Well, we are into 2023 and we've had some interesting photo opportunities with the frosty mornings and the snow this year, but I've hit a bit of a funk in photography. 

I sometimes get these in winter and most of the time it just takes me getting out and shooting to get through it.  I still bring my camera with me most everywhere I go and I just did an event photo shoot for a friend, the other night.  It went really well and I was able to come up with a new mounting system for one of my flashes so I bought some new gear to use, which is another way that I sometimes get out of a funk. 

It usually doesn't take a large purchase, just something that streamlines my routine or adds a creative element to my photo work.  I probably have enough gear, and my wife would say I definitely do, but perhaps if I just organize it once a year in the winter and find some of the stuff I haven't used in a while it would be better. 

The other way I can get out of a funk is spend some time on YouTube looking for new ideas of things to photograph or new techniques. 

I did get a new lens in the fall.  A Viltrox 13mm F1.4 that I can't wait to use for Aurora, or Milky Way photography, but every time the Aurora has been pretty good this fall and winter, it's been cloudy or raining or snowing, or foggy.  And, the Galactic Core of the Milky Way won't come above the horizon for a few months so... Waaa Waaa Waaa. 

I can hear my Army Sargent Father saying, "Suck it up already and go photograph something":  Skaters at the Ice Rink in downtown Fargo.  A vintage Snowmobile event.  Some Airplanes at the Airport, or Birds.  I've seen some great Owl photos by some friends on Facebook and could take a weekend trip to the Sax Zim Bog if I didn't have the dogs... And it wasn't so cold... Excuses, Excuses...

I was able to remove a screen from an upstairs room window, with a tree outside the window where the birds like to congregate and get some pretty good shots there.  I set up with my long lens(100-400 Sony GMaster) and they sit about 10 to 15 feet away, but their seems to be the same birds day after day so that was fun for a few days.  I keep hoping I will get a shot of one of the birds I haven't seen before. 

I also have been playing with Photo Shop some and came up with a Pencil Sketch action that works pretty well.  Let me know what you think. 

I could go downtown and do some street photography, but I don't have a bunch of time during the day with my new job.  I also am on the road some and did get some cool sunrise photos this fall, but that was a few months ago....

I also could set up some lighting and do some creative stuff in the house.  Maybe this weekend when my wife is gone to Arizona to help her mother for 10 days.  I won't have to clean it all up right away, and lug it up and down the stairs in the same day.  That sounds like a pretty good idea.  Maybe some water drop photos or some bubbles etc.  I might look those up on YouTube and see if there are any new ideas there.  I could also do frozen soap bubbles outside if the wind dies down for a day or two and we get the right temps. 

Sometimes I have too many ideas and then I get in the funk again.  Just looking for something different to try.  Shoot me some ideas and you might see them here in the future.

Oh and... Suck it up and go photograph something. 

Talk soon. 

The fall season of Camera Club has officially kicked off and we just had another great Salon night.  There were many great photos and it's fun to see the progression of the members of the FM Camera Club. 
The competition is getting tougher and tougher and we are becoming such a fun and interactive club.  There are so many great comments and great learning opportunities for all the members of our club. 

Many new people are coming to the meetings as well.  We try to welcome everyone with an interest in photography no matter if you photograph with a Cell phone or a high end camera, whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced photographer.  It's fun to compare notes and photos and talk about where and how you captured that great shot. 

So What's new? 

I have a new lens which is inspiring me to look at the world in a different light.  It is a Viltrox 13mm F1.4 so it can capture many low light opportunities that I wasn't able to get before and it is super sharp and has pretty good autofocus.  I am looking forward to putting it through it's paces for some aurora photos once we get a good night for that.  I also look forward to some Milky Way photos next spring and summer and potentially using it for waterfalls and other scenery photos as well. 

Also new in the last few weeks is an update with some great new features in Adobe Lightroom CC, and Adobe Camera Raw. 

There are new options for masking which allow you to quickly pick people, and select many features such as teeth, eye scalera, Iris, hair, eyebrows, face skin, body skin, and lips, and quickly create individual masks along with the ability to make presets which affect these areas separately.  These new features have sped up my processing times immensely for portrait work and also made the photos look consistently better. There are also new options for selecting subjects, objects by painting on them or drawing a box around them, selecting sky, or background along with the standard brush, linear gradient, or radial gradient as well as using color ranges or luminance ranges to define the masks.  All in all a great addition to the masking suite. 

