Hello, SCC Members and Friends,

It’s going to be a great year for photographers, starting yesterday with the amazing downtown Douglasville Train Wreck special effects. In case you haven’t heard or seen some of the photos, you can go to any local news website and see the work of some of our local photojournalists. You might try http://douglasville.patch.com/articles/train-wrecks-in-downtown-douglasville for starters . . . 

In all seriousness though, we are very fortunate that no one was hurt and that property damage was minimized.

Congratulations to Susan Morris for becoming the official 2010 SCC Photographer of the Year!!! Anyone who participates in our contests knows how difficult it is to win this honor!

We have a lot of exciting news and events coming up for both the Sweetwater Camera Club and the Digital Image Group, so consider this the first of several emails you will receive over the next couple of weeks. I encourage you to read each email completely because you won’t want to miss anything!

2011 Membership Fees—please pay online or at the January 13^th meeting: Please take the time to renew your membership at the SCC or to join for the first time by going to http://www.sweetwatercameraclub.org/membership. Annual membership dues are $20 per calendar year (January through December) for an individual and $35 for two or more family members of the same household. We would appreciate your payments by the end of January because we must pay St. Julian’s church almost $500 this month to retain the meeting space for the year. Your fees help pay for the meeting space, refreshments and activities throughout the year. 

Also, FYI, the Digital Image Group is also meeting at St. Julian’s on the third Thursday of every month and now has similar fees. Over the next three days we will place a PayPal button on the DIG website at www.digitalimagegroup.org. We encourage you to join both organizations as they complement each other but do not overlap in scope or mission. The fees for the Digital Image Group will be $20 per calendar year from January through December for an individual, $35 for two or more family members, or you may choose to pay $3 per meeting ($5 per family) at the door. All proceeds go to pay for meeting space rental.

Immediate Need! - Chapel Hill News & Views Cover picture for February Issue: We will be providing the cover picture for the February issue with the deadline coming up later this week. Please send in your entries over the next 4 or 5 days. Anyone who would like to submit a photo with a Valentine’s Day theme or a  February seasonal scene that celebrates February is invited to submit one or more pictures. If your picture is selected, you will receive a photo credit on the cover of the magazine, which has a circulation of 40,000 issues in this area.

Our 7 winners thus far include: October 2009, Randy Myers; December 2009, Diane Yancey; February 2010, Natasha Stansel; May 2010, Susan Morris; July 2010, Diane Yancey; October 2010, David Tyson; December, 2010, Susan Morris. You could be next!!

Please email your pictures directly to Tim Collins at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I would appreciate your copying me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on any pictures you send to Tim so that I can keep track of submissions. Please remember that the CHN&V is predominantly a family-oriented publication so we need submissions to be tasteful . . . Pictures of your kids preparing valentines would be a great subject, for example. Submissions should be vertical to cover an 8.5x11 format at 300 pixels per inch with space at the top for a masthead and space at the bottom for the Gold’s Gym ad that appears on every issue. Please do not send tiny pictures—full resolution images are fine.

New On-line news magazines: Douglasville Patch has arrived. Visit http://www.douglasville.patch.com. John Barker, formerly a managing editor for the Neighbor Newspapers has become the Editor. The publication launched December 4^th. John says that the Douglasville Patch website will include at least 4 new articles every day. John is also a  writer and photographer for this excellent new addition to the media vehicles for this area. If you are interested in contributing to the Patch, you can email John at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Sweetwater Camera Club and Digital Image Group are already being featured in this on-line daily (perhaps hourly) publication. There is an article by John called “French Photographer Breathes Life into Stills” published on December 18th about our field trip chairperson, Dominique Chaponot and her amazing photo illustration talents. In addition, there is a continuing slide show which will feature work from the Digital Image Group as well as the winning entries of the Sweetwater Camera Club. The first slideshow was begun on Saturday, January 1^st, 2010 under a section called Saturday Photo Gallery. The Sweetwater Camera Club and the DIG will have rotating online exhibits every Saturday, so stay tuned . . . you can view the first exhibit which was published last Saturday at: “Artistic Offerings From Digital Image Group.”

If you are not living in the Douglasville area, you may also be interested in other new Patch sites. The Powder Springs – Lithia Springs Patch is located at http://www.powdersprings.patch.com . The Dallas-Hiram Patch is located at http://dallas-hiram.patch.com.

Officers and Chairpersons for 2011: The officers for 2011 who will be sworn in at our January 13^th meeting are: President-Richard Nichols, Vice-President, Angelo Muhammad, Secretary-Stella Spyrou and Treasurer, Gene Spicer.

Our chairpeople include Program Chairman-Angelo Muhammad, Contest Chairman-Erik Peterson, Fieldtrip Chairperson-Dominique Chaponot, Social/Welcoming Committee- Diane Yancey, and Publicity Committee Chairperson-Norma Nichols. If you are interested in serving on any of these committees, please let me know by sending me an email or calling Richard at 404-210-5985. We greatly appreciate the participation of each of our volunteers. They are the strong engine that keeps our group working to encourage the photographic arts and sciences in this region. Thanks to all of you who participated in 2010! I have left out the Web Committee . . . Lowell Sims, Stella Spyrou, Frank Karycinski and Sandra Belk have helped this past year in keeping up our website. 

January Photo Contest: Silhouettes: A photograph that shows an outline or profile of the subject or subjects that are rendered black or very dark; such as when the subject is back lit. You must be a member in good standing to enter the photo contest. Check out the rules at http://www.sweetwatercameraclub.org/contests/contest-rules .

We are still getting our act together with new contest topics, new speakers and new field trips. If you know of potential speakers, critiquers, possible field trips and other suggestions, please feel free to speak with one of our chairpeople or officers. The contest topics may have already been selected for the year. Other portions of our photographic existence are open for suggestions.

Thank you all for your help and participation. The Sweetwater Camera Club and the Digital Image Group are all about the life-long learning activities involved in practicing and achieving excellence in the Visual Arts.

More to come . . .

Richard