Aguanga Star Trails
Stellar, Evening’s Stars,
Beacons in this Night;
Mountains touching the Sky,
Glorious Beyond Delight.
This Beauty,
Mere Words Cannot Describe,
While In These Hearts,
This Moment of Magic
Forever
Is
Inscribed.
Karen E. LeSage
The 2013 – 2014 photographic year closes for the Sun Lakes Camera Club with a feast, amazing images and a few laughs. The annual banquet rewards our members for their skill and enthusiasm for photography. In the final year-end event, members compete for Photograph, Photographer of the Year in Print and Photograph and Photographer of the Year in Digital in their respective classes. Officers departing their positions offered some wisdom while soliciting a few gibes from the newcomers.
Judy Daidone once again pulls off a grand soiree for the members with a buffet-style offering befitting kings. Fred Giese steps down as President with grace honoring Wayne Divoky, Anne Marie Divoky and John Beamer for their unconditional contributions of service, time and wisdom to our club over the years. Newly appointed President John Livoti presents Fred Giese with some light reading on “How to Survive Just About Everything” to occupy his time. The festivities closed with beautiful imagery judged by a trio of local Arizona club photographers.
Our top honorees were as follows: Class A – Print Photographer of the Year is William Lewis and Digital Photographer of the Year is William Lewis; Class B – Print Photographer of the Year is Vicki Rost and Digital Photographer of the Year is Jan Williams.
Our feature photograph won Photograph of the Year, Print – Class B. Aguanga Star Trails was taken by Paul LeSage just outside Aguanga, California on June 13, 2013. This stunning photo is a compilation of images each taken at 30 seconds, f/3.5 with ISO 100 over a period of one hour and 17 minutes. Paul used his Nikon D5100 with an AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens on a tripod and remote shutter release. Paul chose the software program, Startrails.exe, to combine all 126 images. Paul’s images are inspiration for Karen, his wife. She has graciously provided an excerpt from her poem also titled Aguanga Star Trails.
Photography 101 will again commence this fall. The course, open to Sun Lakes residents, is best suited for beginners wishing to improve their Digital Photography skills beyond Point-and-Shoot. The 10-class course will run Mondays from 7:00-9:00 p.m., starting November 12. To reserve a spot contact Dan Dragoon at [email protected]. There is a nominal fee; space is limited.
Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 5 in the Ceramics Room at Cottonwood Country Club from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The Sun Lakes Camera Club (SLCC) meets the first and third Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Navajo Room of the Sun Lakes Country Club from October through April. During the summer, the club meets the first Thursday of each month. For more information about the SLCC and its activities visit our website at https://sites.google.com/site/sunlakescameraclub/ or call SLCC President John Livoti at 480-895-6880, Vice President Burt Williams at 602-354-0266 or past President Fred Giese at 480-220-4394.