March is upon us, along with a little snow and cold weather. But the daffodils are beginning to bud and the song birds are beginning to show their spring colors. I understand the blue herons are moving back to their rookery on the James in preparation for their spring mating and nesting rituals. The walking bridge to Belle Island is closed for the next several weeks, a bad thing for photographers, but probably a good thing for the wildlife along the James.

Even though it still looks like winter, spring is just around the corner. And with spring comes a new season of photography for those of us who enjoy warmer weather! Get ready.

The gadget meeting in February was a huge success. That was a good idea and I have heard many good comments about the need to show and share. Good program Peter! Remember that the March meeting is another evaluation session. Architecture is the assigned subject for this session for those of you who want to submit an extra image. To submit digital images just send to ccrpics@gmail.com.

Taft and John are working an interesting outing that will be held on Saturday, April 25th. They are proposing a trip to Staunton, Virginia where we will spend time photographing a glass blowing festival, interesting architecture, and enjoy some fine dining together. You'll hear more about this via e-mail as we get details.

In May, I will be heading on back to Assateague for a long weekend of photographing birds and other wildlife participating in their spring mating rituals. The birds are beautiful at this time of the year and there are usually many to photograph. More details on this outing will be forthcoming.

So get out your cameras, lenses, and tripods and start to get ready for the approaching spring. There will be a lot to photograph and it will help relieve the many stresses that we are all feeling as we come out of winter. Have fun!

Our main program for April's club meeting will be presented by Ken Conger. Here is a short bio:

Ken recently retired this past December after 30 years as a conservation officer with the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. Educationally he has attained both a Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Management and a Masters of Science degree in Administration of Justice. Ken's motivation and enthusiasm for wildlife protection carries over to the leisure pursuit of wildlife photography. His interest in photography began at a young age. He made the transition to complete digital photography 3 years ago. Wildlife photography has always been his concentration and tonight's featured images are avian species from throughout America. All of images you see tonight are of wild birds, none of Ken's images are caged or staged.

Ken recently received some humbling news. One of his images was chosen as a top ten finalist in the Sony World Photography Awards competition. The Sony World Photography Awards in one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in the world and is a truly global competition with over 60,000 photograph entries submitted this year from 139 different countries. Ken is the only American representative within the Amateurs group in the "Natural History" category. The finalists in each of the categories will be announced on Tuesday, March 17th.

We look forward to this exciting evening with Ken and hope you will be able to join us.

The Camera Club of Richmond is expressly invited to join the Merrimack Valley Camera Club (MVCC) as a participant in the 29th annual George W. Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition.. The judging will take place on Saturday, March 28, 2009. The submission closing date for the Exhibition is Tuesday, March 24, 2009.

Although a Best Wildlife award will be given, this is a single section Exhibition. Each club’s images will be distributed throughout 10 rounds. Judging will be conducted on a round by round basis.

The Exhibition web site (www.glennie-exhibition.com) is the primary means of completing an entry form and submitting a club’s images. The vertical Submissions Table is located on the right side of the Home Page and contains three options. “Instructions” provide detailed information concerning the submission of the entry fee, the on-line registration form and the uploading of images. “Registration Form” enables you to directly enter the club identification, the club coordinator’s contact data and the images names and their makers. “Image Submissions” is the means by which copies of the images are uploaded to the web site.

The “Instructions” option also provides information for submitting entries via postal mail. By prior arrangement with the Exhibition Chair, Email may be used to send images and the Registration Form.

For your convenience, some of the more pertinent information is listed below.

• A club may enter a total of 10 digital images; but no more than two images per maker.
• Whether they are from scanned slides or digitally captured, images which have previously won Glennie awards are ineligible for re-submission. This exclusion also applies to those images which are near duplicates or so close that they might reasonably be considered identical.
• The PSA Nature definition will be used. It is available on the Exhibition Home Page.. Manipulation is limited by PSA guidelines. Wildlife eligibility is discussed as part of the PSA Nature definition.
• Maximum allowable dimensions (in pixels): 1024 horizontal (width); 768 vertical; (height), regardless of image orientation – portrait or landscape.
• Maximum allowable file size: 1 Megabyte (MB).
• Images received that are oversized will be adjusted by the Glennie staff. The composition will not be changed, however there may be some loss of quality.
• Image files must be in JPG/JPEG format.
• Categories: Amphibians, Birds, Botany, Insects, Land and Seascapes, Mammals, Marine Life and Reptiles. Some categories will be sub-divided, dependent upon the number of entries received.
• Awards will be presented to the clubs having the four highest cumulative scores.
• Plaques will be awarded to the best images in each category. A select number of Merit Awards will be given, based on the number of entries in each category. Some high scoring images not otherwise recognized will be presented Honor Awards. Also, each judge will select their favorite from the high scoring images not otherwise receiving an award; those images will be given a plaque. The Exhibition Chair will make a selection, as well, and present a plaque, courtesy of the Yankee Photographic Society.
• The entry fee, covering all 10 club images, is $15 USD. Payment may be made in cash, by check drawn on a US bank (payable to the Merrimack Valley Camera Club) or by international postal money order (payable to Charlie Burke). Send the payment to the Exhibition Chair.

If you have questions or wish additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the Exhibition Chair.

We hope you will join us and help make this a truly outstanding Exhibition and Nature Showcase. We are looking forward to receiving your images.

The Camera Club of Richmond invites prospective members to attend our meetings which are held the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Science Museum of Virginia.

Annual dues are $25 a person, $40 a couple. See our website for additional information.

The club’s website is: www.CameraClubOfRichmond.com

Club Officer Contact information is available on the web: www.cameraclubofrichmond.com/officers.html

Please send submissions for future newsletters to the Publications Director.
We want to know what you are doing!

Our club is a member of the Photographic Society of America. Visit PSA online at:
www.psa-photo.org

For a membership application, see Carole Hagaman, our club’s PSA representative.

Allyson Drake, Founder/CEO of Full Circle Grief Center, will be in attendance to our club meeting in March to discuss Full Circle and see if any club members would be interested in volunteering their time and photography skills to help the center.

Links to training opportunities or other useful information

For Sale, etc.

For Sale: Canon 30D – $400.00

• Canon 30D Body very little wear signs
• Shutter count is around 3,600
• Comes with Body Cap
• 1 battery
• Charger
• 2gb Sandisk Memory Card

Also available for sale :

• Canon 75-300 USM (non-IS) Lens $100.00

For either of these items, please contact Kayle Miller via e-mail at kriek_1@yahoo.com.
Terms: Cash only - greater Richmond area.