December 2023

From the President... 

OPEN HOUSE TOMORROW, DECEMBER 2

If you read this newsletter on December 1st, please remember that our open house is tomorrow, December 2nd, from 10am to 1pm. Field Trip Coordinators, SIG leaders, and Board members will be there to answer any questions you might have. If you have not been to the club since the renovations were completed, it would be a great time to drop by and check out all your club has to offer. We will have our new caps and shirts with the club logo available. Caps: $15 donation, and shirts $30 donation, cash or checks only.

PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB MEMBERS STAND OUT

There were several Photography Club members who submitted their photos to the Community Performance & Art Center (CPAC) photo contest held last month. There were six awards announced, first, second, third and three honorable mentions. I am proud to announce that five of the six awards went to Photography Club members, as follows:

First Place: Kim Holmes – Sunflower in Pink

Second Place: Leen Edwards – Release of the Hound

Third Place: Maureen Kirk-Detberner – Ghost Dancers

Honorable Mention: Denise LeCount-Obrien – Moves Like a Hawk

Honorable Mention: Denise LeCount-Obrien – Young Studs

One non club member received Honorable Mention: Daniel Migues – Reflexiones.

The photos will stay on display at CPAC through December. Other members also submitted photos for consideration. Thanks to them as well as our award winners for showing the artistic extent and talent of our Club members. Congratulations to all of you. You make us proud.

ANNUAL MEETING PLANS

Put April 8, 2024, on your calendar for our annual meeting and elections. This year we are planning a dinner as well as a presentation. Additional details will follow as we get closer to the event.

THANK YOU, NEW MONITORS

In our call for monitors, we had over a dozen members respond. They are in various stages of training, and you should soon see them monitoring and helping keep our club open. Thanks to these members for stepping up.

But we still need backup volunteers for crucial positions. We still do not have anyone to back up our Systems Administrator, Monitor Coordinator, and Educational Chair. These are crucial duties. It would also be wise to have backups for our SIG coordinators as well. Photo Studio and Art, Photoshop, Black & White, and Wildlife Photography do not have backup coordinators. If you have an interest in any of these areas, being a backup is an effective way to learn and improve your skills.

Thanks to all for your membership in the Photography Club. Please help us stay strong by donating your expertise in areas of need. Please contact me if you can volunteer to help in these areas.

The monthly installment of my review of Thomas Ang's book, Photography, The Definitive Visual History, is in a separate Book Review article later in the newsletter. You can jump to it here.

Danny Valenzuela, President

There's Great Photo Opportunities on Field Trips

The Club's Facebook and soon Instagram pages, are excellent venues to display the photographic expertise of our members. I know you all have photos you're proud of. Join the fun and send your fall, vacation and field trip photos. I'm looking for submissions that capture the ever-changing landscape, visits to other states and countries and field trip experiences. Send to Sue Ready at suready@yahoo.com.

Photo of the Month

The December Photo of the Month is by Craig Zimmerman, a photomontage created with elements of various shots taken on a Photography Club field trip to the Fox Theater.

Craig shares some insights into his process, “The photos for this collage were taken on the Photo Club field trip to the FOX Theatre in Tucson. The FOX is one of two Southwestern Art Deco buildings still standing. I shot a lot of frames that day. No one photo told the whole story of this beautifully restored building. With Photoshop Elements I grabbed pieces of my favorite photos and put them on one sheet. All frames were shot in RAW. I used a Nikon D7500 and a Tokina 11-16 f/2.5 wide angle lens. Hand held, some frames I used the cameras flash."

Congratulations, Craig.

The Photo of the Month is chosen from new and archived photos submitted to Sue Ready, the Club's Facebook Coordinator. Keep sending the best of your work to Sue at suready@yahoo.com so we may continue to showcase the refined capabilities of GVR Photography Club members. Photos should be submitted in .jpg format and please include its title and location. -ed

Wow! The Photography Club is approaching the end of another year, with exciting classes and events just over the horizon.

Kathy Arnold presented an iPhone photography lesson at the club that sold out in under twenty minutes. January will see the repeat of that course. The club will also offer an Android phone photography class and other fresh learning opportunities soon.

On Assignment is a brand-new, fascinating Special Interest Group that the club is putting together. The SIG was primarily created by enthusiastic club members to offer a fresh learning venue, exploring various photographic genres or topics. The club had a digital photo SIG in years past, but that SIG was discontinued due to low attendance.

