Suburban and rural dwellers have their own counterparts to your experience, but nothing can match the richness of experience available in a large city. It sounds like you have encountered, and are still enjoying that amazing dynamic feel of urban life. Which means that dates on a calendar and numbers like "50" are totally meaningless. Unless you can use it as an excuse to buy a new lens...
stan On Feb 4, 2010, at 10:59 PM, Christine Aguila wrote: > Last night I stopped by the Green Briar Camera Club: > > 1) A bit of history: the Green Briar Camera Club has been in existence > since 1934--can you believe it!--and, of course, has been meeting at the > field house of Green Briar Park in Chicago since the beginning. At one time > they were so large, they had weekly meetings, which really were (and are) > weekly competitions. Now the club membership is a lot smaller, but still > appears to be quite active, holding about 2 meetings a month. > > 2) Last night was the pictorial competition, which, for me, proved > interesting, since I've never been to a photography competition. Prints are > viewed by 3 judges from another camera club and viewed in a *print box* which > is lighted with 2 tungsten bulbs & 2 fluorescent bulbs. This lighting set-up > is the standard for single club & interclub (Chicago Area Camera Clubs > Association--(CACCA)) competitions. The club has created a specific category > called Digital Projected Images (DPI), but it was very clear the projector > was not calibrated; all images were way too bright. > > 3) The equipment for judges is quite impressive: each judge has an > electronic box used to punch in a score, which is then automatically > calculated and displayed. A reader states the combined score aloud, which is > then tallied in software & by hand on a score sheet. Once the category > judging is finished, judges give critique & justification for score. > > 4) I was invited to join everyone for coffee & ice cream at a nearby diner > afterwards. Lots of fun stories were told, some printing equipment talk > ensued , and I was asked to testify: was I a PC or Mac user. When I stated I > was a PC user, I was playfully dismissed. > > 5) I was encouraged to get some prints together for a club nature > competition in a few weeks. Out of several thousand frames, I've found about > 2 that will meet the competition requirements--no alterations & no *hand of > man* in the frame (no people, trails, fences, etc). I've got people > everywhere in my shots. lol. > > 6) All in all, it seems like it might be fun, but there is something that > really struck me last night that has nothing to do with photography: Despite > the fact that Chicago proper is a huge, bustling city of brick, steel, & > concrete, we have an outstanding park system; there are over 500 inland parks > and, of course, the lake front is considered 1 huge beach & park. When you > meet someone who was born & bred in Chicago, one of the 1st questions often > asked is *what park did you hang out at as a kid?* I, myself, grew up in > Eugene Field Park (named after the poet). Each park has a field house. Some > are quite beautiful. Eugene has a gym, club rooms, a beautiful auditorium, a > wood shop, and an administrative office. I spent my entire childhood in > that park: We all played on the 16 inch pony-tail softball league; I took > sewing lessons there; we were in the drama club & performed in plays in the > theater; we had gym shows; we played all kinds of sports & track & field; and > we attended girl scout meetings in the club rooms. Darrel & I were even able > to have our wedding ceremony & reception in Eugene's auditorium. I am a > child of the Chicago Parks. And there I was last night, exactly 22 days away > from turning 50, and what was I doing? Walking into the field house of a > neighborhood park, looking for the east club room with intent of possibly > signing up for, yet, another park activity :-). > > Cheers, Christine > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
