Camera Owners of the Bay Area

The May meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

The Photo Review: How to prepare, organize and survive: Five Days at Fotofest

The popularity of Photo Review Sessions has risen over the past few years, but all follow a common format and schedule. Photographers are given a 20 minute meeting slot with a reviewer and making the best use of those 20 minutes can be a challenge. Mark Jaremko attended Fotofest in Houston back in March, where he participated in 24 reviews over four days. There were many things that he learned in Houston that he wished he knew before getting on the plane; this presentation is a summary of that experience and lessons learned.

Mark will cover:

• Different Photo Review venues, both locally and in the US.
• Who should and who should not attend these reviews, the different styles of photograph that reviewers are most interested in.
• What’s involved with preparing, your portfolio, presentation and other collateral that you should bring.
• How to structure your 20 minute review slot, having clear goals for the review, deciding what body of work to show, making sure you don’t run out of time. The kind of feedback that you can expect.
• The kinds of follow-up you should be prepared for after the event.

Portable Flash Photography

Gary Cruz, a weekend photographer, moved to San Francisco in 1999 during the dot com days as a webmaster, but his passion was always with videography and photography. While the computer industry payed the bills, he continued to explore photography. It wasn’t until he got his first digital SLR, the Canon 10D, when he first started taking his photography more seriously.

Comfortable with both natural and artificial light, he has been striving to take his photos to the next level with strobes (both studio and portable) and is happy to share his tips and techniques. He will cover the following topics:

• Intro - Studio lights at home, 580ex for location
• Examples - Select photos from fashion, dance, events, and portraits
• Gear - What is in the lighting bag (580ex, PW, stands, modifiers, etc.)
• ST-E2 vs Pocket Wizards
• Editing workflow - Aperture / Photoshop workflow
• Tips / Links

If you want to check out more of Gary’s photos, visit his photoblog at www.garycruz.com or his photography site at www.amazestudios.com

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: PLAY

Play for fun or play for keeps. The winner will get a free 1-year Pro account subscription on SmugMug for having the best photo of the group!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

Location

Cordura Hall 100
210 Panama Street
Stanford, CA 94309

Cordura Hall is on the corner of Campus Drive and Panama Street. Park in the lot across the street. Cordura 100 is next to the courtyard between Ventura Hall and Cordura Hall.

The monthly contest for the May 14, 2008 COBA meeting will be PLAY. Have fun!

The April meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, April 9, 2008, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Albums by NayaCo

Naya Yacko will present her company, NayaCo, which produces professionally designed albums for professional photographers.

NayaCo has the heart of a photographer, mind of a technologist and creativity of an innovator. That’s how we started — a team of three. The photographer was frustrated with album companies and their complex price lists, unreliable quality and poor service. She couldn’t run her business that way and wondered how they could. With the help of the technologist and product innovator, NayaCo was founded in 2002. This small team rapidly grew and revolutionized the expectations of photographers with simple and easy personal service. They introduced a family of vibrant products and services that enable photographers to expand sales to clients and build lasting relationships.

Naya will cover the following topics in her talk:

• Introduction: Our Motivation and Philosophy
• Products and Services: Flush Mount Albums, Custom Design Services, Creative Photo Products
• Marketing Strategies: Positioning and Up-selling Products to Clients, Photography Package Tips
• Hands-on Product Demo

Aperture 2.1

Apple recently released version 2.1 of its professional photo management tool. I’ll cover what’s new in this release, how it compares with the previous version of Aperture, and its performance on hardware from a Quad PowerMac G5 to a MacBook Pro to a Mac Pro.

China

During my presentation on Aperture 2.1, I will be displaying photos from my recent trip to China, where I was photographing and filming scenes for an upcoming documentary film. I will also cover various equipment and transportation topics, including

• Traveling with a Pelican 1510 Carry-On Case
• Hiring a driver
• To bring or not to bring a backup camera?
• Limiting your lens choices
• Backing up

Monthly Assignment: Fool, Full, and Fuel, and Fool

This month’s contest is no April Fool’s. The winner will get a free 1-year Pro account subscription on SmugMug for having the best photo of the group! Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

The March meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, March 12, 2008, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Meeting Organizers

This month, Alvin, JC, Oliver, and Chris will be hosting the COBA meeting in my place. I will be finishing up my trip in China, where I will have been photographing and filming a documentary on the life and times of China’s first feminist.

