Bowie-Crofton Camera Club Volume 39, Number 6 • February, 2020 “Camel Eye”, by Bill Collins, won second place in Advanced Monochrome Prints for the January competiton. See more on pages 4-7. THE VIEWFINDER Comments From the President “Observe the life moving like a river around you… and realize the image you make may become a part of the collective history of the time that you are living in.” -- Eli Reed1 by Jeanine Cummins, President The importance of Black photography and Cheriss May, Simon Frederick, Jamel Shabazz, photographers influences my work by the way I Sheila Pree Bright, and Devin Allen; their purpose capture images, and what story I want my images to is to celebrate achievements, culture, history, and tell. Early photographs/images of African Americans contributions to American history. Image matters. had exaggerated features Photographers such as Robert Frank (1924-2019), an on advertisements, sheet immigrant to this country during the rise of Nazism music, including the infamous in Europe understood oppression and looked at “blackface” and souvenir America from another perspective; Hugh Mangum postcards that depict lynching. (1877-1922), photographed in the segregated South. It was those postcards that captured the horrors He is known for his portraits of African Americans, of lynching in America. Visual representations of where it was illegal to photograph Blacks and Whites African Americans were negative and demeaning. in the same sitting space. The ongoing themes from the early beginnings of For Black History Month, read a book about the Black photography, dating back to the 1840’s, were Black experience in photographs: Pictures with to change the racist portrayal of African Americans Purpose - Early Photographs from the National in images. From Jules Lion, James Pressley Hall, Museum of African American History and Culture Augustus Washington to James Van der Zee, Ernest (Double Exposure series), Reflections in Black: A Withers, Moneta Sleet, Gordon Parks to Carrie Mae History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present, Weems, Anthony Barboza, The Kamoinge Collective, Continued on page 3 Program Meeting p. 3 This Month’s Schedule Table of Contents: Competition Corner p. 4-7 Get Ahead p. 7 February 3 Competiton Theme: Travel Photo Books p. 8 February 10 Photo Talk Contemporary Photographers Out & About p. 9 February 17 Program Charles Bowers - Fine Art Photography Upcoming Events p. 9 February 24 How-To Hand-Coloring Photos PSA Contest p. 10 TBD Field Trip Charm City Roller Derby Photo Talk p. 11 The Viewfinder • Bowie-Crofton Camera Club Volume 39, Number 6 • February, 2020 Articles for The Viewfinder EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE THE VIEWFINDER is distributed via Articles should be sent via e-mail to President Jeanine Cummins ............ 240-461-2914 e-mail early in the month and at [email protected]. Attachments . [email protected] the first meeting of each month as MS Word, .txt, or .rtf files are VP Programs during the club year. Contributions of acceptable. Photos and illustrations Catherine Sheppard .......... 301-262-2819 articles of interest to photographers should be separate attachments. [email protected] are welcomed. VP Membership Photographs should be submitted Bill Collins .................. 410-827-3369 The deadline for submitting articles electronically as JPEGs with a “high” . [email protected] is the second Monday of the month quality compression setting. The VP Competition Roz Kleffman ................ 301-464-1867 prior to publication (ie, articles optimal photograph will be no . [email protected] submitted in early October will more than 800 pixels in its greatest VP How-to be published in the November dimension. Stefan Kaben ................ 301-459-0955 newsletter). [email protected] VP Photo Talk Membership Rates Photographic Society Bob Matthews ............... 301-785-1151 of America (PSA) . [email protected] Individual ........$40.00 Treasurer Family ............$55.00 The Bowie-Crofton Camera Club has Monica Hawse ............... 443-534-1160 been a member of the Photographic . [email protected] Meeting Nights Society of America (PSA) since 1977. Secretary Wanda Jenifer................ 301-946-3090 The Bowie-Crofton Camera Club Denise Hill is B-CCC’s representative . [email protected] meets the first through fourth to PSA. PSA Representative Monday nights of each month For information regarding the Denise Hill .................(301) 809-1399 September through May in the . [email protected] benefits of a PSA individual Fellowship Hall of the All Saints Newsletter Editor membership and Lutheran Church at US 301 and Mt. Vincent Ferrari............... 301-249-2210 for PSA-sponsored events contact . [email protected] Oak Road in Bowie. Meetings begin Denise Hill (301) 809-1399 or Immediate Past President -Roz Kleffman at 7:30. Visitors are always welcome. e-mail [email protected]. STAFF Competition Assistant Open .................................... Database Manager Dick Russell ................. 