August 2025

From the President...

Last month I started on the topic of the history of photography. I ended with the advent of the daguerreotype process, so that is where I will now pickup with some more history.

The daguerreotype process came to the United States in 1839 and the first commercial portrait gallery opened in 1840. Having portraits done back then did not sound like a lot of fun. The working-class studios charged 50 cents an image, which was equivalent to half a day’s labor and the image might be only slightly bigger than a large postage stamp. Plus, the subject usually was required to sit without moving for between five or ten seconds (at best) and several minutes. The subject also had their head fitted into the frame of an iron positioning apparatus, which often produced startling results. Think about that for a minute, and just imagine what someone’s eyes might look like. I would think people looked quite frightened.

In April of 1861 Mathew B. Brady received permission from President Lincoln to follow the troops and photographed the First Battle of Bull Run. Unfortunately he lost his wagons and other equipment during that chaos. This led to him putting together a field of corps photographers who then made the first extended coverage of a war. They used wet-plate photography and had a portable darkroom. They could only depict camp scenes, preparation for action, and, on occasion, the grim aftermath of battle, due to the fact that they only had ten minutes from coating the plate to the development of the photo in order to get the picture. To be continued…

Our photography club held, for what I believe was a first, a summer Speaker Series program last month. For a summer month we had great attendance with 73 people present. This was composed of both members and non-members. The topic was on bats and that was then followed up by four field trips to photograph the bats that roost just south of Green Valley.

This month’s Facebook photo challenge request is for our members in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to send Sue some images. It’s always nice to see what everyone is doing.

I wish you all a continuing good summer and great photographic experiences.

Kim Holmes, President

Keep Our Facebook Page in Mind

Thanks to all those members who submitted their field trip photos for the Facebook page. During the summer, don't forget to send in your vacation photos.  

Be sure to send me your favorite photos so I can post them in Facebook. Those photos are also where I get to choose the Photo of the Month featured  in the newsletter each month. Your photo could be chosen next!

Sue Ready, Facebook Coordinator

Photo of the Month

The Photo of the Month is chosen from new and archived photos submitted to Sue Ready, the club's Facebook Coordinator. Keep sending the best of your work to Sue at suready@yahoo.com so we may continue to showcase the refined capabilities of GVR Photography Club members. Photos should be submitted in .jpg format and please include its title and location. -ed

Library News

August is “back to school” for many children and young people. Wow, remember when we had at least three months of summer freedom and fun?

The Photography Club is still observing summer hours of 9:00 a.m. to noon, Monday - Friday, and the Library is open during those hours. On display for August are three recently-donated books which may be checked out for three weeks.

• Coming Into Focus: A step-by-step guide to alternative photographic printing processes
• Understanding Color Management
• Image Processing Handbook (3rd edition)

If you have ideas for new books to add to the shelves, please let me know.

Stay cool and read a good book!

Becky McCreary, Librarian

This Month's Club Activities

Jump to SIGs

Jump to Travelogue

Jump to Field Trips

Jump to Photo Ops

Jump to Showtime

Jump to Speaker Series

Check the Club Calendar for the latest information on all club activities. Photography Club members are also welcome and encouraged to attend the club’s monthly Board of Directors meetings. Check the Club Calendar for the date of the meeting and attend in-person at the club, or remotely by registering using this link. The Board is always interested in comments and new ideas from the members.

Need help with your digital camera, smartphone camera, slide/print scanning, photo printing or a photo editing software application? Photography Club Volunteer Helpers are available to help. Log in to the club’s website. Click on the three bars at the far right of the home page menu bar and select Volunteer Helpers. Once you've found a helper, scroll down to see their contact email listed. Help is just a few clicks away.

Showtime

Preparing for Next Season

OK, time to get back to work and don’t forget our SHOWTIME and Travelogue will start at 2 PM this year instead of 7 PM like we’ve done in the past.

Our SHOWTIME schedule will be:

Nov 4th, Dec 2nd, Jan 6th, Feb 3rd, Mar 3rd and April 7th

I’m looking forward to seeing you at Showtime!

Todd F Taylor, Showtime Host

Travelogue

Returning in November

We are looking forward to starting up again in the fall. Our hope is to create thematic adventures. Of course this will depend on the travel videos you send to us. What do you have for us?  Road Trips?  How about African Safaris?  Have you been on any recent cruises?  What other countries have you visited?  We are looking forward to receiving your travel videos and putting together GREAT presentations for us all! Videos will ideally be less than 20 minutes each with a little bit of wiggle room.

