October Speaker - Bob Jacobson

At the October 22 meeting, Bob Jacobson will give a presentation entitled "Passion for Photographing People". In addition, he will give a brief talk on matting and framing (just in time for our Member Show).

Bob started photographing with his Brownie Hawkeye at age 10. He now travels the World, photographing everything from tigers to the Great Wall Of China. His latest trips feature images from China, Tibet, India, Laos, and Thailand.

Those familiar with the International Exhibition of Photography at the San Diego County Fair have seen Bob's cultural portraits exhibited year after year, often taking top honors on the award walls.

Bob's many photographic interests and accomplishments are beautifully showcased at www.worldimagery.com.

President's Corner, by Mike McMahon

Many thanks to Jim Cline for an absolutely wonderful presentation at our September meeting. Jim's "The Magic of Mexico" images truly conveyed his admiration and respect for the Mexican people, culture, and country to all in attendance.

The planning for our Member Show is in high gear. Jeff Brosbe and Carrie Barton are leading a dedicated group of volunteers to make sure that we have a great show in November. Please do your part by participating in the show. Each member is entitled to enter up to two pieces. And don't forget to attend our reception on Friday, November 14th, at the Solana Beach City Hall. Bring your friends!

We thank Carolyn Taylor for continuing to coordinate our photo shoots. The Leo Carrillo Park outing was terrific. With events scheduled for the Self Realization Fellowship (October 27th) and Torrey Pines Reserve (November 8th), the re-energized program is proving to be a big hit. If you haven't been on a shoot lately, come along - it's fun!

So, how about the great new format of our newsletter? A special thanks goes to our editor, Hugh Cox, who took the initiative to expand the Lens Paper. Please drop Hugh an e-mail and let him know how you like it!

Finally, I'd like all members to join me in extending a special welcome to those who have recently joined our club. We are delighted to have you with us. Let's all make a special effort to include our newcomers in the social interaction at our meetings. If you see a new face, take a moment to say hi and to get acquainted. It will go a long way in helping to keep NCPS a great club!

Member Share, by Emile Kfouri

For the October meeting, members are invited to share one or two images from the category "Architecture". This is defined as everything from "The Bank" to "The Vault"!

Member Show, by Jeff Brosbe

If you have not yet sent in your entry form for the NCPS 8th Annual Member Photography Exhibition, Please Do It On Receipt of this Newsletter As The Deadline Is Now!

PLEASE ALSO COME EARLY TO THE OCTOBER 22 MEETING TO DELIVER YOUR IMAGES FOR THE SHOW. If everyone comes by 6:21 p.m., and has all the identification completed when they arrive (name, address, telephone number, title of image, category entered ---- all on the upper left corner of the back), we have a fighting chance to be done with take-in by 7:00 p.m. and not delay the start of the evening's program.

If you have any questions on any matter at all related to the show, please feel free to call either Carrie (858-756-5231) or Jeff (619-282-0577).

We are looking forward to the best show ever this year and thank you for your participation.

Photo Shoot, by Carolyn Taylor

Sixteen NCPS members gathered at Carlsbad's Leo Carrillo Ranch Historical Park on a recent Saturday afternoon, October 4. We brought all kinds of equipment - tripods, digital cameras, macro lenses, zooms - all to capture the scenic atmosphere. Ranch Manager, Mick Calarco, very graciously shared his time and enthusiasm, escorting us through some of the historic buildings. Our results will inspire you at the October 22 meeting!

At the end of the month, we're invited to photograph the lush gardens at the Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens in Encinitas. Although they are closed to the public on Mondays, NCPS members are invited inside the gates from 10:00 a.m. to noon on Monday, October 27. Enjoy shooting the many ferns, flowers, koi fish, and cliff scenes. Slides will give you hints at the October 22 meeting. Where? Highway 101 south from Encinitas Blvd. to "K" street. Turn West for 100 yds. Park on the street. How about a no-host lunch at Leucadia Pizza afterward? (Just in case, rain cancels!) Questions? Call Carolyn Taylor at (760) 931-1807.