410-923-2022 . [email protected] Field Trip Committee Leaders Vincent and Leslie Ferrari............301-249-2210 . [email protected] Webmaster Bev Shomo . [email protected] Web Editor Vincent [email protected] Exhibit Coordinator Bob Matthews [email protected] Bowie-Crofton Camera Club P.O. Box 515 Bowie, Maryland 20718-0515 2 The Viewfinder • Bowie-Crofton Camera Club Volume 39, Number 6 • February, 2020 Comments From the President, continued by Jeanine Cummins, President Songs of My People: A Self-Portrait edited by Eric Remember the power that our cameras have to tell Easter, Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the a story, whether we’re photographing landscapes that New York Times Photo Archives authored by Dana are changing or disappearing, endangered species, Canedy, Darcy Eveleigh, Damien Cave, Rachel L. Swan, documenting street scenes or protests, telling stories of Elder Grace: The Nobility of Aging by Chester Higgins, families and friends, or photographing cultures abroad. Jr., A Beautiful Ghetto by Devin Allen. Image matters. This month’s competition theme is “Travel”. Photo 1 www.nationsphotolab.com/blog/celebrating-african-american-photographers/ Talk will ask the question – Where did “Rules” come Eli Reed is a Harvard-educated photojournalist, professor, and author, from? Program speaker, Charles Bowers will discuss and is best known for being the first black photographer to be employed being “Stuck between Two Worlds”, and club member, by the famed Magnum Agency. He has captured everything from the Steve Abramowitz will present his process for hand everyday life of African Americans in America to major historical events coloring photos. Our field trip will take place at the worldwide. Willis, Deborah, Ph.D. Reflections in Black: A History of Black Charm City Roller Derby. Photographers 1840 to the Present. WW. Norton & Co. Inc, 2000. Program Meeting - February 17 Charles Bowers – Fine Art Photography by Catherine Sheppard, VP Programs February’s Program Speaker will be Charles Bowers. of work that includes these and other areas of subject A professional landscape architect, Bowers chose matter. During the club’s Program Meeting, Bowers will photography to create art beyond designing and show a selection of his work and describe the origins of building beautiful gardens. Like many who started and intent behind his images. out in film, as he did decades ago, Bowers readily Our speaker’s photography has appeared in several moved into the digital world and embraced many one-person and numerous group exhibitions, as well new processes into his repertoire. For example, in the as being featured in local, national and international digital realm, he explores digital painting, texturing and publications. He has written articles which accompany collaging. His results then are printed or transferred the images shows in these venues. Finally, Bowers has onto canvas, wood, watercolor paper and other media, produced a photography book about a garden through using state of the art archival-pigmented inks. the seasons and years. Bowers’ subject matter includes people and their Bowers’ work can be seen at: relationship to their environment, architecture, landscapes, gardens, flowers and the natural world. www.cwbowers.com/gallers-list Over the years, Bowers has built an extensive collection 3 The Viewfinder • Bowie-Crofton Camera Club Volume 39, Number 6 • February, 2020 Competition Corner January 6 Competition Results by Roz Kleffman, VP Competition 2. Thank you to our judge, Mike Washington for judging have the theme “Get Outside”. The definition is: the January 2020 competition with the theme of “Eyes”. Any activities taking place outdoors. Examples: I think everyone will agree that Mike to a great job with sports, leisure, work, gardening, dog-walking, a good focus on “eyes”. We had some very creative sunbathing. The activity must be done outdoors, at entries. any season of the year. Images may include humans Kudos to the winners. or humans with animals; no animal-only images. Any There were only two Novice Monochrome entries. landscape or scenery is secondary to the activity. That meant NO Novice Monochrome Competition. You have a whole month to get those entries in for NOVICES take note: this is a great opportunity for you the March “GET OUTSIDE” theme. to win. Print, print, print. The March 3 competition will Photographer of the Year Race by Roz Kleffman, VP Competition It is that time to start looking at the race for So start racking up the points by putting two images Photographer of the Year. That is the point score in in Monochrome Prints, two images in Color Prints and Novice and Advanced for each division of competition. two images in Digital. Frequently, at the end of the The points are adding up. Remember you will get one year, only a few points separate the winner from the entry point for each image you put into competition. runner-up awards. The current totals appear on page 5. March 2 Competiton Judge Our judge for the March competition, with the theme of “Get Outside,” is Merry Plocki by Karen Ackermann, Competiton Assistant Merry has always loved nature and discovered through photography.