The new On Assignment SIG will have participants photograph on an assigned topic or in a specific genre. The final photographs would then be discussed and critiqued with the goal of learning about and shooting in that assigned topic or genre. Getting this SIG functioning will take a bit of work, so the specific details will be determined at the organizational session of the SIG on Thursday, December 14th, at 1:30 PM, with full activity starting in January. Register for the SIG so you'll get further details and information.

Watch the club’s website. As the chalk dust settles, more classes and educational events will appear. Examine the club calendar, join other SIGs, and participate in classes and field trips to expand your photographic skills.

Gene Komaromi, Education Chair

Library News

Locating a book in the library is a little easier now. Each subject category is labeled on the shelf and soon each book will have a corresponding category and number on the spine. Over the summer, I pulled and donated about half the books which were duplicates of what we have, very outdated, not photography-related, or were in bad condition.

When you return a book, please note the returned date in the 3-ring binder. Put it on the RETURNED BOOKS shelf (lower shelf of book case). I will re-shelve the books each week. However, the book may be borrowed from the Returned Book shelf.

If you have books to donate, please send me an email first with the titles and I can check my database to see if we already have a copy and if the book is good subject matter for the library.

The Free Magazine rack is filled with magazines for you to enjoy and pass on to other readers.

Enjoy the holiday season and I hope 2024 is one of joy, good health, and adventures!

Becky McCreary, Librarian

This Month's Club Activities

Jump to SIGs

Jump to Travelogue

Jump to Field Trips

Jump to Photo Ops

Jump to Showtime

Jump to Speaker Series

Check the Club Calendar for the latest information on all club activities. Photography Club members are also welcome and encouraged to attend the Club’s monthly Board of Directors meetings. Check the Club Calendar for the date of the meeting and attend in-person at the Club, or remotely by registering using this link. The Board is always interested in comments and new ideas from the members.

Need help with your digital camera, smartphone camera, slide/print scanning, photo printing or a photo editing software application? Photography Club Volunteer Helpers are available to help. Log in to the Club’s website. Click on the three bars at the far right of the home page menu bar and select Volunteer Helpers. Once you've found a helper, scroll down to see their contact email listed. Help is just a few clicks away.

Showtime

Monday 12/4 at 7:00 pm

Please join us on Monday, December 4 at 7:00 PM at the Desert Hills GVR Center for the grand re-opening of SHOWTIME. You won’t want to miss it! A superb selection of short videos is in store for your entertainment. SHOWTIME has a long standing reputation of being the "best free entertainment in Arizona."  Come and find out why this is true. Here is your lineup for December 4:

I Wanna Ride My Bike!

• El Tour 2023 – Chuck Hill
• El Tour 2022 – Tom Parker et al

Ants (in your pants?)

• Foraging Ants - Pat Canniff
• The Marching Ants – Joe Jackson

Van Gogh – Ron Stein

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area

• Bisti (1) – Kevin May
• Bisti (2) – Todd Taylor
• Bisti (3) – Arlene Meteyer

Road to White Pocket – Mike Obrien

Poppies Galore

• Mexican Poppies – Ron Stein
• Poppies and Flowers – Royce Jacob

My Christmas Eve – Bob Welch

We do hope to see you at Desert Hills! But if you have not yet returned to the area, you can tune into the program via Zoom by registering here. The Zoom link will be included in the registration confirmation sent back to you.

Chuck Hill, Showtime Coordinator

Travelogue

Tuesday, 12/12 at 7:00 pm

This month Travelogue moves to the Desert Hills auditorium with another great set of programs. Kirk Hively shares his Iceland cruise, Sherrie Lee Lucia explores Laos, Todd Taylor takes us underground in Turkey, Arlene Meteyer visits Yellowstone and Larry Springford tours lighthouses in New Bern, North Carolina.

Join us at Desert Hills on the 12th. We'll have cafe style seating with tables and chairs. Bring your popcorn and favorite soft drinks!

