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HCPC In FocusNewsletter of the Harbour City Photography Club February, 2020

Table of Contents

President’s Message 1Member Profile: Theo Johnstone 2Creativity Commons at VIRL 3Cindy Sherman exhibit review 4“I hate having my picture taken” 5Photo Salon 2020 deadline 6Upcoming programs 6Flash guide numbers 7Punographs 8HCPC Deadlines 9CAPACorner 9Sip-it Snippets 9

President’s messageby Bill SaffinHere we are, already halfway through thefirst month of the last year of the seconddecade of the third millennium CE. It’s deadof winter, and our area is really feeling it. It’sactually really great to be able to get out inthis weather, but for many of us withmobility issues, indoors is where we spendmuch more of our time these days. Forphotographers, though, this just means thata mind-shift is required.

If you are going to be mostly indoors for awhile, leaving this lovely winter weather forothers to enjoy, how can you satisfy yourphotographic needs? You have severalavenues open.

The first thing you can try is indoorphotography, whether that means setting upa makeshift tabletop studio, or setting upyour closeup/macro gear and taking a closerlook at familiar surroundings. It’s amazingwhat a difference getting close tocommonplace objects can make in the wayyou see. If you have paid attention to thecloseup photos at our year-end social overthe past few years, you will have seen somegreat possibilities.

Being indoors gives you another opportunity– the ability to spend some time looking overimages you have already captured, possiblypost-processing them in a new way. It’s agreat chance to brush up on your processingtechniques and looking at methods youhaven’t tried before. I’d be willing to bet thatmany, if not most, of us have only scratchedthe surface of what our processing software

can do, and it is mainly lack of time that hasheld us back from doing more. Isn’t it greatthat this weather has given many of us moretime to be indoors and catch up on what wehave been putting off?

A third possibility is to start studyingsomething new. There is an endless supplyof online courses and tutorials, both paidand free, to fit any photographic interest. Ifyou have a processing program that youhave not mastered, you will find tutorialsand courses that can help you master it. Ifthere is a look that you would like to be ableto produce with your images, such as animpressionist painterly look, you can findthe help you need online, and start to satisfyyour creative desires.

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Coming Events

June 1-12, 2020 -- Photo Salon 2020 at theView Gallery, VIU

Your HCPC in Focus newsletter team:

Don ClarkRooney DumlerJudy Hancock HollandSue NurmiAllan Webner

Volunteers are needed to write articlesand contribute in other ways. Pleasecontact newsletter@hcpclub.ca if youcan help or to submit suggestions.

Member Profile: Theo Johnstoneby Derek Johnstone & Judy Hancock Holland

Theo Johnstonewas born andraised onVancouverIsland, and hasloved takingphotos since he

could first pick up a camera. He loves life,from connecting with great friends andfamily to enjoying a good, hearty meal, totaking a drive and adventuring out on ourisland. It just makes sense that he would loveto photograph it all, too!

Theo is a creative young man who loves toshare his talents. In his spare time he likes towrite plays, draw street scenes, and hang outwith his brother, often creating Minecraft orother video game maps to play in. Life isrich, and Theo loves it, one moment and onephoto at a time.

We asked Theo about his photographyhobby:

Do you remember the first picture you ever took?

Yes, it was a picture of The Beacon onCameron Island.

What was your first camera?

ACanon point and shoot.

What do you like about the photography club?

I like the pictures… they’re inspiring. Iwanted to join to improve my pictures andtake part in Life Captured on Shaw TV.

What is your favourite photograph right now?

Apicture I took of The Meatball restaurantsign in Alberta. I Iove the colour and I alsolove spaghetti and meatballs.

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What is a photo that you missed getting?

A tall Chinese boat. It was moving too fastfor me to get it.

What is your weirdest photo experience?

Aphoto I took of poutine, but it came outblurry.

What excites youmost aboutphotography?

The beauty andhow inspiring a photo is to look at. Basically,the beauty and how I look at things whenI’m photographing. I also love postprocessing in Lightroom, and I’m learningthe clone tool.

Black and white or colour, and why?

Colour! It’s more real; it’s today’s look.

Tell us story about your photographic life.

I was quite young and I was using myNana’s camera. I shot a photo of a pole. Itwas night and the light was coming downthe pole really nicely. But I accidentallydeleted it.

As I kid I always loved going to the library,but I think I’m about to love it even more.On the second floor of the Harbourfrontbranch of the VIRL, there is a “creativecommons” open to library card holders andoffering an array of resources I never couldhave imagined as a child.

