turned out so well that it didn’t make sense to submit it as a digital image. Read More …
For once I was in town for the salon and I liked the digital topic, so I was hoping it would be a good night! Prints: Open monochrome I always struggle with monochrome. Most of it is an inability to “see” in black and white, but I also have some technical challenges getting the tones Read More …
Like the previous month, I was out of town for the December Saint Paul Camera Club salon. Prints: Open color Botanical reflections I love this image. Maybe I’m biased by the fact that I was able to capture it without a tripod by balancing my camera on a ledge in just the right spot and Read More …
I missed this salon, so have no idea what was going on in the judge’s mind. Just saying. Prints: Open Monochrome Secret Garden at San Juan Capistrano I like how the spiky plants contrasted with the hard features and geometric shapes of this courtyard. I also think I got a really nice traditional black and Read More …
This was the first real salon of the season, since the scavenger hunt doesn’t count toward our annual point total. And it was an ok start for me. Prints: Open color I got an 8 for each of my color prints, which put them in the awards for this month. I dream of fireworks I Read More …
The Saint Paul Camera Club begins each season with a “scavenger hunt” that requires members to search out and photograph specific types of images. As in the past scavenger hunts I’ve participated in, all photos had to be taken in Saint Paul during the day of the contest. This year participants had to submit images Read More …
The city of Saint Paul is running a Mississippi River photo contest on Instagram, and I was the August winner!
The Saint Paul Camera Club’s annual awards were presented at the beginning of June. Like last year, I made sure to enter every competition. That helped me collect points (for which there are awards), but it also pushed me to try things even when I didn’t feel very inspired. I pretty much succeeded when it Read More …
I was back in town for the May competition, but now the pressure was on, as this was the last competition of the season and I was currently the top point earner of the year in both the color prints and digital categories. I needed to come up with winners to retain that standing! Prints: Read More …
Once again I was out of town for the salon. However, this time I found a friend to take notes, so I have some idea what the judges were thinking. Prints: Open monochrome As usual, finding and creating suitable monochrome images was a challenge Leaving the courtyard I took this shot in a castle in Read More …
As a new activity for the year, we had a “portfolio challenge.” The challenge was to get out and shoot every month of the year from January through December. We could shoot anything we wanted, but to have a complete portfolio we had to have one image from every month. While that might not sound Read More …
Every year the Twin City Area Council of Camera Clubs (TCACCC) holds a “Spring Break” meeting with speakers, classes, and a competition. Individual competitors are allowed to enter up to four images in each of five categories. Last year I only entered a couple of categories, but the competition is free for camera club members, Read More …
I was in town for the March Saint Paul Camera Club salon, so I could hear for myself what the judge had to say. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone on vacation somewhere instead! Prints: Open color Kamikaze 2 I hate to repeat myself, but I love shooting the state fair midway rides at Read More …
As I write this (in June), the Saint Paul Camera Club has already held the year-end awards banquet. That means I know how I did in this year’s club competition. However, you are going to have to wait until I’ve gone through the rest of the season before I give you the final results. Maybe Read More …
I had lots of options again this month, with what was essentially open color print and open digital monochrome competitions. Prints: Open color Maybe it was too much openness, because I really struggled to find something to enter. Middle falls at Kuang Si It felt kind of lazy to submit another image from Kuang Si Read More …
Usually there isn’t a salon in December, but they added one after a bunch of us whined about wanting more opportunities to compete. So I had another chance (like October) to enter pretty much anything I wanted. Prints: Open monochrome Of course, I still haven’t figured out how to do good monochrome prints. . . Read More …
I was out of town for the November salon, but a friend of mine took a few notes for me, so I have some idea what the judge was thinking. Prints: Open Color Mt. Edith Cavell I took this shot at Jasper National Park in Canada a couple of years ago after waiting a very, Read More …
While you wouldn’t know it from looking at this blog over the past few months, I have been competing in Saint Paul Camera Club salons again this year. The salon season started in October with themes that were pretty open. That seemed like a great opportunity to enter my best stuff and get a jump Read More …
This year’s camera club season is well under way and I haven’t even wrapped up last season for you yet! The Saint Paul Camera Club ends its season with a banquet and awards ceremony in June of each year. Last spring I returned form a road trip just a few hours before the banquet AND Read More …