Berks Photographic Society

BPS member Jeff Grabert presents “South Africa Private Reserves Safari”
2024-04-01 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Hybrid
BPS member Jeff Grabert presents “South Africa Private Reserves Safari”
This program will highlight photography from private reserves in South Africa. These reserves border world famous Kruger National Park and no fences keep the animals from traversing into and out of the parks. Unlike Kruger, guides can take guests off-road for very intimate sightings. Additionally, only lodge guests can be on the land so there is much less traffic and vehicle occupancy at sightings is limited. Photographic tips will be discussed as well as advice on gear, lodging, and best times to go.

Jeff says, “I am a self-taught travel photographer with a portfolio that showcases images from multiple continents and an array of subject matters. My particular focus is nature and culture. With a degree in biology, I have had a lifelong fascination with the natural world. My “Happy Place” is being on location pursuing wildlife and wilderness images. From the Serengeti to Patagonia, the scenery and wildlife may change but the feeling remains the same – being connected with the earth. It is my hope that my photography helps the viewer connect with that feeling as well.”

See Jeff’s work at www.grabertimages.com

Phil Penman will present a talk entitled “Street Photography Unfiltered” in a hybrid zoom session.
2024-04-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
Historical events are happening all around us all the time. As photographers we have an ability to be able to share stories & capture world events in real time. Learn about the thought process behind picking a subject, capturing it & getting it out into the world from one of the absolutely most respected in the genre.
The British-born, New York-based photographer Phil Penman has documented the ever-changing scene of New York City’s streets for more than 25 years. In his career as a news & magazine photographer, with a large body of work in such publications as The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Review of Books, among others, Phil has photographed major public figures & historical events. In particular, his reportage following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center has featured on NBC’s Today show, as well as on the BBC, History Channel, & Al Jazeera; his images have been included in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum & its archives. Phil’s work covering the pandemic lockdown in New York City has been acquired by the U.S. Library of Congress, whose collection holds work by such great Depression-era documentarians as Walker Evans & Dorothea Lange. Besides showing at Leica galleries in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston & London, Penman’s signature street photography has appeared in international exhibitions as far afield as Venice, Berlin & Sydney.

Phil tours theorld teaching workshops on photography for Leica Akademie.
Penman’s first book, “Street”, published in 2019, became a best-seller & was featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He just released his second book, “New York Street Diaries”.
Among his accolades: Phil was recently named among the “52 Most Influential Street Photographers,” alongside such legends as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Diane Arbus & Garry Winogrand. “Voted Top 10 Street Photographers 2019” – The Phoblographer. “From astronauts on the crosswalk to young skaters shredding on high rooftops, to 30-foot-tall statues lying sideways on the back of a truck, Penman’s subjects prove there’s never a dull moment in the Big Apple” – Jenny Zhang, My Modern MET. “Top 10 Contemporary Street Photographers living today” – My Modern MET. “If the photographs themselves are stunning – by turn surprising, moving, funny & even shocking – the show’s real star is New York itself. Penman’s love of his adoptive home shines through on every page” – Grazia Magazine.

Visit Phil’s WEBSITE.
This will be a paid event for non-BPS members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

BPS member Jeff Schaeffer shares “Travel Photography – Capturing the Experience!”
2024-05-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
BPS member Jeff Schaeffer shares “Travel Photography – Capturing the Experience!”
Jeff enjoys traveling to new places and enjoys capturing the experience to share with others. He is enthusiastic about traveling to foreign places but also enjoys traveling in the USA and exploring places near to home. In 2023, he and his wife decided to do a ‘day trip’ each week to get out, explore and shoot! Jeff will share tips and ideas that have helped him in his travel photography journey. He will also share several ideas of day trips that are within a couple of hours of home where to practice capturing our experiences to share with others.
As a follow-up to the presentation, we will schedule two ‘day trips’ this summer to get out and practice!
Jeff is a retired business intelligence and analytics IT professional. Once retired, Jeff began focusing on photography and enjoys learning and practicing all types of photography. He loves to travel and has spent about half a year in India where his passion for travel photography really grew. He has had images published in “The Hindu” – a national newspaper in India, a book “Kalarippayattu: A Holistic Martial Art from India” published in Poland and on signs and advertisements throughout India.

