Rochester offers photographers a wide range of opportunities. First, there's the George Eastman House. Saturday night Tracy and I attended a showing of the Ivory/Merchant film "Jefferson in Paris." It was introduced by James Ivory, and an interview with Mr. Ivory followed the film. Their collection of photographs and films is one of the best and most prestigious in the world. A few years ago, my brother-in-law gave me a membership there for Christmas. We've renewed it every year, and enjoy the parties for members whenever a new exhibit opens up. I get to three or four lectures there every year as well, and we enjoy the concerts in the gardens during the summer.
There's a long standing camera club, Camera Rochester, that hosts monthly competitions the first Monday of the month, and a lecture/demonstration the third Monday each month. Image City, a local photography gallery hosts new photography shows every six weeks or so, and hosts a free photo critique session the first Wednesday of every month. The partners there frequently offer both short and long-term classes. Then there are several meet-up groups. In addition to Camera Rochester and the photo critique group, I belong to the Rochester Photo Editing Group (RPEG). We meet once a month to see demonstrations of photo editing techniques (Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, HDR programs, etc) and occasionally they host a photo shoot for edit.
On Saturday RPEG members met at the Lamberton Conservatory. It's one of my favorite places to take photos. The deal with RPEG is to go to the shoot with some new skill to practice and then to upload your photos to share at the following meeting. I don't use my tripod or my macro lens very often, so I went off with macro on my mind. I wasn't thrilled with what I got (I had definite ideas about what I wanted), but I learned a bit. One of the benefits of groups like these is the help you get from other members. One of them walked by me on Saturday and asked why I wasn't using the Live View feature on my new camera. Truth is, I didn't know anything about it. In a matter of minutes, Brad had me "up and running" with Live View.
I had hoped to convert several of the photos to black and white, but this was the only one that seemed to work. Seeing in black and white while shooting in color is another skill I need to learn.
This one I liked; I call it "Eyes to You, " though someone said it remined them of an owl.
And this one I took simply for the amusement factor. Ah, sweet Victory! (It's some kind of bud.)
Lastly, a photo taken with my 50mm at the end of the shoot of the cute quails that run about in the tropical room at the conservatory.
It's been several months since I participated in any of these groups, but it's good to be back. I'm so grateful that there are so many free opportunities to practice and learn. I picked up some great tips for editing in Lightroom last night at the meeting, one of which I was able to use today while editing photos from our trip.