A representative from Rockbrook Camera will be showing and talking about what’s new in photographic equipment. Check out their website https://www.rockbrookcamera.com/
Zoo Field Trip
9 club members plus one other from another club went to the Henry Doorly Zoo on Saturday, November 4, 2 hours prior to the zoo opening. It was amazing to be able to take photos with out the general public being there. I recommend you try one of these trips.
Forest Photo Display
We will be swapping out the raptor photos with the other raptor photos soon.
Treasurer’s Report
Oct. 1 balance: $858.55
Income dues 56.00
Expenses for
Display items 19.41
Oct. 31 Balance: $895.14
Still Need President and Vice-President!
Final Thoughts…
I am sure I’ve forgotten something. Comment below if you wish to add something to this post.
Thanks to Brent for providing us with an additional mat size. We now have two 8×12 inch mats for our displays. To the Nov. and Dec. meetings, Please bring:
MIDWEST LANDSCAPES photos for the library display
And
FALL AT FONTENELLE FOREST PHOTOS for the FF gallery
Photos should be 8×10, 8×12 or 11×14. Unmatted and boarderless (if possible) with your name and subject or location on the back.
Our November meeting will feature Aaron Frey, manager of Rockbrook Photography. He’ll have lots of new and wonderful photography equipment and gadgets to show us.
Zoo Field Trip November 4
We had 10 committed to go. One person has decided to spend another week in Florida. We are down to 9 people going. We need 1 more person. Contact Brent Headley. See previous post https://www.fontenelleforestphotoclub.org/potpourri-3/
At the Thursday Photo Club meeting, there was quite a bit of interest in a photo outing to Henry Doorly Zoo.
Photo Club goes to the Zoo Saturday, November 4th 8am to 10am. Admission to the zoo all day is included. Cost – $40. Pay at the zoo Sign up by Friday October 27th. The zoo requires signing a waiver to attend. If you would like to attend, please email Brent directly at bbqribsyum@gmail.com
Download waiver form for the zoo. Fill it out and bring with your $40 fee. Don’t forget to let Brent know if you are coming. We need at least 10 people. Only three so far have committed.
Mike Benkis, who gave a presentation to the club recently, will be our guide.
The exhibits Kingdom of the Night (we would get to see it with the lights on!), and the Aquarium have been recommended. They are close to the entrance (little walking). The zoo is checking on the indoor Jungle as an option – but that is not a certainty.
The $40 per person fee, includes admission to the zoo for the day. We are looking for a minimum of 10 people. More than 10 is fine.
If you would like to attend, please email Brent directly at bbqribsyum@gmail.com. Please sign up as soon as possible. At least by this coming Friday, October 27th.
We hope to see you there!
Photo Contests
Nebraskaland Magazine has a photo contest. entries are to be in by October 31, 2023. A little late notice eh? But if you have time to rush an entree to: https://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/photocontest/
For those of you interested in improving your astro-photography.
Printing Your Photos
Jay Davis will be sending me soon a list of resources and I will post in an upcoming blog.
November 16 Photo Club Meeting
Rockbrook Camera is our guest presenter. “What’s New in Photography” New equipment.
Zen Photo Gallery-Your Portfolios
Please consider utilizing this opportunity to show off your photos to friends, family, and the world. Take a look, click link below. If you would like to have your own portfolio, send me your .jpg files and I will generate your own portfolio.
Allen won our door prize from a drawing at the September meeting. Tickets for the drawing were handed out to members who paid their dues the night of the meeting. Congratulations Allen.
This hand made cutting board was made and donated by Phil Mininni for this drawing.
Takes place at the Fontenelle Forest Nature Center
Jay Davis
Jay Davis will be our speaker. His subject matter is “From Camera to Prints”. This should help those of us getting our photos to look like it looked on our monitors.
Congratulations to our winners. Jay Davis did a great job as our judge this year. He says he had a heck of a job. All the photos were great and it came down to technical qualities. Thank you Terry Turner for your power point presentation. I used it to put the photos on the homepage. I just resized them to fit the home page slideshow.
Too many Fauna photos
We did not have as many participants this year as in the past, the contest coordinators decided to go with no “Novice” class photos. Only two were submitted. The rest were submitted as “Advanced”. We had so many bird photos the contest coordinators decided to split fauna and put birds in there own class.
3 tied for Member’s Choice
Pick up Photos
July 8 at 10 AM. Please be prompt The winners, 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and Best of Show will be hung at the library for display. All other photos should be picked up on Saturday morning on July 8 at 10 PM.
Bellevue Library
We mentioned that the 1st and 2nd place, and best of show would be hung in the library. Kathleen and Donna says there is room for the 3rd place winners as well.