Paul Sanders of the UK will present “The Soul of the Creator” via a hybrid zoom meeting. More info to follow
2024-05-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
Paul Sanders will present live from the UK his talk entitled “The Soul of the Creator” via a hybrid zoom meeting. This presentation will explore the relationship a photographer must have with their subject & why we so often fail to pay our fullest attention to our muse. Every genre of photography is a collaboration between two elements, the photographer & the subject but each has the impressions of hundreds, if not thousands of other influences embedded within them. This talk aims to unravel the mystery of this relationship & offers thoughts about how we might all benefit from being a little more grateful of the hands of others in our chosen subject.

English fine art photographer Paul Sanders has been involved in photography since leaving school, first as a black & white printer, then as a fashion photographer. His career changed direction in the early 1990s as he started working as a news photographer. This change led to a post at Reuters & then The Times newspaper, as Picture Editor overseeing the entire visual content of the prestigious publication. Paul left The Times at the end of 2011 to pursue his love of nature & the landscape.
Paul’s approach to landscape photography is one of mindful connection. After looking at nearly 20,000 images every day during his years at the Times, his own work is the result of his emotional & spiritual responses to the subjects. He works with & reflects the sense of stillness & calm he feels whilst with them.
A passionate advocate for mental health & the benefits of using photography to help with recovery, Paul leads workshops for West Kent Mind to build confidence & resilience for those suffering with a wide range of mental health needs.
His first book, a limited edition of 150 (self published through Envisage Books), sold out in under 24 hours. Paul is a sought after speaker in the UK & Europe. His highly reflective work has been exhibited widely across the UK, Europe & Japan. Paul is an ambassador for Fujifilm UK, Fotospeed Papers & Lee Filters.
Visit Paul’s website at www.discoverstill.com as well as his Instagram account @discover_still & his Facebook page discoverstil.
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

BPS member Dutch Bagley presents “Architectural Haiku”
2024-06-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
BPS member Dutch Bagley presents “Architectural Haiku”
Dutch has loved capturing images of a city’s architecture wherever he visits, especially in New York City. For this presentation, Dutch will demonstrate his initial approach for selecting a capture, the tools used to create an image and will show how he creates light flows, enhances contrasts and tonal ranges, incorporates selections and curves into his images to promote an in-depth three-dimensional look for his architectural images, and how finished work is readied to hang on a gallery wall. Even if your work is focused in another direction, this presentation will give you additional options to create your vision.
Dutch is a self-taught amateur photographer, beginning with his passion for all sizes of film cameras in the 70’s, creating black and white framed prints, through to his acceptance of using digital processes during the last 10 years to recreate newer versions of those long ago visions. He is an avid (understatement) local, national and international photography competition entrant, relentlessly tracking/analyzing his yearly and lifetime competition entry costs, number of images accepted/rejected, acceptance rate (currently 47.62 %), etc., etc., etc., and much more, which keeps him in the rabbit hole. He is a member of 9 photography clubs/venues, including: President of Gallery 14 in Hopewell NJ, V.P. of the Cheltenham Camera Club and a member of the Phillips’ Mill Photo Exhibition Committee. He enjoys creating and giving presentations to photography clubs on topics that drive his photographic experience, believing that sharing one’s knowledge can make us better creators of art.

“Authentic Travel Photography in the Age of Instagram” with Bob Krist
2024-06-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
– June 17, 2024 at 7:00 PM: Bob Krist will present via a hybrid Zoom session “Authentic Travel Photography in the Age of Instagram”. The following thoughts are from Bob: “There’s no doubt about it, social media like Instagram & Facebook has allowed photographers to reach much wider audiences. It’s no longer necessary to pass the gatekeepers of magazine art directors & picture editors to share your photos with the world. The democratization of media has been a boon to photographers. But it’s not without its pitfalls. Instead of fostering a genuine interest in other peoples & cultures, the Instagram aesthetic somehow became one of, ‘hey look at me.’ Rather than using the camera as a license to be curious, we use the camera as a tool to brag with. Pandemic notwithstanding, we may be traveling, shooting & sharing more, but we’re not becoming any more culturally literate. However, we have become a whole lot more narcissistic.”
Traveling Photographer (2000) was hailed by American Photographer magazine as “the best book about travel photography we’ve ever read.”
You can visit Bob’s website HERE.
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

