Special Interest Groups
The Mississauga Camera Club supports and encourages Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Each SIG meets virtually approximately once a month via ZOOM, and the cost of each SIG is included in the membership for the entire year. Please check the Club Calendar for specific dates.
SIG meetings are typically held from September to June, and members are required to register in advance via the Members’ Portal. See the On-line Registration System page for details on how to use ORS.
- Image Critique – 1st Monday of the month
- Creative SIG – 2nd Monday of the Month
- Photo Editing – 3rd Monday of the month
- Locations – 4th Tuesday of the month
We thank our leaders for volunteering their time and expertise.
Image Critique
Leader – Peter Van Rhijn (www.naturephotos.com)
Meetings are held on the first Monday every month. The last meeting will be in June.
Members of this group are curious folk. They are keenly interested in learning all about the mysterious reasons why images succeed or fail.
Images submitted by group members are shown and their merits are debated. Questions are answered, mysteries are solved. Suggestions for improvement may be shown.
Guided by this new knowledge members learn to quickly edit and optimize images in a logical way, understanding what they are doing, and why they are doing it.
Creative
Leader – Michael Lemiski
Meetings: Zoom meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:00 pm.
Creative SIG Description:
In this SIG, we explore themes and techniques for producing creative images – images that often go beyond what your camera saw.
Members may use a variety of post-processing and/or in-camera approaches for their creative works.
All levels of skill are welcome at this SIG.
At each meeting, a member of the SIG presents techniques and provides links to resources for the Creative Theme assignment for the month. During the month members produce images on the Creative Theme, often sharing images on our Facebook page MCC Creative SIG https://www.facebook.com/groups/123713044456075/ , with other members providing feedback, or asking about technique. At the next meeting we present our images, share tips and inspire each other.
Creative SIG is not the same as Creative Vision Competition Category. While the Creative Vision Competition Category places an emphasis on altered reality, the Creative SIG members are free to choose whether or not they wish to present altered reality type photos to the SIG.
If you have any questions email me at mlemiski@gmail.com
Photo Editing SIG
Co-Leaders – Linda Weisner and Kevin White
Meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7:00 PM
The Zoom link will be sent out a few days before each meeting to those who have signed up.
With the continuing advances in Artificial Intelligence, there are many applications that provide one-click edits to photographs. But these applications provide only an “average” edit based on the multitude of images built into the algorithm models.
The Photo Editing SIG aims to provide members with the discussion and exploration of tools so they can create an image reflecting their personal artistic expression and interpretation of what the camera captured, and, more importantly, what the photographer envisioned when taking the shot.
The SIG focuses on demonstrating post processing techniques using various photo editing software and applications (including the use of the AI now prevalent in them!). Our objective is to help members develop their skills in creating their own art and personal style by exploring ideas and the tools available to edit photos. We also explore ways to produce and enhance unique images. All this so the precious works of art can be shared most effectively.
Recordings of some of our past meetings are available in the members area of the club web site.
Demonstrations range from using basic tools to the use of more advance techniques.
All are welcome.
If you have any questions email the co-leaders at admin@mississaugacameraclub (Kevin) or linda.wiesner@sympatico.ca.
Locations Travel
Meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of each month.
The LOCATIONS TRAVEL Special Interest Group (SIG) is a monthly gathering for MCC members interested in sharing their travel adventures. Each meeting is scheduled through Zoom and participants are provided with the meeting link one week in advance. The first meeting of the season is open to all members, but registration is free and is required for subsequent meetings. Registered members will be notified of each meeting, scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of the month, September through May.
The focus of the LOCATIONS TRAVEL SIG is travel photography, with an emphasis on how and when to travel to locations, the conditions for taking photos, and any tips and challenges unique to a particular location. We often share details about accommodations, modes of travel, and general costs. We welcome information about any location around the world, including travel around Mississauga, Ontario and Canada. The photos do not need to be perfect or of competition quality.
Our group has been meeting for many years and although we have had the opportunity to visit many countries, every trip presents unique experiences and views.
Members of the SIG are encouraged to participate by sharing a travel presentation, which will be scheduled by the SIG leader. You can use a variety of programs and software, or simply share your favourite photos and some basic travel information. This may be in Power Point, Key Note, Word, etc..
If you have questions, please email Hilary Callin at: locationssig@mississaugacameraclub.ca
Special Interest Groups Overview
Volunteers run our Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Each SIG leader shares their ideas/skills and organizes a 2-hour
session monthly with the help of the SIG members. All SIGs are included with your membership.
The first meeting of each SIG will be OPEN to all members. A general email blast will be sent out from each SIG
leader a few days ahead of their first SIG. The SIG leader will provide to the Director of Communication the wording
of the message and the SIG ZOOM link. The Director of Communication will send this email to all MCC members on
the date requested by the SIG leader. This will be for all four ZOOM SIGs. The first meeting of each SIG will be an
overview and a sample of what members can expect from the SIG. Members are encouraged to attend any or all
four (4) of the SIGS in September (October for the Image Critique SIG).
Subsequent SIG meetings will require a one-time online registration in the Members’ Portal for each SIG. The reason
for the online registration is that SIG leaders request that members make a consistent effort to commit to
participation in the SIG. Dropping in once or twice detracts from the purpose of the SIG – to learn from each other
and to share ideas, skills, tips and thoughts monthly.
Upon registration, each SIG leader receives a confirmation email with the member’s email address. All further
communication regarding future meetings, ZOOM links, challenges/activities related to the SIG would come to the
member directly from the SIG leader. Emails are kept in confidence and the leader emails members using “bcc” to
keep their emails private.
Please consider visiting each SIG in September and then registering for any or all
SIGs to which you would like to commit to.