Tag: travel

June 13 Photography Club Presentation

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club will hold its June meeting on Wednesday, June 13, at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis St.  Join us for socializing at 6 p.m., followed by a brief business meeting at 6:30 p.m. Experienced photographers and those just starting out are welcome to attend

Our June  meeting will feature Randy McCormick. He is a lifelong victim of curiosity with a master’s degree in environmental education. Now semi-retired, he works six months a year as an interpretive naturalist, boat captain and backcountry tour guide at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Naples, Fla. The rest of the time he calls the “greater metropolitan Pagosa Springs area” his home range. 

His presentation is titled, “Sea to Summit — We’re All Connected.” 

This program involves a photographic journey to the western Everglades on the southwest coast of Florida. So, how can this possibly be connected to Pagosa Springs, Colo.? If we look closely, we can see that many of the fundamental characteristics that underlie intact natural ecosystems are similar and can be experienced everywhere. The Everglades and the Continental Divide seem about as disparate as any two places on earth, until you learn to perceive it as different pieces of the same planet. 

Photography can be a useful tool that allows us to “see” that which is often obscure. John Muir said it best: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” This presentation is an attempt at visual/conceptual macramé. 

Members are encouraged to bring up to 10 images to share with the group. This month, in honor of our recent field trip to the Cumbres & Toltec rail yard, and the Pagosa Springs car show, consider bringing photos on the topic “Planes, trains and automobiles.”

Feb 14: Spain & Portugal’s Greatest Hits

Flemenco (left), Equestrian School (right)
Flamenco, Granada, Spain (left); Royal Equestrian School, Jerez, Spain (right), photograph ©Robert B. Green

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club will meet on Wednesday, February 14, at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis St. Join us for socializing at 6 p.m., followed by a brief business meeting at 6:30 p.m. before our program. Long time photographers and those just starting out are welcome to attend.

Our program this month will be an encore presentation by Bob Green. In the fall of 2016 and 2017, Bob and his wife spent a month total traveling through Spain and Portugal: beginning in Barcelona, traveling through northern Spain via the Pyrenees and along the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela, then south to Porto and Lisbon. From there, they proceeded east to Evora, Portugal and Seville, Spain. Then, they traveled south to Gibraltar (a British territory) and finally through Granada, Cordoba and Toledo, finishing their journey in Madrid, in the heart of Spain.

Bob took over 3000 photos on these trips. His talk will examine six widely-accepted principles whose exercise will lead to noteworthy, compelling images. “Spain & Portugal: Greatest Hits” will include the top 50 photos from his travels and he will point out how various “rules” come into play as we view the images.

Members may bring up to 10 images on a flash drive to share with the club after the presentation. Given the program date, members are encouraged to include some images which speak to the theme of “romance”.

Abiquiu Area Photography

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club will hold its regular monthly meeting Wednesday evening, February 11, 2015 in the Pinon Room of the Quality Resort. Join us for socializing at 6:00 PM (drinks and appetizers are available for purchase), followed by the program and short business meeting at 6:30 PM.

The February program will be presented by club member Bob Green. His presentation is entitled: The Faraway Nearby: Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch and Environs. The intent of this program is to provide local photographers with the incentive and the information necessary to take advantage of this unique area that is only two hours south of Pagosa Springs. Several maps will be used to provide directions to the various sites that the speaker visited during an October 2014 trip to the Abiquiu area. Photos taken during the trip will illustrate many possibilities for photographic studies. These include Abiquiu itself, Plaza Blanca, Dar al-Salaam Mosque, Piedra Lumbre, the Chama River, Christ in the Desert Monastery, and Ghost Ranch.

Members are encouraged to bring no more than 5 photographs of recent photo opportunities on a flash drive or CD, for review and discussion following the program, as time permits.

 

Fall 2014 Club Outings

Save the Dates for these two Photo Club outings.

On Oct 30, we are doing a gallery walk in Durango. We plan to meet for coffee in Durango around 9 AM, and then visit several photography galleries in down town Durango, including Open Shutter, Durango Arts Center (including PSPC member Linda Pampinella’s Fifth Corner gallery), Wildshots, and perhaps one or two more depending on time. Some of us are likely to gather for lunch afterwards.

On November 5, we will visit Bisti Badlands, south of Farmington, weather permitting. In Laurent Martrés’ book on Photographing the Southwest, he calls Bisti’s hoodoos and rock formations “wonderful, whimsical”. We will drive down there in the morning, and spend some time hiking (up to 4-5 miles, relatively easy off-trail hiking). I have hiked there before and have GPS coordinates for some interesting rock formations, including the “egg factory”. The date was selected because it is the day before the full moon, so should permit interesting moonrise landscape opportunities (moonrise is around 4:40 PM; sunset 5:10 PM). Depending on the group, we can either camp that evening (totally primitive camping, no facilities), but it’s also possible to photograph at Bisti, then make the hour drive back to Farmington and spend the night in a motel there. The following morning, one could either make the drive back to Bisti for sunrise, or explore Aztec ruins or other attractions in the Farmington area before returning to Pagosa Springs. Again, if you are interested in this outing, send me an email (abutler@mac.com) to stay informed as we work out the details.