It turns out I was unable to get a speaker for our September meeting. That means I need your photos you have taken this summer. Send me 3 or 4 of you favorite photos taken by you. Be prepared to discuss your photos with the club. Send them to Webmaster . You can copy and paste “webmaster@fontenelleforestphotoclub.org”, without the quotes, in the send address bar in your mail program. We will view your pictures on the big screen at the forest. I have already received photos from some members.
Photo Display
Bellevue Library display has been changed out. Contest winners can pick up their photos at the September 15 meeting. Over the summer take pictures to submit when we return in September of Old Everything, Monument’s and Clouds.
I am in contact with several photographers to be speakers for September and October. No commitments yet. In the meantime, just in case, will you all gather 3 to 4 of your best photos taken this summer? You can send the files to me, webmaster@fontenelleforestphotoclub.org. I will show them on the projection screen at September 15 meeting if I can’t procure a speaker.- Phil
June 16, 2022 Meeting Minutes
Fontenelle Forest Photo Club Meeting minutes
Location:
Fontenelle Forest
Date:
6/16/2022
Time:
7:00 PM (At Bellevue Univ Humanities Bldg)
Welcome by President Phil Mininni. He thought there was greater improvement and confidence in the photos displayed this year than in years past.
If you still have any photos of the eclipse, send to the webmaster and he will post them.
Attendees: 32
New members: None
Judy and Frank: If you did not bring photos of fountains, you can contact Judy and/or Frank to set up a time to get the photos to them. First and Second place winners of photo contest will be on display at the library first and then fountains. Over the summer take pictures to submit when we return in September of Old Everything, Monument’s and Clouds.
Kathleen: Treasurer’s report: amount in Treasury is: $987.75
Brent: Talked again about organizing a trip with Ken Smith (Astrophotography). Upcoming “New Moon” dates are Thursday June 23rd, or Friday June 24th. He will let us know the exact date. There needs to be no moon or below the horizon. It will be out about 10 miles from Beatrice in a town called Filley at the Filley Stone Barn. There is a windmill there as well as one or two tractors to compliment your photo. We will need to arrive before sunset to get set up and get organized. Dark conditions will be around 10:30 or 11:00pm until 4:00 or 4:30am. Ken thinks most people would be ready to leave by 12:30 or 1:00am. We will try for another shoot in July maybe somewhere else.
Sue: None
Terry and Donna Turner: Photo Contest: Jay Davis was our judge and picked our winners and gave a good critique on all photos. Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you to everyone that submitted photos.
Kathy Holm: None
No treats tonight.
Elections: No volunteers for President. Think about it over the summer if you might be interested. Vice President will still be Kathy Holm, Treasurer will still be Kathleen Crawford-Rose, Secretary will be Mary Headley and Phil Mininni will still be the webmaster. Photo Contest Organizer will go back to Donna Gray with the Turners helping out if needed. Photo displays will still be handled by Judy and Frank Dye.
See you on September 15th for the next meeting. Have a great summer.
Submitted by Club Secretary: Sue Mininni
Ron Tillman Photography
Introduction from an April Wargo. May be of interest to you. I checked out the website and it is legit-Phil
I wanted to reach out and introduce you to Ron Tilman Photography. Ron
offers photography workshops throughout Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas,
and Nebraska. In October he will be offering his fall Elk workshop.
Ron offers both a half-day
and three-day option. The three-day workshop includes bison
photography. Check out Ron's website for details.
Please feel free to visit Ron's website,
https://rontilmanphotography.com/
Thank you,
April Wargo
Treasurer Report
Hi all.
We had no income and no expenses in July. Our balance is $987.75
We will collect dues in September. They remain $12.00 for single membership and $20.00 for a family.
We received a thank you during the summer from FF for our $300/00 donation to the Raptor program.
Bird Photography with Melissa Groo
Check out this website for more information about the course. Course on sale till August 28, 2022.
Click on the link Course above.
Forest Display Change Out
Greetings Photographers.
The subject of our next photo display at the Forest will be animals of the forest. This includes everything except raptors. We’d like to see insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and birds (except for raptors).
We hope to have your photos on or before the September 15th meeting. Dyes will be out of town for the next couple of weeks so you can drop off photos at:
Phil and Sue’s house. 621 South 51 Ave. in Omaha. or
Kathleen’s house. 123 Bellevue Blvd South in Bellevue. Email Webmaster for phone numbers for Phil or Kathleen. Call them to arrange photo delivery.
