JANUARY 25, 2018 – 7:30 PM

Robin Davis - Professional Photographer

Please join us for Robin's fascinating discussion of the Influences of Painting on Photography

…and Photography back to Painting,
the common truths that all art shares.

We will also explore some exciting time periods in both painting and photography, and some inspirational ways to get those same effects in your own work. Starting with an idea up front and making fun in-camera decisions let’s you create artistic images, and in fact, your own unique photographic style.

Painting and Photography Influence Each Other by Robin Davis

Robin will also relate how painting has influenced her work, consider the future of photography as an art form, and also go back in time to find the historical traditions linking painting and photography.

About Robin

Born in Savannah, Robin grew up spending her summers on Jekyll Island and the Georgia Coast. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia, and in 1984, attended the UGA Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, which deeply influenced her approach to the medium of photography.

Robin Davis

Currently, Robin divides her time between Atlanta and Cortona, where she has been teaching the Cortona Center of Photography workshops since 1998. In addition to the Italy Workshop in Tuscany, her Atlanta Georgia photography workshops in the US are offered through The Third Eye photography workshops and adventures and feature Coastal Georgia workshops, Savannah Georgia photography workshops, Charleston South Carolina photography workshops, St. Simons Island photography workshops and Jekyll Island photography workshops, in some of her favorite interesting and picturesque locations that she likes to share with her students.

As an artist and photographer, she has researched and worked extensively with a variety of unique photographic techniques, blending tradition with experimentation to achieve painterly and illustrative images.

Her fine art photography has been featured for Liz Claiborne, Penguin Putnam Publishing, The Coca-Cola Company, The High Museum Of Art, Michael C. Carlos Museum/Emory University, The Piedmont Park Conservancy, The Goethe-Institut, Visiting Nurse Health Systems, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Bellagio Las Vegas, Bloomingdales, St. Martin's Press, Buckhead Pizza Company, St. Regis Hotels, The Omni William Penn Hotel and many private and international collections.

Websites: http://www.robindavis.com/home.php
https://thethirdeyephoto.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2018– 7:30 PM

Amazing Antarctica: A Photographer's  Journey to the Bottom of the World - Mike Shaefer

Mike Shaefer will present a stunning program covering his recent trip (late 2017) to Antarctica, South Georgia Island, and the Falkland Islands. This expedition was an unforgettable experience offering opportunities to photograph some the most stunning and unique places on earth. 

Vivid Iceberg by Mike Shaefer

Mike will share images of beautiful icebergs, a variety of wildlife and remarkable landscapes.  

Seal by Mike Shaefer

And images of penguins which will make you smile. 

Penguin Date by Mike Shaefer

This is an inspirational program not to be missed!

Take the First Step by Mike Shaefer

So plan to step out the house, join us, and enjoy a great evening of of entertaining images, and learning about the rigors of travel to the frozen continent.

Give Me Your Attention Please by Mike Shaefer

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

About Mike Shaefer

Mike is currently President of the Atlanta Photographic Society (APS). For two consecutive years, Mike was chosen APS Photographer of the Year. In the annual APS Salon, Mike has had several images receive recognition including Best in Show for two consecutive years. He has also won the APS Presentation Medal - four years in a row! In 2014, Mike received international recognition when his image Battle on the Plains of Africa won first place out of over 8,000 entries in Digital Photo Magazine’s Your Best Shot Photo Contest. 

Mike has been exploring and photographing the world for nearly 20 years. Mike’s goal is to bring the beauty, people, and wildlife of the world to a wider audience. To create images which ‘speak’ to the viewer and promote an appreciation for the world in which we all share.

MARCH 22, 2018 – 7:30 PM

My Life in Photography - And Some Lessons Learned 

Don Stephens

Retired professional photographer, and long-time member of APS, Don Stephens will talk about the highlights and learnings of his lifetime of photographic experiences. Don will share numerous lessons and lore still relevant in today’s world of digital photography.

