Out With The New, In With The Old

Some may say "in with the new, out with the old!" - But no, not I. Sometimes old is good, if not great, as in this case.

This image was part of a set of images taken over two years ago in one of my favourite places across the border, which I should add, is almost non-existent as it's on the verge of being torn down. Non-the-less, it was the beginning of a an amazing project that's still in the works (In Search of Venus).

As you can tell from the original image, the space was quite cramp and not easy to move around in. Quite a bit of post processing was needed just to straighten and align the image. It was the contrast between old and new, hard and soft that appealed to me. Which is probably why I processed the 2008 image with punchy, high contrasty over tones.

A lot has changed over the years. For one, I have been visually studying and learning new ways to post process my work with HDR and texture overlays. Giving images new life and drama. New software integration also makes it easy to jump between applications like Photomatix, Lightroom and Photoshop seamlessly.

So why keep those old images buried?? Go back and revisit them. Play and experiment with some of the new knowledge that you have picked up along the way and you just might be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Toni, President

GTCCC 2010 Results

What a great year we had for the 2010 GTCCC Interclub competition. This year the Beach Photo Club impressed everyone with our best yet results, and it's all thanks to all of you who entered.

• Overall Number of Entries for 2010: 1378
  
• Beach Photo Club Entries: 120
  

Trophy Standings:

• Monochrome Prints: 3rd Place
  
• Digital Pictorial: Tied for 2nd Place
  
• Stuart Freeman (Based on the top 12 scores by 12 makers in that club): 3rd Place
  

Member Placements:

There were a number of club members who were acknowledge with "Accept' images. I unfortunately don't have a complete list of everyone at this time.

Honourable Mentions:

• Eric Neuville, Polar Bear (Toronto Zoo) - Nature
  
• Francois Roeder, Open and Kept Secrets - Mono Print
  
• Julie Clark, Montana Coyote - Nature
  
• Maureen Littlewood, Fly By - Pictorial Digital
  
• Natalia Shields, Enchantment - Pictorial Digital
  
• Toni Wallachy, Balcony Seating - Pictorial Digital
  

Top Placements:

• Best Natural Things - John Wallace, Secluded Autumn Pond - Pictorial Digital
  
• 2nd Place, & Best Landscape - Natalia Shields, Killarney Pine, Historic Chikanishing Trail - Mono Prints

Congratulations to all our members who won awards - Toni Wallachy, President

May 15th & 16th - Michelle Quance Wedding Show

Beach Photographer Michelle Quance will be holding a wedding show at her gallery on Main Street this coming May 15th and 16th 2010. More information about the show on her website at: www.weddingsonmainstreet.com

Art of the Danforth Photo Mosaics

Hi – in case you’re interested in submitting any photos to the Art of the Danforth photo mosaics, here’s a little information on what we’re up to...

About the display: photographers Steve Caissie and Mark Gilligan invite local photographers - amateur and pro - to contribute pictures of the neighborhood or of any aspect of their lives. These images will be cropped to 4" x 4" tiles and mounted together to create large photomosaics. The final mosaics will go on display in one of Greenwood, Coxwell or Woodbine subway stations during the Art of the Danforth.

Want to participate? Here's what to do!

First: let us know you're participating by emailing Mark & Steve at info@artofthedanforth.com
Second: take 30 photo broken up into the following categories:

• 5 Red photos, 5 Green photos, 5 Blue photos, 5 Yellow Photos, 5 photos that illustrate something interesting about your neighborhood and 5 photos of things that make you happy.
• If you want to take less, that’s ok by us – but please make sure they fit into one or another category above. Photos that previously taken are fine if they fit the guidelines above and so long as you have the rights to share them.
• If you are taking pictures of individuals, please make sure you have their permission to use their image. Use this photo release form if you are submitting pictures of individuals.
• By submitting photos for this project, you are declaring that you have the rights and permissions to authorize their usage.

Third: Upload your photos to Art of the Danforth before or by the deadline of 5pm, April 4, 2010, by:

• EMAIL – email photos to photos@artofthedanforth.com.
• For emails over 4mg, please use FTP (you can use http://www.filemail.com/ )
• We also have an Art of the Danforth Flickr group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/artofthedanforth – if you are a Flickr fan who can help us set this up for sharing shots for use in the mosaics, please come forward!

Fourth: (optional) sign up to help Steve & Mark sort & assemble photos in AprilFifth: Tell everyone you know to come look for your work in the subway stations April 23 – May 2nd!

FAQs

• What format should I send pictures in? JPEGs preferable, 300 dpi printable at 4” x 6” We will be cropping images to 4” x 4”, so if you want to do the cropping yourself, go ahead – but please note that we will be printing them on 4” x 6” paper first and THEN cropping.
• Can I submit on CD? Sure, but you’ll have to arrange getting the CD to us – email us and we’ll work it out.
• How about photo credits and copyright?

Acknowledgement: We will acknowledge all photographers (unless you prefer to remain anonymous) in a list of contributors beside photo mosaics – at the display site and online. We will not be matching individuals with specific images within the mosaic. When you submit your images, please indicate how you would like to be acknowledged, including a website or email for the website if desired.

Copyright: You retain rights to use of your images. In submitting your work for inclusion in the Art of the Danforth project, you are also giving Art of the Danforth to use the image of the entire photo mosaic as a whole for our promotional and marketing purposes. Interested parties in specific photos will be directed to the original photographers.

For more info, write us at info@artofthedanforth.com

New camera with a built in projector!

(Reposted from the Photolife Newsletter)

The Nikon Coolpix S1000pj is definitely a cool gadget. If you have not seen or heard about it yet, you are missing out. This seemingly ordinary compact camera has a very special feature: a built-in projector! At first I was extremely sceptical. What can a compact camera with a gimmicky looking feature like this do for me? After giving it a chance, this feature is actually really cool and has come handy in many social situations.My first hands-on experience with this camera was at a friend’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine bought a Coolpix S1000pj the day before the wedding and had not had a chance to play with it before the event. Since she had not used it before, she passed it off to me and asked me to take photos for her. I have shot weddings many times before, but never with a compact camera. Since I was not the official photographer for this wedding, it gave me an opportunity to shoot fun images of all the guests having a good time rather than just the wedding party and the bride and groom. The reception was the best part. I captured dancing, bouquet tossing, and the rest of the shenanigans you can expect to find at a wedding reception. I was impressed with the quality of images I was getting from this little camera. Although low-light performance has not always been Nikon’s strength in their compact line up, this model was getting pretty good results. When the party started to settle down, I asked my friend if I could try the projector mode out since I have never seen it in action. I popped the camera on our table and switched the camera to projector mode. It projected a 40-inch image on the white wall and displayed a slideshow of the entire day. Eventually we noticed that a crowd had formed around us. Even the bride came over to see what was going on. Everyone loved seeing the photos projected on the wall, and it was great how we could all laugh about the silly poses together. It was a definitely a big hit.After playing with my friend’s camera, I decided that I wanted one too. This camera has become my official party camera! Every time I bring it to a social event, people go crazy over it. For some reason, people love to watch and laugh about events that have just happened. I highly recommend this camera for the social butterfly, as it is a fun way to share your photos on the wall instantly. You can simply toss it in your pocket and bring it anywhere and everywhere. If you are interested in learning more details about this great camera visit http://www.nikon.ca/ or thecamerastore.com.