Beaufort/Hunting Island, SC Field Trip

October 30 – November 3, 2014
The Club had a great time in the “sea Islands” coastal area of South Carolina.  Eighteen members and guests participated over the long weekend. And despite lousy weather on Saturday (40 degrees F, windy and raining) everyone managed to have some fun exploring and photographing the multitude of opportunities in the area.  Many enjoyed staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Beaufort, while several groups camped at the Hunting Island State Park campground.  We also celebrated Halloween on Hunting Island hosted at Alan Simons’ camp site.

Bone Yard Stumps by Al McLeod

The Sea Islands of coastal Georgia and SC are a well recognized ecological region stretching from Amelia Island, FL in the South to the area of Georgetown, SC in the North.  Distinctive ecosystems comprising the Sea Islands include: the beaches and dunes, maritime forests – a mix of palms, live oaks, pines and an understory of palmetto on the Sea Islands themselves, plus the extensive salt marshes and tidal creeks.

Alan and Al

Resplendent nature there is accompanied by lots of interesting human history in the Beaufort area and on the other islands.  Some that we sampled included the Chapel of Ease, an 18thcentury tabby church ruin, Sheldon Chapel, an 1800’s brick church ruin, Fort Fremont, an early 20th Century coastal battery ruin (please do consult Don Stephens for a full history of coastal artillery), St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, a beautiful and fully restored wooden structure, oodles of gorgeous old, historic houses in Beaufort, and…., I could go on and on.

House in the Sea by Paiboon S.

The meet-up of several photography clubs and our guide, David Price, Saturday on Hunting Island went well, except for the aforementioned simultaneous cold, rain and wind.  No one could endure the weather conditions past noon.  But before that we all clicked away on the bone-yard beach, in the narrow dunes area connecting the beach to the maritime forest, and briefly in the forest as well.  And I’m sure everyone captured some unique and creative view of the Hunting Island Lighthouse.
It was enjoyable time well spent, and I hope every participant came away with at least one ribbon winner.  A big thank you goes to Stan Greenberg who arranged the meet up with David Price and other clubs on Hunting Island.  And a special belated thank you goes to Bernd Greulich who organized and planned this wonderful outing before his untimely passing.  BG, we carried on, but we missed you.  

Jack Makes a Point

In the Rain at Hunting Island Lighthouse

Bernd "B.G." Greulich (1938-2014)

(Died October 11, 2014)
Excerpts from BG’s Obituary (edited by Jim Harrison)

Bernd Greulich passed away peacefully before dawn, Saturday, October 11, surrounded by immediate family. Two devastating strokes, sustained Sept. 16, were followed by a third in the weeks that followed. He was treated at Atlanta Medical Center, whose team of medical professionals provided expert care and compassionate support. He was 76.

He is survived by his beloved spouse of 35 years, Irmi; his adopted stepson, Tom, and daughter-in-law, Lila, from Fort Worth, TX.

Born in Mannheim, Germany, on April 7, 1938, Bernd emigrated first to Central Canada and then the U.S. Mid-West in the 1960s. By the mid-1980s, Bernd and Irmi would call Georgia, home.

BG remained active until the very end. His passion for photography led him to become a long-standing Board member with the Atlanta Photographic Society for over 15 years. His love of travel included regular visits to Germany (most recently in May), and when stateside RVing with the GA Mountaineers, always with his camera, blessing everyone with numerous beautiful and memorable images.

His sense of humor and zest for life will be sorely missed.

BG and a Bear by Helene Mewborn

APS Members’ Thoughts

From Helene Mewborn
Having been in the Club since its inception, I can tell you that no other individual member has contributed more in time, effort and inspiration to keep it going than has Bernd Greulich.

The Old Boat by Bernd Greulich

From Ru Britton
We are all missing BG at APS. He added life and energy to our gatherings and it is hard to go to our meetings and not have him there.

I met him in 2003 when I joined the club and he was always so helpful and fun. Over the years I saw him contribute so much…working in the background to get us our websites, helping us transition from film to digital, researching and implementing systems enabling our entry into national competitions, introducing us new to genres such as Minimalist Photography…and so much more.

BG always went the extra mile. I was in Chicago for about three years, but as a Digital Member…. a category of membership that he invented and instituted… I still participated in our digital competitions. After every competition, he sent me an email to let me know the judges feedback on my images. I never expected anyone to do this, but he was so nice to take the time to pass along the information.