September meeting is September 21 at 7:00 PM
Our theme for the night will be great photos of what we did this past Summer. Please send 3-4 photos to the webmaster before Monday, September 17. We will also have elections for officers. AND…
Drawing for September meeting
Your ex, ex president is donating a handmade cutting board as a prize. Tickets will be handed out to members, who will have paid their club dues the night of the meeting in September. I have been told I should sell my cutting boards. Some people say that they are that nice. I enjoy making sawdust and stuff.
We have decided to move the raptor shoot to the forest. It was originally scheduled for Camp Brewster. Due to construction, we would not be able to utilize the facilities at Camp Brewster. Kathleen was able to .arrange with the raptor group to show off the birds downstairs on the outdoor patio.
We will still meet at 6:30 PM on Thursday, May 18. The raptor lead, Kathy, will meet with us in the forest room where we normally meet and take us down to the lower patio where the birds will be shown. Please pass this along to other members if you have contact with them. Kathleen will send out an email to our members with a reminder also.
Once more, we will meet in the forest meeting room at 6:30 PM. Kathy will escort us downstairs and out to the patio. If by chance you arrive late you will need to find the stairs or elevator to get to the lower level.
As you are aware, our photo contest this year is shortened considerably during the time from set-up to judging because Bellevue University is having an in-house art show. There are only four days for the judge, Jay Davis, to judge the photos and prepare for the critique on June 15. It is critically important that digital files of all photos entered into the contest are received by Terry Turner prior to the critique so that a PowerPoint presentation can be made to be shown during the critique. The digital files are also made available to Jay Davis to assist in completing his critique.
All photos that are to be entered in the contest will have a digital copy sent to Terry Turner by June 7, 2023. Digital files can be sent anytime from now until June 7, 2023. Earlier would be better to avoid a last-minute crush of files. Include your name, entry information and title of photo. Any photo that has not had a digital copy sent to Terry by June 7, will be automatically disqualified. There will be no exceptions to this requirement.
Mike was our speaker at our April 20th meeting. Mike discusses his journey into photography with examples of early photos and shows the progress he made. He showed a video of his photography. It was a very interesting presentation. Mike works for the Omaha Zoo as their photography classes instructor. He has a website. http://www.benkisphotography.com/ Check it out!
Mike played the video below. I am posting this for our members who did not attend our April 20th meeting. Turn the sound up as he has music that accompanies the video.
We still don’t have enough “monuments” photos. Please try to help us out by going through your photos and give us those “monuments” photos. You can contact Phil or Kathleen via email to arrange delivery of your photo.
Fontenelle Forest Photo Club Contest
Bellevue University is having an employee art show. This will impact our photo contest display. Here is a schedule:
Setup: – Saturday June 10, 2023, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Critique: – Thursday, June 15, 7:00 pm till around 9:00 pm
Take down: – Saturday, July 8, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
It will be slightly less time hanging in the gallery but we didn’t have a choice due to the University’s in-house art show.
See below about the Gage County Museum Photo Contest.
April 20, 2023 Photo Club Meeting
Starts at 7:00 PM at Fontenelle Forest. Mike Benkis will be our speaker. He is going to give a presentation on his work at the zoo and what that did for his journey in photography.
Mike’s bio
Mike started in Wildlife photography back in 2014 and has had his wildlife work published by the Omaha World Herald, Nebraskaland Magazine, Omaha Audubon Society, and Nebraska Games and Parks. He has always been passionate about wildlife, especially birds since he was young. This passion led him to join the Boy Scouts where he reached the rank of Eagle Scout. As an adult, Mike has volunteered for organizations such as Fontenelle Forest and the Omaha Audubon Society. His interests in Falconry eventually led him to photography. He and his wife Amy started to get into Portrait work in 2016, which turned into a shared passion for fine art and fashion photography.
and cannot fit everything and are downsizing. The stuff they are not taking are being auctioned off starting April 10. This is an on-line auction with Auction Solutions Inc. Their website. https://www.auctionsolutionsinc.com/. I could not find the spot for the Dye’s material. It may not be posted yet, since it doesn’t start till the 10th.
Zoo Field Trip
Kathleen is getting the info for a possible field trip at the zoo. Details to come soon.
Zoo Photography Tips Video
This is about eight and a haft minutes long.
Gage County Museum Photo Contest.
Gage County Museum in Beatrice Nebraska is holding a photo contest. The subject matter is the Filey Barn. Those of you who attended one of the two evenings photographing the Milky Way, at the barn last summer, may want to enter the contest. Note: it is a fee based contest.
Deadline is May 1st, 2023
We are looking for photographs of the Filley Stone Barn.
