Hey Y’all! Hope you are doing great this week! Me? Pretty well. This week I want to talk about taking small photo walks of a nearby town or city. For the last two weekends me and my photo wingman Robert , have been taking photo walks in Raleigh NC a nearby city. It is much larger than the town we live in which is a rural town. Raleigh is a bigger city with lots of neat stuff to see and do that is different than our town. So for the last two Sundays we’ve been traveling the hour or so to Raleigh to photograph the town. The first time we went we went as if we were tourist although we had both been there many times .  And the second time it was street photography that was our main goal. I love both types of photography it lets me take photo’s of all kinds of things that I normally don’t. 

First day as a Tourist. First stop after an enjoyable ride to Raleigh was the Arboretum . I have driven past this place many times but have never gone in.  I was pleasantly surprised . It was awesome. It had all kinds of plants and flowers and interesting stuff to see.  We spent over an hour roaming the grounds taking photo’s and having fun. Our next stop was to the NC Museum of Art. Outside they had a mirror maze that was pretty cool and when you got inside you got disoriented because of all of the mirrors. They created cool shapes and shadows to photograph. The next stop was downtown Raleigh to visit Museums and walk the town. It was very hot and we walked a lot .  We went to the food mall on Morgan street and the food was excellent. We walked quite a bit and I would suggest to wear comfortable shoes when doing this kind of photography.  After the museums we decided to go to Durham to the Tobacco Campus. These are old cigerett plant buildings that have been converted into shops and restaurants. This is a very cool place but we didn't figure that most of the shops and stores would be closed on Sunday but it gave us a chance to photograph the buildings without all of the people. What was cool is that the Durham Bulls were having a ball game and the stadium was just next door and we did some people watching as they were going into the stadium for the game. All in all a very good day of shooting.

Second day Street Photography. this day was not as structured as the first day we actually decided on the drive up where to start. We started at Raleigh Union Station the Amtrak station in Raleigh. This is a very cool structure to shoot and the people are a plus while they are waiting for their train to arrive. After the train station we started walking. The area around the train station is very cool with unique shops and restaurants and just cool places to visit. This part of downtown has a very cool vibe to it and although we were there on a Sunday morning with hardly any people we still got some people shots. For lunch we went back to the Morgan Street Food Mall and ate and it was a good place to eat and take a bathroom break. After lunch we slowly made our way back to the car at the train station and after we arrived we decided to check out the observation deck at the airport. This has been on Roberts List of places to visit for a while and we had some extra time so we went. The deck was a neat place to visit. The had the aircraft Radio traffic piped into the observation deck and you had a neat place to watch the planes take off. What was really cool is seeing the families sprawled out with little kids watching the planes take off. After the observation deck we decided to head home. This was another scorcher of a day we didn't walk as much as the first day of shooting in Raleigh. 

The two days were a great break to summer heat and super photo opportunities.  Make sure that you go somewhere and have a photo walk with a buddy. You'll get some shots and have a ball. Remember having fun is the best part of Photography. So until next week Get out and Shoot!

Hey Everybody! Hope you're having a great week. Me? Pretty good. Last night my Photography Club had it's monthly meeting and I really love these meetings. Have you ever been to a photography club meeting? They are pretty fantastic for photography minded people to gather and talk nothing but photography. When I'm at home and try to talk to my wife about photography (when she can stay awake) she just doesn't get it. But when you talk to photography crazies like us its fantastic because they are as interested as you are! I have wrote about my photography club in the past but have never explained how a typical monthly meeting goes. I have been a member of this club for a dozen years or so and have acted as one of its officers a couple of times and am currently a Vice President.  We have between 35 and 40 active members and usually 20 or so show up for meetings and then we have the Zoom participants.  During the Covid crisis we had Zoom meetings which worked out pretty well. But now that the crisis is over we mainly meet in person with just a few via Zoom.  We meet at the local community college but have met in our local arts council in years past.   We hold our meetings on the 4th Monday of the month at 6:30pm and the meetings last about 2 hours. We have a very diversified group of members aging from 17yrs old to 82 and about a 50/50 male/female split maybe a little more males than females but its close. So here goes a rundown of a typical club meeting.

-We usually start with welcoming new visitors to the club. We ask them what they like to shoot and what camera system they shoot which always comes with ooh's and aah's from other camera system owners trying to make the newcomer feel at home with laughter. We explain the advantages of becoming a member and the price of dues. The price of dues have not changed while I've been a member.

-The next 10 or so minutes are taken up by announcements and going over our schedule for the rest of the year and any changes that may come. We are a very active club we have some sort of workshop every month on all kinds of topics and we go out and shoot that theme. Maybe its wildlife we go shoot wildlife or portraits and so on.

-Gear talk or Lightroom/Photoshop tips. A short talk about gear or editing is handled here by some of our more experienced photographers in the club. We try to keep this part of the meeting about 5 min or so. So it's just for quick tips or small pieces of gear that can be helpful to our members.