There are so many ways that BG shared his knowledge contributed his time. But as is best stated on his memorial page, what I will most remember about him were his sense of humor and his zest for life.

Swamp Walk by Bernd Greulich

From Jim Harrison

BG was the steadfast backbone of the Atlanta Photographic Society.  His selfless efforts kept the club going during times when volunteers were hard to find.  He was our meticulous Secretary for the past 11 years, ably led the club as President for three years (2004 thru 2006), was Vice President one year, and Competition Chair for 4 years. Remarkably, he was a Club Officer/Board Member for 17 straight years.  Throughout, he was always recommending and starting innovations for the club, just one example of the many facets of his love of photographic creativity.

He welcomed me to the club during 2006, always provided sage advice, suggestions and tips, and was instrumental as my mentor when he shrewdly recruited me (or was I just very gullibly volunteered) to run the Salon Exhibition.  I didn’t know what I was getting into, but BG was there to help at every turn.  He constantly did the same to assist all the club’s officers, volunteers and members.

Field trips and shoots with BG were always great fun.  I particularly remember one trip to the North Carolina Mountains, driving through the fog on the Blue Ridge Parkway for dozens of miles while telling stories, no photographs to be seen; we could barely see the hood of the car!  But when the fog cleared just slightly and we stopped at Water Rock Knob, BG came away with a first place winning image, and the fog was the star of that picture.  On another mountain trip, after a long day of shooting, BG trekked to the store specifically to purchase “really good” beer for the group. Shortly, he showed up with a case of “light” beer, much to the chagrin of all his thirsty friends. In his very serious German way he promised to read more carefully next time, and we drank all the beer talking and laughing into the night.  He never heard the end of that one.  It was always great to see BG laugh!  And to laugh with him.

Into the Fog by Bernd Greulich

I urge everyone to further BG’s legacy in two ways.  First, as members of APS: Energize your creativity by continuing to produce fabulous images.  And, whenever you can, contribute to our club’s vitality by helping out as an Officer, Committee Member or volunteer.  Our club is you.  And I am sure that there is nothing BG would want more than for the Atlanta Photographic Society to continue strong into the future.

Second: The club has made a memorial contribution in BG’s honor to The Salvation Army -an organization close to Bernd’s heart- and individual contributions in his honor would be very much appreciated.  He had a big heart for the poor and homeless, and I can tell you as a board member of a local homeless shelter (Journey, not the Salvation Army), the need is great, and your donations will be used effectively.

BG, you enriched this world, and you will be missed.  Peace be with you and yours.

Harp in Heaven by Bernd Greulich

Chuck Rogers – June Program at APS

The breadth of APS member Chuck Rogers’ photography is truly incredible. Our June program presenter’s fabulous career was the subject of Chuck’s memorable talk to the club on Thursday June 26.  That professional photography career spans over six decades (60+ years) and Chuck is still actively shooting!

The first half of Chuck’s talk began about 1950 with an extensive array of his images of the United States’ space program.  He described his process and setups for “getting the shot” including numerous missile launch failures along with the, eventual, spectacular successes of the Apollo moon landing program and the space shuttle.  Almost everyone attending purchased Chuck’s short book summarizing this phase of his career – Cape Canaveral Photography.  It is a wonderful record of those early space program days, and a superb testament to those brave men and women we call astronauts who have the skill, knowledge and courage to climb on top of a rocket and blast off.

But Chuck was just getting started! The second half of Chuck’s career, starting during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s focused on his astonishing range of commercial and advertising photography.  I can’t begin to describe the vast array of stunning images he shared.  But I know everyone will remember his most famous click of the shutter - exhausted runners being sprayed with water at the end of the Peachtree Road Race (on the screen in the above slide show.)  This image has been used in Nike advertising for decades (and continues to this day) and has undoubtedly been seen by hundreds of millions of people (if not billions)!

APS is truly fortunate to have Chuck Rogers as a long time member. Thank you Chuck for sharing your exceptional images, expertise and stories!  You are a lasting inspiration to every photographer who sees your work.

Jim Harrison

APS Field Trip to Hunting Island, SC

This is the first time in many years that we propose a field trip a bit farther away from home than usual.

