Hello CPS members and friends,

Well, this is my second attempt at a regular newsletter. Last month's newsletter was well received and I had quite a few complimentary emails in response, so I think we will make it a regular feature. Most of this information is contained in our website but, as Dell Deed pointed out to me, it is often more convenient for members to read about events in a newsletter rather than simply being directed to a website. If you want to check details of club events, here are the links:
Club Website
Happenings Page
Events Calendar

New Meeting Venue

Starting from the April meeting we will be moving to a new venue at the Stratford Library Meeting Room.


The committee feels that the current space at Cominos House has several restrictions not least of which is that it can become very cramped when we have large numbers of members and visitors. The Stratford room is quite modern and spacious and there is space for members to move around and converse during the coffee break. I think we will all find it a welcome change. Our bookings at Cominos House will remain and we will use that venue for monthly workshops. To accommodate this new arrangement, there will also be a change to future meeting dates. The next two meetings will be held, as in the past, on the second Thursday of the month. The March meeting will be at Cominos House and the April meeting will be at Stratford. Thereafter all meetings will be held on the third Thursday of the month at Stratford. The change from the second Thursday to the third was to allow us to retain our Cominos bookings for workshops. To clarify, here are the meeting dates.

March - 9/03/2017 Cominos House
April - 13/04/2017 Stratford Library
Thereafter on the third Thursday of the month at Stratford Library

CPS Facebook Page

At the urging of Alex Pirez we have recently updated our Facebook page. Postings to the Facebook page have attracted several hundred people in recent weeks and Alex felt that we should take advantage of this coverage to expand our following and to provide a forum for members to show their photos, etc. Accordingly, Ingrid has set up a link to a new page specifically designed for member input. The link is in a post at the top of the old Facebook page, or if you want to go straight to the new page here is the link:

Members Facebook Page

You are invited to go to this page, write a comment and let us see your latest photos.

Outings

Judging by the comments received, our Mount Uncle outing was great success and enjoyed by all. I am sure there will be a few winning photos from the day. Claire, the girl who did all the running around in the restaurant to keep us fed on time, has asked us to send a portfolio of photos for their records and I think that Larry's slideshow would be a good present by way of thanks, so send your best photos from the day, to Larry.

Our next outing will be to Ellis Beach on Sunday 26th March. The committee felt that an afternoon session would be better to avoid the midday heat, so we will meet at the Ellis Beach Cafe at 3pm followed by a walk up the beach for photo opportunities. As the light will not be best at that time of day, bring your flash and try some fill-in flash portraiture.

Future Outings will be:
April - Babinda and The Boulders
May - Hartley's Crocodile Farm
June - Ironman, Cairns

Workshops

The following workshops are scheduled:

16/03/17 Lightroom for Beginners - The LR Catalog
Venue - Cominos House
Start 7pm

Cost - $10 per head. Payment to be made to Treasurer Jennifer at the next meeting or by bank transfer to the CPS account by no later than 9/3/2017:

Cairns Photographic Society, BSB 704966, Account Number 100002973

Ten members have registered for this workshop and there will be three experienced helpers to assist. If anyone has missed the earlier notice and still wants to participate please let me know by return email. Participants will need the following:
1.A laptop with Lightroom installed and running,
2.Charging cables and mouse,
3.Your camera and a cable to connect to the laptop, or, a card reader,

Prior to the workshop I would like every participant to take a number of photos over a three or four day period. Each daily photo shoot should be themed, eg. Day 1 - flowers in my garden, Day 2- The Esplanade, Day 3 - Macro shots, etc. It would help the workshop to run smoothly if these photos were the only ones in your camera. So, re-format or erase your memory card, if possible.

NB: Non-member guests who have registered interest are asked to join the club before participating. Membership forms can be downloaded from HERE on the website.

23/03/17 Photoshop for Beginners
Venue - Cominos House
Start 7pm

Cost - $10 per head. Payment to be made to Treasurer Jennifer at the next meeting or by bank transfer to the CPS account by no later than 9/3/2017:

Cairns Photographic Society, BSB 704966, Account Number 100002973

Twelve members have registered for this workshop and there will be three helpers. If anyone has missed the earlier notice and still wants to participate please let me know by return email. Participants must have a laptop with both Photoshop and Lightroom installed.

NB: Non-member guests who have registered interest are asked to join the club before participating. Membership forms can be downloaded from HERE on the website.

11/05/17 How to better use your camera
Venue - Cominos House
Start 7pm

Participants will be asked to register at the next meeting.

Topics - What are shutter speed, ISO and aperture and how are they related; How and when to use Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority, How and why to shoot in manual mode; Why shoot raw images; How to use all those other buttons on your camera that you rarely touch.

More experienced members of the club will assist you to better understand the workings of your camera and to get out of Program Mode for better photography.

29/04/2017 PhillipaFrederikson Workshops

Venue - Stratford Library Meeting Room

Start 10am Finish 4pm

Cost - No Charge to Members

Members should register their interest at the next meeting.
Sessions:
Art and Photography
Abstract/Creative Photography
Creative Editing on Your Smart Phone
Creating a Portfolio

Competitions

We have been invited to participate in a NQ/CQ inter-club competition. This competition is restricted to clubs in the Central Queensland/North Queensland areas and the rules are in the attached document. As our March comp is B&W/Monochrome the committee felt that the May inter-club comp topic (B&W) would be a good fit. Our competition secretary and a small sub-committee will select our club's entrants from those who enter B&W in our March comp and from those members who selected B&W for their portfolio. Those who have entries selected will be advised. If any member has an additional image that they want to be considered for the inter-club comp that is not included in either of the above categories, please supply a copy to the competition secretary in the format specified in the attached document.

Next Meeting "Competitions and Critique" - This Coming Thursday 9th March

The theme of the March meeting will be "Competitions and Critique". The judging of the portfolio competition has been completed and will be presented at this meeting and the judge, Wendy Geddes, has taken great care to provide useful and insightful commentary on each image. Even though not all members participated in this competition, the committee feels that Wendy's commentary will be of interest and benefit to all. I have had a sneak preview of some of the comments and I couldn't help noticing how Wendy often managed to see the "image within the image". This is a marvellous insight that we could all benefit from. We will also have the judging of the February competition, motion/blur and member's choice voting for the November Open print comp which, unfortunately, due to lack of time and space could not be held at the last meeting. In keeping with the meeting theme, Jackie Hammer will give us a talk on how to prepare images for competitions, what the judges look for, tips for successful competition, etc. Jackie is extremely experienced and successful in competitions and her experience is clearly evident in her outstanding image making.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday night.

Grant Phillips

President, Cairns Photographic Society

Don't forget to visit our website :