I've put the link to our new website in the Side Bar!
This week's Board Meeting was postponed so instead of a Business Meeting Alex Gano, our Ambassadorial Scholar, is telling us about himself a week earlier than scheduled and we will have the Business Meeting next week.
Last, but by no means least we welcome Julian Nagy to the Club. As you can see he already has the bit between his teeth. Welcome Julian!
Enter the Annual Rotarian Photo Competition
The Rotarian magazine’s photography contest debuted in 1928. Since then, we’ve ditched the box cameras and flashbulbs. We no longer have to remember whether 200-speed film is for indoors or out. But the rules for what makes a great photo are as valid today as when we expounded on them in years past. So take our advice, and enter our 2011 photo contest. The theme is the spirit of Rotary, and the deadline is 31 March. Read the rules and submit your photos .
In January 1960, Randall G. Satterwhite, a member of the Rotary Club of Rochester, N.Y., USA, advised Rotarians to “Put Your Heart into Your Pictures.”
- Photograph those things which you feel and feel strongly. The stronger your feelings, the better your picture is going to be.
- Always know what you want to achieve before you take a picture. Some pictures are winners by sheer accident, but far more are planned well ahead. If your club sponsors a Boy Scout troop, for example, try to recall your experiences as a Scout. How did you feel the day you first put on a Tenderfoot’s uniform? Watch for good expressions on the boys’ faces. Try to put those feelings into your pictures.
In May 1960, Bruce Downes, editor and publisher of Popular Photography , laid out for readers “How I Would Win Rotary’s Photo Contest.”
- Most amateurs do little more than take a quick look to see that things are in the center of the frame before snapping the shutter. I’d make sure that the relationship of people to people, or people to things, or things to things was right and logical and unconfused. I’d make sure that I was as close to the crux of the situation as I could get, and then I’d try to get closer to see if I could get rid of even more nonessential details around the edges. In other words, I’d make pretty darned sure that the idea as visualized in the viewfinder is clear before snapping the shutter. Somehow people expect cameras to do their thinking for them. Like pens, pencils, and typewriters, cameras never do.
- And all the time I’d keep uppermost in my mind the guiding image and aura of service, which is the heart and soul of Rotary as I understand it. For the pictures that win prizes in this contest will be pictures that say service – pictures of people helping people all over the world – and the men and women who win the prizes are likely to be people whose devotion to service enlivens their pictures with vitality and warmth.
In November 1973, eight Rotarian photographers and editors suggested “Ways You Can Win.”
- Jean Jacques Robert, Cannes, France (motion picture photographer) Modern photographic equipment makes picture-taking much easier than it was years ago. It permits us to grasp all that lives, all that moves, under any conditions of light and speed. The trick is to capture real life.
- Raymond D. Conkling, Portland, Ore., USA (commercial photographer) Avoid submitting photographs that are too busy, have poor print or slide quality, weak composition, and lazy lighting. Story-telling photographs that are imaginative, have impact, and are simple and tasteful will be the ones that most judges like.
- Dick Smith, North Conway, N.H., USA (freelance photographer) All pictures are not worth a thousand words – some hardly say anything. In choosing your subject matter, be sure that as a photograph it says something. If it needs much explaining, the photograph is weak.
- Marc Levin, Lyon, France (editor of Le Rotarien ) There are no secrets to good photography, just logic and common sense. Study the contest rules, then start taking pictures. Then take more pictures. A contest is selection, and you must select your own best pictures from a wide variety.
- Adolfo Casablanca, Rosario, Argentina (editor of Vida Rotaria ) The theme of the 1974 contest says it all: Rotary In Action. Avoid static subjects. Try to capture a feeling of movement. This is not always easy because photography assumes a moment of repose, even though the subjects are in movement. It helps if the picture appears to be taken by surprise, not posed. Some of the best pictures are taken by surprise! Flick your shutter when your subjects least expect it. Their expressions will be natural, and their attention will be focused on their natural activity, not you.
- Don Brennan, Philadelphia (judge, 1960 photo contest) I always look for the unusual angle, the imaginative composition, the color and the contrast. Cropping a large scene to reduce it to its essential ingredients is a final step in producing a beautiful photograph.
- Walter Chandoha, Annandale, N.J., USA (freelance photographer) A good photograph tells the story with a minimum of words to explain it. It is even better if it requires no caption. A good picture has a single center of interest with a minimum of distracting elements. It is tightly cropped and well balanced. Only those elements which are pertinent to the story should be included. All else should be eliminated.
- Kakuturo Kawasaki, Tokyo (editor of The Rotary No-Tomo ) Action pictures are what I look for but rarely see enough of. Unless Rotarians get directly involved in the community, there is no way to get action snapshots. Pictures taken at regular meeting places can be a waste of film. Even if a photograph is a little out of focus, it will convey something if it has action and substance.
In September 1976, the editors advised Rotarians “How Not to Win the Rotary World Photo Contest.”
- Here at The Rotarian , we see more examples of poor photography than we like to admit. The chief offender is those uninspired group photos – we call them “lineups” – where everyone forms ranks and stares at the camera. Or men sitting around a table. An audience watching a speaker. People shaking hands. Or passing checks. Another big loser is the head-and-shoulders portrait we call “the mug shot.” There are some interesting physiognomies out there in Rotary, but there are many better ways to show them off.
In June 2009, photographer Jean-Marc Giboux judged our contest. In “Your Best Shots,” we asked for his advice.
- Sometimes it’s difficult when you arrive with 20 people on a project – that disrupts what’s going on, it changes it. Sometimes it’s nice to go away from the main action. You can find nice things happening on the side.
In June 2010, National Geographic photographer Karen Kasmauski explained how “Every Picture Tells a Story.”
- The hunt for successful composition involves timing and patience. The picture you want may not be there at first. Anticipating the moment when all the elements unify into a pleasing composition is a big part of making successful pictures.
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