This Month

Welcome to the New Season

Welcome to the new 2025-26 season! Tomorrow is our Annual Meeting, where we will announce the 2025-26 calendar. Also, special guest Eric Roman will judge our end-of-year competition. Entries include the top 4 photos from each of last year’s 7 competitions, making a total of 28 photographs. Eric will critique each photo and name our Best-of-the-Year photos!

Calendar

The 2025-26 calendar gets its big reveal tomorrow night!

In addition to Mondays, we will have seven extra meetings on Zoom, all on Tuesday nights. These are coordinated with two other photo clubs (Chagrin Valley and Pittsburgh). These will be free for club members.

• September 30, 7:30 pm: Loren Fisher, Lightroom Masking Mastery (lorenphotos.com)
• November 18, 7 pm: Peter Turnley, Moments of the Human Condition: 50 Years of Photographs (peterturnley.com)
• December 16, 7 pm: Ian Hunter, Infra-Structure (ianhunterphoto.com)
• January 27, 7:30 pm: Julian Elliott, Nomadic Travels of a Brit and the necessary photo skills (julianelliottphotography.com)
• March 3, 7 pm: Phil Penman, Street Photography Unfiltered (philpenman.com)
• April 21, 7 pm: Shawn Greenleaf, African Portraits: Living with the Maasai Tribe
• May 19, 7 pm: John Kosmopoulos, Story-Telling Through Fine Art Travel Photography (johnkosmopoulos.com)

Club News

News

Chris Taschner is showing his work at Schlow Library’s Betsy Rodgers Allen Gallery in September. If you are downtown, take a moment to check it out.

Membership Dues

It’s the start of the year, so dues are due! Membership costs the same as last year: $50, or $25 for students, ages 18–25. You can pay at the meeting with cash or check, or online.

Opportunities

The deadline for the 2025 Keystone Salon of Photography Competition is October 5, 2025, by midnight. This competition, which was introduced last year, is organized by Fred Doerfler of the Pittsburgh Photography Club. You can submit four photographs in each of six categories: Open Color, Open Monochrome, Altered Reality, Street Photography, Nature, and Travel.

The submission fee is $20 for four categories and $25 for five or more categories. This competition is in conjunction with ten other clubs in western and central Pennsylvania.

This Month

• August: No meeting. See you in September for another great year!
• Monday, September 15, 2025: Annual Meeting and end-of-year competition with a guest judge (TBA) to choose the photo of the year!

Club News

News

At the Arts Fest Images 2025 competition, Carolyn Todd-Larson presented the prize to the winner of the best photograph. This prize is sponsored by our club (the money is donated anonymously by a member, not taken from club funds).

And here is the winner!

Photos from the 4th Fest

Thank you to club members who photographed the 4th Fest! Here are some photos taken by our club members!

This Month

Edit the Same Photo

Monday’s meeting will be a discussion of editing techniques. Use any software you prefer to edit two provided RAW photos: a football photo by Sam Knutson and a storm photo by David Whiteman. The raw files are on Google Drive, and edited JPEGs are submitted to PollUnit. Come to the meeting prepared to share with us how you did it!

This is not a competition; it is simply a way to learn from each other’s editing skills. Your edit can be serious, creative, or adventurous. Anything goes!

The deadline to submit is Sunday, June 15, at midnight. If you have a late entry, please email it to me by 3:00 pm on Monday, June 16. I’ll be compiling the PowerPoint at about that time.

Also, John Larson will present on camera lenses.

Calendar

• Monday, July 21, 7–9 pm: Competition: Wildlife

Club News

We had a great field trip to the Palmer Art Museum on June 5 to hear a presentation on photography. Thanks to Elizabeth Wilson for organizing this!

BAM’s “What’s in a Word?” exhibit continues until June 29. Several photographers from our club are participating in this exhibit.

Congratulations to Jason Smoyer and Lisa Marie Cirincione, whose photographs were selected for the Art of the State Exhibition at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

Opportunities

The Images 2025 Central PA Festival of the Arts exhibition will run from July 1 to 31, 2025, at the Schlow Centre Region Library in downtown State College. Results have been announced. Let me know if you applied and were accepted! Sadly, I was not.