Users can convert analog movies to digital,play board games, experience virtual reality,and even do 3D printing. There are alsoediting stations with iMacs equipped withthe Adobe Creative Suite, and devices forprint, negative, and slide conversion. There’sa studio with green screen, and even a bookprinting and binding machine. Music relatedequipment is also available, just in case youwant to compose an original soundtrack foryour next slideshow. All these resources areavailable for use free of charge, with theexception of some fees applied to printingservices. Staff are on-site and can assist withsome kinds of skill training.

The Creative Commons takes reservationsand is also available on a drop-in basis if itisn’t booked. Hours are Monday-Thursday10 AM to 8 PM, Friday and Saturday 10 AMto 5 PM, and Sunday 12:30 PM to 4 PM.

For more information, visit this link:https://virl.bc.ca/learn/skills/creativity-commons/

Creativity Commons atVIRLby Judy Hancock Holland

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Cindy Sherman exhibit reviewby Trish Hanna, photo by Rooney Dumler with thanks to L. Farrelll and J. Mullins

New York City in the 1970s was acity in financial crisis. Publicservices were cut, buildings wereempty, the streets were, generally,unsafe, and the crime rate astro-nomical. Artists of every genremoved there in droves. Rent wascheap and it was New York, thevortex of American culture. Every-body knew everybody. Out of thisperiod, Cindy Sherman emerged. She was 23when she moved to the city, just graduatedfrom Buffalo State College, and committed toher chosen tool: the camera. She never left.She created a career. Her work now sells foramounts in the millions.

Major exhibitions of Sherman’s work arenow touring the world. The National PortraitGallery of London held one last summer; theKunstforumWien will host The CindySherman Effect in Vienna opening the end ofthis month. So the chance to see her work inCanada for the first time in twenty yearspresented an exciting opportunity. A groupof us from HCPC went on a day trip. It waswell worth the effort.

First known for her set of black and whitephotos Untitled Film Series, the entirecollection of 70 small photos is on display.According to the Vancouver Art Gallery, thisis the first time the complete series has beenshown since 2012. Sherman is both modeland photographer as she explores the imagesof women portrayed in various movie genressuch as mid-20th century Hollywood, filmnoir, art-house films and B-movies. In whatwill become her trademark, she uses make-up, wigs and props in staged photography tocreate characters and scenes.

With a curious and imaginative mind,Sherman spent the next few decadesexploring primarily female, but occasionally

male, stereotypes: the fashionworld, the art world, the world ofclowns, the world of the elites. Thelist seems endless. Addingprosthetics to her theatrical tool kit,she pushes stereotypes to the pointof being grotesque and her work issometimes disturbing. It’s meant tobe. Her attention to detail iscomplete, whether it is the com-

pression stocking of a society matron or thecolour of the nail polish, the characters arefully formed. When Photoshop becameavailable, she pushed herself again, creatingimages with multiples of herself, all indifferent characters and poses. With success,came the attention of the fashion world itself.Chanel requested that she produce imagesusing their clothing. Stella McCartney usedone of Sherman’s portrait images as a T-shirtdesign. Sherman promptly incorporated itinto a character shot.

The VAG has some corners of the exhibitrooms papered with larger than life sizephotographs of her studio. She has a verylarge collection of books, vinyl records andCDs, but I couldn’t read the titles, which wasdisappointing. I’d love to know what shelistens to and how she feeds that imagina-tion.

Entire articles have been written by dozensof authors on this woman’s work. About toturn 66, Sherman is still producing and hasan active Instagram feed.

I came away from the day having beensometimes shocked, sometimes disturbed,sometimes amused, feeling challenged andin admiration of an imaginative mind and ashapeshifting artist who is, fundamentally,brave.

Cindy Sherman runs at the VAG until March 8, 2020.

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“I hate having my picture taken!”by Judy Hancock Holland

I hear this all thetime when I shootevents or takeportraits: "I hatehaving my picturetaken!"

Well, most peopledo... including me.Most photo-graphers I knoware on that side ofthe camera for a reason,and I'm no exception. Even super-modelswalk around feelingflawed andinadequate; it is anywonder the rest of usare reluctant to havephotos taken?

But here's the thing,folks: It's not aboutperfection. Your lovedones alreadyknow you're notperfect. They don't care. They care thatyou're YOU, and they treasure keepsakes ofyou.

None of us aregetting any youngeror more perfect withthe passing days (atleast not on theoutside). And noneof us will liveforever. When mylate husband, John,died, I didn't have asingle great portraitof him. I wish I had.But every photo I do

have is infinitely precious to me. Theexperience of losing him and having onlyphotos to keep thememories aliveshifted my point ofview. What if I hadbeen the one to die,and after 23 lovingyears together, hehad been left with nogood photos because"I hate having mypicture taken"? Itwould have been sosad, and so unfair.

