This group has amazingly talented photographers and are very welcoming and social. Feel free to join us any time.

How to find us: This event is done online!

The Worcester Photo Center was approached by the city and asked to contribute photographs to a rotating gallery space in Worcester’s City Hall. The Worcester Photo Center agreed to take on the project and manage the shows and space as of August 1st 2011. With this agreement we are pleased to announce our very first theme for the space and welcome you to join in by submitting images to be shown in the gallery.

Architecture of Worcester

Architecture is a style and method of design and construction of buildings. We would like to have a wonderful showing of the many different types of architecture Worcester has among its buildings. We are looking for images that will showcase the diversity of it’s neighborhoods as well as it’s businesses.

We would like to encourage folks to show off interesting details of buildings that are used everyday, as well as overall images of attractive structures found among the city streets. We encourage you to take a look at the Preservation Worcester web site and learn a little bit about the City of Worcester and its many fascinating buildings and their histories.

http://www.preservationworcester.org

This show’s goal is to showcase the vibrancy of the city’s working buildings and structures and special attention to will be paid to images that reflect this about the city.

Details you need to know.

This is a juried show. We only have 25 frames to fill in the gallery.

You will need to submit a digital image(s) via upload to a web site for jurying.

Deadline for submissions for the jury is June 30th, 2011 11PM

Please make your images 8×10 (or 9×12) at 72 DPI jpegs and upload them here: http://gallery.me.com/scotterb#102065

The File name should be your name_number of submission. Example: DonnaDufault_1.jpeg

You are allowed to submit up to 3 images per person.

You will be notified on July 8th if your image or images have been chosen for the show. A list will appear here on this website of accepted images. This will be posted on the Meetup Web site message board, and if you accept emails from the site, I will do my best to send individual notices as well.

If you have been selected, you will be asked to print your image, mat it with a white mat, sign it, and come to the framing session on July 23rd, 2011, so we can get these framed and ready to hang by the end of July. (More details will be placed on the Meetup Web Site, Please check the calendar for that day.)

In the mean time, the WPC is planning a Click and Shoot on Sunday June 12th for all members who would like the opportunity to be part of a group that explores the city and photographs in some of the best places the city has to offer. Please see the Meetup Calendar for more details on this event.

I asked that you mark your calendars now with these details and deadline so you can be up on all the happenings. I look forward to seeing this groups submissions for this show! There are already some wonderful images at the link!!

Cheers,

Donna and Scotty

Honorable Mentions go to:

Karen Brockney

Karen Brockney - Honorable Mention

Russ Garre

Russ Garre - Honorable Mention

Frank Jansen

Frank Jansen- Honorable Mention

The Art Itself:  image # 40 By Troy B Thompson

Troy B Thompson - First Place in the Category "The Art Itself"

This was a fantastic composition that clearly showcased the art and the parks surroundings. Beautiful view including the pond and the trees in the back ground. It really captured the essence of how this piece of art incorporates to the surrounds so well.

Daily Life:  image # 03 Frank Jansen

Frank Jansen - First Place in the Category "Daily Life"

We selected this photo again for the entire representation of the art in the context of the park being enjoyed with serenity from a couple of visitors.  Good color.

Events:  image # 009 By Scott Erb

Scott Erb - First Place in the Category "Events"

We liked the joyful action in this photo against the backdrop of the concert at Elm Park. Another great composition.

Saori Bridges:  Image #010 By Karen Brockney

Karen Brockney - First Place in the Category "Saori Bridges"

This image was selected as winner because of the bold color, the transparent quality, the below the bridge angle and the reflections.

GRAND PRIZE / BEST OVERALL IN SHOW: image # 042 By Scott Erb

Scott Erb - Grand Prize Winner - Best in Show

This photo of the waterspout is amazing with astounding detail, action and color.

This was easily best in show, a great quality image and composition.