“I’ve been at it for more than 70 years, most of which is more interesting to me than it would be to you,” he says, “so I’ll be brief in recounting all that.”

Ozark Camera Club field trip, ca 1944. A club member on left with Speed Graphic, and Don at age 5 with his broken, lens-less old camera. Don says, “I took many marvelous pictures with this camera. Alas, none have survived.” (Editors Note: check out the micro pipe in Don's mouth!)

Don at 19 years old as college photographer, 1958

After years of film photography, from roll-film snap-shots to more serious work with 35-mm, medium- and large-format, Don was an early adopter of digital technology among Atlanta professional photographers. He’s been using high-end digital cameras and Photoshop since 1996, when things were not nearly so advanced as today. There were many lessons to be learned along the path, and Don has always embodied one important ideal of photography, the willingness to pass on what he has learned.

Don Stephens using and incident light meter for a commercial shoot

Don is a former President of APS, and is one of only a handful who have received our Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Sweethearts by Don Stephens

Be sure to bring a friend to take in Don's wealth of diverse photographic experiences!

First Course - Dinner at the Crab Shack by Don Stephens

APRIL 26, 2018 – 7:30 PM

West Texas, the Chihuahuan Desert and Big Bend - Jim Harrison

During November 2017, right after our daughter's wedding, my wife Linda and I took a trip to West Texas to blow off the stresses of the wedding planning (and bill paying).  Highlights included the "oil patch" (and wind patch) near Midland, TX in the Permian Basin, the Davis Mountains, and wide swaths of the incredibly desolate and beautiful Chihuahuan Desert.

Trio: Wind, Oil and Cotton - Near Shafter, TX by Jim Harrison  

The trip also encompassed many scenic portions of Big Bend State Park and Big Bend National Park (both International Dark Sky Parks).  It was a short trip of less than a week, but I did manage to capture a number of interesting images along the way.

Highway 170 Through Big Bend State Park by Jim Harrison

The Chihuahuan Desert is one of four large desert areas in North America.  Most of the Chihuahuan Desert lies in Mexico, but a very large area covers much of West Texas (essentially everything "West of the Pecos" River), and smaller portions also cover part of New Mexico.  This includes White Sands National Monument, the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, Carlsbad Caverns and Roswell.  I'll explain a bit about the Chihuahuan as a major ecoregion in North America, the variations within that ecoregion, and how this relates to other ecoregions more familiar to us at and near our home here in Georgia.

Chihuahuan Desert (Bright Yellow) from Ecoregions of North America  

The vast, desolate area of the Chihuahuan was often the backdrop for TV and movie westerns and also contains a number of unique and quirky small towns such as Fort Davis, Marfa (famous for the "Marfa Lights" and modern "installation" art), Alpine, Presidio, Terlingua and others. 

Courthouse - Marfa, TX by Jim Harrison

The stark desert scenery encompasses mountains, mesas and buttes, cliffs and canyons, arroyos, grasslands, cacti, creosote and numerous other highly adapted desert plants.  

Fall Sotol by Jim Harrison

And of course, running through the middle, the Rio Grande River - the border between Mexico and the United States.

Light Through the Window by Jim Harrison (Chisos Basin, Big Bend National Park)

About Jim Harrison

Jim is a past President of APS, and has received the club's Color Photographer of the Year and Presentation Medal. He is retired after a 30+ year career in water quality with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

He was also a collaborator in the development of Ecoregion maps of the eight Southeastern states in EPA Region 4.

See more of Jim's photography on his web site.

MAY 24, 2018 – 7:30 PM

Jim Alexander  

Jim Alexander (American, b. 1935) is an award winning documentary photographer who has spent over fifty years refining what he calls the art of documentary photography. A photojournalist, teacher, activist, media consultant and entrepreneur, Alexander has amassed an impressive collection of images of Black culture and human rights photographs. 

