Other than the in-club category and theme competitions, the Highland Glen Camera Club sponsors or organizes several other outings and competitions throughout the year.
By submitting images to a competition or other HGCC-sponsored event, the photographer implicitly grants his or her consent to the HGCC for duplication and/or publication of the image(s). Images are duplicated for judging purposes and to retain a record of entries from year to year. The club may also publish low-resolution copies of the images in the club's newsletter, on its web site, or in other media for promotional purposes.
All photographs submitted to any competition must be accompanied by appropriate documentation that, at a minimum, gives the image title, the name of the photographer, and the event or category the image is to be submitted.
In January of each year, the club holds a separate competition for the Jack Battler Creative Trophy. The idea behind the competition is to have members submit creative, rather than documentary, images. Subject matter, and type of media used, is open. Each photographer may submit up to two images to the competition; the trophy is awarded to the photographer with the highest single-image score, with ties broken by the scores for the second image.
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The Hepatica Shoot and Competition is a four-day event held over two consecutive weekends in the early spring. The event was begun by long-time HGCC club members Merlin Becker and Norm Jarvis to encourage the club membership to get out and shoot during the early spring. As such, the competition caters to those members who enjoy nature photography.
Hepatica is a small but attractive woodland flower that grows in high-quality woodland areas. There are several species of hepatica, including the sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) and the round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana). Sharp-lobed and round-lobed refer to the shape of the three lobes of the leaves. The flowers themselves, usually only one-half to one inch in diameter, are typically blue to lavender, but can also be white or even pink. Hepatica can bloom as early as mid-March, but in Ontario they bloom later, from mid-April to mid-May depending on snow-cover and spring temperatures.
The Hepatica shoot is usually organized for the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May. The site of the shoot varies, but is typically within a one-hour drive from Kitchener-Waterloo, and sometimes takes place on a location near the Niagara Escarpment. Since the shoot takes place so near to the end of the club year, the competition part takes place the following fall; only those images taken the previous spring are eligible for entry. Each photographer may submit at most two images to the Hepatica competition.
Starting in 2009, the club has decided to change the Hepatica competition. Instead of the subject always being the Hepatica flower, each year a different wild flower will be the subject for the competition. The only stipulation, the images have to be created during the same year as the competition. Refer to the current club year program for the subject.
Subject by year:
2009/2010 Season - Trillium - Due Nov. 1, 2010
2010/2011 Season - Dandelion - Due Fall 2011 - see 2010/2011 schedule when available.
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Periodically during the year, members are invited to present a photo essay on a topic of their choice during a regular club meeting.
A photo essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. All photo essays are collections of photographs, but not all collections of photographs are photo essays. Photo essays often address a certain issue or attempt to capture the character of places and events.
In general, photo essays can range from purely photographic works to photographs with captions or small notes to full text essays with a few or many accompanying photographs. When presented at Highland Glen, a photo essay is typically a sequential presentation of still images whose display is limited to approximately 10 minutes. With slide or digital presentations, the essay constitutes a single montage or collage of photographic images, with text or other additions, intended to be viewed both as a whole and as individual photographs. With prints, an essay may be presented sequentially, or the prints may be viewed all at once by setting up an exhibition of the prints in advance.
Slide or digital photo essays are often set to music, though this is not a requirement. Various software packages support slide shows set to music, ProShow Gold being one of the most popular at the present time.
Members of the Highland Glen Camera Club have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Second Cup Cafe located at the corner of Phillip St. and University Avenue in Waterloo, adjacent to the University of Waterloo.
The seating area at the rear of the cafe has four short (60 inch) walls suitable for framed prints. Exhibitors should note that:
Photo Casino is a social evening that includes dinner at a local restaurant.
Usually held in October, the event is designed as a fun event to permit members to display their work taken over the previous summer. Subject category is completely open.
To participate, HGCC members may bring 1 or 2 unmounted 8x10 prints (colour or black-and-white). The entry fee for participating photographers is $2; spectators may also participate, again for an entry fee of $2.
Each participant at the casino will receive a number of playing cards. The total number of cards dealt will be dependent on the number of prints entered (5 cards per print). Cards will be dealt to participants equally, though because of numbers some participants may receive one less card than others.
Following dinner, all of the prints will be laid out to accept the placement of cards. The basic idea is for participants to vote for their favorite images with their cards, placing at most one card on any one print, face down. Participants should keep in mind that poker values are used for individual cards. If an image already has five cards, then a different image must be selected. Card placement will proceed in round-robin fashion until all participants have placed their cards. At the end of this process each image will have exactly five cards.
Once all of the cards have been played, two additional cards are drawn from the deck. With these two cards, and the five played on each of the pictures, the best five-card poker hand will be created for each picture. The picture with the best poker hand will be declared the winner, with corresponding second and third place prizes.
The "Disposable Camera Challenge" is a non-competitive event. The idea is to challenge participating photographers by "leveling the playing field" so that all the participants utilize the same equipment: a 12- or 14-shot 35mm disposable camera.
At the last club meeting in January, photographers will be invited to enter the challenge and pick up a disposable camera from BJ Photo Labs in Waterloo (located at the corner of Phillip and Albert Streets next to the Parkdale Animal Hospital). The challenge is a theme contest: to photograph a number of specific subjects utilizing that disposable camera. The challenge theme will remain secret until the challenge period begins.
Once the camera’s film is exhausted, the photographer will return the camera to BJ Photo for processing. All of the images will be digitally displayed at a social evening to be held on Monday, 9 February 2009.
There are no prizes or awards for this event.