Open to all artists aged 18 or older.
The following types of submissions are allowed:
Event, still life, architecture, black and white, landscape, astrophotography, arial photography, conceptual, and drone.
Submissions must include one framed print image and one saved jpeg file of high quality (300 dpi/ppi), no bigger than 2MB but preferably over 1MB. Please label the submission images with your last name and the title of the artwork as the file name it is saved under. Do not use watermarks, copyrights, or identification marks on the photos. Submit an artist’s biography along with the images and entry form.
Entry Fees: the application fee is $16 for 1 image, $25 for 2 images, $36 for 4 images, and $50 for up to 6 images.
You may submit more than once. Entry fees are non-refundable. Entry fees must be paid online via the link (QGiv) or by mail. Entries submitted without payment will not be considered. Entry fees will be used for preservation of the Filley Stone Barn.
Awards: All accepted artists will have their work displayed at the Art in the Barn event in August 2023. The winning artist will receive $150, and their photo will be used on all Filley Stone Barn 150th anniversary merchandise. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place entries will appear alongside information about their artist in an article in our newsletter. Photos will be on display at the Beatrice Library from May 2nd to August 4th during the judging period.
Scan this QR Code to Register Online Terms and Conditions: Artists agree that the GCHS will archive chosen photos as part of a museum collection and used for marketing, promotional, and display purposes. The winning artist gives GCHS all copyright over submitted photo. The QR code scan worked for me.
Entry submission: Attach your photos, bio, check and entry form in an email to director@gagecountyhistory.org or by mail to Gage County Historical Society P.O. Box 793, Beatrice, NE, 68310. You may drop off framed prints at the museum at 101 North 2nd Street.
The framed prints are only for the display at the Beatrice Public Library and the Art in the Barn event. Framed prints will be given back to the artist at the end of the display August 2023. This is for the judging period. We will have 6 judges to chose 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place all together.
Jpeg prints will be archived into the Gage County Historical Society’s personal history along with the biography of the artist for future exhibit display 100 years from now. The winning print will be in the hands of the Historical Society to be used on t-shirts, posters, puzzels, coasters, or whatever we decide to purchase for the 150th Anniversary merchandise for 2024. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place artist and their prints will be featured in our September Newsletter.
All proceeds go to the mason work needing to be done for the Filley Stone Barn.
If you guys have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Thank you,
—
Cassandra Dean | Museum Administrator
Gage County Historical Society & Museum
101 N. 2nd St. Beatrice, NE 68310
402.228.1679 | director@gagecountyhistory.org
Call museum for more information.
In Closing
Quite a bit of info this time. Comment below. We are still looking for a president and vice-president. Please consider offering your services when we have elections in June. I am sure someone out there can help us grow.
New members: One new visitor and potential member-Jacob Coso
Input from current officers and committee members and helpers:
Photo Display Organizers- Judy and Frank Dye: Still looking for monument photos.
Treasurer- Kathleen Crawford-Rose: Treasurer’s report: $1178.59. No expenses or income. Still need to payout receipts for anything purchased for the clubs Christmas potluck (cups, plates, utensils, etc.). Ribbons for our photo contest coming up were purchased.
Brent Headley (helps webmaster and with video at meetings and other volunteering: Out of town
Secretary- Mary Headley: Out of town. Sue Mininni is filling in.
Photo Contest Organizer:Donna Gray with help from Terry and Donna Turner: Phil will post the dates again on the website. Jay Davis may be our judge again. Donna’s team will confirm. June 10th we will put up photos and judging will be the week of June 15th. We are a little late this year due to events booked at Bellevue University that conflicted with our contest.
Webmaster- Phil Mininni
Old Business: We will no longer have a use for the photo racks for our photo displays. The forest will take them over.
New Business: Members were asked for a theme for our first photo display in our new Gallery and a plan on how to display them. Two suggestions were “Spring in the Forest” and “Fontenelle Forest Tree Species”.
It was suggested we either run the meeting year-round or instead of taking July and August off take Jan and Feb off when there is more of a chance of cancellation due to the weather. Kathleen will run those months by Emily (Forrest) to see if they are available for us.
Our April Meeting speaker will be Mike Benkis. He may be able to set us up with an outside visit at the zoo after hours like a Saturday morning at 8am or at sunset and also at the Safari Park. Kathleen will call Pam Eby at the zoo to discuss.
The Dyes (Frank and Judy) have moved into an independent living facility and therefore will be hosting an online auction of items they were unable to take with them. The information will be posted on our website soon.
Our Speaker/Program tonight was Albert Rhea talking about Bird Photography.
No treats were provided.
Submitted by: Sue Mininni (filling in for Club Secretary Mary Headley)