Please send your travel videos free via WeTransfer.com or Filemail.com to me at  sherrie.LCBG@gmail.com as soon as possible. Anne and I are eager to receive them and assemble them into spectacular shows.  

Our fall season will begin in November at Desert Hills with our new afternoon 2:00 pm start time. We look forward to seeing you then, but please send your videos now.

Thank you so much!!

Sherrie Lee Lucia & Anne Karakatsoulis

Travelogue Co-Coordinators

Speaker Series

Returning in November

Kim Holmes, Speaker Series Coordinator

Field Trips

We had a great turnout for the Sunset with the Bats field trips led by Tom Parker, although some evenings had more bats than others. We will be adding more evenings towards the end of August and into early September, before the migration south starts. Tom is also leading a trip to the University of Arizona’s Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum near the end of the month.

Congratulations to Danny Valenzuela, who after trying for over a year has set up a sunset trip to the Mescal movie set. Well done!

Denise LeCount-O’Brien has set up a trip to Tumacácori in August for the Firefly display. If certain environmental factors align, the fireflies will blink in unison. There are very few locations in the United States where this amazing display occurs, and we are very fortunate that Tumacácori is one of them! Denise has been in touch with the Park Rangers and will be kept apprised when this occurrence will happen. If interested, be sure to register for this field trip, and be prepared to go on as little as a few hour’s notice – the trip may occur any time after August 1st and it all depends on when the fireflies decide to light up Tumacácori.

Be sure to watch for additional field trip announcements and thank you for your continued support! As always, for questions or comments, email me at mparker582@aol.com or text (618) 304-1164.

 Monica E. Parker, Field Trip Facilitator

Photo Opportunities

We are always looking for recommendations for future photo opportunities. Please feel free to contact me If you have suggestions for upcoming events of interest.

Tom Parker, Photo Op Coordinator

Special Interest Groups are fun and educational. Any member of the Photography Club is welcome to attend any of the SIGs.

Click on any of the links listed to get more information on each one.

Multimedia SIG
Black and White SIG

Studio and Fine Art SIG

On Assignment SIG

Photoshop/Lightroom SIG

Canon R Series SIG

Photoshop Elements SIG

Monitor Notes

Monitors typically welcome and check in club members, answer the phone, and inform those seeking information about the club. We are all indebted to the dedicated team of monitors who volunteer to keep the Photography Club open. Many thanks to all of you.

We are always looking for additional monitors. Help us provide all the benefits the club offers to its members. As you take advantage of the club's activities and its extensive digital processing equipment, consider sharing the effort in providing these services by volunteering as a monitor.  You are not expected to know how to use the equipment. Training takes about three hours.

Contact: gvrcameramonitors@gmail.com for more information.

Photography Items

Wanted

or

For Sale

There are no listings this month.

Do you have any used photography equipment that you want to sell or are looking for to buy? List those items in the newsletter.

All items:

• May be placed only by current, past or families of past members.
  
• Must be for used photography related equipment.
  
• Must include your name, or the name of the past member, and contact information.
• Should be submitted to neilwicai@gmail.com.
• Must be placed by the 25th of the month prior to the month of listing.
• Will run for one month, but may be resubmitted up to three times to be listed again.

GVR Photography Club

The GVR Photography Club is one of the largest photography clubs in the U.S. with over 600 active members. Regardless of your skill level, you'll have fun honing your skills in taking, editing, and presenting photos and videos. Share your photographic passion with others. Take FREE courses and join our Special Interest Groups to get the most from your digital camera, smartphone, action camera, or drone. Learn the ins and outs of post-processing software. Use our state-of-the-art equipment to digitize and edit photos, slides, and videos. Go on club Field Trips to practice your photographic skills. Exhibit your photos/videos at our Showtime and Travelogue events. Come make friends and photographs!

The Photography Club is located on the 2nd floor of the west wing at the Santa Rita Springs GVR Recreation Center. You may contact us at:

PO Box 1423, Green Valley, AZ 85622 or  gvrphotographyclub@gmail.com. 

Neil Wicai, Newsletter Editor - neilwicai@gmail.com - 575-224-1238