January 2016 Winners

Print Image Competition – Assigned Category (Architecture)

1st Place – Image of the Month

“Pea Growers” by Nomeca Hartwell

I love the look of the tall imposing granaries and silos in Eastern Washington so when we came across the ‘Pea Growers’ grain storage building in the Oakesdale area of the Palouse , I knew I wanted to spend some time with this structure. I found a way to get a really nice view of the building by crawling under a line of parked trains with my tripod and camera gear in tow and setting up inside the train yard. Afterwards I happily told my travel companion that I had gotten my ‘shot of the trip’. I made initial adjustments in Lightroom, but to really capture the magic of the scene, I ended up converting it to Black & White in Photoshop CS6 and then did a texture overlay.

Canon Rebel T2i data: 1/2000sec at f /6.3, ISO 400 , 18-135 lens at 25mm.

I have been an active member of the CCC for 27 years, served in all positions, currently Judging Secretary. Photography in our group is exciting and challenging with so many excellent artists competing , sharing, and getting better all the time.

Nomeca

1st Place – Tie

“Water Tanks” Russ Williamson

“Water Tanks” was taken on a trip to New York City this past summer to be used in the club’s assigned category of architecture. In New York City, buildings over six stories must have water storage on their roofs for fire fighting. This image was taken from our hotel room, through window glass at sunset. I used my Nikon D810 with a 70-200mm lens. The settings were ISO 200, F/3.5, 1/50sec, at a focal length of 135mm.

1st Place – Tie

“Boulevard of Dreams” Dale George

Boulevard of Dreams was taken this past spring on a road trip to Las Vegas. Shooting the strip at ground level was more of a challenge than I would have thought. The height of the hotels was daunting even with my 10-22mm lens. Distortion was always an issue, so in this scene I concentrated on buildings that were not as tall, as I wanted a more straight on type of shot. Another real problem was traffic, and those cursed light poles in the median, which were always in the worst photographic location. Eventually I settled at this spot and set up the tri-pod and waited for a break in the traffic…another hazard are the buses with their light-up billboards on the side trying to ruin your shots as they speed by.

Shot with a Canon T2I (retired now) and a 10-22mm lens. Exposure at ISO 100 for .6 Sec, focal length 13mm and aperture set at f/7.1

Print Image Competition – Open Category

1st Place

“The Outer Rim” Donald Tedrow

The outer rim is the arc of the Milky Way. This image was made at Pelican Butte, Oregon, using a Cannon Mark 3, Samyang 14mm lens, at F2.8, using a 25 second exposure at iso 3200. Processed in LightRoom and Photoshop.My first attempts at astro-scape photography began in February 2015 and the learning process is on going. I am absolutely hooked and fascinated with imaging the night sky. An image that Nomeca Hartwell created when I originally became a camera club member, spiked my interest in night photography. I became a member of the camera club in September 2008. I left in June of 2011, then re-joined in June 2015. I am in gratitude to be surrounded by talented artists and the images that are produced by our club. I am retired and free to pursue my passions in life, which are sometimes dancing (after a beer or 2), wine tasting, back packing, hiking and photography. The extraordinary culmination, for me, is to combine back packing, photography, hiking and a cold beer after a long excursion on a hot trail.

2nd Place – Tie

“Through the Smoke” Ned Booth

2nd Place – Tie

“Red Panda” Russ Williamson

2nd Place – Tie

“The Bird in the Bush” Dave Church

Electronic Image Competition – Assigned Category (Architecture)

1st Place – Tie

“Portal of Power” Dale George

“Portal of Power” was taken this past Sept. on a photographic road trip with my wife. Our final destination was Victoria, B.C. and was where I captured this scene. The photo was taken on the second floor of the beautiful legislative building which is available to explore a bit. This was shot on a tri-pod and was a bit difficult to frame properly as the camera would not tilt upward any further and was low to the floor to get as much in the frame as possible. It is another 3 shot exposure processed in Photomatix and Lightroom.

As a side note, I have been using HDR for over 2 years now and find that this technique works especially well for interior shots and does not produce the halo effect usually associated with some HDR images. This is my “go-to” technique for older interior building shots as it seems to bring life to the image.

1st Place – Tie

“Windows” Russ Williamson

“Windows” was taken this summer on a trip to New York City for the assigned category of architecture. This building has been build in the area that was destroyed on 911, at Ground Zero. I used my Nikon D810 and 24-70mm lens. My setting were ISO 64, F/6.3, 1/200sec, and a focal length of 66mm. The image was cropped and tilted to work with the lines of the building.

2nd Place – Tie