Speakers
John Slonina – November Speaker
John Slonina
Slonina Photography
Email: john@sphotography.com
Phone (508) 736-1167
Website: www.sphotography.com
John Slonina is a professional nature photographer. A passion for wildlife, wild places, and teaching has led him down the path to photography. He has been photographing nature for over 30 years. He also has a photo tour company Slonina Photography which leads instructional photo workshops across North America. John’s goal is to make everything a fun learning experience, and his subjects include landscape, wildlife, macro, nature, and night photography.
John’s work has been published in calendars, books, and magazines and has been displayed in several galleries. John has presented for numerous camera clubs, nature groups, and photo conferences. His teaching style and humor make him a popular speaker.
You can visit his website for his blog posts, online galleries, and tour schedule.
He is a member of the Feisol Pro Photography Team and is sponsored by Hunts Photo and Video.
Landscape Photography
This program will provide several techniques on how to take your Landscape Photography to the next level. Some examples are demonstrated before and after photos and video making the viewer feel like there are right there onsite. We will also discuss how to get great DOF and compositions to make your photos stand out. This program will help you understand the light and use it to your advantage. How to take care of special weather conditions like fog, rainbows, and storms.
John will also discuss strategies for photographing water (lakes, rivers,
and the ocean). A bulk of this program will have a section on different strategies to deal with contrast and bad light. It is a common problem to have a properly exposed foreground and a washed-out sky or a properly exposed sky and a dark foreground. We will also cover how to use contrast to your advantage. Which equipment to buy or skip which filters to use and how and when not to use them.
There will be a demo on common cell photo apps and software that predict the milky way, sunrise, sunset, tides, moon rise/set, and direction of light.
Matt Harbison – Open House Speaker
Photographic Society of Chattanooga 70 th Anniversary Open House with Matt Harbison
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (September 19, 2022) – Thursday, October 20, 2022, the Photographic Society of Chattanooga will hold its annual Open House with special guest Matt Harbison.
Matt is a life-long astronomer and photographer. After pursuing a degree in Philosophy and Religion in college, and establishing a career as a program director in the Episcopal Church, Matt started a real estate photography business from 2012 until 2018. A recipient of Time Life Magazine’s “Best Astronomical Images of the Year” and NASA’s “Astro Photo of the Day” (APOD), he now continues the discipline with a remote telescope and camera in Marathon, Texas. Most of Matt’s astronomy is done with the Barnard Astronomical Society of Chattanooga at one of our many local parks. You can find out more about Matt, see his images and learn about his multi-award winning 7-year Orion Constellation project at his website, www.space4everybody.com . Matt’s program will be, “Some Assembly Required: Astronomical Photography—A Beginner’s Guide”.
Social time will begin at 6:00pm, and the presentation will begin at 7:00pm. Visitors are welcome.
The club will also be celebrating its 70th Anniversary with refreshments to be served, gift bags for attendees and drawings will be held for door prizes. Pixel Connection will hold a Pop-up Camera Store with new photography gear available for purchase. Ed Whitesides with Used Photo Pro will be on site to purchase used photography gear. Berrie Smith will be onsite to clean camera sensors and perform lens calibrations for a fee.
The club will be holding fundraising activities with a GotSneakers.com shoe drive and a raffle for a used Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II with the 12-45mm F4 Pro Lens (35mm equivalent of 24-90mm) and accessories in a backpack. The used retail value of this package is more than $1400. Tickets will be sold for $10/ticket and only 100 tickets will be sold. You must be present to win! Come out and join us for a great night of fun, food, and photography.
The presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the St. John United Methodist Church, 3921 Murray Hills Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416. For more information call 423-344-5643 or e-mail Louann Smith at president@chattanoogaphoto.org
Ledra Woodlee – August Speaker
At 7PM on Thursday, August 18, 2022, the Photographic Society of Chattanooga will present Ledra Woodlee. Ms. Woodlee is an Olympus Featured Pro and the owner and founder of natural Connections Photo Workshops. Her company is the physical manifestation of her love of travel, landscape, outdoor and nature photography. She is the force behind this photographic venture, and she loves what she does—leading photography workshops around the country for people who like to travel, learn photography, and have lots of fun while doing it! With a background in retail photography sales and service, Ledra possesses a broad knowledge of photography gear as well as a photographic technique. Ms. Woodlee’s presentation will be, “A Journey to and Through Wildlife Photography”. Visitors are always welcome.
Join Boot Camp at 6:00pm. Louann Smith will be discussing, “Flower Photography”.
The presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the St. John United Methodist Church, 3921 Murray Hills Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416. For more information call 423-344-5643 or e-mail Louann Smith at president@chattanoogaphoto.org
Colby Mclemore – June Speaker
PSC JUNE MEETING: COLBY MCLEMORE PRESENTATION AND IMAGE CRITIQUES AND WINNERS OF PSC SECOND QUARTER CONTEST TO BE ANNOUNCED
Ask anyone who has won a first-place ribbon in a photo contest, and they will probably tell you that earlier in their photographic journey, they didn’t think they could have won. You may be at that point in your own photographic journey, or you may just want to win more often. In either case, you will want to attend the PSC meeting on June 16 to hear Colby McLemore’s presentation about “How to Win Photo Competitions – It’s Not What You Think”.
Colby says that winning contests really isn’t as mysterious as you might think. There are tried and true methods that can really get you those ribbons, but more importantly, make you a better photographer. Colby will be reviewing these to see which you are willing and able to incorporate into your photography.
Following his presentation, the winners of the PSC’s second-quarter contest – for which Colby is the judge – will be announced. Colby will then provide constructive feedback on the images that were entered in the contest. The images that are critiqued by Colby will be presented anonymously unless you are one of the contest winners.
So if you’d like some feedback on the images you entered in the contest or are interested in learning how to make contest-winning images, make sure you attend this meeting. Colby will be glad to answer any additional questions about your contest images after the program. If you want to talk with him about your contest image, you may want to bring a small print of it or a digital copy on a tablet to the meeting.
The meeting will be held on Thursday, June 16, at 7:00 p.m. in the gymnasium/activity center at the St. John United Methodist Church, located at 3921 Murray Hills Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416.
Colby McLemore is the owner and visual storyteller of Colby’s Photos & Videos. He is a full-time professional whose work revolves around advertising photography and videography for businesses as well as for individuals. If he isn’t on-site at a job, you can find him in his downtown Knoxville, Tennessee studio.
Colby has earned his Master’s, Craftsman, CPP, and Certified Drone Photographer designations. He has also won many prestigious awards. He was in the Top Ten of the Grand Imaging Award in the commercial category and has also been awarded the Gold
Please contact Louann Smith at louann.smith.607@gmail.com with any questions.
The presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the St. John United Methodist Church, 3921 Murray Hills Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416.
For more information call 423-344-5643 or e-mail Louann Smith at president@chattanoogaphoto.org.
Bob Copeland, Mark Gilliland & Jim Madden – May Speakers
MAY MEETING TO INCLUDE A CONTEST JUDGING DEMONSTRATION AND IMAGE CRITIQUES BY A PANEL OF THREE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
by Louann Smith
Have you ever wished you could be present when contest images are judged so you could understand the judges’ thought processes and see how the winners are chosen? PSC members and visitors will have the chance to do just that at the PSC meeting on Thursday, May 19.
At this meeting, Bob Copeland, Mark Gilliland, and Jim Madden will conduct an image judging demonstration and critique. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions at the conclusion of the judging demonstration.
This trio of professional photographers has judged the PSC annual contest for a number of years and will be the judges for the 2022 annual contest.
PSC members are encouraged to submit up to three images for this demonstration. The panel of judges will review and score the images just as they would if the images had been submitted to a PSC contest. All images will be presented anonymously.
Please follow the standard PSC contest rules when submitting digital images for the demonstration. Images should be in jpeg format and not more than 2 MB. The long edge of each image should not exceed 1920 pixels, and the short edge should not exceed 1080 pixels. Image files should be titled in this format: firstname_lastname_title.jpg. Names will be removed before the images are provided to the judges in the same manner as is done for an actual contest.
Images for the demonstration should be submitted no later than midnight on May 12 to louann.smith.607@gmail.com instead of the PSC contest email address. This is to avoid confusion with images that are being entered in the PSC second-quarter contest.
Please contact Louann Smith at louann.smith.607@gmail.com with any questions.
The presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the St. John United Methodist Church, 3921 Murray Hills Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416. For more information call 423-344-5643 or e-mail Louann Smith at president@chattanoogaphoto.org. For more information about the Photographic Society of Chattanooga, visit https://chattanoogaphoto.org.
Michael N. Sobel, Dmd, D-Abfo, Ret. – April Speaker
MICHAEL N. SOBEL, DMD, D-ABFO (ret.)
Photography and evidence documentation in the forensic sciences must meet a rigid and high standard for acceptance in legal systems and courts of law. With over 50 years of forensic science experience and a retired Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Odontology and a retired Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Dr. Michael Sobel aims to present an overview of this field. Besides presenting technical and practical aspects of forensic photography, actual examples of cases will be used as illustrations.
The presentation will consist of an Apple Keynote illustrated lecture lasting about 50-60 minutes discussing guidelines, protocols, and real-life case examples.
