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Join us for our First Wednesday Monthly Meeting. First Wednesday Meetings are lectures, talks, discussions, or presentations.
This meeting will be held in person at the Photographic Arts Building in Balboa Park (next to Spanish Village).
Join us for an exciting presentation about dance and sports photography with Willie Sakai!
If you’ve ever been frustrated with capturing rapid action, this talk is for you. Out of focus shots? Horribly overexposed images? Stuck with crummy light? Been there, done that.
Dance, sports, and event photographers are often faced with multiple challenges – fast moving subjects, no option for do-overs, no control over lighting, limited time to shoot, venue restrictions, and dealing with a massive number of image files.
This talk will cover tips for meeting such challenges, where you’ll learn how to:
– Choose gear for capturing action
– Refine your auto focus settings
– Tame your exposure meter
– Compose compelling images
– Organize a high-volume digital workflow
Even if action-oriented photography isn’t your thing, this knowledge is still applicable to other situations such as street photography, chasing your kids/grandkids around, concert photography, etc.
Darkroomers members will be sent Zoom login info via email. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please contact us so we can add you to the guest list.
About Willie Sakai
Willie Sakai caught the photo bug as a teenager, way back in the film days. He switched to DSLR in 2005 to capture better photos of his daughter, who had started competitive dancing at an early age. As volunteer photographers for their daughter’s high school dance team, Willie and his wife Lois acquired more gear and learned techniques for capturing fast-moving subjects in less-than-ideal lighting.
After their daughter finished high school in 2010, Willie and Lois founded Jade Coast Photography, specializing in portraiture for dancers, seniors, and families. Still interested in improving his skills, Willie joined the Professional Photographers of San Diego County (PPSDC), where he has served as webmaster since 2017.
Experience with PPSDC image competitions has led to recent recognition:
– Multiple ribbons at the Del Mar Fair Exhibition of Photography
– PPSDC Illustrative Photographer of the Year (2019 and 2020)
– PPSDC 2020 Digital Imaging Photographer of the Year
– PPSDC 2020 Image of the Year
– PPSDC 2020 Photographer of the Year
To think it all started with wanting to take better dance pictures.
Join us for our Monthly Critique Night via Zoom!
Our judge for February is Alan Hess.
Members will be emailed with Zoom meeting information. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please contact us to be added to the guest list.
Image critiques are available for members only. If you’d like more information about joining Darkroomers, please check out our membership page and email us if you have any questions.
About Alan Hess:
I am a San Diego-based photographer specializing in concert and live-event photography. I have photographed thousands of concerts, events, conferences, and sporting events. From small club shows to big arenas, I thrive on the fast pace of shooting on the fly, the rush of the house lights going down, and the drive to capture the “show” in still images.
I have photographed a wide variety of events including national touring acts like: Billy Idol, Cher, Bruce Hornsby, Justin Bieber, Madonna, The Who, The Dead, Slayer, John Legend, Marilyn Manson, Robin Williams, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steel Pulse, Jay Z, Widespread Panic, Willie Nelson and many others. I have photographed conferences small and large including covering press rooms, panels and cast signings at the San Diego Comic Con for Fox / and FX Television for more than five years. I am the house photographer for the Pechanga Arena – San Diego and have written 16 books and edited many more.
Join us for our First Wednesday Monthly Meeting. First Wednesday Meetings are lectures, talks, discussions, or presentations.
This meeting will be held in person at the Photographic Arts Building in Balboa Park (next to Spanish Village).
Join us for a presentation from Darkroomers own Rick Phillips on Portrait Lighting.
This presentation will take place via Zoom. Members will be emailed with the meeting link. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please email info@darkroomers.com and we’ll add you to the guest list.
About Rick:
Born in Texas but growing-up in the Whittier area of Los Angeles… Rick spent a lot of time driving his 1949 Chevy up to the San Gabriel Mountains for the snow and down to Huntington Beach for the surf. Even though he never had a formal photography class, when he was in high school, he always could be found with a camera taking photos for the school newspaper or yearbook. And, he did some feature photos for several community newspapers. After his Freshman year, he spent the summer working two jobs to buy himself a 4”x5” Speed Graphic camera and a 50-60 pound strobe!
Colleges used to sponsor Journalism/photo contests for LA area high schools and he won trophies for feature and sports photos. He even won the then unheard-of sum of $10.00 in a national photo contest sponsored by the American Optometric Association!
Based on compositional skills, not technical, his teachers wanted him to enroll in LA Trade Tech’s photography program, but his mother wouldn’t hear of it… HER SON was going to be the first in the family to attend a real college! So, after graduation, he attended real San Diego State and he took no photos for four years. Marriage and the Navy followed graduation.