President Mike McMahon leads our November 8 Photo Shoot at Torrey Pines Reserve in the late afternoon so we can catch the setting sun. Mark your calendar now. All are welcome. The Torrey Pines photo shoot is scheduled for Saturday, November 8th. We'll meet at the Park and Ride on Carmel Valley Road, just west of Interstate 5 at 2:00 PM. After a few minutes to get acquainted, we'll carpool to the Torrey Pines State Reserve minimizing the number of cars we need to take into the Park (If you have an Annual Parking Pass to the State Parks, please bring it along). Our hike will offer photo opportunities of canyon lands, wooded areas and ocean vistas. We'll catch the sunset light before calling it a day. For park information, call 858-755-2063.

Member Profile - Al Joseph

Al Joseph was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 1931 when the population was about six thousand people. Natchitoches (pronounced Nakatosh) is a small college town and it is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase. Al started shooting pictures at age five when his mother bought him a camera. He has been shooting every since. At age 13 Al went away to attend Jr. High and High School in San Francisco, California, and he would return home each summer. In high school Al played football, basketball and high jumped on the track team. He played first trumpet in the high school orchestra.

After high school Al attended Los Angeles City College (LACC) and UCLA and majored in mathematics at both school. Al served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After the war was over in 1954 he coordinated the building of a large hobby shop for the army troops. The hobby shop had a photography darkroom where Al got his first experience with large format black and white photography.

After returning to Los Angeles from the war, Al got a job in the aerospace industry in 1957 as a computer programmer. Al managed many software development projects for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He is retired from TRW Systems and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Al studied photography at El Camino College in Torrance, California where he received a Certificate of Competence in photography, with honors. He has also taken courses in photography at Cypress College and Orange Coast College. He has taken many seminars from noted photographers in Monterey, California, which includes Henry Gilpin, Brad Cole, Richard Garrod, John Sexton, and others. In Southern California, Al has studied with Neil Chapman, Rob Johnson, Ray McSavaney, and Bruce Barnbaum. Most of these photographers were taught by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Morley Baer or at least influenced by them.

In 1988 Al invented a new mathematical formula for calculating Bellows Extension Factors for the light fall off in view cameras. The new formula provided a method of calculating Bellows Extension Factors in f-stops rather that non-existing f-stops as the previous formulas did. This resulted in an article that was published in the September/October issue of View Camera Magazine in 1991.

Al's work has been shown at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California, El Camino College, Cypress College, Orange Coast College, the Del Mar Fair, and a few other galleries in San Diego County.

Al is highly skilled in the Ansel Adam's Zone System for black and white photography. He has a large body of work that he has completed, most of which has not been shown anyplace. He is constantly adding to this body of work that he has been developing for about the last twenty years. Al has been concentrating on color photography during the last four years. He is also doing some digital photography.

Al has been the Membership Chairman on the NCPS Board of directors for about seven years. He wrote a computer program that creates the mailing labels for the monthly newsletter, and the program prints a report that indicates when membership renewal fees are due.

Tips and Techniques, by Ed Stalder

Recently Carolyn and I traveled to Northern California to photograph some architectural subjects. Our primary target was an 1846 grist mill, and our secondary subjects were a 1862 covered bridge and a 1797 mission. While attempting to photograph our chosen subjects, I recognized that many of the conditions for a successful photograph were absent. However, I persisted in believing that the "geni" in my camera would grant my every wish. Unfortunately he had escaped and only three pictures out of three hundred and sixty were worth any consideration. Certain pre-existing relationships between our eye, the scene, camera meter, film and print must be satisfied in order to make a successful photograph, and we had failed to meet one or more of them.

Assuming reasonable, normal vision, our eye sees and records a scene unlike a camera lens and film. Given a period of exposure, the eye does not block up shadow areas, burn out highlights, shift colors or suffer depth of field focus. It is important to remember what our eye sees is not necessarily what the film will record. We must learn to see like the film we use.