The 2025 Keystone Salon of Photography Competition is now open. This competition, which was introduced last year, is organized by Fred Doerfler of the Pittsburgh Photography Club. You can submit four photographs in each of six categories: Open Color, Open Monochrome, Altered Reality, Street Photography, Nature, and Travel. The submission fee is $20 for four categories and $25 for five or more categories. This competition is in conjunction with ten other clubs in western and central Pennsylvania.

This Month

The Competitions

Thanks to a flurry of uploads on Wednesday (the last day to submit), we have 20 photographs in the macro competition and 21 in the open category. Join us Monday evening for a critique of these photos. Member voting is open until May 18.

Also, Jane Liechty will present on how to use Manual Mode.

Calendar

Thursday, June 5, 6–8 pm: Field Trip to the Palmer Art Museum

I am excited to announce that we have arranged a State College Photo Club field trip to the Palmer Art Museum. The Palmer is offering a free photography talk to the public at 6 pm, titled “Parallel Play: Photographs from the Nancy Arnold Collection” by Sarah Ann Wharton. You may remember that Sarah was our judge at last year’s September meeting. It looks excellent!

Following the talk, Photo Club member Elizabeth Wilson will lead us on an informal private tour of the museum. The museum closes at 8 pm.

The Palmer Art Museum is situated on Penn State’s University Park campus, located at 650 Bigler Road, near the Arboretum and Law School. Parking is available at the Law School and costs $1 per hour.

If you are interested in attending, RSVP to me by May 27. The Palmer would like to know how many of us will be attending. Many thanks to Elizabeth Wilson for arranging this for our club.

• Monday, June 16, 7–9 pm: Member Challenge: Edit the Same Photo. John Larson will also present on focal length and lenses.
• Monday, July 21, 7–9 pm: Competition: Wildlife

Our field trip to Hoot Hollow in June has been cancelled. My apologies to anyone who put this on their calendar.

Club News

Carolyn Todd-Larson’s show MainEScape is at the Bellefonte Art Museum from May 2 – May 25 in the R. Thomas Berner Photography Gallery. Congratulations, Carolyn!

Also at BAM for two months: “What’s in a Word?” from May 2 to June 29. Several photographers from our club are participating in this exhibit.

Art of the State

Congratulations to Jason Smoyer and Lisa Marie Cirincione, whose photographs were selected for the Art of the State Exhibition at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

An Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 8, at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. All are welcome to attend. Lisa Marie will be in attendance, as will most of the 95 artists whose works have been accepted into the exhibition.

And here’s a copy of Jason’s photo that will be on display:

Opportunities

The Images 2025 Central PA Festival of the Arts exhibition will run from July 1 to 31, 2025, at the Schlow Centre Region Library in downtown State College. Selections for this juried competition will be announced on May 30. Let’s hope some of our members are included!

The 2025 Keystone Salon of Photography Competition is now open. This competition, which was introduced last year, is organized by Fred Doerfler of the Pittsburgh Photography Club. You can submit four photographs in each of six categories: Open Color, Open Monochrome, Altered Reality, Street Photography, Nature, and Travel. The submission fee is $20 for four categories and $25 for five or more categories. This competition is in conjunction with ten other clubs in western and central Pennsylvania.

This Month

Guest Judge: Steven Rubin

Steven is a documentary photographer. Before coming to Penn State, he worked for more than two decades as a freelance photojournalist, traveling on assignment worldwide and throughout the United States.

Club members submitted 29 photographs for the My Town competition. Steven will give feedback and score our pictures, so we don’t vote on them as a club this time. This is an excellent opportunity to get an external perspective!

Calendar

• May 19 meeting: Competition: Macro and Open. Jane Liechty will also present on how to photograph in Manual Mode.
• June 16 meeting: Member Challenge: Edit the Same Photo. John Larson will also present on focal length and lenses.
• July 21 meeting: Competition: Wildlife

Our field trip to Hoot Hollow in June has been cancelled. My apologies to anyone who put this on their calendar.

Club News

News

Carolyn Todd-Larson’s show MainEScape is at the Bellefonte Art Museum from May 2 – May 25 in the R. Thomas Berner Photography Gallery. Congratulations, Carolyn!