BPS Member Photo Competition & Critique Night The theme is “Anything Goes” in both Pictorial & Nature categories. This is a change in topic.
2024-06-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
The second BPS competition and critique for this year will be held on June 24, 2024. Submission deadline is Sunday night, June 9, 2024 at 12 MN. This deadline is close. Submit now. This will be a recorded, hybrid meeting using Zoom for those who decide not to join us at the GoggleWorks. Every member is encouraged to participate. The goal of our competitions is to make these sessions learning experiences for everyone, the submitters and the observers. Hopefully, this will lead to improved photographic outcomes down the road. This is accomplished by having highly qualified judges who do thoughtful and constructive critiques of the submissions and give actionable recommendations.
“Anything Goes” is the theme for this event in both nature and pictorial. This theme was used in 2023 but is being repeated. The reason for this is to allow our creative expressions to go all out again. Here is the chance to shine. This is the session to showcase abstract images, multiple exposures, intentional camera movement, Photoshop manipulation or even straight forward, representational imagery, if desired. Any type of image, genre or creative process works as long as all of the elements originate entirely within a camera. To be specific, no AI generative fill elements are allowed in any BPS competition. The maker will need to differentiate between Pictorial and Nature subject matter as the core basis of their images since this could be difficult to discern from the final result.
The BPS competition rules were revised and given BPS Board approval on May 8, 2023 and some slight procedural changes were made this year. Everyone should review the latest rules and the details for entry as found HERE or refer to the BPS website for details under the “Competition” header. This document will give you the naming guidelines and the sizing criteria along with a lot more information. Ginnie has created a guideline for image sizing – check it out HERE. Please, please do your best to get this process correct. Carefully review your files before your submission. There continue to be a significant number of errors which creates a large amount of unnecessary work on my part.
For competitions, BPS members are divided into Class A (advanced) and Class B groups. Generally, all new members are in Class B. If you feel that your photographic images and skill level are indeed “advanced” then please email Vince Pellegrini at Vince.Pellegrini@berksphotographic.com to request a review. Each dues-current BPS member in Class A and Class B group may submit up to two images in each of the two categories, Pictorial category (P) and Nature category (N). Please note the category designation has changed to clarify things with P and N now used for the two categories (instead of A and B.)
For submission, there are 4 links to 4 separate directories in the Club’s SmugMug account to upload images into, depending on the photographer’s Class (A or B) and the image Category (Pictorial=P or Nature=N). This will then automatically separate the image files appropriately on the receiving end.
Class A photographers use these 2 links to upload files once they are sized and named correctly:

Pictorial (P): https://www.smugmug.com/upload/r5ZTvq/ClassAPictorial

Nature (N): https://www.smugmug.com/upload/BkRVbG/ClassANature

Class B photographers use these 2 links to upload files:

Pictorial (P): https://www.smugmug.com/upload/f7pVTw/ClassBPictorial

Nature (N): https://www.smugmug.com/upload/F5hJxr/ClassBNature

If you have questions or need help, please email Vince before submitting at Vince.Pellegrini@berksphotographic.com. Remember, no changes can be made after submission.
Submission of an image for any BPS competition indicates agreement of the maker to allow BPS to post the image in the BPS Newsletter and online via the BPS website and BPS YouTube channel.
Carl Finkbeiner will be the judge for this competition. Carl is a professional photographer in the Philadelphia area, offering fine art photographs, artifact photography services for curators and makers, as well as photography instruction. After a 45 year career in a highly rational/analytical profession – statistical sciences – he left the business world in 2015 and pursued his lifelong passion for photography in earnest. Carl earned the Contemporary Practices Photography Certificate from the Tilt Institute in Philadelphia, then worked in event and portrait photography, exhibited his own work, taught photography composition and editing, and is the Photographer at the Rose Valley Museum, shooting the collection as well as events and marketing material.
Carl is an instructor with the Digital Photo Academy which offers a range of on-line courses and services as well as over 200 in the field sessions around the world through 124 instructors. Carl’s own business is Deliberate Light Photography. Carl can be found on Instagram and Facebook: @carlfinkbeiner.
The four first place winners of this BPS competition will be posted on the Digital Photo Academy sites.

BPS member Ginnie Lodge will share “Photoshop Tips and Tricks.”
2024-09-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
BPS member Ginnie Lodge will share “Photoshop Tips and Tricks.”
Learn how to go from Lightroom to Photoshop and back again. Find out about the power of layers. Learn how and when to use the new generative AI features to remove objects or expand your photos. And more! She will address questions sent by members in advance to help you use Photoshop more effectively.

