Upcoming Speakers 2023-2024 Season

“Turbulence”

Bio: Michael, born and raise in the Ottawa valley, and married father of one, is a full-time professional photographer. His day job takes place at a local dog kennel, where he photographs rescue dogs to help them in their search for forever homes, and he photographs guests of the kennel (boarders) so that the proud owners have a gallery from which they can purchase digital copies and prints.
When thunderstorms begin to fire up in Eastern Ontario, Michael shifts gears into storm chasing mode, which is how his true passion of capturing time lapses grew. “In real time, an approaching storm slowly lumbers along, almost inanimate at time, while a time lapse can reveal s snarling monster who wants to eat you.” Putting himself in front of the beast and bringing it to life has been Michael’s quest for the past four summers. And in between the dogs and storms? Lakes, forests, stars, a canoe and a hammock. Michael also lives for backcountry adventures, searching for still compositions that have perhaps never been seen through another viewfinder.

Presentation: Clouds – they are always on the move. They churn and spin; they rise and fall, but a time lapse can make them something else: alive. I will be talking about how I go about planning a storm chase, and the processes of capturing hundreds of images and processing them into a time lapse. I will also spend a portion of my time with you discussing dog photography and landscape photography.

Mike’s images can be found at:
https://www.photographic-mh.com/gallery https://www.instagram.com/keshet_kennels_rescue/ https://www.instagram.com/photographic_mh/ https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelHigginsPhotographic

“One light portraits”

Bio:  Mike’s photographic journey spans 4 decades. He has a wealth of experience and insights, from initial shoot planning to post processing. He no longer just “takes” images, he “creates” them.

Joining his 1st camera club over 40 years ago, Mike was immediately encouraged when he started winning photographic awards in local and CAPA competitions.

One of the guest speakers at that camera club was a pro who outlined the realities of running a photography business. This resonated with Mike who had started down the road to weddings, portraits and events. He then realized photography as a career might kill the magic spark; so he refocused his photography as an avid hobby and artistic pursuit.

He says: “At first taking great images, winning awards and getting ribbons was fun and motivating. Today my joy and passion for the art is fueled by seeing others looking and feeling beautiful”. Shoots are planned with a specific vision where the model, props, location, wardrobe, make-up etc. have all been considered in advance. He focuses on doing fashion shoots, glamour, fitness and creative projects for the fun and challenge.

Presentation:  Mike will be presenting “One Light Portraits”. Mike’s joy and passion for photographing people is fueled by seeing them look and feel beautiful. The ultimate goal for photographers is to master lighting, but it need not be complicated. Many professional portraits are done with three or more lights, but you can do wonders with just one light whether it be the sun, a window, or an augmented light source such as a flash. We will explore the basic elements of light such as intensity, quality, color, and direction. He will share with us how to work effectively with just one light to create extraordinary works of art.

Mike’s work can be found at:
https://mikegiovinazzo.smugmug.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/mikeg11111111

“FORESTS: The Art of Photographing Trees and Woods”

Bio: Mark Bowie is a professional nature photographer, writer and much sought-after public speaker. He has done three coffee table books on his native Adirondacks, has authored two extensive e-books on night photography, and one on his photographic journey, Finding November. He has also released two instructional videos, FORESTS: The Art of Photographing Trees & Woods and Multiple Exposures for Maximum Landscapes. Mark is a staff instructor for the Adirondack Photography Institute and leads landscape photography workshops.

Presentation: In celebration of the majesty of trees and woodlands, this presentation examines in-depth the fine art of seeing and photographing these magnificent life forms. It is commonly thought that to photograph forests well, one has to make order out of the chaos. That’s true, but there’s so much more to artfully portraying trees. I’ll delve deep into seeing creative possibilities, composing for visual separation and to accentuate lines, forms, patterns and textures. I’ll offer strategies for photographing deep inside forests, along their edges and from on high, and illustrate the artistic opportunities presented by different weather and lighting conditions, most notably, fog. Good tree and forest imagery is also elevated through artistic processing. I’ll cover effective contrast and color adjustments, image softening techniques, abstract expressionism and amazing black and white conversion — all with the goal of creating moody, atmospheric woodland images that convey the beauty, grace and power of trees.

Club members can view Mark’s imagery on his website: www.markbowie.com

“The Exposure Triangle”

Bio: Peter was encouraged to pursue photography from a young age by his father, who was also an avid photographer. Starting with a Kodak Brownie when he was about 10, Peter has used a variety of cameras and purchased his first film SLR in the mid-1970’s. Working summer jobs at Kodak in Toronto during his university years, he got to see how film and photo paper were made. A scientist by training, he always experiments to better understand what he sees. Peter enjoys a variety of different types of photography, including landscape, street, portrait, event, macro and recently, astrophotography.

Presentation: The exposure triangle, combining shutter speed, aperture and ISO, is used by the photographer to capture the image as they see it in their mind. The photographer manipulates each side of the triangle in different ways to achieve the final result. This presentation will look at the elements of the exposure triangle and see how each side of the triangle contributes to a properly exposed photograph and how each can be manipulated to satisfy the photographer’s creative idea.

Different types of photographs will be considered, including high key, low key and high dynamic range images. Along the way, the presentation will look at the effects on the overall photo by the changing of shutter speed, aperature, and/or ISO settings as well as examine some of the challenges associated with these manipulations. The presentation will look at sources of noise in photographs and will provide techniques to minimize or maximize this feature.

“The Art of Impressionist Photography”

Bio: : Carol Anne Bell-Smith began her artistic journey as the photo finish photographer at a local racetrack at 16 years of age. Her love of old fil
lenses and new technology informs her own personal style of Impressionist Photography. A nurse, a minister, a poet, a member of Spirit of the Hills and a ten year member of Art de Triomphe, she has had many solo and group shows. Her photography regularly wins local and international awards and has a very recognizable style. Carol Anne uses light, lines, color, and technique to evoke emotion in the viewer in the manner of the French Impressionists such as Monet, Renoir, and Chagall. Impressionist Photography is a type of fine arts photography that relies on Legacy lenses, motion, selective defocus, multiple exposure and filters. Carol Anne uses a power wheelchair for mobility and in many ways this has been an advantage forcing her to look at the world in a different way.

Presentation:  Create mind-blowing images using the most cutting edge techniques and tricks to create images that will help you establish your own artistic identity and style in manner of the impressionists. No matter what camera/cell phone you use, this session will help you find the magic.

Please find Carole Anne’s work at the following links:
https://www.instagram.com/jazzycarolanne/
https://www.facebook.com/CarolAnneJudd

“Creative Imagery – My View & My Journey”

Bio:  Photography and digital art are my artistic expressions of my imagination, vision, and inquisitive mind. I explore all images – including abstracts or concepts created from my photographs or digital art.
I strive to enjoy, explore and balance life. I want to give people a breather from the stress of today’s world – and I simply have to create!
I see the world with all its wonders, big and small and then I put my take on it. My images are my gifts to the world. I simply love to create, imagine and capture what I see, what I think. I hope my images give the viewers some spark to their day – a thought, an aha! moment, the chance to enjoy the place my image takes them. My mind is full of images, they just have to come out and I love to share them.  Gareth’s images can be found at https://gpjones1.format.com

Presentation:  Demonstrates how all photographers are creative and outlines my journey into creative digital photography in order to encourage all to embrace their creativity and push their images to their creative max. I guarantee everyone will learn one thing at the very least.

I will provide a PDF of my PowerPoint show for club members to keep – although I do ask that they don’t share it outside of the club.