Also at BAM for two months, overlapping with Carolyn’s show: What’s in a Word?, May 2 – June 29. Several photographers from our club will participate in this exhibit.

Happy Easter!

For those of you who celebrate Easter, Happy Easter!

Opportunities

The 2025 Central PA Festival of the Arts Images 2025 competition is open for entries until May 9. The exhibition runs from July 1 – 31, 2025, at the Schlow Centre Region Library in downtown State College. As a club, we’ve been well-represented in the past.

This Month

Guest Speaker: Jana Scott

Jana Scott is a wedding and fine art photographer. You may have seen her at the Central Pennsylvania Arts Fest, where she sells macro shots of rust. We are excited to have her come and talk with us about macro photography, medium-format photography, and how she runs her business.

You can view her wedding photography at janascottphotography.com and her fine art photography at janascottfineart.com.

Also, Jason Smoyer will teach us about ISO. Thank you, Jason!

Jana Scott’s biography

After receiving my B.S. in Biobehavioral Health from Penn State, I spent a short time working in the mental health field. However, it didn’t take long before my true passion for photography began to require more of me than just weekends. With very little money in the bank and the unwavering support of my husband, I decided to finally test the waters for myself. I landed a job managing a local fine art photography business for a brilliant photographer. Even today, I am still discovering the subtleties I acquired simply from watching him at work.

In 2008, with a grateful heart (and no small amount of courage) I launched Jana Scott Photography. I specialize in weddings because of my desire to capture love, and I create fine art rust images because of my desire to find beauty in the unlikeliest of places.

Despite the popularity of digital photography, I have spent long hours working with film over the years — from behind the lens, as well as in the darkroom. In fact, I shot my first wedding in film in 2003. The journey from childhood snapshots to professional imagery has been filled with adversity and great joy. Along the way, my drive to photograph the world and the people around me has never abated.

Calendar

Monday, April 21, 2025: My Town competition

Our next meeting is the My Town competition, with guest judge Steven Rubin, photography professor at Penn State (see the results).

Tuesday, April 1, 2025: Steve Gettle on Zoom

Steve Gettle’s Zoom presentation, “Caught in Motion: Photographing Action.” Gettle is a wildlife photographer. (Please note, we have a Wildlife competition in July!) This event is free to all but requires prior registration. To register, email Carolyn Todd-Larson at statecollegephotoclub@gmail.com. She will send you a Zoom link to access the meeting.

From Steve Gettle: Want to learn how to go beyond simply making static portraits of your subjects? Technological advances have now made stop-action photography accessible to virtually every photographer. This all-new program starts with using just your camera, natural light, and auto-focus for subjects on the move, such as birds in flight and running animals. We will discuss special exposure techniques for action, acquiring initial focus-lock, tracking your subject, optimizing your autofocus, and the creative doors opened by adding a simple infrared trigger system and much more!

Field Trip to Hoot Hollow in June

You may remember Joe McDonald, who presented about wildlife photography to our club last November. In June, we have arranged a field trip to his property in McClure, PA, where he and his wife, Mary, will teach us about wildlife photography. They will set up ways for us to photograph squirrels and birds and give us advice and feedback in real time.

As this activity has a significant cost, we wish to ascertain interest beforehand. We need to charge about $25 per person. We will discuss this further at tomorrow’s meeting. I look forward to your feedback.

Club News

Tom Berner’s Quilt Barns exhibition is at the Bellefonte Art Museum from February 28 to March 30. In addition to the show, Tom will give a gallery talk on Wednesday, March 19, from 6 to 8 pm, focused on creating these colorful barns.

Finally, congratulations to Lisa Marie Cirincione, whose photograph New York State Pavilion was accepted into the Art of the State exhibition and will be displayed at the Pennsylvania State Museum from June 8 to September 14.

This Month

The Meeting

Hello all! This month’s meeting is an Architecture Competition. We had many submissions, which we’ll discuss at Monday’s meeting. Carolyn Todd-Larson will present on the exposure triangle #2, “Shutter Speed.” Thank you, Carolyn, for all your hard work!

