Photochrome Camera Club

Here is a list of up-coming dates we can enter the academy for free. It’s a great place for photography. Check it out.

SAN FRANCISCO NEIGHBORHOOD FREE DAYS – 2010 (Proof of Residency Required*)
Free admission is available for San Francisco residents in each ZIP code during the designated dates listed below. Each visiting adult is limited to six children for free entry. Read the rest of this entry »

Cherry Blossom Parade and Japantown Field Trip Parade Starts about 1:00PM

Gary Larsen, Chair

This is the 43rd Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival. The two-hour Japanese-style parade begins at the Civic Center at 1:00PM, proceeds up Polk Street to Post Street, and ends in Japantown at Post and Fillmore streets. I advise all members interested in participating in this field trip to check the route before the parade begins for possible strategic location(s) from which to photograph. Perhaps a high vantage point, a street hill, a balcony or roof top to shoot without being swept up in the crowd.

People participating in this parade are usually uninhibited and camera friendly, so they expect and want you to take lots of photos. Since you’ll be shooting lots of images during this event, be sure to bring more memory cards and batteries than you normally would. You may also want to take a wide-range zoom lens to catch nearby costumed dancers and then quickly zoom away to festival queens or taiko drummers performing on floats.

Several of us enjoy the stability of a tripod while photographing landscapes, wildlife and portraits. However, for this type of event its best to rely on wide apertures, high ISO and rapid shutter speeds.

I’ve included Japantown in this Field trip because of its interesting architecture, besides being the location where the Cherry Blossom Festival is held. If you can’t make it to the parade on 4/18, then feel free to attend the festival on 4/10, 4/11 or 4/17 to photograph other festival events. All these photos are welcomed as PicTwo images at our April 22nd meeting along with the Golden Gate Fields pictures.

Club President, Enrique Aguirre will discuss the many reasons to shoot RAW at this Exploring Photography evening. PicTwo Critiques subject matter will be the Golden Gate Fields Races and the Cherry Blossom Parade/Festival. Members may submit up to two images for each Field Trip.

All members are invited to attend these monthly meetings where activities of the Club are planned.

Members enter up to two images for Club discussion and critique.

Save meeting time. Send your digital images by midnight Wednesday(s to: Photochromeprojectionist@gmail.com

Mark your images:

Gary Larsen, Chair

This may be a challenging event to photograph since the sport involves a burst of high-speed action. Even so, it’s easy to anticipate where the horses are headed since they race in a predetermined space. The choice of panning or just freezing the entire action shot is up to you. Try both techniques and see what you get.

The first race is at 12:45 so let’s try to get there around 11:00 AM to give us plenty of time to park, go through the gates, and get some dollar hot dogs, beer and soda. Then we can look around for good places to shoot horses from the trackside. Check out the jockey mount area just before and after each race to get posed images of jockeys on their horses. Races are something like 30 to 45 minutes apart. This is a good time to get more dollar hot dogs, beer and soda or just wander around photographing other things. You might find the people quite interesting too.

Tripods are ok as long as you don’t block passageways. A telephoto or zoom lens would be great to capture close-up images of races.

Directions:

Take I-80 East onto the Bay Bridge.
Continue on I-80 towards Berkeley.
After Gilman Exit, take the Buchanan Street Exit (Exit on the left side heading for the Bay under the freeway).
Park in the large dirt parking lot. After paying your dollar parking and admission fees, go get some dollar hot dogs, beer and soda.