The other major addition which I find amazingly helpful is the addition of a content aware erase feature.  The previous versions would have to pick from a similar area as a clone stamp or a healing stamp.  The content aware is more of an eraser, not a replacer. 

These new features are making my life much easier when it comes to post processing. 

There are many other new things on the horizon including a New Year coming much before we know it, and of course, snow and cold.  We northlanders, do relish our snow and cold.  Either that or we simply go to Arizona or Florida for the winter.  Snow birds make good photos too. 

I will be writing more regularly, so I hope you will keep checking back. 

Here are some fun photos from this summers events.  I will post more next month. 

Gordon. 

It's beginning to look a lot like camera club... Every where I go...!
We seem to have breezed through another summer and are at the time of year when we are getting back to Camera Club season.  The first Salon entries are in, and the first meeting is this Thursday at 7:00PM on a Zoom call as the church is still not open to outside groups meeting there.  We all wish we could be together in person and be able to communicate face to face, but that will come soon.  There have been many things to take photos of this summer and likely one of the most gratifying was the Fargo Airsho.  We had 8 volunteers to work the parking lots on the south side of the airport and got to have some amazing views of the show.  The club earned a sizeable sum of money from our efforts and we got to get some great photos.  Also, due in some part to the dry summer and the more wet autumn season, the fall colors are outstanding and they are peaking in many areas as we speak.  If you get a chance to go to the lakes area or Maplewood State park in Minnesota, you will get a treat for the eyes and the lenses. 

I hope everyone had a great spring and summer and is looking forward to sharing your best work with the club.  Good luck in the Salon's and I hope we can all learn something to make us better photographers from the education nights.  That being said, if you have any ideas for things to learn, please comment back and I will forward them to the club. 

Gordon. 

It's been a while since I did one of these so I want to first, say sorry for the sabbatical.  I've had a few things change in my life recently, mainly that my Father died on January 10th.  It wasn't unexpected, but still had a pretty major effect on me that has given me some new perspective on life, and photography.  I now know that I have to work harder on seeing the beauty around me rather than just passing through it without noticing.  With that I will let the pictures do the talking. 

This photo is sunrise from the morning my father passed away.  It looks like the gates of heaven were being opened for him. 

It's amazing the beauty of the hoar frost in the fog from western Minnesota.

Bluejays are some of my favorite birds. 

Since Photography means painting with light, it's appropriate that our education night recently at FMCC was light painting.  Long exposures and low light with a light source made for some interesting photos. 

I hope you enjoy the time you have with your camera and make it the best it can be.  Remember to print your photos.  At Dad's funeral and wake, we had many pictures of him that brought back amazing memories.  It's these photos that started many conversations about his life and brought back many good times remembered. 

With that hug your families and take lots of pictures.

Gordon Court
President Fargo Moorhead Camera Club.
Son of Micheal George Court
June 5th 1939 to January 10th 2020. 