Calendar

Monday, March 17, 2025

Tuesday, April 1, 2025: Steve Gettle on Zoom

Steve Gettle will give a Zoom presentation titled “Caught in Motion: Photographing Action,” at about 7 pm. This event will be free to club members but requires registration. To register, email Carolyn Todd-Larson at statecollegephotoclub@gmail.com. You will later receive a Zoom link to access the meeting.

From Steve Gettle’s promotional material: Want to learn how to go beyond simply making static portraits of your subjects? Technological advances have now made stop-action photography accessible to virtually every photographer. This all-new program starts with using just your camera, natural light, and auto-focus for subjects on the move, such as birds in flight and running animals. We will discuss special exposure techniques for action, acquiring initial focus-lock, tracking your subject, optimizing your autofocus, and the creative doors opened by adding a simple infrared trigger system and much more!

Club News

PSA Youth Showcase Update

We have decided to postpone our participation in the PSA Youth Showcase competition this year, but we hope to participate again next year. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions.

Opportunities

Keystone Salon of Photography 2025

Last year’s first Keystone Salon of Photography competition was a success and will happen again this year! Fred Doerfler of the Pittsburgh Photo Club led this effort, which was open to multiple PA photo clubs in the western and central PA regions.

If you want to think ahead, the 2025 competition will have similar categories to last year’s, except the PA travel category will be expanded to include travel outside PA. This year’s six categories will be Open Color, Open Monochrome, Altered Reality, Photo Travel, Nature, and Photojournalism.

This Month

The Meeting

Happy New Year! This month’s meeting is an Open Competition. We had 46 submissions by 23 members. It will be a great meeting. Lisa Marie Cirincione will present “My Town Photography: Examples and Insights” ahead of April’s competition on the same subject. Thank you, Lisa, for all your hard work!

Calendar

Tuesday, January 21, 7:30 pm: Stephanie Johnson on Zoom

“Unleashing Creativity: The Art of Intentional Camera Movement and Beyond” with Stephanie Johnson. This event is free to club members but requires registration. To register, email Carolyn Todd-Larson at statecollegephotoclub@gmail.com, who will then send you a Zoom link to access the meeting. Zoom for this event opens at 7:15 pm. This event is in partnership with the Pittsburgh Photography Club and the Chagrin Valley Camera Club (Cleveland). Thank you, Carolyn, for all your hard work making this happen.

From Stephanie Johnson’s promotional material: Join globally recognized photographer Stephanie Johnson for an inspiring and dynamic presentation exploring the artistic possibilities of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), Multiple Exposure (ME), and Creative Photography techniques. Stephanie will share her journey from traditional landscape photography to becoming a leader in creative photography.

• Key principles and techniques of ICM and ME
• Stunning sample images showcasing abstract and painterly effects
• Behind-the-scenes examples of scenes before and after using ICM
• A short fieldwork video demonstrating camera movements in various locations
• Advanced techniques for ICM, ME, and Mobile ICM (using Android and iPhone)
• Tips on creative post-processing to take your images to the next level

Tuesday, February 4, 2025: Charles Needle on Zoom

“Impressionistic Photography: How to Use Your Camera (or Smartphone) as a Paintbrush” with Charles Needle. This event is free to club members but requires registration. To register, email Carolyn Todd-Larson at statecollegephotoclub@gmail.com, who will then send you a Zoom link to access the meeting.

From Charles Needle’s promotional material: Unlock your creative potential and discover how to craft Impressionistic-looking photographs using nothing more than your digital camera or smartphone. Charles will describe the process of using long-exposure and multiple-exposure techniques to transform everyday scenes, with techniques such as Long-Exposure Pan/Tilt, “Multiple-Exposure Monet” (a technique Charles invented), Multiple-Exposure Rotate and Zoom, Soft-Glow Montage and Composite Montage. He will also explain how to use a free script in Photoshop to accomplish this same look if your camera does not have built-in multiple-exposure capability.

Charles Needle is an award-winning, Colorado-based fine art photographer, author, speaker and workshop leader with a unique eye for design and artistic interpretation. His popular “Art of Nature” creative macro workshops have attracted students nationwide. His photographs have been published in Nature’s Best, Outdoor Photographer, Nature Photographer, The Chicago Tribune and SELF Magazine.