Ancient Kingdoms: Laos

Sherrie Lee Lucia

Yellowstone

Arlene Meteyer

Derinkuyu Underground City in Turkey

Todd Taylor

New Bern, NC Lighthouses

Larry Springford

Paul McCreary, Travelogue Coordinator

Speaker Series

Taking a Break in December

Speaker Series is taking a break in December while our members join friends and family for festive activities. However, mark your calendar for Thursday, January 18, when we welcome Arizona historian, outdoorsman, author and photographer, Roger Naylor. You won't want to miss this one! You can preview and learn more about our esteemed speaker at his website. Complete details will be published in the January newsletter.

Until then, Happy Holidays from your Speaker Series crew!

Deb Sanders, Speaker Series Coordinator

Field Trips

Super Venues - Serious Fun

This season’s field trips are rolling along! Our trip to Ruby Ghost Town was a blast. I was quite surprised at the number of buildings, appliances, and forgotten items that were there.

The bus trip to Whitewater Draw for Sandhill Cranes is coming up fast! The cut off to cancel the bus is December 26th. Because this is a bus trip (for the same price as last year) we need at least 27 people to sign up or we must cancel. If you haven’t gone in the past or are thinking about going again, be sure to sign up before Christmas.

Please check our Field Trip website page for the list of trips we have in store for you. and watch for our E-Blasts on future trips. Please contact me if you if you have questions or want to participate in our Field Trip activities.

See you soon!

 Monica E. Parker, Field Trip Facilitator

Photo Opportunities

December is a great month to fine tune your nighttime photography skills with plenty of holiday events from which to choose, many close to home. And the first weekend this month is really filled with events.

If you want to try something different, check out Rock the Spot, a four-day graffiti event set in the heart of downtown Tucson. Local and national graffiti artists will showcase their best work, painting a canvas covering over 500 feet of wall space located at the parking lot we’ve used for our recent Fox Tucson Theatre Behind-the-Scenes field trips. The event ends on the 3rd so be sure to check it out with the link below. Also on the 3rd, the DeGrazia Gallery is hosting La Fiesta de Guadalupe honoring Mexico’s patron saint with mariachi bands, folklorico dancers, and other performances.

For those into birding, a heads up is in order. Wings Over Willcox runs January 11-14, but registration for their field trip activities is already underway. Check out their website for details.

Historic Canoa Ranch Tours and Events

• Ongoing - events, dates, times and fees vary - Registration required
• Historic Canoa Ranch, 5375 South I-19 Frontage Road, Green Valley, AZ
• Find more information here.

Raptor Free Flight

• Ongoing daily (except Weds), 10:00 am – Free with museum admission
• Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 North Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Holidays Around the World and Through Time

• Ongoing, Tue-Sun 9:00 am to 4:00 pm – Fees vary
• The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E Camp Lowell Dr, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Lights Up! A Festival of Illumination

• Ongoing, Tue-Sun 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm – Fees vary, reservations required
• Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 North Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Rock the Spot

• Ongoing thru Dec 3 - Free
• Pueblo Parking Systems parking lot, 33 West Congress Street, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Annual Tree Lighting and Holiday Market

• Dec 1-2, Fri 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Sat 11:00 am to 9:00 pm - Free
• Veterans Memorial Park, 3105 East Fry Boulevard, Sierra Vista, AZ
• Find more information here.

Luminaria Nights de Tubac

• Dec 1-2, 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Free
• Tubac, AZ
• Find more information here.

Christmas at Canoa

• Dec 1-30, 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Free
• Historic Canoa Ranch, 5375 South I-19 Frontage Road, Green Valley, AZ
• Find more information here.

Tucson's 42nd Annual Scandinavian Nordic Fair & Christmas Market

• Dec 2, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm – Free
• Streams of the Desert Lutheran Church, 5360 East Pima Street, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Winterfest 2023

• Dec 2, 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm – Free
• Sahuarita Town Hall, 375 West Sahuarita Center Way, Sahuarita, AZ
• Find more information here.

Oro Valley Festival of the Arts & Holiday Tree Lighting

• Dec 2-3, Sat 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sun 10:00 am to 4:00 pm - Free
• Oro Valley Marketplace, 12155 North Oracle Rd, Oro Valley, AZ
• Find more information here.

La Fiesta de Tumacácori

• Dec 2-3, Sat 9:45 am to 5:00 pm, Sun 11:00 am to 5:00 pm – Free
• Tumacácori National Historical Park, 1891 East Frontage Rd, Tumacacori, AZ
• Find more information here.

