The Digital Image Group will not meet this month or in December. We will continue to add some pictures and the videos that have been presented over the past year and a half that have not made it up onto the DIG website. This will allow us to catch up after over 3 and a half years of continuous meetings.
Before we resume DIG, we will determine the actual needs and demand of the visual arts community for the services that DIG provides. Our attendance has dwindled below 16 people, which is the lowest since the first meeting we had, 42 months ago. There is no need for us to move forward with this initiative unless the support of the community is there because it does require quite a number of labor and meeting hours per month.
We have had a great run over these 42 meetings and I would guess that at least 100 people have presented their work in all, maybe more. Over the next few months we will be working towards strengthening the Sweetwater Camera Club (our first priority) and seeking a better meeting model. Right now we have a “serial” model, meaning that we can only have one speaker and presentation at a time. This makes sense on one level, but the original intent was to provide a place where people could get questions answered and demonstrations would have as much time as travelogues and other assorted slide shows.
This will be a welcome break for some, including those of us who put on the show. We haven’t had time to work on our own visual art because of the time dedicated to putting on the shows. So, please enjoy the rest of the Fall here in west Georgia and beyond. We will eventually try to come back with better ideas about how to make this group more successful.
For those of you who have pictures hanging in the Chamber of Commerce building, never fear. Norma and I just signed up for another whole year of membership with the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce and we are still hanging photos and changing out pictures. If you need your pictures back, we will be glad to meet you there or return them to you. If you would like us to hang more pictures, there will be some spaces available as we take down a few at a time. Our goal is to change out the entire exhibit over time and add new images. The Digital Image Group is no longer a member of the Chamber, since we couldn’t find a representative who would actually show up at any of the Chamber events.
If you or someone you know has given us money for either an Irfanview tutorial disk or for a subscription to DIG, please let me know and your money will be refunded to you. I took some money from a few people for advance sales of Irfanview tutorials a couple of years ago, but time and work has prevented me from ever finding the uninterrupted time necessary to put together this tutorial.
In the meantime, onwards and upwards . . . DIG isn’t dead, but it needs a break, for sure.
Douglasville, Georgia resident Jerry Frost, a former Eastern Airlines pilot who heads up the Douglas County Film Commission, recently spent a couple of weeks in Alaska. He and his wife Marge attended their son's wedding which took place about 30 miles from Fairbanks. Early in their sojourn, they visited Rosyln, Washington, the fictional home of the tv series Northern Exposure. As you will see, Alaska is quaint . . . and quiet, at least in this video it is.
Jerry animated this video was with Photodex ProShow Gold software from many still photographs. He using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities of Photomatix software. Jerry's Canon Point-and-Shoot camera was placed on a tripod for each shot so he could use an automatic 3-shot bracketing technique. Combining the three exposures of each photograph, he captured tremendous detail in the highlights and shadows. HDR software exaggerates the range of tones in a photograph to simulate what the human eye usually sees.
This offering by Steve Taylor includes pictures of Douglasville, Georgia's major train wreck which took place on January 4th, 2011, and a major snow and ice storm that hit the Atlanta area less than a week later. Included inside this presentation are visual demonstrations of photographic lighting experiments created with a homemade lightbox and a homemade ring light (used to photograph this kitty). Amazing stuff!
Steve Taylor always shows up at DIG with some amazing work. The frantic competitive style and crisp, clear sports photography contained in this video succeed in drawing the viewer immediately into the excitement. At the Digital Image Group meetings we usually play each of Steve's creations at least twice because once is never enough!
At the April 15th, 2010 meeting of the Digital Image Group, Joe and Bess Orenzow of Orenzow Video Productions presented this 25 minute salute to the heroic public servants in Douglasville and Douglas County, Georgia.
Karen Cross Moline, of Karen Cross Ministries in Douglas County, narrates and illustrates what one person can do to bring publicity, honor and praise to those in our community who serve us and protect us from harm. The Orenzows have composed a number of vignettes depicting events in the lives of these important men and women. The video is accompanied by interviews with citizens who have directly benefitted from their efforts.
About the upcoming Digital Image Group Gallery Show next week at the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce:
We hope to have as many images of Douglasville and Douglas County as possible to show the public at the Chamber of Commerce building by next Thursday, May 13th. On Friday, May 14th there is a great wine-tasting event at the Chamber called “Taste of the Grape” brought to you by our arts crusaders at the Cultural Arts Council.
This is YOUR CHANCE: The Digital Image Group will be featured everywhere inside the Chamber building if you will just bring us some pictures to display. Although I sent the information out last week in a lengthy email to you, if you would like a refresher course in what we are looking for to decorate the Chamber walls, please go to http://www.digitalimagegroup.org and scroll down the page to the second and third article. The information should all be there.
As I indicated at recent meetings of the Digital Image Group and the Sweetwater Camera Club-- and in recent emails, the Digital Image Group has been awarded the opportunity to have rotating permanent displays in two downtown Douglasville buildings, specifically, the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce at 6658 Church Street and the Douglas County Development Authority building at 8512 Bowden Street. YEAHHHHHHHHH!
Opportunity Knocks: For those of you who are not familiar with these buildings, the DC Chamber building on Church Street is a few doors down from City Hall on Church Street on the opposite side of the street, on the hill between Regents Bank and United Community Bank. The Douglas County Development Authority, located in a historic home on Bowden Street, is just across from the Douglas County Sentinel building.
Special Announcement: Kallie Boatright, the president of the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce has invited the Digital Image Group to create a permanent “rotating” display of images inside the Chamber Building in downtown Douglasville. This is a LARGE and very visible undertaking which will require between 35 to 50 framed images from our group which will hang on the walls there. If you are a DIG member and you have presented some of your work during meetings over the past 2 years, you will receive first priority in displaying your work.
In this video, presented to the Digital Image Group on February 18th, 2010, nature photographer Jim Enterkin uses PhotoDex ProShow Producer and royalty-free classical music to showcase his flower and bird photography. This multimedia presentation serves as a reminder that Spring in Georgia is right around the corner. Turn up the music and enjoy . . .