The topic for this month is Making Money with Photography. We’ve got two great speakers who approach the business in different ways. Read on!

Believing You Can Make Money With Photography

As a nature photographer, Oliver Klink likes to dazzle his audience with unexpected beauty, expand their horizons, and reflect the natural diversity in the world. Concerned with our rapidly changing planet, Oliver has embarked on photographing animals in the wild to capture their behaviors and share a glimpse of nature often unseen by humans.

He teaches photography workshops in the Santa Cruz Mountains on hummingbirds, in Oregon on grebe courtships and Alaska on grizzly bears and eagles. His photographs are exhibited at various local galleries, with his next exhibit starting on March 7 at Modernbook (Palo Alto). In his presentation on making you believe that you can make money with photography, he will discuss:

• Starting a business
• Products (Prints, workshops, stock)
• Pricing
• Promotion
• Reality vs. Myths

Oliver Klink received a MS Physics from Queen’s University (Canada) and an MBA from San Jose State University.

His updated schedule can be found at http://www.incredibletravelphotos.com

Building a Photography Accessories Business

Chris Pedersen has been passionate about photography since he started taking pictures with an Argus instamatic in the early 1970’s. His passion has opened the door to his shooting NCAA sports while in college, meeting and photographing Ansel Adams in his home, and pioneering several imaging-related businesses while working at HP.

In 2007, he retired from HP, and took advantage of the opportunity to start several photo-related businesses and pursue his lifelong dream of making a living at doing what he loves. He is now the Chief Inventor and Founder of Phoxle Photo Accessories, a Senior Analyst specializing in imaging industries at DIGDIA, and the owner of his Corporate Event Photography business PQ Photography.

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: SPRING

Spring is in the air! The winner will get a free 1-year Pro account subscription on SmugMug for having the best photo of the group!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

COBA is back for 2008!

The February meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2007, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Switching to Google Groups

I’m moving away from the Mailman mailing list to Google Groups for future COBA announcements. I have sent out an invitation message to all existing members on the COBA mailing list. Please add yourself to the COBA Google Groups to get future news and announcements.

PMA Roundup

Chris Pedersen is back from the recent Photo Marketing Association conference. He will have pictures and descriptions of some of the most interesting new cameras, lenses and gadgets shown last month in Las Vegas.

Phoxle Photography Accessories

Chris will also talk about Phoxle White Balance Filters and Flash Match Filters. These are products from his new company that were introduced and presented at the PMA show. He’ll demonstrate how they work and show several compelling examples. He promises not to dive too deep into the graphs & charts unless provoked by the audience 

Gadgets

Every year, we see what new gadgets are in COBA members’ camera bags. Alvin Wong will demo the new VIsible Dust SensorLoupe, a tool to locate dust and debris on your sensor. I’ll be showing off a $1 tripod, a tool that will help stabilize your lens in the absence of a monopod or tripod.

COBA members are highly encouraged to bring their own photo gadgets to the meeting for show and tell. If it’s useful to you, let’s see it!

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: HOLIDAY

With the holidays over, it’s time to go through your photo collection from the past two months for this week’s monthly assignment. The winner will get a free 1-year Pro account subscription on SmugMug for having the best photo of the group!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

In 2008, all email announcements for upcoming COBA events and meetings will be done through Google Groups. We’ve created a Google Group for COBA at the following address:

Camera Owners of the Bay Area on Google Groups

Members on the COBA mailing list have been sent invitations to join the group. If you are new to COBA, consider joining to receive monthly announcements on upcoming meetings and events.

Subscribe to Camera Owners of the Bay Area

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The next meeting is scheduled for February 13, 2008, at Stanford University. Details on meeting topics will be coming later this week.

There will be no COBA meeting for the months of December 2007 and January 2008.