Or bring them to the Sept Meeting.
Club Meeting Dates for this coming year
The 2022-2023 Photo Club meetings will be hosted at Fontenelle Forest on the following dates:
Thursday, September 15 (Nature Center)
Thursday, October 20 (Nature Center)
Thursday, November 17 (Camp Brewster)
Thursday, December 15 (Nature Center)
Thursday, January 19 (Nature Center)
Thursday, February 16 (Nature Center)
Thursday, March 16 (Nature Center)
Thursday, April 20 (Nature Center)
Thursday, May 18 (Camp Brewster)
Crop Sensor Video
This is an interesting video about sensors. It is a little more than 13 minutes long.
Welcome by President Phil Mininni. He thought there was greater improvement and confidence in the photos displayed this year than in years past.
If you still have any photos of the eclipse, send to the webmaster and he will post them.
Attendees: 32
New members: None
Judy and Frank: If you did not bring photos of fountains, you can contact Judy and/or Frank to set up a time to get the photos to them. First and Second place winners of photo contest will be on display at the library first and then fountains. Over the summer take pictures to submit when we return in September of Old Everything, Monument’s and Clouds.
Kathleen: Treasurer’s report: amount in Treasury is: $987.75
Brent: Talked again about organizing a trip with Ken Smith (Astrophotography). Upcoming “New Moon” dates are Thursday June 23rd, or Friday June 24th. He will let us know the exact date. There needs to be no moon or below the horizon. It will be out about 10 miles from Beatrice in a town called Filley at the Filley Stone Barn. There is a windmill there as well as one or two tractors to compliment your photo. We will need to arrive before sunset to get set up and get organized. Dark conditions will be around 10:30 or 11:00pm until 4:00 or 4:30am. Ken thinks most people would be ready to leave by 12:30 or 1:00am. We will try for another shoot in July maybe somewhere else.
Sue: None
Terry and Donna Turner: Photo Contest: Jay Davis was our judge and picked our winners and gave a good critique on all photos. Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you to everyone that submitted photos.
Kathy Holm: None
No treats tonight.
Elections: No volunteers for President. Think about it over the summer if you might be interested. Vice President will still be Kathy Holm, Treasurer will still be Kathleen Crawford-Rose, Secretary will be Mary Headley and Phil Mininni will still be the webmaster. Photo Contest Organizer will go back to Donna Gray with the Turners helping out if needed. Photo displays will still be handled by Judy and Frank Dye.
See you on September 15th for the next meeting. Have a great summer.
Brent and I have processed about 80 photos and put them on the home page slide show. If you see a problem or we missed something, let us know. Email webmaster .
Congratulations to our ribbon winners. 1st, 2nd place, member’s choice, peoples choice and “best of” photos will be hung at the library.
We should all thank Donna and Terry Turner for all their hard work making our contest a success. And a special thank you to Donna Gray giving assistance and guidance to the Turner’s.
Thanks to Jay Davis for being our judge this year. It is no easy task judging these photos. I again am reminded to learn to crop, crop, and crop some more.
Bellevue Library
Here are some subjects for you all to work on for future display subjects.
monuments
old everything
clouds
President’s position needs to be filled!!!
Keith White is not able to fill the president’s spot. We need someone to step up. And provide some new blood to our leadership team. Fresh eyes so to speak. The board provided me plenty of assistance while I was president. You would not need to do everything by your lonesome. I will also work closely with the new president and provide assistance when and where I can. Covid affected how we held meetings and I hope we will get closer to the “normal”.
Thank you Chaplain Kyle
Kyle Sorys is the young gentlemen who helped us with the Zoom calls for our meetings this past year. Thank you very much! I hope he will continue to be a member of our photo club.
Webmaster
Phil Mininni and Brent Headley will continue to be the webmasters. Thanks to Brent for helping with the home page contest photos.
Milky Way
Brent says Tues evening, June 28, into Wednesday morning is looking promising for our milky way shoot. We had to cancel last week due to weather. Brent is also planning a shoot in July. More info is forthcoming for July.
Closing
Once again if you notice anything about your photo that is not quite right, let me know. Comment below or email me.
The Gallery 1516 is having a fee based photo contest. I am not real familiar with this gallery. Below is a PDF document with instructions. At the bottom is a link to their website for more details.
