South Carolina Photography Guild

The monthly meetings for March are rapidly approaching - as the group has been invited to assist in hosting the 21st Century Photographer’s Meetup group here in Charleston, it seemed only natural to make an announcement here too.  We’re meeting tomorrow evening in North Charleston at a restaurant across from Northwoods Mall (7pm).  More details can be found here:  http://photo.meetup.com/687/calendar/7327313/?a=cr1p_grp

In club-specific news, our monthly photo shoot has been adjusted due to weather and the delayed spring, so this weekend we’ll be heading up to Cypress Gardens.  They open at 9, so the start time is 8:45 in the parking lot - bring your camera and a friend!

Just a reminder, the shoot for February has changed from Cypress Gardens to the South Eastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE).  The SEWE event is an annual occurence for February, and this will be a unique opportunity to practice a wide range of photography from candids (there will be a lot of people around), to the dog jumping contests, and of course the wildlife.  We’ll be meeting in Marion Square around 9am to hopefully get positioned well for the Birds of Prey demonstration that will be happening at one - just look for a group or gaggle of people with cameras!

With the revised schedule, I thought it might be handy to have this as a reference for future months, so after the meetup tonight with Chuck Boyd (thanks Chuck ), I promised to post the handout here.  Clicking on the links in the digital version will take you to the respective sites for our various points of interest for 2008.  Hope to see you there!

2008 Schedule.pdf

With the realization that the 2008 SEWE festival will coincide with our monthly shoot, we’ve made an adjustment for the month of February to accommodate the event.  As we solidify details, those will be announced here, but please make a note that the monthly outing that was originally scheduled for Cypress Gardens has now been shifted to downtown Charleston for the South Eastern Wildlife Expo.

For more information on all the activities that will encompass the 3-day event, their website can be found at the following link:  www.sewe.com

sMan, it is cold out.  I’m from up North originally, including having lived in states like New York, Colorado, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  When it gets in the upper teens in SC, trust me when I say it’s kinda cold!  It brought back memories of why my wife and I moved south to begin with!

Anyway, I am guessing that is the reason why many were not on site for the January shoot at Middleton Plantation yesterday.  That and the fact that I never got the announcement out on the blog *sheepish grin*

So…in order to prevent that from happening again…here’s a tentative schedule for all of 2008:

1. January - Middleton Plantations
2. February - Cypress Gardens
3. March - Bull Island
4. April - Magnolia Gardens
5. May - Beidler Forest
6. June - Market Street
7. July - Patriots Point
8. August - Ft. Moultrie
9. September - Old Santee Canal Park
10. October - Drayton Hall
11. November - Waterfront Park
12. December - Holiday, no shoot scheduled

Hopefully, I’l remember to re-post this schedule periodically as things are always subject to change…

With personal projects and other activities taking up a lot of time, the past three months have seen teh SCPG blog see some quiet time.  Back into a routine of sorts, and just in time for the holidays!  So…before they hit us, SCPG would like to get together for a fall shoot.  Our usual third weekend of the month is rapidly approaching, so stop in the forums to see where we’ll be headed this go around.  Any and all are welcome to join, so bring your camera, and a friend, and join the fun!  Until Sat, there’s always lots of scenes to take so keep on snapping!  Happy Shooting!

For Veterans Day, we would also like to take a moment and offer our thanks to those who have served and who are serving our country both at home and overseas.  Our thoughts and prayers are with each and every one of them and their families.  There is no greater service than serving one’s country, and we here at SCPG would like to just say “Thanks!”.

The Online Photographer has a couple new articles out for your coffee-time reading pleasure.  My favorite of the bunch is the “How To” for digital print tonality.  The Digital Photography Show has a new podcast out where they talk to Canon’s Rudy Winston about the allegedly forthcoming 40D.  Good stuff there…  DP Review has a posting that talks about Nikon’s new “full color RGB sensor”.  Check it out for details.   Strobist (blog about lighting) has two new articles that are both well worth the read.   Finally, thanks to Steve Stone from the SCPG forums for sharing a Canon Contest!  Great prizes and best part…entry fees are FREE!  (We like free at SCPG!)  Links to the websites are here:

The Online Photographer

The Digital Photography Show 

DP Review

The Strobist 

Canon National Parks Photo Contest 

For those interested in having the contest details, SCPG has put together a PDF download of the contest rules, as well as a listing of both Nationally and State recognized eligible parks.  This is available in the forums as a free download from the Coffee Shop.  Click here to get the abbreviated version:  SCPG Forums  Remember, entry fees are free, and you can do it online!  Have a great day and Happy Shooting!