Dr. Michael N. Sobel has served in the capacity of Chief Forensic Odontologist for the Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) Coroner’s Office from 1970-2008 (currently the Medical Examiner’s Office). He had been appointed as a Special Investigations Advisor to the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Police Departments and acted as a Forensic Dental Advisor to the Pennsylvania State Police. He has been a Diplomate in the American Board of Forensic Odontology since 1989 (currently retired status). In addition, he is a Retired Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a retired member of the American Society of Forensic Odontology. As the author of a number of professional papers, articles, and book chapters on forensic odontology, Dr. Sobel remains active with his main forensic research interests including human abuse evaluation, patterned skin mark assessment, and photographic and computer enhancement of forensic evidence. He was the original investigator in the first fingernail scratch identification case adjudicated before the courts. He has testified in numerous cases for both defense and prosecution in the field of forensic odontology. Dr. Sobel also lectures in the Osher Lifelong Learning Program at Carnegie-Mellon University and at the University of Pittsburgh. In recent years he was the Chair of the Human Abuse and Neglect Committee of the American Board of Forensic Odontology.
Denise Silva – March Speaker
Denise’s interest in photography started when her grandmother would share images from her travels to Egypt and Africa for safari. The evenings watching slideshows set the seed. 35-years later those seeds took root and inspired Denise to embrace photography and more specifically travel photography and Road Runner Photography Tours was born.
Denise has been recognized as one of the Top 200 Women Photographers Who Inspire by Nature Photo Guides and has had multiple articles published in Extraordinary Vision (EV) Magazine and is a featured artist in Breakthrough Photography’s Guide to Night Sky Photography. Her passion is to share her knowledge of photography while introducing people to the amazing landscapes, wildlife, and people all over the world. She has contributed multiple articles to the Fujifilm X/GFX USA website and has been interviewed by Peggy Farren, of Understanding Photography, on Overcoming the Challenges of Street Photography (Check the interview out here). Denise had three images published in Black & White Magazine, 2021, Smartphone issue. She was also featured in 2021, “Lenswork”, Our Magnificent Planet 2021 edition.
Denise embraces the idea that every day above ground is a good one, so get out and enjoy!
Tom and Pat Cory – February Speakers
Iceland and Beyond:
The Art and Technique of Travel Photography
Tom and Pat Cory are semi-retired nature and travel photographers who have been members of PSC for many years. For 35 years they led photography tours throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim. They have spent extensive time in Iceland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Faroe Islands. In addition to their travels, they have published three photography books and had their work featured in numerous publications such
as Outdoor Photography, Nature Photographer, the PSA Journal, and Sierra Club Calendars.
Travel photography presents both unique challenges and opportunities for photographers. Our goal with this presentation is to share our approach to creating a sense of place with images that go beyond the postcard. As we show images from our travels to Iceland and beyond we will discuss:
- Logistics and preparation
- Equipment selection
- Composition and Light—working with challenging weather
- Realistic Expectations—being part of or leading a group
Neil Chaput de Saintonge and Drew Lefebrve – January Speakers
Introduction to Bird Photography
NOTICE: THE ZOOM MEETING WILL BE PROJECTED ON THE BIG SCREEN AT THE CHURCH
INSTRUCTOR: Neil Chaput de Saintonge
Neil Chaput de Saintonge, a former junior high science teacher, has taught photography for almost 50 years, to over 20,000 students. In that time, he has taught classes and workshops in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. He is well-known for his enthusiasm, technical knowledge and love of teaching. In 1973, Neil studied under Ansel Adams. In Professional Intensive, Summer Intensive, and Workshops, Neil lectures, critiques student work, and meets one-on-one with students to talk about cameras and lenses, and – most importantly – he helps them find their own path in photography. Neil’s photography interests include ballet, documentary, people, birds, landscape, and fine art. In 1979, Neil founded the Southeastern Center for the Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, a two-year school that trained students for careers in graphic arts and photography. After vacationing in Montana in 1988, Neil and his wife Jeanne moved to Missoula and started Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Neil has also been a licensed massage therapist for 30 years, is a Reiki Master, and teaches healing work.
INSTRUCTOR: Drew Lefebvre
Drew Lefebvre is a naturalist, birder, and general outdoor-enthusiast, and she holds an MS in Environmental Education from the University of Montana. She has led a variety of adult education programs, including citizen science, natural history, and trail work crews, and currently works as the Museum Programs Coordinator at the Montana Natural History Center. She enjoys guiding students toward a deeper understanding of the outdoor areas and ecosystems that are right on our doorstep.
Birds are some of the most appealing creatures to photograph, but they can also be some of the trickiest. Many of them are tiny, they move quickly, and their behavior can seem almost unpredictable. In this class, you’ll learn basic observational and photographic strategies to help you get the most from your time in the field or in your backyard.
Topics include:
* Cameras and lenses that are best for bird photography
* Photographing birds that are stationary and in-flight
* Different ways of exposing
* Finding and identifying birds