The Berrien Springs Camera Club will open its new season on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Berrien Springs Community Library at US-31 and Union. The club’s season runs from September through June each year, with programs alternating between an informative presentation about some aspect of photography, and a competition open to members.

            September will actually feature two presentations, a brief one by club treasurer Rob Shellhamer on how to resize digital images to send via the Internet for competitions. The main presentation will be by Elizabeth Kirian, an award-winning professional photographer. Titled “Capturing Human Nature with Visual Effects:

Computer-Generated Photographic Expression,” it will show us ways to enhance our digital photography.

            Kirian has been involved in art for her entire life, showing her first piece at the age o f 5 at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Mich. Her passion for art and fashion led her to study graphic design in college. A prerequisite for her degree was a photography class, so her dad went to a pawn shop and bought her a fully manual, metal-bodied film camera from the 1970s. That was the start of her passion in life: photography.

            Prior to opening her own photography studio, Kirian worked as a graphic designer, then as a make-up artist at a photography studio, and finally as a portrait photographer. Graphic design has given her photography a unique style. She infuses photographs of people with elements of nature for interesting contrast, using computer programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to achieve the desired effects. Darkroom magic is now all created digitally on the computer in a flash compared to the days of the real darkroom.

            Kirian has won print competitions and been published. Her fine-art photography has been shown in the Harbor Country area and the Benton Harbor Arts District.

            Programs for November,=2 0January, and March will be announced in later articles.

            In competition months members can submit up to 10 digitally projected images and up to 10 prints (mounted, at least 5" x 7") for judging. (This is the first year that slides will not be accepted.) Awards are given for the top projected images and prints. Submission guidelines can be found on the club’s Web site: http://photoclub.berrienspringsmi.us/. Acceptable topics always include Nature (nothing domesticated or showing evidence of mankind) and Open (anything), plus two special topics each month:

      

            The May 5 meeting is for final judging of the year's acceptances, when 3 judges will select the top 10 projected images and prints of the year, and the June 2 end-of-season meeting will include a potluck meal and a show from the year's acceptances.

Competitions

 

This year we are doing 2 Topics no Themes - For competition night you can enter 2 Topics  - Nature - Open

 All Contest nights also have the catagories of Nature, & Open