Mike Trahan – Composition – November 11, 2024
You’ve worked at the technical steps of learning your camera and getting a correct exposure. But the real key to getting excellent pictures is good composition. We’ll cover the elements of composition and practical steps of how you actually can turn routine snapshots into outstanding photographs. It’s a deep subject but we can start you on your way!
Mike Trahan really enjoys photography and travel. Mike also has been a birder (bird watcher) and nature lover for over fifty years. He’s a member of two Chicago Area Camera Clubs Association (CACCA) clubs, a nature-only club, Riverwoods Nature, and the Lake County Camera Club where he was a past president. He’s won honors at the club, CACCA, and Photographic Society of America levels as well as other Midwest competitions and is a past CACCA Kohout recipient for teaching nature photography.
Bob Benson – “Tips, Tricks, and Techniques in Photoshop” – December 16, 2024
Photoshop is such a huge program with so many ways of doing things. I will discuss some basic shortcuts, approaches to work flows, and give some eclectic mix of examples for working with some tools more efficiently.
On the local level, I joined a camera club over 40 years ago. I got “volunteered” 20 years ago to be on the board of directors for CACCA, and have held various positions since, including
president and the CAPS committee chair. Honors I have been so lucky to receive are the Wanda Christl Award, the Stinson Award, the Len Gordon Award, and the TOPS in CACCA for color prints, B&W prints, and Creative. I have been a member of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) for 20+ years, but never got involved until later. I received my EPSA and FPSA in 2019. I was previously Nature Print Chair for the PSA Exhibition, Director of the international PID Interclub Competition, wrote a tech column for the PSA Journal for 3 years, received the Ashbrook Award For Digital Instruction, and held a term as Vice President of Divisions on the PSA Board. I currently am a PID study group leader, judge locally and internationally, and now serve on various committees. My prints have been exhibited in several locations within the US, China, and Vietnam, and I have won numerous Gold medals in international exhibitions. I love to photograph about everything, especially landscapes and macro.
Chuck Derus – Lessons learned about creating three dimensional or visual flow in landscape photography – February 10, 2025
You’re standing transfixed by a gorgeous scene begging to be photographed and shared with others. But how effectively does your landscape photography engage your viewer? How well do you create depth telling your viewer where to look? Chuck will summarize his many lessons learned about creating three dimensionality or visual flow in landscape photography. He will primarily focus on composition and touch briefly on post processing tools to entice viewers to remain engaged in your landscape images.
Chuck Derus has been a photographer for over fifty years. It wasn’t until the last twenty years that he decided to focus on the landscape and improve his skills. He has fortunate to study with several professional photographers including Gary Hart, Don Smith, Mark Metternich, Ian Plant, and Marc Adamus. Chuck’s passion for the landscape has taken him to the desert s\Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, the South Dakota Badlands, California’s Death Valley, Big Sur, and Sierra Nevada Mountains, Georga Swamps, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada’s Rockies and the Tombstone Range, Iceland, South America’s Patagonia, and the Karakorum Mountains of Northern Pakistan. Chuck is a retired physician and married for 46 years to a very patient wife with three children and eight grandchildren.
Completed Programs
Nature Photography and Image Optimization – October 15, 2024
Alan Cox from Schaumburg Camera Club will speak about:
“Nature Photography and Image Optimization” Nature can be stunningly beautiful. Learn how to share that beauty through your photography and the processing of your images. Case studies are explored in depth, discussing how they were captured, and steps through their processing in Photoshop. The resulting prints are displayed.
Architectural Photography – February 12 ,2024
Presentation by Marian Krause with a focus on architectural photography. Marian is a Chicago area commercial photographer and produces great images in Architecture as well as portfolios in aerial, fine art and people.
Photo Archiving and Storage – March 11, 2024
Chaos to Memories business owner Adam Pratt will be presenting his methods on organizing and archiving photographs. Adam has published a book on this topic based on his experience of 22+ years experience at Adobe.
Cell Phone Photography – January 8, 2024
Presentation by Jerry Hug on capturing stunning photos with your cell phone. “The Best Camera is the one you have with you” is Jerry’s philosophy in his long career in photography. Jerry is an award winning photographer in the Chicago area camera club community and is known for his expertise in the use of cell phone for capturing photos.
Portrait Photography – November 13, 2023
This meeting was a presentation on Portrait Photography and held in the Wheaton Park District Community Center . There was a one hour presentation in-person by Bill Skinner the General Manager of the ProCam Camera Store in Aurora. Bill’s career has included years as a professional portrait photographer. He will discuss techniques and provide a demonstration on photo taking and the use of auxiliary lighting equipment. There was an opportunity for questions and answers.
Macro Photography – Completed October 9, 2023
At this meeting was a presentation and discussion on Macro and closeup photography. John Emmell, a longtime member of our club and multiple award winner for macro photos at our club level as well as CACCA, lead the session. Others discussed their best macro photos and how the images were captured. Meeting was held at the Wheaton Park District Community Center .
Event Photography – Completed September 11, 2023
This is the first meeting of the 2023 -24 club year and will cover an introduction to the year’s activities. The program portion for this meeting will focus on the presentations being developed for the year and seek member comments on topics to be covered. A discussion will be held on Photojournalism and “Event Photography” such as the methods used to photograph activities at the Wheaton Park District events, photos which are used for publicity, brochures, and on the districts websites. This discussion also will be useful for photography at family or social events and travel photos.