The February 13th Monthly Assignment will be HOLIDAY.

Enjoy the break and take lots of photos. We’ll see you all in February!

The November meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Eye-Fi

Photos shouldn’t be trapped in your camera. Set them free. No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

That’s the mantra of Mountain View-based company Eye-Fi. The Eye-Fi Card is a $99 wireless memory card. It automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing, printing, blogging or social networking site.

Founder and VP of Marketing (and longtime COBA member), Ziv Gillat, will be on hand to demonstrate the Eye-Fi card. I’ve used this product and it’s really amazing! Bring your camera and watch it be transformed into a wireless digital camera at the meeting.

In addition, Eye-Fi has graciously donated an Eye-Fi card for the winner of this month’s assignment. Read below for more details.

COBA Holiday Party

COBA is getting an early start on the holiday festivities with our end-of-year holiday party! We’ll have food and drink available. If there is anything in particular that you’d like to see, or if you would like to volunteer to bring something edible and potable, let me know.

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: BIKE

Get on the road with two wheels in this month’s assignment: BIKE

The winner of the monthly assignment will get a free Eye-Fi wireless memory card!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.

Windy Hill Photography (November 10, 2007)

For those of you who haven’t completed the monthly assignment, there’s a Low-Key Hillclimbs bike race tomorrow, Saturday, November 10. A 1.6 mile time-trial on dirt roads awaits the Low-Key riders up the Windy Hill trail in Portola Valley.

Staging and Registration will take place at the lower Windy Hill Open Space Parking lot Preserve parking lot on Portola Road .8 miles north of Alpine Road. At 10:10 am, the cyclists will do the 1.2 mile dirt promenade to the intersection of the Spring Ridge Trail and the Meadow Trail where riders will be started individually beginning at approximately 10:20am. The finish will be at the intersection of Spring Ridge Trail and Skyline Blvd.

There’s no time to shoot both the start or finish, so if you plan to photograph the event, come to one or the other.

Click here for more information and directions.

The monthly assignment for November 2007 is BIKE.

The October meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, October 10, 2007, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Agenda

19:00-19:30: Sign-in and mingling period
19:30-20:15: Smugmug DGrin Glacier Shootout
20:15-21:00: Cycling Photography and Welch Creek Road
21:00-21:30: Monthly Assignment: COLOR

Smugmug DGrin Glacier Shootout

Every year, Smugmug’s online user group DGrin hosts a shootout. This year it was in Glacier National Park in Montana, with over 40 attendees. The shootout is a chance to spend time with enthusiastic and talented Smugmug users and pros in a collaborative, fun and beautiful environment. Come listen to Doug Quist and Chris Pedersen report on the daily events, the training from Smugmug’s resident pro (Andy Williams), resident artist (Marc Muench), and pro Dave Porter. Also see some of Chris and Doug’s pictures and those of other shootout attendees. Chris promises that this presentation will feature lots of pretty pictures and no graphs or technology! Sign-ups for next year’s shootout will happen soon, so this is your chance to find out if it’s something for you.

Cycling Photography and Welch Creek Road

I’ve been participating in a local cycling series called Low-Key Hillclimbs. Each week during Fall, we ride a notable Bay Area climb, such as Page Mill Road, Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo, or Old La Honda Road. On November 3, I am coordinating the Low-Key ride up Welch Creek — said to be one of the toughest climbs in the Bay Area — in Sunol. Welch Creek ascends 2265 feet over 4.1 miles, with an average gradient of 10.7%.

The November Monthly Assignment will be CYCLING and what better way to capture the assignment than during a bike race! We’ll go over dramatic photographs from cycling’s storied — and sometimes sullied — history and discuss logistics for photographing the ride.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=Calaveras+Road+%40+Welch+Creek+Road&csz=Sunol%2C+CA

SmugMug Monthly Assignment: COLOR

Get colorful with this month’s assignment: COLOR

The winner of the monthly assignment will get a free 1-year Pro account subscription on SmugMug for having the best photo of the group!

Only new photographs taken from the previous meeting date to the next meeting date will be accepted.