Weekly MCC News #32- 03September2023

Annual General Meeting – Thursday 5 October 2023

This year’s MCC AGM will be held as a Hybrid Meeting – in person at the Clubrooms and on Zoom. Further details and formal notification will be distributed to eligible MCC Members in due course.

Nominations are now open for MCC Board positions, and must be on the prescribed forms published on the MCC website. Nominations close 10pm Thursday 21 September 2023.

This week’s speaker, Jack McLain, a Veteran of US Army Special Forces, will present his wet plate collodion photographic images and discuss his bodies of work featuring Vietnam Vets. 

Jack currently has an exhibition at the NSW Anzac Memorial called “Stories of the Dat Do Dogs,” which features the experiences of the Vietnam veterans and nurses 50 years after the final withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. His new project, Conjuring Athena, will commemorate the Australian Veterans who served in the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps.  The image shown here is one of Jack’s Conjuring Athena portraits. 

Jack says that the ultimate point of his work “is about connecting the veteran community in Australia with contemporary society.” 

See event details in What’s On below.

Our next Introduction to Lightroom Basics course will held on Saturday 23 September, from 8.30am – 4pm in the Clubrooms. If you have been thinking about starting out with Lightroom, this is the perfect introduction course. 

Please pass this on to family and friends who may be interested.

Registrations for the course are on the MCC website, link below.

Paul Dodd and Ruth Woodrow have both achieved significant results in the Minimalist Photography Awards

Paul Dodd

• Third Place – Street – “Shopping Trolley”
• Honourable Mention – Portrait – “Lockdown Self-portrait”
• Honourable Mention – Aerial – “Poolside”

Ruth Woodrow

• Honourable Mention – Aerial – “Silver Gull”
• Honourable Mention – Architecture – “Stairs”

Congratulations to Paul & Ruth!

There is often confusion around what “Deadpan” means in terms of photography. Here are a few points and there’s a link to Renee Sterling’s recent talk on Deadpan for reference.

• Deadpan entirely lacks emotion.
• Most of the time, the subject is in the middle of the frame (faux pas in modern photography), and you shoot the subject straight on.
• No angles, no clever compositions, no dramatic lighting – just your subject or object.
• The image should end up just as if you walked up to it in real life and took a quick shot. The deadpan photograph simply says “This is how things are”.
• Deadpan uses desaturation of colour. The colours are more muted, and don’t demand as much attention. This unique approach makes deadpan photography very distinct.
• Link to 1 June Club Night video replay

The September competition Set Subject is: Deadpan

Image upload deadlines for Print and PDI comps are:

• Midnight Wednesday 13 September
• Results for all Print and PDI Competitions are available in the Gallery page on the website.

Any questions about any aspect of the Competitions feel free to contact the Competition Committee, email: 
mcc-compcommittee@melbournecameraclub.org.au

Photography Studies College (PSC) are offering MCC members 20% discount on for all Fine Art Papers – Ilford, Canson, and Hahnemuhle papers.

‘Proofing/Testing’ paper will not be discounted as it inexpensivep RC (Resin coated) paper for testing or cheap and cheerful family album prints.

PSC’s Digital Centre Production Manager is happy to work with MCC members to choose the appropriate paper for a particular image.

More information, pricing, upload link and contact information can be found on the MCC website: Resources and Links page  

This year, MCC is coordinating the Interclub Portrait Competition previously managed by Camberwell Camera Club. The participating clubs this year will be Williamstown, Camberwell, Caulfield, Eastern Suburbs, Warragul and Melbourne.

We invite all members to consider entering their best portrait photos for consideration as part of our club entry. There are 3 sections:

• Single person portrait
• Two or more people
• Creative portraiture – Polyptychs (diptychs, triptychs, etc) are permitted in this category only.  

Image Size

• JPEG images of up to 3840×2160 and 5MB. 

Entries are open now and close on 30 September 2023

The Ballarat Foto Biennale was officially opened this weekend with a wide selection of exhibitions open for visitors during the next two months.

The Ballarat International Foto Biennale was founded in 2005 and attracts significant International and Australian photographers as one of Australia’s pre-eminent photographic festivals. Held every two years it showcases work from domestic and international artists that is new, previously unseen in Australia or contextualised afresh; the Open Program fosters the development of new artists.

Save the Date: MCC Photowalk Group will be heading to Ballarat to visit some of the exhibitions on Saturday 9 September, – see details below.

Weekend: 9th & 10th September from 10am to 4pm.

This will be a repeating continuous screening of the best works from the 3300 entries, from 34 countries.  Come and go as you please. Sections including monochrome, colour, nature, creative and photojournalism.
 
VIGEX is a local volunteer organisation which runs this annual event to bring top quality photography to Geelong and Victoria. The 2023 display is being digitally projected.  
 
Work is invited from any photographer, amateur or professional, from any country. Judging is controlled by the rules of FIAP and PSA, two international photographic organisations which approve similar events around the world.  Vigex is the only such event in Victoria.

Geelong West Town Hall Supper Room 
153 Pakington St, Geelong West.   
Enter from the Car Park behind the Town Hall
Entry is free.

The highlights of the exhibition will be shown at MCC on Thursday 23 November. 

Latest Issue

Monthly issues of VAPS Newsbrief are available online, published at the start of each month. 

If you have any recent results you would like to share to inspire other members in their photography journey, please email the Newsletter team so the website page can be updated and shared in the Weekly News.

MCC does not endorse any competitions/exhibitions that are listed, the content is for informational purposes.