He was given a Mamiya Sekor 35mm as a graduation present and his interests in photography was marginally rekindled as he sold photos to the other students of them flying. After returning to SD from Pensacola, he took a few photos, but most of his time was spent working for SDG&E and raising a son and daughter. (He’s a fire captain in Solana Beach and she’s a director for an international financial firm.)
When he retired, he returned to the Mamiya Sekor but, soon, discovered digital photography. He bought a Sony Mavica and wasted a year or two with it… then, he started getting serious and bought a Nkon D70. Fortunately, there were DSLR Meet Ups and other camera clubs to teach him enough technical skills to get by.
On several cruises with his wife, he took “post card photos”, but nothing serious. Also, he photographed the various archaeological and paleontologic sites at which volunteered. The addition of a telephoto lens, eventually, added bird and nature photos to his repertoire. Finally, he discovered his true passion when Ken Cohen taught him the basics of studio portraiture.
Since then, he has worked a few commercial gigs (Turn Key Properties, Wells Fargo Bank, a clothing firm, senior portraits, etc), but, mostly, he’s pissed-off everyone he knows by repeatedly asking them to sit for portraits!
Join us for our Monthly Critique Night via Zoom!
Our judge for March is Drema Swader.
Members will be emailed with Zoom meeting information. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please contact us to be added to the guest list.
Image critiques are available for members only. If you’d like more information about joining Darkroomers, please check out our membership page and email us if you have any questions.
Our first quarter theme for 2021 is REGAL
Members can submit up to two (2) monochrome and two (2) color photographs, no later than 8pm (PT) on the competition date. Submission instructions will be sent to members via email.
All submissions will be posted online within 3 days after entries close for members to vote. Winners will be announced at the second meeting of the following month.
Scoring
Members shall earn one (1) point for each print entered into the competition. Additional points shall be awarded to each division winning image as follows:
Three (3) points for each First Place winning image.
Two (2) points for each Second Place winning image.
One (1) point for each Third Place winning image.
Awards
At the end of each year, the member(s) with the highest number of points in the Monochrome division shall be awarded the Harris Wallace Perpetual Trophy. The member(s) with the highest number of points in the Color division shall be awarded the Pitt Warner Perpetual Trophy.
Join us for our First Wednesday Monthly Meeting. First Wednesday Meetings are lectures, talks, discussions, or presentations.
This meeting will be held in person at the Photographic Arts Building in Balboa Park (next to Spanish Village).
Join us for DUNEWORK, a presentation by Bob Canepa on how he captures his beautiful black and white photos of sand dunes.
This presentation will take place via Zoom. Members will be emailed with the meeting link. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please email info@darkroomers.com and we’ll add you to the guest list.
About Bob Canepa:
In 2004, while teaching mathematics to junior high students in Atascadero, a small group of them said, “Hey, Mr. Canepa, why don’t you take a picture of us with our friends?” I replied that I did not own a camera, and they promptly problem solved the situation and said, “GET ONE!” So, with a smile, I began a journey into photography.
I find myself in awe of this art form each day. There is always something to photograph, always a different perspective, angle or a change in the lighting. There are those moments of learning where nothing tangible comes that day from my efforts, but in the future it becomes obvious that that day was just an opportunity to take another path headed to the same goal . . . that of becoming a better photographer and expanding my vision. This makes every day a joy, whatever the subject is, it is a challenge to capture the essence of the moment. It’s also play, like a child who loses him/herself in absolute focus and thought of that play. No wonder so many people have chosen to participate in improving their skills in photography. I owe so much to those 7th grade students for so many reasons, photography being one.
I am passionate about dune photography and have been “playing” in the dunes for years. I find something new each time when I visit the Oceano Dunes in Oceano, California. (I return approximately once per week). Within 45 minutes from my home I can be up on top of the highest dune surveying the entire area and planning for images as the sun descends in the coming hours. It can be the tranquility that the dunes area provides, the segments of the dunes revealing intricate patterns, or simply the contours of areas, that draws me back, but it all provides an ever-changing environment filled with opportunities to explore and create images which allow me to share my vision of the wondrous landform.
Join your fellow Darkroomers to practice flash photography and portraiture in Chicano Park, a vivid park full of colorful murals.
We’ll meet at 9am, shoot for an hour or two, and then grab a coffee and/or light lunch at Ryan Bros. at 1894 Main Street.
There are a couple of small parking lots with a 2 hour time limit in the park and ample street parking.
If you have lighting gear, bring it. (Flashes, umbrellas, soft boxes, light stands, transmitters, reflectors, etc.) If you don’t have any lighting equipment, those of us bringing ours are willing to share, though there may be limitations for those with varying camera systems. Don’t forget your camera and a good portrait lens (super wide angle isn’t typically flattering for portraits).
This event is open to Darkroomers members only. Please RSVP to info@darkroomers.com or email Angela or Melanie if you plan to attend.