-Main Topic . The main topics are chosen by our officers early in the year . Then we find people to give presentations on these topics. These can be power point presentations to video inspired talks. We have people volunteering to do these presentations. We have the wildlife experts talk on wildlife, Landscape talk on Landscape stuff and so on. We try to cover all types of photography from street, portrait , macro, food, landscape, travel and wildlife. We may also have a presentation on workflow or composition. We sometimes get guest speakers to come and talk to our club or zoom in from across the country on certain topics. All of this is planned out by our officers at the beginning of the year and a schedule is posted of meeting topics and workshops prior to the start of the year so people can plan their schedules to attend workshops or meetings. We recently went to shoot milky way and meteor showers at a lighthouse 3 hours away so some people planned and stayed at hotels to avoid the drive home in the dark. Planning is Key for our club.

-Photo Contest. We have quarterly printed photo contest. The officers pick the topics. Say portraits, Travel, Faces, Landscape, Macro.  The members rate the photographs on 5 categories during a break on forms provided by the club. They are turned in and tallied up by one of the officers. The entries are anonymous so you can't just choose your buddy you have to rate the photo on a form that we provide. We rate all of the photo's not just the one that you like. We give ribbons for 1st , 2nd and 3rd place and give Amazon gift cards for them also. If you win one of the contest you cannot enter the other contest that remain. This is so one person doesn't win all of  the prizes. At the end of the year we pick the winner from the 4 and they have the photo of the year. We print photo's for those that want their photo's entered if they don't have the means to print.

-Photo Critiques and Member Spotlight. These are alternated each month. Photo Critiques, These are photo's that are taken by our members we put them up on the big screen and say what we like and what we don't like about each photo. Guided by one of our senior members to make sure it doesn't get crazy and keep the pace up. This is a great help to all of our members to have eyes on your photo's and see things that you don't notice as the photographer making you a better photographer. Member spotlight is a small presentation of one of the members of the club. We like to have new members do this so we can see what they shoot and get them more comfortable showing their work.

-Ending comments. This is where we discuss the details of the next workshop which is usually the Saturday following the Meeting unless there is a holiday that interferes .  We discuss meetup times duration what you need and such. We then thank the club for a great meeting and wish them safe travels home.

So there you have it a typical photography club meeting. So if your interested go to your local photography/camera club and join. You will meet new friends who love to talk about photography and you will learn and have a ball. So until next week Get out and Shoot!

Max Stansell Photography Hey Y'all! Hope you're having a great week!  Me ? Great! It's the last week of August.  That means its hot sticky but it also means that Fall is just around the corner! This is my favorite time of the year to do photography. I love the fall colors and the cooler temperatures.  And while I'm sitting in my house in shorts with the Air Conditioner on I'm already thinking of shooting in the fall. This year for me should even be better now that I'm retired and don't have work to keep me from getting out and shooting Autumn and all of its glory. So how do you get ready for Fall Colors? 

Preparing for fall colors is the key. Its more mental than gear related. Planning where fall foliage will be the _MSP2491Max Stansell Photography best .  My camera club does a Fall Colors trip each year which is usually a week long trip to the mountains to witness the fall colors. Sometimes we get great colors and sometimes not so much. Its hard to tell when the leaves are going to change. There are prediction maps that will show what they think the leaves will do in certain areas of the country and I guess it's a real science to figure out when and where the leaves are really going to Pop each year is different depending on weather of the summer before and the temps.  Even the elevation matters.  All you can do is research all you can and plan Fall Colors House with the best info you can get and hope for the best when you're taking long trips to see leaves.  In your local area scout out places nearby that have lots of leaves. I live in the south and there are lots of pine trees which do nothing in the fall you have to really look more leafy trees which in my case its go west. Softer leafy trees turn first like maple, apple, fruit trees. Then the Harder trees like oak turn later.  Sometimes in the south the just turn brown and fall with no color. Thats mostly what happens near my house but just a few hours drive away there are lots of colors to be had. Just plan and Leaf hunt for the colors. 

Fall colors aren't just in the leaves of the trees but in decorations and festivals that happen this time of the year. I love me some fall colored decorations. With dried corn stalks and Pumpkins! I love me some pumpkins and of course orange is my favorite color. Fall is also in the clothing that is warn when the temps get cooler the sweaters come out with all of the colors of fall. Shooting festivals is one of my favorite Maple Leaves things to do with lots of people watching and colorful decorations. When I think of fall I think Football, Pumpkins, Thanksgiving, Halloween and all of the colors that go with it. You can look up on the internet when festivals happen where you live and visit them with camera in hand and shoot ,shoot, shoot!  Did I mention Octoberfest? There are many beer enthusiasts that love this and they are always colorful.

So while you're in your house avoiding the heat of the dog day's of summer start planning your fall _DSC8464 trip/shooting season. My camera club has already started on our weekly itinerary on our fall colors trip. As you can see I'm a fanatic for fall colors. Especially Pumpkins! LOL As you can see I really didn't talk about gear because I think fall colors is more of a vibe than what gear you use. So until next week get out and shoot! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! LOL