Well, it's that time of year again for Milky Way Season.  The part of the year when the galactic core is above the horizon.  In our part of the country that really kicks in from about mid May to mid September. 
Night sky photography can be challenging any time of the year, but especially this time of year for the northern latitudes, mainly because it is dark for a much shorter part of the night. 
In the winter we can have darkness from 5 PM to 7AM, but this time of the year, it's really only dark from about 11 PM to 5 AM and even then, at both ends you will still get a bit of light pollution.  Compound that with full moons taking up about a week per month of bright light, and the normal spring and summer cloudy, stormy days and you might get 7 to 10 good nights of photographing the night sky in a season. 
That said, it pays to make it a priority when you can.  If you see that it will be a clear night without the lunar interference, try to get out and take some photos of the milky way. 
Here's what you will need to a make it happen. 
A good camera with decent ISO performance is a must.  You will be shooting from ISO 1600 to 6000 depending on your lens and the area where you shoot.  The lower this number the better, but there are other factors that will determine what ISO at which you'll be shooting.  Also, you need to be able to set a long exposure or have a bulb mode with cable release or remote. 
Lens:  Wider is better for a number of reasons, but also a low aperture number is key and having a sharp lens, with low levels of chromatic aberration also helps.   These types of lenses can be expensive if you buy brand name, but if you are buying just for this type of photography, they don't have to be.  Manual focus capability is actually beneficial so if you find a cheaper lens without auto focus, and it has good ratings for sharpness and a F 2.8 or lower aperture, go for it.  Also, you won't need vibration compensation as you will be shooting on a tripod all the time.  I shoot on a 12mm Rokinon F2 lens which is manual focus and was $269.00. 
Tripod:  You will need a good stable tripod.  Lighter is not necessarily better unless you plan to carry it a lot.  Also, bring something to weigh it down so it won't move in the wind. 
So with the gear nailed down here's some of the explanation of the shoot. 
First is finding the milky way.  Even in a dark skies location this can be a challenge unless you have seen it before and know what to look for.  I suggest an app like Sky Safari, or The Photographers Ephemeris.  I like Sky Safari 4 as it shows me real time, on my phone where to look for the milky way and many other night sky objects just by holding it up in the direction I want to look. 
As with all photography, you want to have an interesting foreground and middle ground, to accentuate your amazing background of the milky way.  Composition matters and can make or break a great milky way shot.  If you have power lines in your shot it will screw it up the same at night as it does during the day.
Next, set up to get the composition you want and check your settings before getting out of the car.  I go for about ISO 3200 on my Sony A6300 and 25 seconds at F2.  Make sure you're focus is set at infinity for your lens, or figure a hyper-focal length where everything from a certain distance will be in focus.  There are apps for this as well. 
Your lens will determine the shutter speed before smearing of the stars, as you want to use the rule of 500.  That is the Full Frame 35mm equivalent focal length of your lens, divided into 500 gives you the max time you can expose without star trails.  If you are using a 12mm at 1.5 crop, that's equal to 18mm at Full Frame, then round up to 20mm for a buffer and divide into 500.  With the new math that's 25 seconds.  If you are using a 24mm on a Full Frame Camera, that's easy.  Round to 25 and divide giving you 20 seconds.  If you are on a Canon, cropped sensor, you have a 1.6 crop factor which may require a calculator, but works the same way. 
Now you're ready to get some great shots and maybe bring a flash you can pop during the exposure or a flashlight to do some light painting.  You also can use the milky way as a great background for compositing with other shots like the elk photo when combined in your favorite layering software. 
So now you're all set.  Camera set up... On the tripod... in a great location... with no moon or lights from a town and you hear a coyote howl 50 feet away... LOL.  I know from experience how fast I can pack up my gear and change locations.  :).  Bring a friend and enjoy the night sky.  It's a blast.  Oh, and if you hear a bump in the night... It might just be me moving my tripod. 

Ah Spring... When young photographers minds turn to thoughts of.... What?  Just saying... There are many opportunities for spring photography that do not present themselves at any other time of the year. 
Scenery:
The sun is getting higher in the sky and staying up longer so there are opportunities for great sunset and sunrise photos even though you might have to get up a bit earlier to take them.  Also, the spring clouds lend themselves to some great sky shots.  You may also get a spring snow storm that will give you some great last snow shots for the year...  The color plays between blue and the browns of the grass will make an interesting juxtaposition.  Also, if there is harsh light, you can always play on the contrast and make the shot black and white. 

Storms:
Spring storms can make for some great photography as long as you understand where to be and how to photograph them without getting rolled by a tornado or struck by lightning.  These storms can develop quickly and may get dangerous.  Taking a course put on by the National Weather Service can help you understand how to do it, and even be able to report on the storms as a Skywarn Weather Spotter.  If interested, check out the site below for times and places.

Birds:
One of the other opportunities that only happen in the spring is getting photo's of the waterfowl migration and mating dances.  You can also get some final shots of the Dark Eyed Junko's as they load up on food and head farther north, or get photos of the Hawk migration, and also get shots of Geese, Ducks, Swans, Cranes, etc doing what Cranes and Swans do.  If you are lucky enough to get a non-windy day you might even get a great reflection shot. 

Lastly, Take advantage of the conditions.  If it's windy, get shots of things the show motion in the wind, like horses manes.  If it's sunny get photo's in black and white or if it's cloudy, take portraits of animals or people.  A spring rainstorm can make for some interesting street photography as people run between the buildings.  Even shooting airplanes in the rain is interesting as the prop spins in the rain and makes a spiral behind the fuselage.  It's all up to your imagination as to what to shoot, but bring your camera and make a shot. 

