Camera Owners of the Bay Area

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.

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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.