Holiday Nights at Tohono Chul

• Dec 2-16, Fridays & Saturdays only, 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm – Fees vary
• Tohono Chul Gardens, 7366 N Paseo Del Norte, Tucson, AZ 85704
• Find more information here .

ZooLights Holiday Magic 2023

• Dec 2-23 & 26-30, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Fees vary, reservations required
• Reid Park Zoo, 3400 East Zoo Court, Tucson, AZ 85716
• Find more information here.

La Fiesta de Guadalupe

• Dec 3, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm – Free
• DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun Museum, 6300 North Swan Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Weihnachtsmarkt (A German-style Winter Market)

• Dec 3, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm – Free
• Desert Sky Community School, 1350 North Arcadia Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

First Thursday at the Tucson Museum of Art

• Dec 7, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm – Pay what you wish, registration required
• Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, 140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair

• Dec 8-10, Fri & Sat 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Sun 10:00 am to 4:00 pm – Free
• 4th Avenue between East University Boulevard and East 8th Street, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Presidio Museum Holiday Celebration

• Dec 9, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm – Free with museum admission
• Presidio San Agustin Museum, 196 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Turquoise Trail Walking Tour

• Dec 9, 10:00 am to 12:30 am – $30
• Presidio San Agustin Museum, 196 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Winterhaven Festival of Lights

• Dec 9-25, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm – Fees vary for ride tours, or walk for free
• Winterhaven neighborhood, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here .

Second Sundaze - Family Day at TMA

• Dec 10, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm – Pay what you wish, registration required
• Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, 140 North Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Modern Streetcar & Walking Tour

• Dec 13, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm – $40, registration required
• Mercado San Agustin, 100 South Avenida del Convento, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Birding at the Zoo

• Dec 14, 9:15 am to 11:15 am – Free with zoo admission, registration required
• Reid Park Zoo, 3400 East Zoo Court, Tucson, AZ 85716
• Find more information here.

Parade of Lights & Festival

• Dec 16, Festival 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm, Parade at 6:30 pm – Free
• Armory Park, 222 South 5th Street, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Turquoise Trail Walking Tour - Shortened Version

• Dec 17, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm – $30, registration required
• Presidio San Agustin Museum, 196 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Public Art & Murals Walking Tour

• Dec 23, 9:00 am to 11:00 am – $30, registration required
• Presidio San Agustin Museum, 196 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

Mainly Murals Walking Tour

• Dec 27, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm – $30, registration required
• Presidio San Agustin Museum, 196 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ
• Find more information here.

We are always looking for recommendations for future photo opportunities. Please feel free to contact me If you have suggestions for upcoming events of interest.

Tom Parker, Photo Op Coordinator

Special Interest Groups are fun and educational. Any member of the Photography Club is welcome to attend any of the SIGs.

Click on any of the links listed to get more information on each one.

Multimedia SIG
Black and White SIG

Studio and Fine Art SIG

Photoshop/Lightroom SIG

Field Trip SIG

Photoshop Elements SIG

Wildlife Photography SIG

Monitor Notes

Monitors typically welcome and check in club members, answer the phone, and inform those seeking information about the Club. We are all indebted to the dedicated team of monitors who volunteer to keep the Photography Club open. Many thanks to all of you.

We are always looking for additional monitors. Help us provide all the benefits the Club offers to its members. As you take advantage of the Club's activities and its extensive digital processing equipment, consider sharing the effort in providing these services by volunteering as a monitor.  You are not expected to know how to use the equipment. Training takes about three hours.

Contact: gvrcameramonitors@gmail.com for more information.

Photography, The Definitive Visual History by Thomas Ang

This installment highlights the period between 1980-1999 from Thomas Ang's book, Photography, The Definitive Visual History.

By the 1980s color photography had become prominent.  In 1950 only 16 percent of all photographs were in color. But by the 1980s more than 90 percent of all film used was color and more than 80 percent of that was color negative film to make color prints. However, it took a long time to shake the domination of black-and-white film in street photography where black-and-white stifled the use of color for more than 50 years.

Also by this time amateur photographers could produce pictures of similar quality to those of professionals and higher education started turning out well trained, visually literate young photographers who wanted to make their mark with a career in photography.

Still-life photography had yet to establish its identity. Photographers were torn between focusing on the subject itself, or on the story it could tell and the meanings behind it. Many approaches were tried. This led to the start of controlled compositions. By experimenting with arranging objects, photographers created layers of meaning within their photographs.

