Hello, Digital Image and Video enthusiasts,

It’s Digital Image Group time again—time for our 24th meeting ever!

We have a special announcement concerning the possibility of displaying your work at the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce below this invitation . . . so please don’t miss it . . . scroll to the bottom . . .

At the Digital Image Group, our mission is to give people the opportunity to show their visual imagery to an enthusiastic and visually educated audience.

You can see a great collection of DIG photos and videos from the past 2 years by going to http://www.digitalimagegroup.org . I have now added the copyright stamps and uploaded pictures shown at the March, 2010 meeting. You might want to check into the April folder as well, since DIG member Butch Alley has contributed quite a collection of sunset photos made on the west coast of Florida overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

The DIG offers you three choices: You can be a star and show off your visual arts-oriented work, you can be a spectator and watch and learn from the talented people who are presenting this month, or you can be a star and a spectator both.

Thursday evening of this week, April 15th  beginning at 6:30 P.M. you are invited to attend our fourth DIG meeting of 2010 which will be held in the Parish Hall on the left side of St. Julian’s Episcopal Church here in Douglasville.

If we have time, this week’s meeting will include an introduction to Adobe’s CS5 creative suite, just to keep you up-to-date on the state of the art in visual arts software. CS5 is not available yet – however, the launch event was presented earlier this week.

At this meeting, there will be demonstrations, discussions, slide presentations, videos and time to get to know other digital visual artists and wannabes . . . Bring friends and family members with you if you like. You are also encouraged to bring any pictures and/or videos that you would like to show.

Here is our agenda:

What: Digital Image Group Meeting

When: 6:30 P.M. till we are done (you don’t have to be on time and you can leave when you need to go). Thursday evening, April 15^th.

Where: St. Julian’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 5400 Stewart’s Mill Road, Douglasville GA 30135

Why: Because people with digital still and video cameras, computers, graphics and image manipulation/editing software need a place to meet, share their knowledge and see what other people are doing in the visual arts. If you desire, you may also show your own images, designs and digital videos to the audience, get some feedback and participate in the discussions.

Admission is Free. A donation of $1 is accepted but not required. Any money collected goes to pay for the $25 monthly rental of the Parish Hall. You become a member as soon as you come to a meeting. Anyone wishing to donate to help pay for other expenses we incur during the year including our $200 membership to the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce . . . well we would greatly appreciate that.

Part 1 starts at 6:30 and runs until 8 p.m. It will consist of shorter presentations and discussions.

Part 2 is a 20 minute informal social break from 8 p.m. until 8:20 p.m. -- Chat with participants and attendees. Bring your camera, accessories, prints etc. and ask questions, meet new people, make some friends.

Part 3 starts at 8:20 p.m. and remains open-ended: it goes until the last person has presented. Longer presentations and demonstrations are usually presented later in the evening during Part 3. You may leave at any time, once you reach “information overload” status. Everyone wishing to show their work will get the opportunity, so there is no formal ending time—as long as the presenters and audience last. This is your chance to enjoy visual arts in a highly condensed discussion group.

If your schedule won’t allow you to make it to part 1, plan on coming to part 2 or 3 of the evening or any time in-between.

Bring as many of your images to show as you can fit into 10 to 12 minutes, or bring videos up to 12 minutes in length. We give you the floor for your moments of fame. At the 10 minute mark, a chime will sound and you have 2 more minutes to wrap it up. A few presentations may last longer depending upon the need and interest of the presenter and group.

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.  

From the very first day that DIG was formed, it has been a member of the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce. Angelo Muhammad and Frank Karycinski are currently the DIG representatives to the Chamber. Because of this, we have been offered this wonderful long term opportunity! Norma and I will need some help in selecting images and hanging the shows. Please let us know if you have an interest in helping. We do not intend to be “too picky” about what images go on the walls, but we will include those running the Chamber in helping decide which images are shown and where they are placed there.

Let’s put it this way: once we take over the responsibility of providing visual imagery at the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce, we will have a PERMANENT gallery for DIG. 

If we get enough interest in this project, we will be changing out the images once every 3 months—that is 4 shows a year. At the beginning, we are asking people to start out by bringing in up to 3 framed images of Douglasville and Douglas County scenes. These can be buildings, people, animals, plants, objects and events, but they need to have a Douglasville/Douglas County setting to them. A bird in the sky won’t work, but a bird at Sweetwater Creek State Park with a “setting” will work fine. After the first show, we will entertain other themes and topics besides just local images—for example, “abstracts” or “travel” or “people” or “government” . . . or even “business.”

The images can range in size from small (4x6) up to huge (even larger than 16x20). There is plenty of wall space for us to cover. We will be showing a short video at this month’s DIG meeting of the bare walls on the insides of the Chamber building to give you an idea.

Very important: If you are interested in displaying your work, please reply to this email and let me know that you want to donate items for exhibit. This will require some expense on your part: You will need to matte and frame your work and use wire hangers on the back. The frames should be simple gallery show black frames. Gray, white, and some brown wooden frames may be acceptable, but they need to be simple and elegant, not elaborate  baroque style or cheap plastic either. We will be showing some examples at DIG.

You will not be “donating” your work to the Chamber. However, you will be loaning your pictures for as long as each show lasts. I calculate that we will have 4 shows a year. You may attach a price to your work and any money that changes hands will come directly to you except possibly a small fee to pay DIG for materials. However, we are still working out the cost of a few materials that will be necessary, such as signage and hangers.  

I have more information to send you via email if you are interested. This is a community outreach opportunity. If it results in image sales, so much the better, but please go into this with the understanding that “community outreach” and providing a permanent exhibit space for the Digital Image Group is our focus. Image sales can and will most likely result from showing your work but nothing is promised. We reserve the right to alter the rules of engagement over time as we see how this evolves (that was a disclaimer . . .).

If you already have framed images that fit this topic you are welcome to bring them to the DIG meeting Thursday. You might also want to bring JPEGs of images that you think could be appropriate and see what the audience thinks before you print, matte and frame them.

Direct all questions to me . . . Thank you!

Hope to see you at DIG!

Richard