Photochrome Camera Club

The Photochrome Camera Club of San Francisco was formed to provide an opportunity for members with a wide range of experience and interests to meet regularly to share, acquire, and develop photographic skills in a supportive and friendly environment where they can explore the potential of all aspects of photography.  To learn more, see Club Info.

Burr Preston

Submissions for the book project are rolling in and you can take a sneak peak at the images your fellow Photochromers have submitted here: http://www.theothermartintaylor.com/photochrome/thumb.html

There is still time to contribute to the first round of image submissions and you can read details of what we’re looking for and h0w to submit your contributions here: http://photochrome.org/2009/05/26/photochrome-to-publish-a-book/

Juts a couple of reminders;

• the email address to submit pictures to is  mh.taylor@yahoo.com NOT the usual photochrome projectionist website.
• do not send full sized images - 1024 pixels on the longest side is more than adequate
• please send jpg images NOT psd files
• please make the file name self-explanatory (your name, image title, etc.) not just as your camera numbered the files originally
• file names should not include punctuation, only alpha-numeric characters (no #,*,@ symbols etc)

Thanks and we look forward to seeing more of your entries.

With a little fiddling I can compress movies to put them onto my iPhone.  This allows me to always carry a movie or two around with me one of which is always War Photographer.

Why?  The fact that it is a great documentary is one thing.  The fact that it is about a talented, eloquent, dedicated, mysterious and moral photographer is another.  However, if I had to pop this in the DVD player I would have watched the movie only a couple of times.  The fact that I carry it with me almost everywhere means that I have seen it many more times than that in small chunks.

If I’m feeling uninspired I’ll sometimes find a quiet corner and watch 10 minutes to get fired up.  If I think I’m getting too big for my boots I’ll watch another 10 minutes to remind myself how much work I still have to do.

I don’t want to be a war photographer or even a photo-journalist and yet I learn something every time I take a few minutes to watch a clip.  It’s not the technical stuff but the attitude, drive and commitment of Nachtwey that makes me want to watch this documentary over and over.  It is interesting to watch a real professional move and work in the field from a camera’s eye view.  It is also interesting to see how those captures become prints with a photo editor, or images in a magazine or on a gallery show’s walls.  The draw for me is Nachtwey’s utter conviction, commitment and sacrifice to what he does.  He shows the western world the uncomfortable truth about what is going on in the world.  To do that he has given up a normal life and normal relationships.  He has had success but the movie shows that what he has seen has changed and molded him.  Remarkably he doesn’t seem to have become a cynic and he’s not an adrenaline junkie but there’s something behind those eyes, something that makes those pictures, something created by the suffering and inhumanity Nachtwey has born witness to.

If you haven’t seen War Photographer, especially if you have an interest in photography, make time to watch this documentary.  It is the best film about a photographer and/or photography I have seen bar none.  I cannot recommend War Photographer enough but be warned, it doesn’t make a great date movie.

Our Judge at Junes meeting was Dick Stalhke. In addition to these images that he selected as favorites there was a slide selected too.

Garrett Griffin - Redwood Towers

Images and tripreport from our member’s field trip to Muir Woods: Continue Reading »