What is a “ShutterBug?”

In this digital age we have discovered that retired seniors are becoming more active pursuing projects they never had the time to do before. We’ve become more curious, more adventurous, and more outgoing. It only seems natural that when confronted with a computer, or a digital camera, we’d scratch our heads and ask:” Now what?”

So with that in mind, in 2005 a small group of digital-neophyte-camera buffs decided to form our own club here in “On Top of The World” dedicated to learning how to operate these confounded new shutter boxes and to mix in some FUN while doing it

This ain’t your ol’ Kodak Brownie! Today’s digital cameras are a sophisticated, sometimes complicated, piece of equipment. A simple “Point & Shot” camera can sell for fifty bucks, while a dSLR professional camera can go for $10,000! We’re more of the “middle of the road” kind of group. We’re here trying to teach you what all those buttons, dials, and lights are for and how to get the best shot possible whether it’s a portrait or a candid shot of a grandchild, a landscape, or an action shot.

With this in mind, we teach at a much slower pace—we’re all retirees after all and there’s always tomorrow—so once each month we give a class in Basic Camera techniques. Things like: shutter speed, aperture openings, “How to” techniques, composition, Rule of Thirds, and the dreaded “Mode Dial.”

Then at another week’s class we progress into the computers and how to archive photographs, how to “tag” them using basic techniques in Adobe PhotoShop Elements 4 (or 5 & 6), another week we’ll have a Field Trip where we’ll go visit a local horse farm and see very young colts romping around, or off to Gainesville to see the Butterflies, or maybe down to the Tampa’s Lowry Zoo, or up to the Jacksonville Zoo. How about an overnighter to St. Augustine’s Alligator/ Rookery Farm? All of these trips are designed to show you how to use your camera in a different way, to encourage you to read the manual, ask for help, and practice getting used to your new friend. Afterwards, we head out to lunch or maybe dinner and get to know each other better and talk about our experiences.

Not a neophyte? A professional, huh? Ok, we take another week for just advanced Adobe PhotoShop Elements? In this class you’ll learn techniques on changing backgrounds, adding or subtracting unsightly elements from your otherwise prize-winning photos, learn all the little tricks of the trade and what those “magic wands” and “Lasso Tools” are used for.

Once each month everyone is issued a “Challenge,” which is to take pictures of whatever subject was announced for that month, such as animals, people, or flowers. Take a different view, and shoot it! If you choose, you can submit three photos for gentle critiquing once each month by the membership. This is done in an effort to help you improve.

Ok, now you’ve got a few hundred photos and some of them are really very good. Hey- maybe, prize winning! We’ve got you covered. Once each year in November, we hold a Photo Exhibit where members can enter (for a small fee) their photos competing for ribbons. The judging is done by teachers and students from a local high school in a “blind” judging across five categories—-Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, and Modified, along with one voted on by the public as: “Best in Show.” Ah, now here’s the kicker: If you win a ribbon, next year you get bumped up into the next category. This gives everyone another chance to win a ribbon.

Well, that about wraps up a thumbnail sketch of what we’re about. This club has continued to grow; we all continue to meet new friends, do new things, and see new places, always reaching out to see and to capture the beauty of our environment.

Why don’t you take a journey with us? Come on, climb aboard. It’s gonna be a hoot, just you wait and see….

Gary Uhley, President

bugs@otowspc.com