“Your Place or Mine?” – Sherrie Fryxell (Illustrative)

Photos from our October Meeting with Guest Speaker Lisa Cuchara.
Photos by Gary Ditlow.

Congratulations to our September 2017 Print Competition Winners!

Illustrative Category:

1st Place – Light at the End of the Tunnel (Sherrie Fryxell)

2nd Place – Parking Violation (Sherrie Fryxell)

3rd Place – Egg Shaped Serenity (Brian Wolfe)

Portrait Category:

1st Place – He Will Return (Brian Wolfe)

2nd Place –  Focus (Brian Wolfe)

3rd Place –  Nature Lovers (Cassondre Mae)

2nd Place: Vineyard Romance (Natalie Kane)

Wedding/Event Category:

1st Place: Awaiting (Natalie Kane)

3rd Place – Nothing Beats My View of You (Cassondre Mae)

October Meeting
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Guest Speaker – Lisa Cuchara
Focusing on the Details: Create Fine Art Photographs from Urban Exploration

Lisa will discuss their love for RUST and their approach to and experience with photographing historic and abandoned buildings, urban decay, etc. She will show techniques for wide angle and close-up photography including the use of HDR (high dynamic range), EDR (extended dynamic range), HDR-panoramas, and light painting in this program. Equipment and techniques used to bring out the beauty and drama of these subjects will also be discussed as we show our fascination with RUST. This program is meant to inspire you: inspire you to visit new “old” places and to get to know them well enough to tell their story, inspire you to capture high dynamic range images and to light paint, and inspire you to create art from decay.

Tom and Lisa see the Beauty in Decay and Abandonment. Old, Historic, Grand, Dramatic, Unique — these characteristics draw us to explore and capture the essence of these rusty, dusty subjects and locations. Urban exploration (UrbEx) is the art of finding and exploring abandoned locations. Not all locations are technically “urban” or even “abandoned”. The term abandoned is used VERY loosely. It is not “being abandoned” that attracts us to a place, it is the history, beauty, decay, charm, and architectural details (which contrast so drastically with today’s vanilla architecture).

Another definition of UrbEx is the investigation of seldom seen man-made structures, a definition more consistent with our quest, since our subjects may be FAR from abandoned (like the architectural grandeur of bustling Grand Central Terminal or the surprising drama of the [empty] neo-Gothic Eastern State Penitentiary), but these sites count as “unseen” because few people actually stop to appreciate beautiful prison architecture or the jaw-dropping details of Grand Central, a place that they might even rush through twice a day. With enough time at the end the HDR and panorama features of ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) are also demonstrated.

Lisa Cuchara, PhD, Cr. Photog.*, HonNEC, is very passionate about photography and she enjoys both being behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. She loves to photograph nature, but finds many subjects equally intriguing. From birds and flowers to babies and UrBex/HDR, she appreciates the world around her and embraces the challenge of interpreting what her eyes see and her heart feel via her photographs. Lisa says that photography allows her to pay attention to the details, to be mindful, to slow down and appreciate all of the beauty, details and nuances of everyday life. Lisa met her husband Tom thru photography and they are both very active in many local, national, and international photography organizations. Lisa and Tom have been photographing people professionally for over 15 years and have their own Photography Studio in Hamden CT. Their portrait philosophy is based on “We do not remember days, we remember Moments”. They have had many successful gallery exhibitions, their work has been accepted into many juried exhibitions and their images have won awards at the local, state, national, and international levels. Their photographs have appeared in Adirondack Life, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, in calendars and on calendar covers, and on the cover of a fictional paperback novel.

Amherst Media recently asked Lisa and Tom to write a photography book about their HDR and light painted images. This book, called “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” can be ordered from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex. They are currently working on their second book with Amherst media. They love to teach, inspire and share. They have presented a wide variety of motivational and instructional programs and workshops (Photoshop, Digital Workflow, HDR, RAW processing, Macro photography, Travel photography) at many photography groups and organizations. Check out their photo and editing classes, their photo tours and workshops, and view their photographs at www.LisaAndTomPhotography.com.

La Casa Vicina
1015 Little Britain Road
New Windsor, NY 12553
5:30 Happy Hour
6:30 Meeting Followed by Dinner
Members and 1st or 2nd Time Guests: $27
Non-members: $45

Please be sure to R.S.V.P. either:
on Facebook or via Email: info@hvppsny.org

You can Pre-Pay for the meeting here:

Members – $27 Pay with PayPal
1st and 2nd time guests are welcome at the member rate of $27.
Please pay at the door.

Non-members – $45 with PayPal

If you are new to the group, you can join as an aspiring member for only $95 the first year and then pay the regular member rate at each monthly meeting!

Please Support our Sponsor!
HVPPSNY is sponsored by
Hunts Photo and Video

Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Meeting and Print Competition

Reservations are Required

Prepare your images now … or just come to look and listen! It’s a great way to learn from the judges.

Entry Rules:
Longest dimension 4,000 pixels (20 inches at 200 ppi) sRGB or Adobe 1998
Image Title.jpg (Sample: New York at Sunrise.jpg) Must be exact name of Print

JPG, quality 10
Not to exceed 3.5 MB
Portrait * Weddings/Events * Illustrative
up to 4 images

Do not use your own name in the file. Remove any keywords added to the EXIF data.

Make one folder with your name, drop all of your photos into that folder, along with completed Microsoft Word ‘Print Submission Form’ from the website. Email the folder to Natalie Kane, natalie@jamesferrara.com.

DEADLINE: 9:00 A.M. SHARP MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH – NO EXCEPTIONS!

Submit early to be safe. Natalie will send you a confirmation via email by Monday at 5:00 p.m. If you do not receive the email by Wednesday night, call her immediately at (845) 534-5025 or email.

You must be a member and be present at the meeting for your images to be judged and/or critiqued.

LA CASA VICINA

1015 Little Britain Road, New Winsor, NY * 845-567-1890 Social Hour 5:30, Dinner/Meeting 6:30

Members: $27; Guests $27 (first two meetings) – Pay with PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=6QYLKBK24NJWG

Non-Members: $45 – Pay with PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=LXK7NA8H67Y24

R.S.V.P. by Sunday, September 24th

Photos from our June meeting with Steve Chesler.