He is a 2006 inductee into The HistoryMakers and in 1995 when the city of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs began its annual "Master Artist" program, Jim Alexander was the first artist chosen. He started taking photographs in 1952 at the age of 17 in the U.S. Navy, at a time when photography was not yet considered broadly as art. He had his first exhibit 16 years later in 1968, the same year he graduated from the New York Institute of Photography with a degree in commercial photography. It was also the same year that he met, and became friends with Gordon Parks. 

Since that time, Alexander has had over sixty solo exhibits and taught photography at Yale University, five other colleges, was photographer in residence at Atlanta’s Neighborhood Arts Center for four years, and spent five years as photographer in residence at Clark Atlanta University. His work is in numerous major collections including the Museum Of Contemporary Art Georgia (MOCA, GA), Stuart A. Rose MARBL Collection at Emory University, Paul R. Jones Collections, CAU Galleries, the Smithsonian, AUC Library Collection, Harvey B. Gantt Center Art Collection, the Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Airport Collection and there is a portfolio of fifty-five of his photographs of the Neighborhood Arts Center from the Jim Alexander Collection at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta, on the UGA Galileo website.

Jim Alexander's Web Site

JUNE 28, 2018 – 7:30 PM

Software Reviews and Demos plus Member's Critique

This program night is dedicated to seeing several photo editing software packages in action. APS members will be showing off some of the latest post-processing software that they find useful.

Portrait Pro by Al McLeod

Neat Image (Noise Reduction Software) by Rohit Kamboj

Affinity (inexpensive photo editing) by Darryll

Note: Several blog articles on our web site from a few years back cover some other popular software alternatives:

Raw Therapee and

Picture Window Pro.

Members' Critique

The second half of this program night will be for members' critiques of images that you bring.  (Mono or color prints, unmounted (we'll use the magnet board), up to three images per person.)

Our members' critiques are a great opportunity to get excellent feedback on your images, in a relaxed atmosphere without the pressures of a competition.

No programs scheduled in July & August.

Enjoy your summer!

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 – 7:30 PM

EMPOWERING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY - a Photo Talk with ROBIN DAVIS

What are the elements that define your very best work?

When someone looks at your images would they recognize them as yours?

Starting with an IDEA upfront and consciously choosing to create at least 3 connecting images in a series, allows your persona to shine through your work in a deeper way. Beginning a new series is a very fun and rewarding adventure that sets us on a true photographic quest!

Robin will review her 5 Directives for strong image making and tell some of the uncanny stories behind the scenes of her series 13 Women, Atlanta Gotham and Mystery Cats. In addition she will share another great story about the train series, created in the 1960s by Allen Matthews, the founder of the Cortona Center of Photography. www.cortonacenter.com

Some of Allen’s work, along with a new series by Robin Davis will be part of the Mason Fine Art/Atlanta Celebrates Photography Show, from September 13 till October 27, so please stop by and take a look. 

The ideals behind this talk will be put into practice at Robin’s upcoming Coastal Retreat workshop, November 8 - 11, 2018

Members' Critique

The second portion of this program night will be for members' critiques of images that you bring.  (Mono or color prints, unmounted (we'll use the magnet board), up to three images per person.)

All our program nights are free and open to the public. Non-members are encouraged to bring their images for critique.

Our members' critiques are a great opportunity to get excellent feedback on your images, in a relaxed atmosphere without the pressures of a competition.

OCTOBER 25, 2018 – 7:30 PM

Business Meeting and Officer Elections

This is the annual club business meeting and officer elections for 2018.  If you are willing to serve or have a nomination for one or more club officers please let our President Mike Shaefer (right click to copy email address) know. APS functions well when many members are willing to step up and help.  We also need energetic volunteers for the club's non-elected positions such as Salon Chair, and PSA competition coordinator.

We will also discuss/brainstorm ideas for 2019 themes and other activities such as programs, field trips/shoots and exhibitions.  Your creative input is highly valued!

Short Programs

Member Darryl Neill will get us "up to speed" on the latest hardware developments in photography.

And President Mike Shaefer will clue us in on the wide, wide world (on the web) of photography podcasts.

No programs scheduled in November or December

Happy Holidays!