Hunting Island, South Carolina, is a beautiful island in a chain of islands east of the city of Beaufort. It has wild beaches with lots of driftwood, a modern light house, Shrimp boats that come and go, swamp board walks, and of course the historic town of Beaufort to the west. Beaufort alone can keep a photographer busy for many hours if not days, just shooting the historic homes and gardens.

Take a look at the slide show on our web site, assembled by Don and me, and you get an idea of what to expect. Of course we cannot guaranty a spectacular sunset like that, but chances are good that we have sunny days with some clouds and perhaps a dramatic thunderstorm in the evening. What we can guaranty is a good time while we are doing what we like best, PHOTOGRAPHY. Tentatively we plan to be on a shooting location early each morning, then have lunch at the hotel with some discussions and showing of images taken that day. In the late afternoon we venture out again to a different shooting location. 

This field trip will need some planning and I need your input to get a feeling of how many photographers would be interested in participating. 

The date of the field trip is the weekend of November 1st 2014 The way I would like to do it, is that we start this field trip around October 29^th for club members that can get away during the week and let the “working people” that only have certain days available, join us at any time thereafter.

Take a few days thinking about it, but I need an e-mail from the members that are seriously considering participating by July 12th. You may also ask questions in that e-mail.

Details will be discussed after that date. 

BG

Field trip to Smith-Gilbert Gardens

Our field trip to the Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw, GA was on a cool but sunny day. It seemed that Jim knew it was going to be a good day when he proposed that date and location several months ago. The days before and after would not have been to our liking.

Jim, Chris and I met on the parking lot, paid the entry fee and started shooting. Later on, Don and his wife Vivian met up with us and we all did our thing. The Gardens are nice and well kept with many of the early flowers blooming giving the Garden lots of colors enticing us to get closer to the blooms.

It was not before I collected the images for the slide show above that I realized how different we all are when it comes to photography. I am still waiting for 3 images from Jim but here is a breakdown so far:

Chris Handley submitted 3 landscape images

Don Stephens contributed 3 Flower close ups

and I, BG, had more fun with 3 close-up scenes.

Around noon we gathered our gear and went to Chili’s Grill to replenish the calories that we burned up that morning. It was a very nice field trip and we now got to think about the next one coming up, which is going to be much different. 

Al has invited us for 3 days to the GHSA Boys State Track Meet. The dates are May 8 to 10 in Jefferson, GA. This is a sports event and Al can get us very close to the individual happenings. If you are interested, give Al a call to get his time schedule and instructions (you find his phone number under field trips #3 on this web site). More track info and details on www.ghsa.net/track-and-field

BG

PS: Jim's images have been added to the above slide show

Sharing knowledge of a big winner

Mike Shaefer shared his big event with me and I would like to share it with all of our members and viewers.

Mike send me an e-mail a few days ago and said:  I placed first in Digital Photography Magazine's annual photo contest. The number of entries was in the thousands, and I feel real lucky to get 1^st Place in a large competition. The photo will appear in the March/April issue. This is clearly a minimalist photograph; the kind you enjoy. The winning shot can be found online at

 http://www.dpmag.com/photo-contests/7th-annual-your-best-shot.html

Mike

Congratulations Mike, we had the pleasure to see several of your images from that series and they all did well in our much smaller club competition.

BG

Street Art = Street Photography

We spend Christmas in Texas this year and I was looking for some photographic excitement to get a break from too much family gathering. Reacting on a tip by my son, I got into the car and drove to an area of vacant, dilapidated buildings with lots of Street Art. The large area, vacated by a big Texas company, was all fenced in with signs about what was going to happen to me if I entered the secret grounds. Well, my age gives me problems while scaling 8ft fences but a big gate, wide open, was just too much to resist especially since I could see some Street Art in the distance.

I am not for vandalism at all, especially with paint spray cans, because it is ugly and causes building owners lots of grief. However, I realize that every artistic person needs training and those old buildings were ideal for “Street Art” training. While I was only in 2 of the many buildings, I really got impressed by the efforts of the younger folks that practice their art without any acknowledgement or praise by the general public or even their closest families. I met some of them in the 2nd building when they prepared a wall for the next masterpiece.

Those Street Art artists give photographers like me lots of subjects to photograph and I really don’t mind photographing someone else’s art even if our judges frown on such a practice. 

At the last judging the judge gave an “out” to an image of a statue of 2 boys while giving a 3rd place to 2 stone birds. Go figure.

I prepared a 10 image slide show above for you to follow me on my photographic field trip onto forbidden grounds.

BG