As always updates first. 
This Thursday 3/21/2019 will be this months Education night for the FMCC. 
Thursday, March 21 @ 7 pm
Fargo Moorhead Camera Club - Education Night We will rotate to different areas for presentations by:
Angela Hoffman - Long Exposure Photography
Sharon Watson - Bird Photography
Jackie Feil - Infrared Photography
First Presbyterian Church
650 2nd Ave N, Fargo, ND
On the gear front, there have been a huge number of announcements for new lenses and camera bodies for multiple manufacturers so whatever brand interests you, know that there are some really cool options for upgrading and adding to your GAS... (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).
Having just returned from a vacation to not so sunny Arizona, (60s clouds and rain for 5 of the 8 days), I wanted to talk about photographing while on vacation. 
The key to photographing vacation is taking advantage of what you have available.  If you get clouds in Arizona, take a day trip to the White Tank Mountains and take advantage of the great lighting to get some fun landscapes. 

Or you could photograph some birds at a friends feeder.

The key is to represent the area that you are photographing if you are going to use it for documenting your trip, whether while submitting for a Salon, for a travel magazine, or just to make an album of your vacation.

Another important feature of travel photography is to bring in important parts of the trip, like using a vintage car to make your drive to the mountains. 

Make sure to include fun and interesting places that you take in, like an air museum, swap meet, vintage car show, or music museum.  When you put it all together, and bring in the interest points you will have a great documentation of your adventure. 

Commemorative Air Force Museum, Mesa AZ

Mesa Market Swap Meet.

This Thursday, 2-21-2019 is the monthly Education Night at FM Camera Club and we will be photographing birds from the C.A.A.R.E Parrott rescue program in Fargo. 
The Center for Avian Adoption, Rescue, and Education (CAARE) is an all-volunteer, North Dakota, 501(c)(3), non-profit, parrot shelter devoted to the welfare of companion parrots.  This group rescues parrots and helps people better manage the adoption of these amazing birds through education and awareness of their unique capabilities and needs.  They also educate the general public about the proper care of exotic birds whenever anyone not familiar with owning and caring for parrots comes into the shelter.  Another benefit of this group is that they will go out to events and locations to do this education in person,  for a donation to the organization. 
Photographing birds.
What makes us want to photograph birds and how do we do it well? 
Birds are amazing creatures for many reasons.  Most of all, that they can fly.  They soar and wheel and seem to float effortlessly while we mere mortals are stuck to the ground. 
For this reason alone they are great photographic subjects.  If we do it well, we can capture that grace and the aerodynamic shape of the bird in flight in a spectacular photograph which can take the observers breath away. 
To capture birds in flight we must have long focal lengths and fast focus capabilities to make sure to get the subject sharp.  This is many times expensive, especially for lower light opportunities, but with the right light, lower priced equipment can be used and will do a good job. 
Another trait that lends itself to great photographs of birds is their color and texture.  Brightly colored feathers can be very interesting in photos.  Make sure to accentuate these colors and textures in your photos to bring the subject to life.  Using contrast, and making sure to expose properly will bring out the colors and textures to the highest level. 
The EYES.  Many bird species can have very interesting eyes and if you are close enough or have a long enough lens, you will be able to capture some stunning photos.  
If you get a chance to come out Thursday to the Education Night at First Presbyterian, make sure to bring your camera and tripod.  It should be a very interesting night of learning. 

My theme for 2019 is fighting the creative funk that can plague photographers, to some degree, many times throughout their photographic career. 
These creative funks can be caused by many things.
1. Lack of time and being busy with work, or shooting for paying customer's projects.
2. Doing the same things over and over.
3. The end of the year blah's or even just winter. 
I've been identifying with most of these lately and have been trying to find ways to get back on track to making creative and interesting photographs.
I watched a video on You Tube recently, called "13 Creative Exercises for Photographers", which had some great ideas, and I'll embed the link below.  There are some really great ideas here, but the one that I really liked was incorporating as many of the 9 elements of photography into your shots as possible.  
By incorporating more of these elements, you are making sound fundamental photos and as any sports person knows, the fundamentals are what make you good at anything you do.  Baseball players constantly practice the fundamentals of batting, throwing and catching, to continue to grow in their sport.
These 9 Fundamentals are:
1. Light
2. Shadows
3. Line
4. Shape
5. Form
6 Texture
7. Color
8. Size
9 Depth
There are also 5 other components that make a great photo.
1. Focus
2. Tonality
3. Quality of light
4. Pattern
5. Negative space
The more of these things you can incorporate into your photos, the better they will be and the more creative you can be in taking and making them.
I will be trying to work these into more of my shots going forward, and break out of the photo funk to move ahead again.

I hope these help.

Photographically Yours.

Gordon.