Plano Photography Club

Club Meetings Are Held on the Third Thursday of Each Month (except December)
Training Session(s) at 6:00 PM and Program at 7:00 PM
West Plano Presbyterian Church - 2709 Custer Road, Plano, Texas

The aim of the Plano Photography Club is the enjoyment, mastery, and furtherance of photography through cooperation, effort, and good fellowship. Serving Plano and surrounding areas, we welcome photographers of all skill levels.

Review this slide presentation to learn more about the club.

Then join us at our next monthly meeting and get to know the friendly folks in the Plano Photography Club.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION | BECOME A MEMBER | RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP




 Club Photo Galleries

Dallas Arboretum Photo Shoot

On Tuesday, March 5, over thirty (30) members of the Plano Photography Club participated in an early morning photo shoot at the Dallas Arboretum.

If you attended this event, we invite you to send UP TO FIVE (5) IMAGES IN JPEG FORMAT to clubphotos@planophotographyclub.com.

Submitted photos will be displayed in the gallery at right.

NOTE: These five images will also be provided to the Dallas Arboretum in repayment for the early morning access to the facility.

Please include YOUR NAME and the TOPIC in the file name(s) (e.g., JohnStaub_Arboretum_1.jpg).

The maximum dimension (long edge) for submitted images is 4096 pixels; the maximum individual file size is 10MB.   

This gallery is CLOSED. Thanks to all for your submissions.



North Texas Irish Festival

Were you one of the sixteen (16) club members who received a free photographer badge for this year's North Texas Irish Festival (NTIF)?

Maybe you did not have a badge but couldn't resist the urge to take advantage of the spectacular weather.

Either way, if you attended and photographed the event, we invite you to send UP TO FIVE (5) IMAGES IN JPEG FORMAT to clubphotos@planophotographyclub.com. Submitted photos will be displayed in the gallery at right.

NOTE: For those who received photographer badges, this submission will fulfill the requirement that five photos be submitted to the NTIF in exchange for the badges. Please submit photos that align with the topics of the scavenger hunt, if possible.

We ask you to submit photos that meet the guidelines established for the NTIF Scavenger Hunt.  Please review that document and follow the file naming conventions specified within it.

The maximum dimension (long edge) for submitted images is 4096 pixels; the maximum individual file size is 10MB.   

This gallery is CLOSED. Thanks to all for your submissions.

 

 March President's Message

Total Solar Eclipse
Jen Castle

A big thank you to all the club members who helped make our 2024 Tabletop Workshop a blast! Nearly 60 people joined the fun, and the photos on our website do a great job of capturing the excitement. We're so lucky to have such a dedicated and talented group of people in the Plano Photography Club.

The clock is ticking toward April 8, when the Dallas area will experience its only total solar eclipse in our lifetimes. We've assembled a comprehensive guide to help you learn about the eclipse and safely photograph it. Our guide includes text and video resources, with both external links and presentations by our own Jason Ware and Cliff McKenzie. Here's how to get ready:

Join us on March 21 for our monthly club meeting featuring guest speaker Graham Hobart, a Master Photographer whose work has been exhibited by prestigious institutions worldwide. Here's what you need to know about Graham:

  • Born in Africa, lived in London, and now resides in Texas
  • Renowned for his iconic illustrative style and powerful brand identity
  • His lecture, "VISUALIZATION," will delve into his creative process and guide you to find your unique visual voice

Don't miss this inspiring presentation and the chance to learn from a master!


"Photography is the beauty of life captured." — Tara Chisolm

 Eclipse News and Information

Work With NASA To Solve Solar Mysteries During The Total Eclipse

Eclipse Megamovie

From Space.com and EclipseMegamovie.org:

Everyone who sees a total solar eclipse from within the path of totality gets fixated on the sun's majestic corona. It's the only time it can be seen with the naked eye and photographed.

But another layer, the chromosphere, is also revealed during totality. Between the sun's surface — the photosphere — and the corona, the chromosphere is a layer of superheated gas (plasma), through which jets and plumes of plasma flow on their way to space.