Francesco Gola will present “Introduction to Seascape Photography” from Italy in a hybrid zoom session
2024-09-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
In this event Francesco will take us on an engaging journey through the captivating realm of seascape photography. The session will kick off with a comprehensive exploration of the essential gear required to capture the breathtaking beauty of seascapes. From cameras & lenses to tripods & filters, Francesco will provide valuable insights into assembling the perfect toolkit for this genre. Moving seamlessly into camera settings, we can expect to unravel the intricacies of achieving optimal exposure, focus & depth of field in various seaside scenarios. Francesco will demystify the technical aspects, empowering photographers of all levels to master their equipment & create mesmerizing compositions. The heart of the talk will delve into shooting techniques, with a particular focus on the art of long exposure. Francesco’s expertise in this area will shine as he unravels the magic behind capturing the ethereal movement of waves, transforming ordinary scenes into extraordinary visual stories.
Francesco will also share invaluable practical advice garnered from years of hands-on experience. From timing the perfect golden hour shots to navigating unpredictable weather conditions, these insights will prove invaluable to anyone seeking to immerse themselves in the world of seascape photography. Whether a beginner or a seasoned enthusiast, participants will leave the meeting with a heightened appreciation for the art & a toolkit of skills to embark on their own seascape photography adventures.
Francesco Gola is an engineer who’s fallen in love with photography. Born in Italy in 1981, as soon as he started taking pictures he fell in love with long exposures of seascapes. For him, a long exposure is a parallel universe in which to escape from the frenzy of modern life. His passion for the sea & for travel led him to visit some of the most iconic locations on this planet, looking at them with different eyes.
Inspired by the romantic painters William Turner & Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Francesco developed a special emotional relationship with nature that is clearly expressed through his seascape photographs.
Now Francesco lives & teaches photography in Milan where he collaborates with companies, sites & magazines for the diffusion of photographic culture in Italy & in the world.

Visit Francesco’s sites to learn more about his wonderful work & offerings: WEBSITE & INSTAGRAM.
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

BPS member and photography educator Valerie Hoffman shares “My Adventure in Norway!
2024-10-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
– October 7, 2024 at 7:00 PM: BPS member and photography educator Valerie Hoffman shares “My Adventure in Norway!
Norway is a Scandinavian country encompassing mountains, lakes, glaciers and deep coaster fjords. Its beauty is unparalleled, and so are the photographic opportunities!
Usually the one leading photography workshops here in the states, Valerie says, “In 2022, I had the opportunity to spend 15 days traveling and photographing the beauty of Norway. Join me as I share images and stories from my adventure!”
See Valerie’s website to find out which adventure you can have with her at valeriehoffmanphotography.com/.

“Trust the Process” with Jean Miele
2024-10-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
– October 21, 2024 at 7:00 PM: Jean Miele will present via a hybrid Zoom session “Trust the Process”. “Gino” is looking forward to showing some of his photographs as a way to share his own three-part creative process: trusting your eyes, not knowing how things will turn out, & playing a deceptively simple game of “What if?”.
In Gino’s own words: Great pictures, classic stories & poetry, scientific breakthroughs… they all come from the same wellspring of our collective consciousness. Because photography is a visual medium, not an intellectual one, it’s only by trusting our intuition, our bodies – our feelings rather than our thoughts, that we can develop a process that allows us to tap into that wellspring. Trusting what we see – rather than what we think – is how we connect with that Universal source. Developing & trusting a process means regardless of whether we know what to do next, we can engage in picture-making. In fact, not knowing what to do is the best way to proceed.
We are very fortunate to have enlisted Gino. He is a very prominent photographer, artist & educator who is in very high demand. Gino’s photographs explore the borderlands between fiction & reality, & reflect his lifelong interest in perception, spirituality & mysticism. His images remind viewers that moments of perfection are possible & that we create our own reality. He believes every photograph is an act of transformation & that the photographs we make tell us more about ourselves than about what was in front of the lens. Miele’s photographs have appeared in thousands of publications & his original prints exhibited & acquired by collectors worldwide.
Gino is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He offers workshops & one-to-one mentoring that empower students to realize their own photographic vision. For more info & to purchase original prints, check out: www.jeanmiele.com, https://www.instagram.com/jean_miele/ & www.facebook.com/JeanMielePhotographer.
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

BPS Member Photo Competition & Critique Night "Monochrome Imagery" ********UPDATE*******
2024-10-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
Last Minute
UPDATE on BPS October Photo Competition & Critique
“Monochrome Imagery”
By Vince Pellegrini

