Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be at the Pin & Cue Bowling Alley in Whitefish, MT. at 6:30PM Thursday, June12th. Greg Thigpen will provide us with a program

Minutes from May By Adele Scholl

Our meeting started off with Jeff and my photographs from the Grand Canyon. As a person that loves the rivers and rafting, we were always told that 21 float down the Grand Canyon was a trip of a lifetime. We planned to go Febuary 2008, a self guided trip, 13 people. Leading up to the trip I had mixed emotions. Going in the winter, were we crazy I thought. Although I love rafting, I had never done a river trip in the winter, or a trip over 7 days. Also the Grand Canyon rapids are known as world class, they even have their own rating system for these rapids. Usually the rapids are rated I-VI, VI being unrunnable and I being small ripples. In the Canyon the rapids are rated 1-10, 10 being unrunnable, 1 being ripples. The rumors of the rapids were going through my mind as we drove down to Flagstaff, AZ, through some of the worst winter weather we had seen. Missing all these powder days skiing to freeze on rafts for 21 days. What were we thinking!

We finally made it down to Flagstaff on time, after being on closed highways for hours, seeing cars in the ditch every time you turned your head. The day before we were leaving for Lee's Ferry, a put in for the Colorado river, it was -15 F in Flagstaff. At this point we were committed. On our journey to Lee's Ferry, we all told a little about ourselves. Of the 13 people going we knew 4 people, this was another concern running through my head. I had always heard stories how trips could not get along and this could make or break the trip.

We put on the river February 1st, a nice sunny dessert day. I remember the feelings well, finally after a year of planning and we are pushing off. It was true every bit of talk, this trip was something that is hard to describe. It was unbelievable, the scenery as amazing as described and the rapids bigger then imagined. I kept thinking of all the people that had journeyed before us in wooden boats, wearing wool and leather, at least we had state of the art gear. We made it through the trip with minimal carnage, only having one person swim part of a rapid and losing only a thermos. We felt very thankful to the river Gods. Also we all bonded and supported each other in everything we did. The physically part of the trip was also more then imagined. We traveled 220 miles in 21 days so we had to row a lot on the rafts. Some days we did large 8 mile hikes and still had to raft. But the experience was one that I will always remember. So much that we are going again next March 2009. I came off the river thinking 21 days was not long enough, so many places to explore and hike from the river that we were not even able to stop at.

To see a clip from the IMAX movie "River at Risk" Click Here and click on Preview the Film. They rafted down the Colorado with over a million dollars of camera gear.

Dan Wiebe brought images from Lake McDonald. Showing us the beautiful calmness and reflections this lake can see. He also showed the club a telephoto shot of the moon that was impressive. Ending his show with a shot of a motor cross jump. With some creative Photoshoping skills he merged eight images into one still shot. Show every second of the jump. Neat effect.

Jane has always been on of my favorite camera club photographers. She likes to travel to Banff and photograph those amazing peaks and colors. This time she wowed the club with shots from Yellowstone. Although it did not look like she had nice weather, she still showed some nice pictures. Focusing on every day buffalo journeys in Yellowstone. Including crossing the river in a blizzard, to hanging out on island in the river, to a Mom buffalo and her baby.

Larry has started to go back and scan some of his older pictures. He has some really nice images that we had taken from the park. He had a few shots from the top of Reynolds, giving us a bird's-eye view of the park. That is rarely seen. He also traveled to the Tulip display in Washington. Another trip I would like to make but never seem to have the time. He showed us the amazing colors and shapes of tulips. I especially liked a shot that he had of tulips against an old fence that was filled with Liken.

TLee brought some nice flower shots. I really love the up close shot of shooting star. She also had some great shots of a bear track near her home, and bird shots. Showing an osprey eating a duck and then showing the club the after math of the feast. The pond covered with duck feathers. She also had some images that made you think. Showing interesting patterns in a skillet. Making you wonder what you are looking at.

Thanks everyone for bringing in your photographs. I really enjoy the diversity of the club.

Photoshop Session

The May Photoshop session when well and evoked comments such as "this was the best session so far." It was a hands on session where people shared some of the techniques they're using. Everybody had their own laptops so they could actually perform the action verses just watching. I personally have used most if not all of the techniques since that session. We decided to suspend sessions for the summer. That met with mixed reviews but it was decided that summer was to busy and one less meeting during the month would be better. The format where people had their own laptop and doing the work was so popular that we decided it would be the best way to proceed in the fall. It was also decided that we should keep the entire group together, beginner to expert, with the accomplished able to help the beginners. More info at regular meeting on the 12th.
Doug

Ed’s travels

Nancy and I just returned from a nice trip through AZ and Yosemite then to Depoe Bay OR and home. We drove to Zion where we slowed down to look at several Photo Galleries. There are a couple of really good photographers who have galleries in Springdale. After a leisurely trip through the park we drove to Phoenix where we visited some friends and had a couple spectacular meals then went to Florence AZ to look at some cheap condos. Next was Yosemite where we discovered that we were there at just the right time. The waterfalls were gorgeous, Half Dome and El Capitan were in their prime and I had some film in the cameras. It was a fun day. Driving to Fresno was also a really nice trip with many miles of beautiful scenery and not much sine of people. We drove from there straight to Depoe Bay where we also had some fine food and a relaxing couple of days in our Condo. All together we enjoyed a really nice trip.

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Buffalo Hills Terrace

Larry Stolte continues to support this really worthwhile program with efforts above and beyond the call of duty. I can’t tell you how happy I am that he has devoted so much time and effort and does it so well.

Please help him and volunteer to do a program soon.

Classified

None this time

The 344 Gallery

Our new Gallery show features some of Lyle Olson’s wonderful work from his last trip to India. Watch for the Artist reception June 6th.

PROGRAMS

Bruce Ruby August
Pady Dusing September