Jean Lindfors and Jane Pullum (president of the Bellevue Artist Association) provided this info. Thanks Ladies.
At our June meeting we will need to elect new officers. Sue and I will not continue on as President and Secretary. I will continue as the webmaster. Maybe have a couple or two individuals be Co-Presidents. Just a thought.
If you have any photos of the eclipse send to the webmaster and I will post them.
Attendees: 25
New members: Jason Bower
Judy and Frank: Bring photos of fountains to next meeting to display at the library.
Kathleen:
Treasurer’s Report for May, 2022
Beginning Balance: $1362.75
Donation to FF 300.00
Ending balance $1062.75
Brent: Talked about organizing a trip with Ken Smith (Astrophotography). Upcoming “New Moon” dates are Tuesday June 28th, and Thursday July 28th. Ken has calculated 2 viable date ranges: June 26 to July 3rd (not Saturday July 2nd); and July 24th to August 1st (not Saturday July 30th). There needs to be no moon or below the horizon. Ken has church commitments on Sundays, which is why we don’t want to have an excursion late on Saturday night into early Sunday morning. We will be somewhere, far from civilization, late at night, in the dark, with no bathroom facilities. Something to think about. We will need to arrive before sunset to get set up and organized. Dark conditions will be around 10:30 or 11:00pm until 4:00 or 4:30am. Ken thinks most people would be ready leave by 12:30 or 1:00am.
Sue: None
Terry and Donna Turner: Photo Contest: Setup is Saturday May 28th from 10-12. Awards will be Thursday June 16th for our regular meeting held at Bellevue University. Take down of photos and pickup will be Saturday June 25th from 10-12. Watermarks or names are not allowed on the front of the photos. Jay Davis has agreed to be our Judge this year. Labels were available to pick up to put on your photos. Winning contest pictures will be displayed at the Bellevue Library.
Kathy Holm: None
No treats tonight.
Cathy from the Forest was presented with our $300 donation. She was very appreciative.
Next month, June 16, 2022 the meeting will be at Bellevue University for our Photo Contest critique and awards.
Submitted by Club Secretary: Sue Mininni
If there are any corrections or additions please comment below.
I want to thank Donna and Terry Turner and Kathleen Crawford-Rose for their hard work with the photo contest photo entries. A special shout out to Donna Gray for being a great source of support for Donna. We received 79 photos for the contest. Those who stuck around and hung the photos are Brent and Mary Headley, Terry Turner, Kathleen Crawford-Rose, Andrea Kuhn, Phil and Sue Mininni, Jean Lindfors, and not the least, Tom Boggs. Donna made sure Terry kept the signs plum. Thanks to these volunteers.
Once again we had way more advanced entries than novice. This proves that one of our goals as a club is to make you a better photographer. The photos turned in showed a lot of talent and thought was utilized.
Jay Davis is our judge and he will be judging the photos this Tuesday. I welcome you to come to the Humanities Building at Bellevue University after Tuesday and view the photos and vote for your “Member’s” favorite photo. There are also ballot forms for the general public to choose their favorite. See map of the campus below.
Critique and Awards Presentation – Thursday, June 16, 2022, 7:00 to 9:00 PM Take Down – Saturday, June 25, 2022, 10:00 AM
Don’t forget our next meeting is on Thursday, May 19, 2022. It will start at 6:30 PM to take advantage of the daylight. We will meet at Camp Brewster. See the post about the upcoming meeting May 19… for a Map. If we have bad weather we will set up the birds inside.
Raptors, Raptors, and More you ask? It’s me your humble president.
Fontenelle Forest Photo Display
Speaking of raptors, we changed out the photos displayed at the forest with the raptor photos. We did not have enough space for all. So we will put those photos on display after the ones on the racks have been on display for a month or so. Thanks to Jim and Andre Kuhn and Kathleen Crawford-Rose for their help in swapping out the pictures.
Milky Way
Hello FFPC members,
Phil has asked me to organize the astro-photography event with Ken Smith. Ken and I have discussed a few things in very general terms.
I will have a signup sheet at our May meeting this Thursday. Please give some thought to the following:
– Possible event date(s) will be centered around the “New Moon” – nights with no moon. IMPORTANT! Participants must expect to be flexible on dates, as the weather will dictate if we will be able to shoot on a specific night. Ken is a meteorologist, and will keep an eye on things for us.
