A Notch Above Photography Club
Minutes
August 5, 2017
The meeting began at 1:05 PM
Attendees: John, Tim, Mary W., Mary M., Karina, Scott
The minutes of our July 8th meeting were approved. Mary W. agreed to take minutes for today’s meeting.
Tim gave a PowerPoint presentation of the web site that Scott has been developing with Tim’s feedback.
In its current version our website is ready for members to start exploring the site and adding photos to their member pages. The name has been changed to “notchabovephotoclub.com”. This change will allow Google to pick us up more easily. We also discussed other means to engage Google as a way to broaden our reach. After exploring the site please email Scott with any suggestions. The menu selections are:
- About Us – A brief description of the club and a “Contact Us” box. There is also a separate Come Join Us
- Member Pages – Accessed by hovering over this menu item then clicking your name in the drop-down. The first (member) page you come to shows your (larger) slide photos. Clicking the button in the lower right that says “<your name> Gallery” then takes you to a gallery of all the photos you have uploaded. Today we discussed how to add pictures to the “Slide” page; next month we will review how to upload photos to your Gallery. Photos are added to the member page and gallery separately, although any particular image can be on both. Only members can add or remove pictures from their own Slide page or Gallery.
- Links – Provides internet links to interesting and educational photography sites.
- Archives – Minutes of previous meetings.
- Member Email – For members only (password protected) to email each other or the whole club; note: this is for standard emails that do not require a reply. For invitations that require a reply see below.
- Send Invitation – To invite other members to a photo walk, fieldtrip or other event. The site or event can be described with purpose, time to meet, directions, rain date, etc. It can be sent to specific members or everyone. When someone receives an invitation there is a button to send a “Yes, No or Maybe” reply. After clicking a button the recipient is automatically returned to a window on the website to enter his/her name. Clicking “Submit” completes the invitation cycle and returns your answer to the member who sent the invitation.
- Useful Docs – Documents like “Upload an Image to Add or Change Your Member Page Slides” or other instructions or tips
- Useful Videos – Specific videos on photography topics
- Blog – has been discontinued
- Addendum: Past Presentations has been added since the last meeting. This is where you will find Word doc copies of topics you may have missed. <Under development>
We also compared our website to the use of meetup.com. Now that our web site has been developed, the main things that meetup does for us is to get our name out in the public and allow us to email those who have never attended. We also have notices in the Courier, Coos County Democrat & Plymouth Record Enterprise and NHPR. Except for the first 2 months we have had only limited response from meetup. Because people are often busy or away during the summer, it was decided to review the proposal to drop meetup again in September (our current 6-month subscription expires on Sep. 30th). Also our website was only picked up by Google very recently. Scott volunteered to take steps to make our website more visible to Google and to make sure we are characterized as a club in northern NH. Another month will enable us to assess the “Google effect” of our website. Mary W. also volunteered to work on a flyer which could be put in libraries or on other public bulletin boards.
Scott handed out the “Pre-Shoot Checklist” on a handy 5×7” card which we can laminate and keep with us as a reference before and during a photo shoot to prevent forgetting something important.
Tim gave a PowerPoint presentation on “Calibrating and Profiling a Monitor”, followed by a short video lesson.
Several people showed some of their photos for “Showcase”.
Now that we have a Send Invitation function on our website, we agreed it is time to think about volunteering to organize an event such as a photo walk or field trip and announce it using this function.
We discussed the availability of many useful photography videos on-line (and listed on our website). Members not quite ready to do a more “formal” presentation should consider bringing a link to a suitable video and showing it on-screen with just a few comments of their own to open a discussion. Notify Tim if you would like to do this so it can be included in the agenda.
Photo Assignment – “Photo Blurs and Textures”, i.e. the “Monet effect”, and applying textures to an image.
Next Month’s Meeting – Sat., Sept 9th at 1 PM
Scott will discuss using Histograms and the Levels control. Tim will have presentations on Posting Images to Your Member Gallery and An Introduction to Post-Processing. Anyone wishing to present a video can contact Tim.
The meeting adjourned at 3:45 PM