But there's a problem. "Solar physicists don't know how much of the sun's mass is leaving the sun," said Laura Peticolas of Sonoma State University in California, leading the NASA-funded Eclipse Megamovie 2024 project, to Space.com. "Total solar eclipses provide information to the solar community that can't be provided in any other way."

Eclipse Megamovie 2024 is focused on creating an open-source dataset to help solar physicists solve a fundamental problem in plasma dynamics during totality on April 8.

You can volunteer to take part in this project with a DSLR or mirrorless camera and a tripod! To learn more about the history of the Eclipse Megamovie project, solar eclipses, and how you can contribute to real scientific research of the sun, click the appropriate button(s) below.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ECLIPSEMEGAMOVIE 2024 PROJECT  FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS  SIGN UP FOR THE PROJECT

NOTE: Applications to join the project will be closed on March 18, so please act quickly.

 


Download Club-Produced Solar Eclipse Presentations

In addition to the resources available for your review on the club's Total Solar Eclipse information page, two club members have produced detailed slide decks about the upcoming eclipse that are now available for download.

At the February club meeting, Jason Ware presented "Get Ready For Totality 2024," in which he covered where to observe it, which lenses and filters to use, and what techniques will increase your chances of getting the best photos. Exposure recommendations and post-processing after the event were also discussed, along with how to enjoy the experience.

Later in the same month, at the Tabletop Workshop, Activities Chair Cliff McKenzie gave a lecture on "Total Solar Eclipse 2024 - A Once In A Lifetime Event." This presentation deals with all aspects of "The Great Texas Solar Eclipse," from who, when, and where to view this phenomenon to best safety practices to how to photograph it.

Click on either or both of the buttons below to download the desired presentation.

DOWNLOAD "GET READY FOR TOTALITY 2024"  DOWNLOAD "TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2024 - A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT"

 


Experience April's Total Solar Eclipse From Your Smartphone

From Space.com:

A total solar eclipse will be visible across the U.S. on April 8, 2024, and the free Totality app developed by Big Kid Science is the perfect tool to accompany your eclipse viewing experience.

Totality

The app's interactive map feature shows you where in the world upcoming solar eclipses will be visible and uses your phone's GPS to tell you what those eclipses would look like from your current location.

If you're not in the path of totality for an upcoming total solar eclipse, including the one happening in April, Totality will also show you the nearest locations from which you can witness totality. The app also contains a wealth of scientific information about eclipses and can even use Google Maps to provide accurate navigation to the path of totality.

"I saw a need for an easy-to-use app to help both kids and adults know exactly when and where they could watch an upcoming eclipse and that would provide accurate information about safe viewing and eclipse science," Jeffrey Bennett, Totality app creator and founder of Big Kid Science, told Space.com.

Bennett also wanted the app to be free so cost would not be a barrier to anyone. He created the app to help as many people as possible experience totality as well as learn the underlying science behind eclipses. The app was sponsored by the American Astronomical Society.

"I teamed up with Xavier Jubier, who graciously agreed to provide the eclipse prediction code that he wrote for his interactive website, and the two of us worked with the brilliant software engineers at Germinate LLC to turn this vision into reality," Bennett continued.

The Learn section provides ample solar eclipse resources such as information on how, when, and why solar eclipses occur as well as classroom activities meant to inspire the next generation of budding eclipse chasers.

Download Totality on iOS and Android platforms in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

 

 Cell Phone Photography Contest

Cell Phone Photography Contest

A Cell Phone Photography category has been added to the club's annual Special Contests, effective with the April 2024 competition.

The guidelines for this contest are as follows:

  • Entries must have been captured using a cell phone. Photos captured with tablets are not eligible, even if the tablet acts as a phone.
  • Images must be in JPEG format (e.g., not HEIC, etc.).
  • The file name must be Windows-compatible (i.e., the file name may not contain any of the characters \ : / * ? " [ ]| ).
  • Photos may be of any subject and may be edited on any device using any software.

You may submit photos for any of the Special Contests - including the new Cell Phone competition - until midnight on April 18, 2024.