So now myphilosophy is this:We owe it to our loved ones to set aside ourdiscomfort about being photographed, andjust do it. We can gift our spouse, childrenand grandchildren (not to mention friends)with a precious likeness that will warm theirhearts every time they look at it, or we canleave them nothing but their fadingmemories. Think about how delighted youwould be to have a really great portrait ofyour parents or grandparents. Your kids andgrandkids will be just as pleased to have agood portrait of you.

Do I still hate having my picture taken?Actually I do. But Ihave photos takennow from time totime, and I do selfportraits (notselfies!) once in awhile, too. I do it inspite of my discom-fort, because I lovethe special people inmy life and I owe it

photo by Trish Hanna

Martha Hardyphoto by Judy Hancock Holland

I make a point of making lotsof photos of my husband,Terry. This is one of myfavourites.

When Nick Zoltay neededsomeone to pose while hetried some new lighting, Igulped back my discomfortand went for it.

photo by Trish Hanna

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to them.

You may be nervous and feel awkwardwhen you sit for a portrait. I understandthat, and I’m no different. But we are all partof a photography club — how lucky for us!We can offer each other the dual service oftaking each other’s portraits and helpingeach other practice portrait shooting.

So work up your courage, grab a friend, andset a date. I did that with a couple of friends

This lovely lady was astranger until I askedto take her portrait.Now we’re friends.

from the club thispast year and cameaway with someshots I’m reallyhappy with. And myfamily and friendsare happy to havethem, too.

There are just a couple of weeks left to getyour entries in to our annual Photo Salon,which runs from June 1-12 at VIU. TheHarbour City Photography Club has a longhistory of hosting Photo Salon, which isunique to the Island. Last year there were 95images by 60 photographers on display inthe gallery.

Photo Salon is a chance for photographers tohave their work exposed in high quality to awider audience. A lot of beautiful work isbeing produced but much of it never getsprinted and hung for display. Photo Salon isa way of bringing this art to the community.

Digital images are judged and scored andthe top scoring 95 pieces are selected for theshow. In general the judges are looking fortechnical expertise, visual interest, and howwell the image portrays the subject matter.Submit your images by February 15, 2020 tothe Harbour City Photography Club viaemail at photosalon2020@gmail.com. Youmay enter up to 3 images. The entry fee is$10 for each image to be juried. Images areaccepted for judging when the fees are paid.

For detailed information, visit our website:hcpclub.ca/index.php/2020-photo-salon/

Photo Salon 2020 deadlineby Geri Reamer

February 8th:We welcome Peter Ward whowill be giving a presentation on sportsphotography. As well, as manager of thenorth end London Drugs photo department,Peter will be addressing questions on thelatest trends in photographic gadgets andgear.

February 18th: Our club will host the firstever,HCPC Slide Show Festival*. Formalred-carpet attire is not required but all thosesideshow aficionados will have anopportunity to share their work. Twomembers have volunteered to date. We haveroom for another four to five 4-minutepresentations. So, members, dust off yourFotomagico, ProShow and iMovie, and claimyour spot on the program. (emailrooney2u@gmail.com for more details).

For additional information about creating agood slide show, refer to our website,hcpclub.ca under “Knowledge > slide showprep”.

March 3rd: The evening is set aside for ourannual Scavenger Hunt. More details tocome.

March 17th: TBA

Upcoming programsby Rooney Dumler (*in the spirit of the 2020 Oscars)

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Flash Guide Numbersby Don Clark

With the development of Through The Lens(TTL) metering and dedicated flash tocamera setups, the need of calculating theflash exposure using the guide number ispretty much a thing of the past. So whenmight you want to work out the flashexposure manually from the guide number?One reason might be if you have a manualflash or if your camera and flash are notcompatible. Another use might be if youhave a generic flash trigger that does notsync with you camera. And the last reasonmight be if you want more control over thelight or want to set up an exposure thatoverrides the TTL settings if you areshooting a non-average scene.

Guide numbers may be influenced by avariety of variables, but the basic formula fortheir values is presented as the product ofonly two factors as follows:

Guide number = f-number × distance

For the most part, manufacturers state guidenumbers relative to a sensitivity of ISO 100,and most indicate a distance in meters. Forexample, my Sony HVL-F45RM Flash has aguide number of 45 with a flash coverage of45m at ISO 100 at a maximum zoom of150mm. But be sure to check your flashoperating manual to make sure, as somemanufacturers will use an ISO of 200 to givethe appearance of a higher guide number.

