GUEST AND MEMBER SPEAKERS
FALL 2023-2024 SEASON
Scroll down to view information on upcoming Speakers
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September 13, 2023
PHIL NORTON: Regional Documentary & Stock Photography
PHIL NORTON: Regional Documentary & Stock Photography
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BIO:
Phil Norton’s lifelong pursuit has been documenting counties and regions across North America. As it happens, 1957 Pittsburgh was when and where Norton was born and Life Magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith was documenting the Smoky Steel City in black and white. In 1972, Norton purchased his first camera, a 35 mm Pentax Spotmatic, and continued the family tradition of photography. On a bicycle trip around the Great Lakes in 1979, he met the French-Canadian woman who would become his wife, immigrated to Montreal around the time of the Quebec referendum on sovereignty, learned French, relocated south to the US border, and rented an old Canada Customs house, his base for documenting the Chateauguay Valley for 26 years. He was editor of the Huntingdon Gleaner bilingual weekly newspaper in 1983, became a full-time photojournalist and columnist for Chateauguay community newspapers from 1993 to1996, then moved to the Montreal Gazette where he shot news assignments and ran sales of the photo archives from the Star to the Herald and Standard. He moved to Prince Edward County, Ontario in 2007; leading group trips became his full-time occupation in 2012, offering local and eventually "Photography Adventures" to all corners of North America. Post COVID, he hss gradually resumed tour guiding, speaking, flying drones, and teaching smartphone photography as a professional tool. His work has appeared in Canadian magazines and calendars, and he contributed to A Four Season County–Prince Edward and Hastings, 2023. Website: www.photographyadventures.net Instagram: Instagram.com/county_photographer     |
September 20, 2023
DAVID DuCHEMIN: The Heart of the Photograph
DAVID DuCHEMIN: The Heart of the Photograph
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Based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, photographer and best-selling author David duChemin has taught photography on all seven continents and has appeared on stages for companies like Amazon and Apple to teach the human side of this craft.
With over 35 years’ experience making photographs, his calling is to help photographers make photographs that are more than just sharp and well-exposed. David teaches how to make photographs that light a spark in people, that communicate clearly, that captivate imaginations, and grab the attention and hearts of the people who will see them. As an international workshop leader and author of best-selling books like Within The Frame and The Soul of the Camera (both published in over a dozen languages), he’s taught students this incredible craft on all seven continents. David's lecture will inspire you to go deeper with your craft and find greater joy—and freedom!—in the exploration of your vision. Website: https://davidduchemin.com https://davidduchemin.com/new-home-page/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidduchemin/ The Heart of the Photograph: A compelling photograph is more than visual. It's visceral. We don't only see it, we feel it. It's more than just focusing our lenses; it's also focusing the attention of those who will experience our photographs. Great gear helps, but what about the other tools? What about juxtaposition and mystery, story, mood, depth, and energy? What about the power of a great moment? And when it comes to gear, is it enough that we have all the tools, like great optics, or should we be developing a sensitivity to the unique ways in which different focal lengths amplify the feeling of a scene when used well? The Heart of the Photograph is an inspiring presentation about these very ideas, and it will change the way you make your photographs and reignite the spark if it has cooled off. This is a 70-minute high-energy presentation, plus a 15-minute recorded Q+A. Participants will have complimentary access to three bonus resources—two best-selling books as well as the slideware from David’s presentation     |
October 11, 2023
STEPHANIE JOHNSON: “The Art and Beauty of Intentional Camera Movement [ICM] Photography
STEPHANIE JOHNSON: “The Art and Beauty of Intentional Camera Movement [ICM] Photography