Because of a medical issue, our scheduled judge for this competition, Lewis Katz, had to step aside. But, no fears. Arrangements have been made for Pete Morton to step in to judge & critique our images on October 28, 2024. Pete is a certified judge who is especially fond of monochrome photography.
In 2019 Pete attended a judge training program and was certified by the Maryland Photography Alliance. He has subsequently judged photography competitions for dozens of camera clubs in numerous states and for the PSA. Pete has given presentations about judging photography, landscape photography, informal portrait photography & advanced Photoshop techniques, among others. Pete was elected to be a PSA Associate. He is active in the PSA Digital Dialogue Study Groups & administers a group focused on monochrome photography. Additionally, he is currently involved in managing a PSA monochrome competition of 17 international camera clubs.
His involvement in judging photography competitions has led to Pete’s philosophy about judges’ comments & suggestions. He believes that photographers should never blindly accept a judge’s critiques. Instead, their input should be carefully weighed & the photographer should decide which comments they agree with. In fact, anyone’s honest thoughts about a photographer’s work can be useful. Pete believes that learning from suggestions of others is how we grow as artists.
Pete accepted invitations to lecture on digital photography at the college level in Cornwall, England & later to teach advanced Photoshop techniques to professional photographers in London.
We have an extremely qualified judge for our Monochrome competition, rest assured.
See you all at 7:00 PM on October 28, either at the GoggleWorks or on Zoom.
ZOOM LINK FOR OCTOBER 28:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82781546515?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 827 8154 6515
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Jonathan Vaines of the UK will present a hybrid zoom session titled “Creative Motivation”
2024-11-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
This talk will be an artistic approach to photography, stepping out of the mainstream. Along with individual images, Jonathan will discuss the motivational benefits of working with Projects, Sets & Groups of images. Most of his pictures are created using “in camera” techniques & therefore the focus of the evening will be about “Thinking Inside The Box”. He will take us to a place far away from the reality of life into Visual Art, creating work from simple everyday things around us. Jonathan hopes to inspire us, give us that spark to go out & take a different picture.
Jonathan took his first photograph in 2012, joined his local club to work out what to do & soon moved on. He has had many roles away from the camera in his short photographic life. Jonathan has been the Regional Organizer for the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) for five years & is the Judges’ Secretary for the East Anglian Federation (EAF) of Photographic Societies in Great Britain. He is also an A panel judge and a sponsored lecturer for Paper Spectrum. Jonathan tutors for the RPS and online photo clubs that operate predominantly in North America, running processing method workshops most weeks. He is an affiliate of DxO Labs, the software developer, & Wex Photo Video for everything camera. He is always busy somewhere in the world of camera clubs & photography.
Jonathan’s image making started out as photographing anything. Now he uses the camera to create what he sees as wall art. Multiple exposures along with some sort of camera distortion appears in almost all of his work. He polishes the results in Photoshop & an image does not exist until it’s printed so he is helping keep the ink and paper industry alive. Jonathan finds enjoyment from engaging with every image. He works with thoughts, concepts & projects. For him, it’s not about capturing the moment but it’s about visualization & being able to deliver that in print.

Explore Jonathan’s WEBSITE to explore his world.
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.

November 25, 2024 at 7:00 PM: BPS Member Photo Competition Night “Best of the Year” with Henry Rowan as judge
2024-11-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
November 25, 2024 at 7:00 PM: BPS Member Photo Competition Night “Best of the Year” with the wonderful Henry Rowan of the PA Center For Photography returning for the fifth year in a row to judge & critique this event. Henry’s image reviews are so educational & inspiring. The top 15 BPS images from 2024 as chosen by Henry will represent BPS in the 2025 International Michael Day Competition.
BPS will again participate in the friendly Michael Day competition with an international group of photography clubs. The other clubs for this year’s event included the Chalfonts & Gerrards Cross Camera Club of the UK, Photo Club Vision of Finland, the Auckland Photographic Society from New Zealand & Fotoincontro Associazione from Italy along with us. BPS & Chalfonts & Gerrards Cross Camera Club of the UK began this event in 2007. Learn all of the history in a future Newsletter.
Visit Henry’s website HERE.

“Photographing the Figure in the Landscape and Abandoned Spaces & Incorporating Textures to Create Digital and 3-D Collaged Images”
2024-12-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Goggle Works Suite 326
December 2, 2024 at 7:00 PM: Rebecca Carpenter presents “Photographing the Figure in the Landscape and Abandoned Spaces & Incorporating Textures to Create Digital and 3-D Collaged Images”.
Rebecca (Becky) will show images from her photo shoots in a variety of backgrounds (desert, ocean, rainforest, mountains, as well as a variety of abandoned spaces) and talk about the many ways to create strong images with a figure in those environments. She will explore ways of using the natural light available or easy to transport lights to add light to the scene, as well as suggesting ways to create strong compositions and tell a compelling story.