A special thank you to the Judges for the Art in the Park Photo Contest:

Alex Dunn, Deb McNamara, Claire Forgues, Cyrus Lipsitt and Louie Despres for their time energy and effort. It’s greatly appreciated, Cheers!

We hope you will join us for the event!

The 2010 Wallis Cove Retreat turned out to be a great weekend. It began with an introduction of the event facilitators, our professional instructors, and of course, a review of the weekend menu.

Michelle, of LaMich Productions, insured us that it would be a busy, fun and rewarding experience. She was right. Even with the intermittent rain, or should I say downpours, we would gather under the big top for some fun lessons in some unique image munipulation by Scott. Donna was always available to field any questions as well as being invaluable in her critiquing session.

Lighting workshop with Model Cindy W

Scott, during his lighting seminar, really shined, by taking some of the mystery out of how to light your subject. And Alan, just a  great resource of information and instruction, especially for photographing models with classic automobiles.

Alan K Chatting up the Models

We can’t forget all the hard work the models put forth trying to give us the best photo opportunities all weekend long.

Casey, our HDR guru, showed us first hand how to put a new twist on post processing images.

And Paul gave us a presentation second to none on landscape photography.

What I saw, was a group of photographers, who specialize in many different areas of photography, coming together to share experiences on common ground. Much was learned, and many new friendships were made. A good time was had by all. I would attend again.
Thanks LaMich Productions!

Impromptu Photo Editing Session

~Steve Morse

Photographers can be real control freaks.

From behind the camera, they crop the composition, manipulate the lighting and adjust the focus. But that’s just the beginning. Now they’re taking control of a Worcester gallery for a one-night show.

“I have my own ideas about what I want to show, and how to show it,” said Jeff Haynes, one of the exhibiting photographers and the show’s organizer. “And while this area definitely has lots of great galleries and talented curators, I just don’t have the patience to wait for one of them to get on board with my vision.”

As a result, Haynes is organizing Things We Project with five other Massachusetts photographers. The show, set for Saturday Sept. 18, 2010 at the Sprinkler Factory, will feature photographers Nicole Chan, Scott Erb, Haynes, Dana Lane, Steve Stearns and Cynthia Woehrle.

“As the name suggests, this event is designed specifically for each photographer to showcase what he or she aims to achieve as an artist,” Haynes said.

Each photographer has selected 10 images to represent one cohesive body of work for the show. The six collections vary widely in scope, including figurative, narrative, travel and painterly style photos. Worcester photographer, Scott Erb, has chosen to highlight ten portraits from his Red Room Project for display. “I’m excited about this show. It’s an opportunity for me to showcase some of my favorite images from a year long project.” Erb said.

“This is a chance for the photographers to talk about how they view the world through their respective lenses,” Haynes said. “I didn’t want a show constrained by a single theme – I wanted an honest presentation from each photographer of what he or she likes to shoot.”

The 60 photos will be presented through a combination of computer displays and digital projectors. The move was made, in part, to save on the costs in printing, matting and framing 60 images. But there were other considerations, too.

“The projectors certainly add a theatrical element, which I like,” Haynes said. “And the computer displays provide a relatable interface for viewers. Most of us see a steady stream of images on our computer screens, thanks to the Internet. So the show will feature a variation on a format we have come to accept for viewing photos.”

Things We Project Show Poster

The show is scheduled to run from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010 at the Sprinkler Factory, 38 Harlow St., Worcester, Mass. The show is free and open to the public.