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BIO: Stephanie Johnson is a self-taught creative photographer who is primarily focused on ICM photography. She has honed her techniques by getting out to do the work as often as possible. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduate work in English Literature. She has always had a very strong emotional connection to art in all its various forms, as well as to the natural world. She has a deep passion for creating uniquely artistic images by working with camera movement to paint how any given scene feels for her in the moment. She is the founder, creator, and publisher of ICM Photography Magazine (ICMPhotoMag), a first-of-its-kind e-magazine dedicated solely to featuring ICM images, articles, reviews, interviews, tips, and tutorials, by ICM photographers and artists around the world, in a quarterly feature-packed digital format. She leads on-location ICM retreats through The ICM Experience, as well as ICM workshops both online and on location for Santa Fe Workshops. Website: www.stephjohnphoto.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephjohnphoto Instagram: www.instagram.com/stephjohnphoto The Art and Beauty of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) Photography: The art and beauty of ICM photography is that, by seeing things differently, we can connect with the ordinary, and even the mundane, to transform how we interact with our surroundings . . . to explore, experiment, and play with the camera in exciting new ways, resulting in images that are unique to each individual photographer. Stephanie will share her passion for ICM and talk about her journey from traditional landscape photographer to focusing primarily on ICM photography. She has a deep love and joy for the individually expressive nature of ICM and encourages photographers to see things differently through the lens of their cameras, as well as through the lens of their inner creative selves. Stephanie will cover some of the basic ICM principles and techniques, along with sample images to show the effects of various camera movements and the camera settings for each. Additionally, she will present several examples of scenes before and after using ICM, as well as a short field-work video to show some of the camera movements she uses in different location settings. She will also touch on some more advanced ICM techniques such as multiple exposure ICMs and present a section on mobile ICMs for the growing trend towards creating with mobile devices.     |
October 25, 2023
ILANA BLOCK: My photographic journey to the Falkland Islands
ILANA BLOCK: My photographic journey to the Falkland Islands
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BIO:
Ilana Block has been practising naturopathic medicine in Montreal since 2001. As of 2010, when she is not in her office, she is out in nature photographing wildlife. Growing up with a huge appreciation for nature, Ilana instinctively took to photographing wildlife. She loves to travel, to be out in nature, to discover new places, to get to know the birds and other animals there, to meet great people, and to share her love of photography through workshops and lectures. She was chair of MCC’s Nature Division from 2015 to 2018. She has won several local, national, and international awards. Her work has been published in nature magazines, exhibited at local cafés and art galleries, and is in permanent collections in a number of hospitals. As well, she’s been selling her images to private buyers and stores over the past number of years. My Photographic Journey to the Falkland Islands: Ilana Block visited the Falkland Islands for two weeks in November 2022. She is delighted to share her stories, adventures, and photos of this magical place with you. She will discuss how she made these photos, providing tips along the way, and will also play the five-minute video she created of the penguins. The Falkland Islands are home to five species of penguins and so many other incredible creatures! Ilana is excited to present her photos of all of them to you.    |
November 8, 2023
MONIQUE CAMPBELL - “Building Confidence to Shoot Street Images”
MONIQUE CAMPBELL - “Building Confidence to Shoot Street Images”
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BIO:
A graduate of the Western Pacific Academy of Photography in Victoria, B.C., Monique Campbell began her career as a photojournalist at the Moose Jaw Times-Herald in 1990 and then went on to freelance at the Sudbury Star. In 1994 she was awarded the Runner-Up Picture of the Year for the Canadian Press and Picture of the Year for Thomson Newspaper Chain for her news photo of a firefighter reviving a boy in Sudbury. Her work has been exhibited, collected, and published domestically and internationally. She’s been a street photographer since 2016. She enjoys roaming the streets of Hamilton, Ontario, where she lives, as well as traveling and making images abroad. Monique was a member of the Latow Photographers Guild in Burlington and has been awarded the Masters level through Guild Evaluations. In a flash of perception, Monique identifies a moment and clicks the shutter already knowing the end result will demonstrate her empathy and intimacy. She finds interest by observing the mundane, the ordinary, and the moments most people take for granted. She excels in producing captivating photographs that tell stories that linger in the minds of her viewers. Website: https://momentsbymonique.