After February’s meeting focus on the San Diego International Photography Competition. This month’s meeting was a follow-up with discussions and photo-sharing partially focused on SD Fair photo categories.
We had an informal meetup in February at San Diego Safari Park since it was free Senior admission month. Three of us explored the grounds, hunting for interesting animal behavior and general practice.
Black&white is always an interesting style of photography that many of us pursue, often presenting our photos in both color and b&w. This month was no different. Plus Lois mentioned that black&white is an under-represented category at the SD Fair Competition. Since they only accept (have room to display) ~1200 photos and they receive tens of thousands of entries. Any strategy to help gain entry in the Fair’s exhibit is useful.
The last category this month was Macro – Bokeh which, in my opinion, is one of the hardest styles of photography. Finding the right combination of critical focus for a sharp image AND blurry background is challenging. Here are the photos shared this month, some were “open-theme”:

Barb Donovan – has some interest in entering photos into this year’s SD Fair Photography Competition. Here are a few for the black&white category and a wonderful image for the documentary category.

Barbara – continues to explore street photography with her new full-frame Nikon Zf. She also loves photographing birds so, of course, there are some great bird photos. Using her tried-n-true Olympus/OM System gear, she caught some wonderful insect-flower images.

Cathy – is our most experienced SD Fair exhibitor, even participating in a panel at last year’s Fair after being awarded some ribbons. She is also great at finding appropriate titles for her photographs, an under-appreciated skill. Here are some contender for possible entry into this year’s competition, many for the black&white category. I’m sure she has plenty of others for consideration.

Gary – has a few fantastic images he’s considering for entry into the SD Fair competition. A particular favorite is the Boat Jetty on the Lake with some amazing light in the background. He also shared some photos from his recent trip to the Grand Canyon where a sudden snowstorm interrupted his travel plans.
Gary participated in the Safari Park meetup and shared some of his favorites. The gorilla relaxing and lion snacking are excellent examples of catching amusing animal behavior that can elevate a zoo safari.
He is also considering submitting one of his favorite Dios de los Muertos portraits in this year’s fair.

Sharon – dug into her archives for an interesting photogram – a technique of photography done without a camera. Photographers like Man Ray explored this form of photography thoroughly enough they dubbed it “Rayograph”. Placing physical objects directly on a sheet of photo paper (or film), exposing with light, then developing was a darkroom process done without a camera – creative fun!

Jim – took a recent daytrip to Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife Refuge looking for burrowing owls and water fowl. No owls unfortunately, and the Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese aggregated on the farside of the ponds. So, to make the best of a long drive, he pivoted and focused on the great light at sunset and blue hour.
Jim joined the Safari Park meetup, practicing long lens and macro-with-flash photography.
A recent visitor to his backyard hummingbird feeder warranted a couple photos. He had never seen an iridescent orange Rufous Hummingbird before.
Lastly, he demonstrated the new “reflection removal” feature in Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop by removing the glare off the enclosure glass at the zoo.