Contact: Jeff Haynes

show organizer and

exhibiting photographer

(508) 954-4955

jeffhaynes@me.com

High resolution copies of sample photos are available to media upon request. Things We Project is a special, one-night-only event happening on Saturday, Sept. 18 from 7:30 to 10 at the Sprinkler Factory, 38 Harlow St. in Worcester, Mass. The show is free and open to the public.

http://ThingsWeProject.wordpress.com

Photographers and Their Reputations

Discussion at Worcester and Boston Photo Centers

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.  – Warren Buffet

Give the example of the man/photographer who did not get a model release and drivers license copy. Girl lied about her age and signed a release. Later her parents saw the photos and had the man arrested, they took his computer, phone, and all his camera gear. The newspapers accounts made him sound like a pedophile. Always get a drivers licence. Photo copy it and attach it to the model release. It would be better to get 2 forms of ID

Officially known as 18 U.S.C. Section 2257, this federal law imposes name and age verification, recordkeeping, and labeling requirements on producers of visual depictions of actual human beings engaged in actual sexually explicit conduct. Likewise, 18 U.S.C. Section 2257A, which went into effect on March 18, 2009, imposes name and age verification, recordkeeping, and labeling requirements on producers of visual depictions of actual human beings engaged in simulated sexually explicit conduct.

In general, when people are in public, you may photograph them. The use of the photographs can be restricted due to certain privacy rights. The rights for a person to certain kinds of privacy are recognized in most states, but differently for each one. It is, therefore, tricky to know what you can do.

The Internet is a powerful tool. Use its good resources to protect your work and your business.

Check yourself.

Chances are, you’ve already checked your “digital footprint” — nearly half of all online users do. Try typing your screen name and email address into a search engine and see what comes up. This is the best starting point to get a sense of what others see as your online identity.

1. Do a “quick Google” search on your name

Doing your best so that the negative results get knocked off the first page. You need to understand that deleting negative hits isn’t possible. You cannot make them disappear. But you can move them down to pages where nobody will look. That’s much better. In the real world, we can say that almost nobody goes beyond the first page if he or she finds worthwhile content on that page and especially within the first hits. Additionally, you should not wait until somebody attempts to defame your personal image or the brand of your product or company. If you currently do not have an online presence, that’s amazing, because you are going to be responsible for the content you craft about yourself. You will have the ultimate control over your online presence.

2. First of all, the easiest and probably the most effective advice is registering your own name or company name as a domain (yourname.com or yourcompany.com) and set up a simplistic website. One main page is enough. It should contain your name, your company, some biography information (you don’t want to be confused with someone else; this is important especially if your name is way too common). You may add photo(s) too.

It is a well-known fact that a basic web site on a registered domain gets picked up quite fast by search engines and you will end up within the top ten listings. Oh, and I am sure you have heard about “blogging,” right? These online journals rank pretty damn well and search engines love them. Set up a new blog; create links back and forth your basic web site and your blog. Post a few entries about yourself and that’s all.

3. Create lots of sub-domains around your name and claim ownership of the most popular websites – Blogspot, WordPress, MySpace, Livejournal, Hi5,Orkut, etc. Yes, that’s right. Sign up for as many social networking websites as you can think of but don’t worry about their content, let alone updating them on a frequent basis. All you want is an ”online presence.” Complete each with valid information and data that you want to be “known” about you and don’t forget to link to your own website!

4. And now comes one of the best- LinkedIn. In this case you do need to spend a a lot  of time in order to take advantage of this unique social networking site. It is very very different from the rest of the social networking sites. Due to the benefits you can gain from it from personal networking, connections, and your reputation it is something that you should definitely get right. Work at it, make it the best it can be.

5. You should hook yourself up with Flickr and Picasa. Upload images that are related to you or your company, for example: company logo, some brands, pictures of local headquarters, some office shoots, and even from some presentations, conferences, events, sponsorships, and so forth. Post a few images, and be done with it or when ever you have something newsworthy put it up there and tag it.

6. Twitter Search- can be used to check your biz name or personal name. (also great tool for marketing research. Give example of cleat research story here)

7. Google Alerts – Your keyword search results are sent via e-mail for keyword mentions in news, web, blogs, video and groups categories. We have them set up for our names, business names, blog etc…

Resources

http://www.photoattorney.com and

“Adrianos Facchetti is an Internet defamation attorney in Los Angeles, CA, and publishes the Defamation Law Blog. He has several blog posts, along with a video, to explain online defamation basics and give you several creative and great strategies to deal with this problem.”