Tuesday, April 1, 2025: Steve Gettle on Zoom

Zoom presentation by Steve Gettle: “Caught in Motion: Photographing Action.” More information to come. This event is free to club members but requires registration. To register, email Carolyn Todd-Larson at statecollegephotoclub@gmail.com, who will then send you a Zoom link to access the meeting.

Next month

• Next month’s meeting, on February 17, is a competition. The theme is Architecture. You can submit up to two photographs on this theme. Please make sure your photos were taken within the last 2 years.
• Linda Hale has a photography exhibition at the Bellefonte Art Museum called “Not So Beautiful.” It runs for one more week, until January 26.

Opportunities

Our second submission for the PSA PID competition is due on February 1. Watch this space for more information!

This Month

Happy Holidays!

Hello all! The holidays are upon us. For those of you who will travel, I wish you safe travel and good adventure. For those of you who have already gone south, enjoy the warmth and sunshine; it is very cold here in PA. We will miss you. Happy holidays to all!

Holiday Party

Alan Lucas will teach us about apertures. This is the first of four presentations by members about using manual mode. If you know how to photograph in manual mode, consider it a review, although I expect you’ll learn something. If you don’t, manual mode takes some getting used to, but once you know, you don’t look back.

After this, we will have our White Elephant gift exchange. Please bring a photo-related wrapped gift. This can be anything you like: serious or fun, big or small. Just dig through your gear and gift something you don’t want anymore, or if you choose to purchase a gift, please don’t spend more than $5. We will have a few extra gifts in case you forget 🙂

We will also share holiday photos! This is a way to get to know each other better. Photos can be anything related to winter, the holiday, Christmas, Hanukkah, or any way you celebrate or relax. They can be from your childhood or recent, or relate to a holiday memory, or something wintry. Please upload your photos using the PollUnit link. This is not a competition and will not be scored.

Feel free to bring a treat to share!

Calendar

Monday, January 20, 7–9 pm: Monthly meeting: Open competition. Our member presentation will be Lisa Marie Cirincione’s “My Town Photography: Examples and Insights,” in preparation for our My Town competition in April 2025.

Club News

Club Dues

If you haven’t already done so, please pay soon. Dues cost $50 as we must now pay to rent the Patton Township meeting room and cover all regular club meetings plus some extras. We are still a great deal! If this is a hardship, please talk to me. You can pay dues at the meeting in cash or check, or online via PayPal.

Opportunities

I have learned of two new competitions that you might want to enter.

• The 11th Annual Allegany National Photography Competition and Exhibition. The deadline to enter is February 6, 2025 (alleganyartscouncil.org/anpce).
• PA’s Art of the State 2025. The deadline for submission is January 17, 2025 (statemuseumpa.org/callforentry).

This Month

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello all, and happy Thanksgiving! I’m looking forward to time with family: I will have all five of my boys together for a few days, yay! If you want to jostle the crowds, New York’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is worth a visit. I went once, and my photos were not nearly as good as the one I shared this month, taken in 1931.

Calendar

Monday, December 16, 7–9 pm: Monthly meeting: Holiday Party. More details to come.

Club News

Club Dues

If you haven’t already, please pay dues at tomorrow’s meeting. Dues cost $50 as we must now pay to rent the Patton Township meeting room. Dues cover all regular club meetings and some extras, too. We are still a great deal! If this is a hardship, please talk to me. You can pay dues at the meeting in cash or check, or online via PayPal.

Keystone Salon of Photography Results

Results of the Keystone Salon of Photography competition are in. Congratulations to club members Carolyn Todd-Larson, Lisa Marie Cirincione, and Rich Shore.

• Nature #3: Humpbacks Feeding on Fish, by Carolyn Todd-Larson
• Nature HM: Morning Dew, by Carolyn Todd-Larson
• Open Monochrome #1: Loving Hands 14, by Lisa Marie Cirincione
• Open Monochrome #2: Signaling for a Field Goal, by Carolyn Todd-Larson
• Open Monochrome HM: Tower of Voices, by Carolyn Todd-Larson
• Open Color #2: Keeping Warm, by Richard Shore