Calculating with guide numbers

It is easy to use guide numbers to calculateeither an aperture or a flash-to-subjectdistance.

Suppose you have a flash with a guidenumber of 44 (m)/144 (ft), and you set thecamera's aperture to f/4, and want to know

the required flash-to-subject distance; youwould divide the guide number by 4. And asubject 11 meters or 36 feet away will becorrectly illuminated (GN 44 (m) ÷f/4 = 11 m,and GN 144 (ft) ÷f/4 = 36 ft). For the sameguide number and an aperture of f/8, thelight source must be 5.5 meters or 18 feetfrom the subject.

Alternatively, if you have a flash-to-subjectdistance and want to find the required f-number, you would divide the guidenumber by the distance. Example: Guidenumber = 48 (m) and the distance is 6meters; one needs and aperture of f/8(GN 48 ÷ 6 m =f/8).

Example for finding a distance

Suppose a photographer wants to shoot withan aperture of f/2.8 and the guide numberis 28 (m)/92 (ft). The flash device must be 10meters (33 feet) from the subject.

In metric: GN 28 ÷f/2.8 = 10 m

In U.S. units: GN 92 ÷f/2.8 = 33 ft

Example for finding an aperture

Suppose a photographer's flash-to-subjectdistance is 9.75 meters (32 feet) and theguide number is 39 (m)/128 (ft). Theaperture must be f/4.

In metric: GN 39 ÷ 9.75 m =f/4

In U.S. units: GN 128 ÷ 32 ft =f/4

To make life easier, there are apps availablefor your smart phone that will figure out theproper f-stop, aperture, or distance for you.

The following web sites offer a more indepth look at flash guide numbers and

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charts for calculating them.

https://www.scantips.com/lights/flashbasics1c.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_number

https://www.jmpeltier.com/2018/06/11/guide-numbers-explained-manual-flash-calculator-chart/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/understanding-guide-numbers

It won’t be long before spring is here and weare itching to get out to all the wonders thatseason brings, so make the most of yourindoor time this winter.

Start-of-the-year reflection can be useful, butdon’t spend too much time on it. Rather, getyour inspiration from it, then make yourplans and put them into action.

Wishing you all the best in photography for2020.

President’s Message ...continued from page 1

Punographsby Don ClarkWhat is it? (Answer in the next issue.) Last issue: Many hands make light work

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CAPA Corner

Members are encouraged to submitimages for the CAPA competitions weenter as a club. Upcoming themes anddeadlines submission to HCPC are:

February 4 -- North Shore PhotographicSociety challenge.

February 8, 2020 -- Series of 4 Photos,open theme.

February 21, 2020 -- Monochrome in 5themes: Human Individuals/Groups,Landscape/Cityscape/Seascape,Architecture

March 6, 2020 -- AudiovisualPresentation

March 23, 2020 -- Canada, My Country.13 themes, one for each province &territory.

For more information, click the linksabove or here for how to submit images.

HCPC Challenges,Showcases & Awards

Members are encouraged to submitimages for the club showcases andcompetitions. Upcoming themes anddeadlines are:

February 4, 2020 -- Print Challenge #2: 3images: Abstract/AlteredReality/Creative

February 12, 2020 -- Valentines Showcase

March 11, 2020 -- Digital Challenge #3:Reflections

April 21, 2020 -- Print Challenge #3:Lines & Curves

April 30 & May 5 -- Digital + PrintChallenge: 1 digital image + 1 print.Open category. Digital images due April30; prints due May 5.

June 9, 2020 -- Year End Showcase“Three Right Answers”

June 11, 2020 -- Roy Quesnel Award forblack and white portrait

June 11, 2020 -- Jan Blackbourn Awardfor Abstract

June 11, 2020 -- Nigel Fletcher Award forHumour

For more much information, includingguidelines & tips, click here.

“What's really important is to simplify. The workof most photographers would be improvedimmensely if they could do one thing: get rid ofthe extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, youare more likely to reach the viewer.” -WilliamAlbert Allard

Sip-it snippetsOur 2019 survey indicated that memberswanted more opportunity to socialize. Withthat in mind, we upgraded our beverage andfood services at our meetings and reorgan-ized the tables so people can mingle.

Thank you to Tianna Smith for volunteeringto take over the responsibilities of the SocialChair. She needs the support of othermembers.

1. Sign up for our meeting-by-meetingtreats. The list is on the goodie table.

2. Remember to donate ($1.00 - $2.00)towards expenses. The collection cup islocated in the kitchen window.

3. Looking ahead: We need volunteers forthe year end banquet. Please let Tiannaknow if you can help.