Wrap up points

Monitor – Maintain an ongoing system for researching and keeping track of public perception.

Evaluate – Consider individual feedback, as well as the source, outlet, reach and timing, to come to a decision about the risk.

Act – Comment, rebut, draft a formal response or simply ignore what has been said, based on your evaluation.

The most important part of online reputation management is being aware of what’s being said about you, to whom and why. It also requires that you do it consistently and have a plan in place when action is necessary.

Personally I am tired of people taking advantage of photographers in other ways as well- I give pricing example of a pro bidding a job at 5000.00 vs. 400.00 pay out they got a college student to do it for. We are all in this together and knowing what your work is worth is very important. If you don’t know how to bid a job ask another pro for help. Don’t get taken advantage of.

**Disclaimer: I used many web sites, spoke with people, and added my own insight and working knowledge to putting this all together to share with other photographers. But no means is it all original text written by me- just a modification of what I have learned over the years. If you find yourself in a sticky  situation- seek real advice from a lawyer. Join ASMP or PPA and get access to allot of great releases, and other legal documents to help you stay on the right track. But above all- protect yourself.

Thanks for reading! ~~Donna Dufault, Erb Photography, http://www.erbphoto.com

Needless to say we got rained “in” on several occasions and we decided to make the most of the time we spent together. We took snap shots of the members of the group and for our own personal entertainment Scott demonstrated his mad Photo Shop skills…To see the results please click the link Wallis Cove Crazies or Play the video below.

We welcome your feedback…!

Cheers to you all

Scott and Donna

Art in the Park

Sponsored by the Worcester Cultural Commission and the Worcester Photography Center

The Worcester Cultural Commission and the Worcester Photography Center are getting together to bring you the “Art in the Park Photo Contest.” There are many events and happenings surrounding this years Art in the Park and we are hoping you‘ll all want to help capture these fun events and then share the images with the Cultural Commission. There are some very impressive pieces in the park this year and having you all show them off with your photographic creativity is a perfect challenge for a photo contest.

What are the contests categories?

The subject matter is the Art Work in Elm Park, but these are the categories to submit your images into for the contest:

• The Art Itself: Images of the art visibly identified within the context of Elm Park

• Daily Life: Sculpture as a backdrop in the park or of interaction of folks in the park with the sculptures to daily life in Elm Park

• Any of The Events, for example: Art in the Park Opening Ceremony or Creative Laundry

Thursday, August 5th Opening Ceremony along with ParkSpirit Concert

(Rain date August 12)   5:00–6:00 PM Artists tours of works  (1st half exhibition)

6:30-7:00 PM Artists tours of work   (2nd half exhibition)

6:30 PM Concert (TBD)

8:00–9:00 PM Artist reception (TBD)

Sunday, August 8             Art in the PARKing Lot festival

(Rain date August 15th)  11:00 AM – 3:00 PM Sole Proprietor parking lot.

Sculpture tours in Elm Park, sculpture demonstrations

Sunday, September 19    stART on the Street Festival, Park Ave. Worcester

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM   (30,000 attendance expected)

Afternoon (TBD) – Awards presented to Art in the

Park winners

Week of September 26     De-Installation of sculptures

Each Category Winner will receive a prize awarded for the best overall image in that category.

Each entrant may submit entries in any Category he/she wishes and may submit entries at different times during the entry period, but no entrant may submit in total more than six (6) entries. Images Must be Submitted by Oct 11^stth 2010 Midnight

For more information, rules, to learn about the Judges and the prizes: please visit the Worcester Photography Center Web Site at http://worcesterphotographycenter.org

Do you accept photos shot with a digital camera, or digitally manipulated?

Yes. In fact – We are only accepting digital images to be emailed to donna@erbphoto.com. Digitally manipulated photos are also acceptable, and certainly encouraged. Photographs must be in digital format. Only online entries will be eligible. No print or film submissions will be accepted for entry into this Contest. The photograph need not be taken with a digital camera; scans of negatives, transparencies, or photographic prints are acceptable.