Mark Musselman, the Education Director over at the Audobon Swamp made a recent post under our About section.  While I would like to thank Mark for the post, it will likely get more visibility as a main post in our blog section, so as a courtesy to him, the Audobon Swamp, and the commuity, I am re-posting his information here:

The Audubon South Carolina photography contest runs through Aug. 15th. Photographers wishing to enter the contest shall be granted free entry to either the Francis Beilder Forest in Four Holes Swamp near Harleyville or Silver Bluff Plantation near Aiken.

Rules and entry form can be found at http://www.sc.audubon.org/beidlerforest.html

and directions to Beidler Forest can be found at http://www.sc.audubon.org/where.html

Our blog is located at http://beidlerforest.blogspot.com/

We hope to see you shooting!

Mark Musselman
education director

For those interested in the direct link to his post, that can be viewed here:

http://blog.scphotogs.com/about/#comment-2219

The first monthly newsletter has been released to all registered members (via email)!  Shoot news is still pending but lots of other fun stuff to read about, so register today to get a copy of the latest photo news!  For a limited time this is available as a free download to all, so read all the latest by downloading it here: August Newsletter

The July MA Gallery has also been completed, and is available for viewing by clicking on the link to the Monthly Assignment section of the website, or here directly at:  July MA - Fire  Some great perspectives including fireworks, gunfire, fire in the belly, and others, so check ‘em out today!

That’s all for the week, so enjoy the weekend, be safe out there, and as always, Happy Shooting from SCPG!

It’s been a bit quiet lately, but we’re about to shake things up here again at the SCPG Blog.

First off, the July Night shoot was a resounding success, as we had a total of 11 people show up, including some regulars (not to mention some irregulars), and a few new faces.  We also saw the return of some who hadn’t been seen in a while so it was good to see all the participation.  The forums, as always, are a great place to see some of the shots from that outing, but I will try to get a few will be posted here later this week for your viewing enjoyment.

Also, today is the last day for the July Monthly Assignment.  The theme for the month has been Fire, and there’s some great shots taken thus far.  Look for a gallery to come out later this week.  Tomorrow begins the August assignment, and the theme is Skies.  So, get out, take the best picture you can of just skies (no buildings, birds, or other distractions – makes it challenging, eh? J) and share them here or in the forums.

Our shoot for August is still in the planning stage but looks like it will be either the evening of Friday  24^th or Sat. morning, so check back for more information as that becomes available.  A lot of it is revolving on how the planning goes for our first cookout!   We’re having a cookout that same weekend (Sat.) as a social get together so depending on where that is, the shoot may fall into place after the details of the cookout are settled.  Check back for information there too (as always the forums are the best place to get up-to-the-minute information.)

As a last little tidbit, SCPG is getting ready to release its first monthly newsletter.  News of photo-related activities around the region, links to information, and everyone’s favorite:  Contest News and Info!!!  This will be sent out to all registered members in the forums initially.  If you would like a copy, please email me:  Jason AT scphotogs DOT com or just stop in and register…always room for more at SCPG

Earlier this week, the news of the now scheduled July photo shoot announced the date and location but not the time!  Here’s all the pertinent info:

Date:  Saturday, July 21st

Time:  People will likely start arriving pre-twilight, so around 7:30ish to gather and “meet- n- greet” with one another.   The official start time to head out is 8:00pm

Location:  Meet location starts at Marion Square and we’ll proceed down King Street for twilight, then head back up after dark.

As always, it’s an open invitation to any and all that have an interest in photography (although if you own a camera, that makes it more fun…:) )  Hope to see everyone at the shoot!  Until then…Happy Shooting!