The scene must have a ratio of contrast that lies within the latitude of the film. Extreme exposure latitude between shadow and highlight will cause the picture to fail, shadows will block up, highlights will burn out and the image will be lost. A balance between the depth and the amount of contrast in an image as seen and what the film will record must be achieved. A large amount of hard sharp shadow edges will most likely not produce a good image. Look for soft diffused shadows or no shadows at all. A silhouetted image, of course, would be the exception.

The camera meter is calibrated to a gray scale, which is related to film speed and over/under exposure. For the meter to function properly, it must be accurate. Using a gray card and the F16 rule, the meter can be checked and calibrated to correct for any tendency to cause over and under exposures. Metering the scene, a reading of the darkest and lightest areas, as well as an area comparable to a gray card should be taken to establish exposure latitude. The exposure latitude must fall within the limits of the film. If 75% to 80% of the picture area is dark or light, a meter reading of these areas may be used with the remaining area falling as it may. Remember due to the meter's tendency to underexpose light areas and overexpose dark areas, some compensation may be needed.

Regardless of the type of recording media used, its exposure latitude must be considered. Negative film is rated to have an exposure latitude of 5 to 7 stops; slide film is narrower, 4 to 5 stops. I have heard a variety of ranges for digital, from 2 stops to the sky's the limit. Film exposure latitude should be a primary consideration because our eye and film do not see and record as one. When the scene is not held to the exposure latitude of the film selected, blocking up of shadow detail or burning out of highlights happens, resulting in the loss of the picture. Exposure latitude of high color saturation films seems to be more critical, about 3 stops, as they tend to block up or burn out easily.

Ansel Adams said it best, "the negative is the score, but the print is the music." It is very disappointing to find the print often does not live up to the negative. Close examination of the negative will often reveal detail lost in the print. Besides poor craftsmanship, paper used in optical printing, like film, has exposure latitude. This exposure latitude, 3 to 4 stops, puts a limit on what can be achieved in a print. An optical print made from negative film, 5 to 7 stops of latitude, will fall short of what has been captured in detail, color, and contrast. It appears the way around this problem is a digital print. Producing a digital print from a scanned negative not only gives the print more detail, color, and contrast, but a longer archival life as well, in the case of color film. When an optical print and a digital print from the same negative are exhibited side by side, the digital print in every instance is far superior to the optical print.

These are some thoughts on why a picture may be a failure when basic relationships between elements of photography are ignored.

NOTE: I hope to include "Tips and Techniques" in each issue of the Lens Paper. This will be an article written by a member on where to shoot something, how to shoot something, a technical issue, or some other photographic item of interest to the membership. Thanks to Ed for volunteering to be our first author.    The Editor

Elfin Forest Garden Festival, by Barbara Royer

We are invited to participate in the Elfin Forest Garden Festival again! It will be held on April 24, 2004. You can have a booth to sell your images, cards and photographic works. Images do not have to be from Elfin Forest. There is no charge to exhibit/sell but a 10% donation for works sold. Check out the web site at www.elfinforestgardens for directions and details about the event. Contact me for information on participation via e-mail. Deadline for entrants is Nov. 1.

Photo Shows

Chuck Bryant reports the Espresso Parlor of Lone Pine is presenting "Death Valley & Beyond", photography of Chuck Bryant, beginning Oct. 9 thru Nov. 11, 2003. The exhibit may be viewed at 123 N. Main St., Lone Pine, Ca., 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily.

David Shaw's "La Charreada - The Mexican Rodeo" showing at North County Camera through November 22 is wonderful.

There is an opportunity to participate in the 2003 Juried Biennial Exhibition at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery located at 1775 Dove Lane (next to the new Carlsbad Library). All entries must be received by October 17, 2003. There are cash prizes totalling $1,000. Click here for more information. The gallery is closed on Mondays. Currently showing through October 31 is "Robert Doisneau's Paris", over 100 images by this beloved French photographer chronicling the magical life of Paris during the 1940's and 50's.

New Members

NCPS welcomes the following new members: Dagmar Meissner, San Diego; Annah Hooten, Vista; Dan Nougier, Carlsbad; Fred Schindler, Carlsbad; and Lyn Arnold-Tuttle and Jeff Tuttle, Oceanside.