 

 GSCCC Competition News

GSCCC Logo

The following Plano Photography Club member(s) received recognition in the February 2024 Gulf States Camera Club Council photo competition:

Color Projected

  • 1st Place: My Mother's Scissors - Nancy Mack
  • Nature Projected

  • 2nd Place: Flight of the Spoonbill - Alan Daniel
  • To see the winning images and a full list of award recipients, please visit the GSCCC competition results page. Congratulations to those listed above.

     

     Club Meeting - Thursday, March 21, 2024

    Training - 6:00 PM CT (Library)
    Some Basics with Larry Petterborg and Dennis Fritsche (Library)

    Graham Hobart
    Graham Hobart
    Program - 7:00 PM CT (Main Meeting Room)
    Graham Hobart: Visualization

    Bio: Graham Hobart offers a unique approach to photography. Growing up during a civil war in Africa as well as having lived on three continents may explain why his work is anything but ordinary. At age ten he was carving stone at the feet of native Zimbabwean artists. While still in high school he began casting bronze sculptures and painting in oils. This was followed by a period during which he began to explore as much of the African subcontinent as he could, sometimes by canoe or bicycle simply because roads did not exist.

    "It was during these travels that I realized that I just had to have a camera to record all those incredible experiences," Hobart says when asked about the transition to becoming a professional photographer in 1985. So, from the simple desire to share his stories with others he bought his first camera and the next great adventure began.

    After so many years the thrill of the pursuit for the perfect image hasn't left Hobart.

    Having grown up in British Colonial Africa, Graham Hobart witnessed first-hand animal populations disappearing as their pristine habitat shrank to smaller and smaller areas in the name of human progress.

    Harnessing the unique qualities of infrared photography, Hobart has created images reminiscent of old Victorian lithographs by artists like Thomas Baines (Africa) and Thomas Moran (the American West) during the late nineteenth century.

    Hobart's images evoke a haunting nostalgia for this bygone era and will transport you back in time to when animals roamed freely while challenging all of us to allow the overly stressed wild areas space to heal as we learn to reestablish our coexistence with the natural world.

    Hobart believes that you can never fully experience Life without first getting close to Nature and then learning to tread lightly where you walk and listen carefully to all the plants and creatures around you.

    Program Description: Good photographic images are more than pretty pictures. Every good photographer must have a firm command over the look and messaging of his/her images. Once a degree of maturity has been achieved a sort of “reverse engineering” is essential to go back to repeat that success again and again so that a recognizable style or brand can be established.

    A key component of this journey is knowing what you want to say as an artist and learning how to see the finished print while still looking through the viewfinder ... long before the image is captured.

    Since Graham Hobart’s last lecture titled "Finding your Visual Voice,” he has been exhibited by several museums and institutions in Africa, Europe, and the USA. In his next lecture titled “VISUALIZATION,” Hobart will break down how he arrived at his iconic illustrative style and how he was able to reinforce his messaging with a branded look that is undeniably his own. This lecture will challenge you to find your look and learn ways to build that brand into a body of work that is more dependent on belief and command than on luck.

     

                      

    Samples of Graham's Photography

     

     Club Contest Information - March 2024

    The theme for the next Plano Photography Club photo contest is OPEN (Electronic).

    Accompanying electronic entries must be uploaded to the PPC Competition Site before 11:59 PM CT on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

    You may submit one image to this contest. SUBMIT CONTEST IMAGE

    NOTE: You must be a Plano Photography Club member to submit a contest image.

     

    The Plano Photography Club is a proud member club of these organizations:

  • Photographic Society of America
  • Gulf States Camera Club Council
  • Photographic Society of America Gulf States Camera Club Council PSA Website Contest 2020 2nd Place PSA Website Contest 2021 Honorable Mention  PSA Website Contest 2023 Honorable Mention

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    All content © 1984-2024 Plano Photography Club (PPC)

    The Plano Photography Club meets monthly except in December at West Plano Presbyterian Church (2709 Custer Road, Plano, Texas).

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    Jason Ware/Galaxy Photo
    Jason Ware | Galaxy Photography
    Barry Guimbellot
    Barry and Ruth Guimbellot | Creative Illusions
    Essie Graham
    Essie Graham | Essie Graham Photography
    David Cutts
    David Cutts | Cutts Nature Photography

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    Member Organization

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