APS Salon Exhibition Plans 2013

August 20. 2013

Collect your best, most creative images and rev up your printers to prepare for the APS Salon. The Salon will be held in October in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography and is available for viewing by the public from Tue. Oct 1 until Sun Oct. 27, whenever the Church is open. Look for the Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP) announcement of the APS Salon, both in the ACP 12 printed program and on the ACP website at http://www.acpinfo.org (early September). Our venue will be the Atlanta Unitarian Congregation’s Gallery, located off the I-85 access road North.

Salon Dates and Times: Please put these dates/times in your calendar:

9/26 Entry list due (to Janerio)

9/30 Hanging (6:30-8:30PM, Monday evening)

[FYI: 10/7 Judging (1-2:30PM- Monday afternoon]

10/19 Reception/Awards (7-9PM, set up @ 6:30, Sat. evening)

10/27 Take down (2-4PM, Sun. afternoon)

Entry Information: Up to five (5) entries per member are desired (more if we have room). Due to gallery space limitations our target for the show is 70 entries, so get your list in early. Please email your image entry information to Janerio Morgan janeriomorgan8467@comcast.net

For every image entered please provide: Title, Category (Monochrome or Color) Price or Not for Sale, (include value required for insurance purposes) There is a $2 per image entry fee ($2 for 1 image, $4 for 2 images, etc., $10 for 5 images.) This is to defray the Club’s costs for the Salon: ACP brochure/web, awards, etc. Please send your entry fee to our treasurer.

Volunteers needed for:

Hanging of the Salon Exhibition: Please deliver all entries, ready to hang (see 2010 Salon Rules), to the Unitarian Church Gallery, or make other arrangements to have your entries delivered. Volunteers are needed to assist with hanging images.

Reception and Awards: Volunteers are needed to bring food, drinks, etc.

Take Down Salon Exhibition: Volunteers needed to take down the images, put away hangers, etc. All unsold images should be picked up at that time, or other arrangements should be made.

Confirmed Judges:

Gary Gruby, http://www.garygruby.com/about.html

Judy Kuinansky

John Clemmer, http://www.johnclemmer.net/ or

http://john-clemmer.artistwebsites.com/

We're looking forward to another great show!

Jim Harrison

404-849-1424

harrisonje@bellsouth.net

Atlanta Photographic Society Blue Ridge Mountains Field Trip

July 19-21, 2013

During the weekend ten club members, plus a number of guests, enjoyed a 3 day field trip to the mountains of North Carolina. Friday afternoon we photographed the opening event of the Folkmoot International Dance Festival, the Parade of Nations held in downtown Waynesville, NC. Dancers and musicians from Canada, Slovakia, Martinique, Japan, Poland, France, Mexico, Thailand and the US participated in this year's festival, which has included groups from over 100 countries since the event began, thirty years ago. According to long-time APS member Roy Gordon, "It was a great weekend. The dance performances on the Main Street were amazing, many colorful costumes and enthusiastic performers from several countries. Also, I really enjoyed the dinners and breakfasts with fellow club members." The get-together’s in the evening with discussions about the happenings of the day included the images of the day showing up on computers and camera viewers, some with pride and others with sorrow when the right moment was missed.

On Friday, after the parade, we carpooled up Highway 215 along the West Fork of the Pigeon River, shooting the river, waterfalls and scenics along the way. We were rained on at Arch Falls and continuing up Hwy. 215 to the gap at the mountain crest, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway West, toward Richland Balsam and Balsam Gap. The constantly changing weather blessed us with wonderful scenes from several parkway overlooks. It will be interesting to see the variety of photographic interpretations from those stopping points.

Saturday morning we photographed the Folkmoot Street Festival, in downtown Waynesville. This featured alternating performances by all the dance groups, and a plethora of arts and crafts vendors and food booths. The dancers, musicians, purveyors and spectators provided a continuously swirling array people and situations to shoot.

That same afternoon we carpooled to Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a secluded and beautiful valley vacated when the Park was designated. Driving in, it rained very, very, very,... hard (the bottom fell out of the bucket as the mountaineers say), but this cooled things off, encouraging the elk, a native species reintroduced to the park during the early 2000's, to come out into the meadows early to feed. Driving into the valley we saw and photograph many females, and a number of their young hiding in the tall grass.

A big part of the charm of Cataloochee are the many restored structures abandoned when the Park was formed. These include the Palmer House, Chapel, school and barn. All these are close to Cataloochee Creek and its tributaries, and to many large grassy fields throughout the valley's floodplain. Our late afternoon shooting concentrated on the house, barn and creek. One can only get a small flavor of Cataloochee during a short afternoon, so its' good to know that a number of Park trails can be easily accessed from the valley bottom, and that a Park Service campground nestles next to Cataloochee Creek if one decides to stay for a while.

Finally, nature definitely saved the best for last. On the drive out of the Park, we were treated to sighting two large, healthy male elk; one a "ten-point" buck feeding near a tree line, and another, literally huge buck with “15 points” along the road back to the top of the mountain. He was rightfully dubbed, "The Monster Elk” by our group. He must have enjoyed himself because he gave us plenty of time to take photographs and modeled for us in several poses. Al had the hardest time separating himself from his camera and the Elk, the constant clicks of his camera are still ringing in my ears.

I feel sorry for the judge that must select the best shots of the Elk in the upcoming competitions.

Now comes the hard part, selecting the best shots of the festival for competition and presentations in the photo club. Some of us took over 600 images within the 3 days and I expect to see many of them entered in competitions, the Salon and the special “Assignment Zone” competition.

Jim Harrison,

APS President