John Harmon asked me, Thomas Walsh, to post this blog on a photographic study group that I am forming. Personal group meetings will be private, but there will be an open Facebook extension. Though this will not formally be a part of Flatirons Photo Club, several club members have expressed interest in being involved. The following is the first paragraph of the blog on my website, thomaswalshimagery.com. If it interests you, please click on the link at the end of this post for further information.

About eight months ago I was wondering what I could do to grow as much as possible as a photographic artist over a short period of time—a year for example. The project I settled on is an immersion into the technique, methodology, and vision of one master photographer per month for a year, with each artist having their own, distinct spirit and artistic voice. I have decided to open the study to a small number of people who will meet at my house for two hours on the first Wednesday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. In addition, the program will be open to all photographers through a Facebook group. This may prove to be an ongoing project for the rest of my photographic life; in words oft attributed to Michelangelo aged 83, “I’m still learning.”

For further information, see http://www.twalshimagery.com/Blog/Artist-study-series/Twelve-Months-Twelve-Photographic-Artists.

Apologies that this announcement is a bit later than usual; scheduling considerations postponed matters a bit.

The next meeting of the Photographic Frontiers Study Group will be worth attending for a number of reasons. For starters, Matt Lit of mattlitphoto (http://www.mattlitphoto.com) will share with us his experience and insights as a professional photographer, photo journalist and photography educator. Matt began shooting for newspapers in 1977, while still in high school, and earned a degree in photojournalism and a reputation for news photography in Northern Arizona in the early 80’s. His work includes photojournalism, commercial and editorial photography, wedding photojournalism, dog photography, and fine art photography, some of which was created using a Holga Toy Plastic Camera. Matt’s workshops include private one-on-one courses; a summer class in Kremmling, CO and a new series with river guide Lauren Bond-Kovsky of The River’s Path.

After Matt’s presentation, and subsequent question and answer period, club members will be able to present photos that they would like to discuss and, if they choose, have critiqued. The primary purpose of this group is education and mutual support.

The meeting will end with a discussion of a possible direction for the Photographic Frontiers Study Group to take in 2018.

The meeting will be held November 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder.

Due to scheduling difficulties, there will be no Flatirons Photo Club Photographic Frontiers Study Group meeting next Wednesday. Repeat, the Photographic Frontiers Study Group meeting, previously scheduled for next Wednesday, Oct. 4, will not take place. We hope to pick up again with our regular meetings starting with the first Wednesday of November, November 1.

Photographic Frontiers Study Group meeting.

Just a reminder that this evening we will have an open meeting in which attendees can present photographs that they would like to discuss. If we don’t have enough photographs to fill the meeting, the group’s co-director, Thomas Walsh, will give a presentation on his adventures photographing the recent total eclipse in Casper, Wyoming.

In keeping with the mission of this subgroup of Flatirons Photo Club (education and mutual support), the meeting will focus not just on what each presenter has to say about the photographs but also on constructive criticism, provided that is desired by the presenter. Feel free to bring up to 10 photographs on thumb drives.

The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder, CO.

As requested by several regular members of the Photographic Frontiers Study Group, this Wednesday we will have an open meeting in which attendees can present photographs that they would like to discuss. In keeping with the mission of this subgroup of Flatirons Photo Club (education and mutual support), the meeting will focus not just on what the presenter has to say about the photographs but also on constructive criticism, provided that is desired by the presenter. Feel free to bring up to 10 photographs on thumb drives.

The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder, CO.

Tomorrow’s meeting of Flatirons Photo Club’s Photographic Frontiers Study Group will feature Jim Downs. The meeting will be held August 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder.

Jim has traveled to a large number of countries and taken numerous, often captivating photographs of the various cultures. He will share his inspiration and techniques in what promises to be a fascinating virtual tour of a significant part of our world.

Remember to bring any photos that you’d like to have critiqued or simply discussed. The purpose of this group is education and mutual support.

Thomas Walsh, former two-term president of Flatirons Photo Club and current co-director of the Photographic Frontiers Study Group, is organizing a field trip to Rocky Mountain National Park this Saturday, July 22, to view and photograph the Milky Way. We will rendezvous at Forest Canyon Overlook at 7 p.m. to set up for photographing the sunset. After nightfall, we will photograph the Milky Way on this night of the new moon.

It gets cold up there at night, so be sure to pack warm clothes.

Map to Forest Canyon Overlook: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Forest+Canyon+Overlook/@40.3958629,-105.71856,13.66z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xe95cf1ce998df4a7!8m2!3d40.395871!4d-105.7136483

The next meeting of Flatirons Photo Club’s Photographic Frontiers Study Group will feature Murth Murthy. The meeting will be held next Wednesday night, July 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder.

After a brief review of his May presentation on the use of Photoshop’s History Brush, Murth will delve deeper into the brush’s use before covering several related topics. For those who don’t already know it, Murth is a Photoshop guru, and his presentations are always informative and useful.

Remember to bring any photos that you’d like to have critiqued or simply discussed. The purpose of this group is education and mutual support.

The next Photographic Frontiers Study Group meeting will be held next Wednesday, June 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder, CO. Our featured speaker will be Cary Wolfson, who will present his iPhoneography workflow. Cary says, “I’ll be demonstrating from start to finish with several of my recent images. My workflow begins (and often ends) with Snapseed. It’s incredibly versatile and, best of all, it’s free. Plain and simply put, you need this.

“I will also be using several, if not all, of these apps:
“Touch Retouch does an excellent job of removing unwanted elements from your image.
“Brushstroke offers a wide variety of painterly effects.
“Distressed Fx has a slew of interesting textural effects, as does Stackables. (These two may be iPhone only, but Android users can try Vintage Scene.)
“Leonardo is a layer-based app that has a lot in common with Photoshop.
“iColorama is an incredibly deep app that can be used to create an infinite range of artistic effects.
“Circular is a fun app for creating mini-worlds from your photos.

“You can download whichever of these look appealing to you and follow along.”

Whether or not you’ve already delved into iPhoneography, this will be an extremely valuable presentation. There’s a world of photographic opportunities in nearly everyone’s hand these days.

The next meeting of Flatirons Photo Club’s Photographic Frontiers Study Group will feature former Flatirons Photo Club President, Thomas Walsh. The meeting will be held next Wednesday night, April 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Boulder Digital Arts, 1600 Range St., Boulder.

If you were fortunate and wise enough to attend our last meeting, in which Rick Cummings presented his ideas, procedures, and final artwork in portraiture, you probably learned a bit to a great deal about portraiture. As is the case with any artist, Rick has a distinctive style. In the group’s next meeting, Thomas will present a different approach, aiming for more of a cover girl look (Do NOT think Marlboro Man). Though the presentation will consider the speedlight and studio strobe lighting of a shoot, it will primarily focus on the use of frequency separation in post processing–a methodology used to locally soften skin textures as well as hue and saturation variations. One’s technique can, of course, employ both of these approaches in forming and refining a personal style.

If you have, or would like to develop, a passion for creating photographs of yourself and others, don’t miss this presentation.

Remember to bring any photos that you’d like to have critiqued or simply discussed. The purpose of this group is education and mutual support.