Becky has created many digital textures and will also demonstrate ways to “age” a photograph or create vintage digital collage effects with the images, as well as transferring photographs to other surfaces to create a 3-D collage.

December 16, 2024 at 7:00 PM: BPS Member Annual General Meeting
2024-12-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid

Huibo Huo will present “The Power of Simplicity in Black and White Landscape Photography
2025-01-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Hybrid
– January 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM: Huibo Huo will present “The Power of Simplicity in Black and White Landscape Photography”
Huibo Hou (https://www.huibohou.com), is a landscape photographer based in San Diego, California. She fell in love with photography about 26 years ago as a hobbyist while working in the wireless communication industry. Then life took her in different directions, and she had to set aside her photography pursuit for quite some time. In early 2015, she rekindled her love for photography and gradually became more serious about the craft. Her work has been recognized internationally in recent years with multiple awards and publications. Landscape photography, especially in black and white, is the art medium that she is passionate about. It serves as her creative outlet to express how she observes, interprets, and connects with nature.
Huibo’s presentation, “The Power of Simplicity in Black and White Landscape Photography” will give us a view into her beautiful images. The power of black and white images is often rooted in their simplicity. Huibo’s favorite type of black and white landscape images are the clean, simple ones with just a few essential elements in each frame, leaving space for viewers to imagine and contemplate. In this presentation, she will delve deep into a few ideas and techniques in seeking such simplicity, both in the field and during the postprocessing. Topics include: seeing and composing with essential elements; using long exposure to aid simplicity and create mood; managing tones and textures in post-processing. Whether you are an exploring beginner or an experienced photographer, this presentation can inspire you towards creating impactful black and white landscape images.

March Competition - "A Time to Reflect"
2025-03-31 19:00 - 21:00
March Competition – “A Time to Reflect”
By James Egitto
Our theme for this competition is A Time to Reflect. Sometimes it’s the reflections that catch our eye and inspire our compositions. Maybe it’s a reflection in water, glass, metal, or a pupil. Maybe it’s a mirror image, or an abstract distortion, or a hidden detail, or that double-exposure effect created by a window.
Reflect on what you can create in the next few weeks and show us what you’ve got. Categories are Nature and Pictorial, and the submission deadline is midnight, Sunday March 16, 2025. . The judging/critique will be on March 31.
All members are encouraged to get out and shoot for this competition. If you are new to the club, we hope you’ll give it a try. If you’ve been a member forever and have never entered a competition, now’s the time. If you always enter – do it again! Look around – reflective surfaces are everywhere – lakes, ponds, puddles, plastic, metal, or windows!
You can read all of the details on BPS competitions HERE.
Our judge for this competition is Michael Brown. Here’s some of what Michael had to say when we asked him about himself:
“To me, photography is an exercise of mindfulness – a respect for what I see, and the tools I work with. My photos are an expression of what interests me. I enjoy exploring the subject of my interest with the camera. It is a means for me to better understand the world around me, and it doesn’t matter if thousands of others took photos from the same perspective because the perspective is new to me, the exploration and visualization are new to me.
I’ve been critiquing photographs and portfolios for 15 years. Recently I was certified as a competition judge by the Maryland Photography Alliance which offers and provides guidance, training, presentations, and competition judging to its member camera clubs.
I assess photographs the same way I assess any art, if it grabs my attention, I get closer. If it holds my attention and is compelling, I explore. During exploration, I critique. What do I like or don’t like? Why? How can it be improved, or what would make it better? A photograph has to inform me, tell me something I don’t already know, or provide me a unique perspective to something I do know.
As with all art, critiques of photographs are subjective, therefore prone to error and bias. Yes, there are technical aspects of captured images that can be measured, but what role they play in making an image compelling is up to the viewer.”

Leigh Reeves hosts “How Would You Edit This?”
2025-12-01 19:00 - 21:00
December 1, 2025 at 7:00 PM: EDITING NIGHT with Leigh Reeves

Our member from Australia, Leigh Reeves, will host a special evening where several BPS members will show their own take on how they would edit an image he presents them with.

Annual Members’ Meeting
2025-12-15 18:00 - 21:00
12/15/25 Annual Members’ Meeting