What are the image specifications?

• Image Size: Image should have a long dimension of at least 1000 pixels and no more than 3000 pixels
• Save file as (JPG) with maximum quality.
• Color Space: Adobe1998 or sRGB
• File Size: The file should be 5×7 at 300 DPI and no bigger than 2 MB
• You MUST label you photo with your name and what category it is being submitted for. Example: DonnaDufault_Events1.jpg

Where do I submit my Photos?

You must email them to this email address: donna@erbphoto.com

The subject line must say ART IN THE PARK CONTEST

Include:

Name, Address, Phone Number- (Why? I need to be able to get a hold of you in case you are the winner!)

You MUST label you photo with your name and what category it is being submitted for. Example: YourName_Events1.jpg

Who are the judges?

To determine the Category Winners and Honorable Mentions, we are employing a panel of 5 judges, all from the Worcester Cultural Arena. The Judging will take place at the Worcester Art Museum between October 18^th & Oct 22^nd 2010. Everyone is invited to come see the images hanging in the Educational Wing of the Worcester Art Museum, hear feed back and comments about their entries, and view all the submissions! Awards will be given at the end of the evening.

Who can enter the Contest?

The Art in the Park Photo Contest is open to all photographers, both students and non-students, amateurs and professionals – anyone that is a member of the Worcester Photography Center. Joining the Worcester Photography Center is free and you can sign up and RSVP at http://photo.meetup.com/22

How to enter:

Please complete an entry form with the required information, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, and photo caption; and submit along with your photograph.

Contest Prizes

The first-place Winner in each Category will each receive a small gift basket containing but not limited to: 2 Passes to the Worcester Art Museum, Awards Certificate, and Photography Swag.

Grand Prize Winner will receive a Photo Gift Basket-  2 Passes to the Worcester Art Museum, Awards Certificate, and Photography Swag. (We are still gathering prizes from area businesses…)

What about copyright?

Copyright(s) remain with photographer.

Small Print: Photo Release: If any persons appear in the photograph, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the photograph in the manner set forth in these Official Rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any photograph is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

By entering this contest you are giving permission to the Cultural Commission to use your images for Publicity of the Art in the Park events. Basically it is a Publicity Release and License in which the entrant warrants that he/she is the owner of the photograph and grants to WCC and its licensees the irrevocable perpetual, nonexclusive license to reproduce, distribute, display, and create derivative works of the entry (along with a name credit) in connection with the Contest and promotion of the Contest and Worcester Cultural Commission without additional compensation.  No prize transfer, assignment, or substitution by winners permitted. If a prize (or part of a prize) is unavailable, the Sponsor, in its discretion, reserves the right to substitute the original prize (or that part of the prize) with an alternative prize to the equal monetary value and/or specification, unless to do so would be prohibited by law. NONCOMPLIANCE OR RETURN OF PRIZE NOTIFICATION AS UNDELIVERABLE, WHETHER BY REGULAR MAIL OR BY EMAIL, MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION AND SELECTION OF AN ALTERNATE POTENTIAL WINNER. Any of the above can change at anytime!

Details:

1. Start Date: August 5^th – Sept 24^th 2010

2. Deadline date for submissions: Oct 11^th, 2010 9PM

3. Entries must be emailed to Donna@erbphoto.com with subject line ART IN THE PARK CONTEST

4. FILE Set up as 5×7 @ 300DPI or 1000 Pixel on the long dimension.

5. Judging Oct 18-22 at the WAM Images will be on display there for public viewing.

6. Winners Announced at Worcester Photo Center Meetup October 28^th, 2010 at the Worcester Art Museum

Contact Person:

Donna Dufault – donna@erbphoto.com

http://photo.meetup.com/22

Worcester Art Museum- Sponsor