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moments_by_monique Instagram: co-moderator of @aftervivian with her friend Jane Gismondi of Vancouver. @jane___gismondi Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momentsbymonique_street photography Building Confidence to Shoot Street Images Whether you’re a beginner or experienced photographer, is lack of confidence holding you back from doing street photography? During Monique Campbell’s 75-minute presentation with over 85 photographs from her start as a street photographer in 2016 to now, through her tips and tricks, you’ll find inspiration to go out and shoot street. You’ll see a demonstration of how Monique crops and edits her work on a number of before and after images. And she’ll provide a five-page handout related to street photography as well as a pdf of Ontario Photographers Laws. What you’ll gain from this presentation:
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November 22, 2023 - First Half - (Part I) and December 13, 2023 (Part II)
MICHELLE MACLEOD: Explore your Creativity with De-stress + Shoot Reveal
MICHELLE MACLEOD: Explore your Creativity with De-stress + Shoot Reveal
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Bio
Michelle Macleod is the Assistant Curator of McGill University’s Visual Arts Collection (VAC). Her role includes collection research, curatorial projects, and communications for a collection that consists of over 3500 artworks. Before joining the VAC team, Michelle was an editorial assistant at the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art and a cataloguer at Concordia’s Visual Collections Repository. Michelle holds a PhD in Art History from Concordia University. Her doctoral research examined the dissemination of early Canadian photography in nineteenth-century illustrated periodicals. She completed an MA in Photographic Preservation & Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University and a BFA in Art History from Concordia University. Website: www.mcgill.ca/vacollection IInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcgill_vac Email: vacollection@mcgill.ca Explore your Creativity with De-Stress + Shoot (November 22, 2023 - Part I) De-Stress + Shoot Reveal (December 13, 2023 - Part II) This two-part event is a special adaptation of the McGill Visual Arts Collection’s popular series De-Stress + Sketch, which ran from Spring 2020 to Summer 2022. This online program featured an artwork from the collection every week with an open invitation to send a sketch of it back to us. The following week we shared a roundup of all the creative submissions. Over time, the series grew from a fun way to share works of art from the McGill University collection to a form of art therapy that helped us feel connected to each other. It also was a wonderful way to push artistic boundaries and encouraged many to try new themes, forms, and mediums in their own practices. Specifically designed for the members of the Montreal Camera Club, De-Stress + Shoot is an invitation for photographers and digital artists to take up an artwork as a source of inspiration. In the first presentation, Michelle Macleod will offer tips from an art historian’s toolkit for appreciating artworks, present an overview of photographs in McGill University’s collection, and highlight one artwork that will serve as the members’ creative challenge. We will meet again on December 13 to showcase the members’ submissions and discuss processes of inspiration. To have your work shown in the De-Stress + Shoot Reveal on December 13, please submit your photographs/digital art by midnight on November 29, 2023 to michelle.macleod@mcgill.ca.       |
October 19, 2022 (2nd Half)
SPOTLIGHT ON MEMBERS #1: Maxianne Berger & Jean-Louis Côté
SPOTLIGHT ON MEMBERS #1: Maxianne Berger & Jean-Louis Côté
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MAXIANNE BERGER:
Maxianne Berger has long been interested in photography but was technobobulated by cameras. When the digital age arrived, she transitioned from cardboard Fujis to a smartphone camera. In 2023 she joined the MCC to learn how to improve her images. She’ll talk about photo haiga, a contemporary approach to the Japanese art of melding image and poem, which early in the pandemic became her form of choice and has enabled her to merge photography with her decades-long practice of poetry.     |
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JEAN-LOUIS CÔTÉ: (Rescheduled from April 5, 2023): TV director Jean-Louis Côté is surrounded by visuals. An MCC member since 2021, he delights in using his camera to capture any variety of subjects. He tweaks images in Photoshop and sometimes experiments with AI. His daughter’s passion for building intricate miniature villages has led him to explore miniature photography that captures their unique, tiny ambiance using a range of lighting techniques as well as modern and vintage lenses.    |