Upcoming “New Moon” dates are Tuesday June 28th, and Thursday July 28th. Ken has calculated 2 viable date ranges: June 26 to July 3rd (not Saturday July 2nd); and July 24th to August 1st (not Saturday July 30th). Ken has church commitments on Sundays, which is why we don’t want to have an excursion late on Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
– We will be somewhere , far from civilization, late at night, in the dark, with no bathroom facilities. Something to think about.
We will need to arrive before sunset to get set up and organized. Dark conditions will be around 10:30 or 11:00pm until 4:00 or 4:30am. Ken thinks most people would be ready leave by 12:30 or 1:00am.
– Ken does not have a set site where we can assemble a group. If YOU have friends or family in very rural NE or IA, within 2 hours or so of Bellevue, please consider contacting them. Ken is willing to visit potential sites and scout them for suitability. We will not go on private land without permission. I will bring a Dark Sky map to the Thursday meeting if you want to take a look.
Here are links to Kens amazing photos and astro-photography presentation:
PHOTO CONTEST UPATE: Members can send their digital copies for the competition anytime now. Send them to ddturner2@cox.net. Questions: 402-680-1186.
{the information sheet said that the copies should be sent starting May 25. But anytime is okay.}
See you Thursday.
Donna T
There will be the “novice”, “advance”, and “anything goes” forms available.
It will have been two years since we have had actual photos turned in for the contest. Your photos should be FRAMED . This is different from the photos turned in to be displayed at the forest or the library. Please reference the contest rules .
Featured Image
Can you identify the bird, shown as the featured image for this post? Leave your guess in the comments below. The feature image is the picture shown at the bottom of the home page under “FROM BLOG“.
Lunar Eclipse
Did you get out to photograph the eclipse the other night? Send me some of your pictures and I will post them on the website. Send to webmaster
Judy and Frank: Out of town. Kathleen took Raptor photos for Forest display. Kathleen will ask Judy for some photo topics for the next club year so we can take them over the summer. Fountains will be the next topic for photos to display so please bring to the May meeting.
Kathleen: Treasurer’s report: amount in Treasury is: $1476.67. She asked the club to donate $300 to the Raptor Program to help provide food for the Raptors. Unanimously approved.
Brent: No news.
Sue: No news.
Donna Gray: Due to personal reasons she has resigned as our photo club contest organizer. We wish her the best and hope to see her at future meetings.
Terry and Donna Turner: Have volunteered to take over Photo contest duties.
Kathy Holm: No news.
Our presenter was member Donna Turner and she showed us some of her post processing skills. It was an excellent presentation.
Thanks to Linda Shuett and Linnea Baney for the treats tonight.
***Treats for the May meeting: Will be provided by Jean Lindfors but we also need at least one more person to volunteer to bring them. Email me at s.mininni@yahoo.com if able. Thank you.
Next month, May 19, 2022 the meeting will be at Camp Brewster for our Annual Raptor Shoot. It will be at 6:30 (note time change) with the Raptor Shoot first then afterwards will be the meeting.
Forest partnership with the photo club– Phil, Kathy, and Brent had a Zoom meeting with Dana Meyers and Emily Prauner. They are working on a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with us. It was suggested by us that if we can’t provide enough photos of the Forest could they just be photos focused on Nature. There were no hard decisions made on photo selection. Emily was a guest at this meeting and spoke about opportunities to display some of our photos in the Forest newsletter. The Baright Gallery is being revamped. They spoke about having a student discount for joining the Forest as well as we could have one for joining our club.
Photo Contest: Setup is Saturday May 28th from 10-12. Awards will be Thursday June 16th for our regular meeting held at Bellevue University. Take down of photos will be Saturday June 25th from 10-12. Watermarks or names are not allowed on the front of the photos. Jay Davis has agreed to be our Judge this year. Labels were available to pick up to put on your photos. Winning contest pictures will be displayed at the Bellevue Library.
Ken Smith (Astrophotography) is still willing to take people out May 30th from 12 midnight to 4am or July 28th 11pm to 4am or maybe sometime in June.This will be in southeast locations in Iowa. Should be two groups of 9 people max. 18 showed hands that they were interested in doing it.
A suggestion was made to maybe come up with a card to display at various places to promote our club.