As consumerism grew during the 1980s and 1990s, corporations funded large advertising budgets, stimulating creativity to sell consumer products. Photographers were now selling dreams. In 1983 Saatchi and Saatchi launched their Silk Cut series of ads, simply using purple as a brand color. Branding became simple and the awareness of brand value became more significant.

Portraiture photography also evolved to a higher level. Steven McCurry is considered a visual magician, whose props are people, light, and color. He is quoted as saying, "Most of my photos are grounded in people, the essential soul peeking out and experience etched on their face." His 2001 portrait of Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl,  was nominated by National Geographic Magazine as the most recognizable photograph in the history of the magazine.

Landscape photography became more popular and was a way to show peoples relationship with nature. This was helped by the ability to create poster sized photographic prints. Large prints contributed to record growth in auction sales for posters, as the attention to detail and high production values of huge prints, together with a rarity of producing small, limited editions, ensured high dividends for artists.

As the century closed, affordable aviation and new camera technology took landscape photography to new heights. Photographers were able to create artistic shots of the earth from above.

Also at that time, landscape photography became a mirror for photographers concepts and emotions. Early on, Bill Brand in his landscapes of the 1940s, showed greater concern with the feelings evoked by looking at scenery than with an accurate record of the view. By the 1980s photographers were freely using landscape to express their emotions.

Then came multiple exposures, multiple pictures of the same scene arranged in the form of contact sheets. The strict grid of the scenes makes it clear that they are made of composite images, but when the grid lines are removed, you interpret the image as one picture.

Photography did not escape the ideological upheavals of the 1970s unscathed. Critics and photographers alike questioned the validity of the photograph, and its role in society came under scrutiny. During the 1980s and 1990s photographers produced images that were more explicitly political in content and explored issues of cultural, sexual, and social identity. Text was often integrated with photographs because images alone could not be reliably unequivocal in meaning and context. The question started to be, "Was it photography or art?". Some regarded themselves as conceptual artists using photography as a medium. Since the camera could go anywhere and capture images of anything, photographers turned their lenses on people s most private moments, shedding light on once taboo subjects.

While some photographers played a role in influencing public awareness of poverty by photographing the horrors of war and famine, others were more concerned on local, every-day subjects. Chris Killip photographed poor, working-class communities around Newcastle, England and was one of the first to blend the bleak subject matter of dispossession, unemployment, and loss of hope with the aesthetics of large fine-art prints.

In terms of media during this time, television had the upper hand and a renaissance of electronic images was heralded. This signaled the beginning of the end for film-based photography. At first, digital photography seemed like a laboratory curiosity. Many thought it was too costly, too clumsy, too unreliable and too inferior in quality to supersede the use of fine grain film. But within a generation, as microelectronics evolved, digital imagery advanced, persisted and increased in such numbers that the world of photography was changed forever.

Next month will be the final installment of my review, covering the Digital Age from 2000 to about 2014 when the book was first published.

Danny Valenzuela, President

Photography Items

Wanted

or

For Sale

All items:

• May be placed only by current, past or families of past members.
  
• Must be for used photography related equipment.
  
• Must include your name, or the name of the past member, and contact information.
• Should be submitted to neilwicai@gmail.com.
• Must be placed by the 25th of the month prior to the month of listing.
• Will run for one month, but may be resubmitted up to three times to be listed again.

GVR Photography Club

The GVR Photography Club is one of the largest photography clubs in the U.S. with over 600 active members. Regardless of your skill level, you'll have fun honing your skills in taking, editing, and presenting photos and videos. Share your photographic passion with others. Take FREE courses and join our Special Interest Groups to get the most from your digital camera, smartphone, action camera, or drone. Learn the ins and outs of post-processing software. Use our state-of-the-art equipment to digitize and edit photos, slides, and videos. Go on Club Field Trips to practice your photographic skills. Exhibit your photos/videos at our Showtime and Travelogue events. Come make friends and photographs!

The Club is located on the 2nd floor of the west wing at the Santa Rita Springs GVR Recreation Center. You may contact us at:

PO Box 1423, Green Valley, AZ 85622 or  gvrphotographyclub@gmail.com. 

Neil Wicai, Newsletter Editor - neilwicai@gmail.com - 575-224-1238