Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

Background: These slides were created to help the OPC transition to Zoom while OLLI was dealing with its higher priority, bringing all the courses online.  The original intent was to support one-on-one sessions for helping people become familiar with the Zoom application.

Use: Now, June 2020, the slides are available for the "ollizoomhelp.org" effort.

SCROLL DOWN TO AVOID OLLI'S STANDARD WEB-THEMED MENU TO THE RIGHT.

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Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

By George Bradshaw / Revised January 8, 2018

This article provides an overview of the online OLLI Photo Club (OPC) Galleries, including a) a description of the main OPC Galleries, b) a reference for viewing, commenting upon, and uploading photos to specific galleries, and c) guidelines for the monthly competitions.

1. Overview

On April 1, 2016 the OPC transitioned photo sharing operations from the PBase photo repository service to the SmugMug service.  All photos from PBase have been moved to SmugMug, and the gallery structure of PBase has been replicated on SmugMug.  PBase is still available for viewing photos as of 2018.01.08.  Following are the links to each system:

OPC Galleries

SmugMug    https://olliphotoclubgmu.smugmug.com/

PBase          http://www.pbase.com/olligmuphoto

The “OPC Photo Repository, Member’s Guide, 20180108” for the new OPC Galleries is available at the OPC Photo Repository Website under the “Site Notes” menu.  The Guide discusses the transition plan and provides detailed instructions for uploading and commenting upon photos.

2. Galleries

OPC members use three galleries on a regular basis: two Competition galleries and one Field Trip gallery.  The Competition galleries are shown on the second Friday of each month to select the best photo which will be published in the OLLI newsletter.  The Field Trip gallery is shown on the fourth Friday as a basis for discussing photos taken during the club’s Field Trips on the third Friday.

Other galleries are available for special purposes such as OLLI Catalog Covers and Greeting Cards.

3. Viewing Photos

One may view photos in the galleries of the public OPC website:

https://olliphotoclubgmu.smugmug.com/

The OPC website has a menu- and icon-driven interface. To select a gallery for viewing, one need only start clicking on the menu item “Galleries” to see the various galleries available.

The Competition and Field Trip galleries are organized chronologically: under the “Galleries” menu, first select the year, then the month. For the Competition galleries, three icon photos (feature images) will be displayed for the month (see image 1), annotated as Critique, non-Critique and Slideshow. The title of the monthly gallery contains the date as yyyy.mm and the theme of the month; the title in Image 1 is “2016.01 Open” (“Open” means that no specific theme has been specified for the month). Click on one of the feature images to view the gallery. The Slideshow gallery contains all the photos of the Critique and non-Critique galleries.

Image 1: Selecting a Competition Gallery

The Field Trip galleries are selected directly from the corresponding “monthly” icon. The title of a Field Trip gallery contains the date and the field trip destination.

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4. Commenting upon Photos

OPC members upload photos to the monthly competition’s Critique gallery to solicit comments regarding artistic interpretations, technical or artistic improvements, or, let’s face it, just for the joy of socializing with fellow members.

The comment process is fairly simple: a) navigate to a photo in a Critique gallery, b) log in, and c) post a comment.

Commenting upon a photo requires logging in via a Facebook or Google+ account. Start the logon process by clicking in the empty gray box below the photo to which you've navigated (see Image 2).  You will be taken to a logon page, follow the instructions to enter your credentials.  Then, after the logon is accepted, click “OK” at the bottom right of the screen.  You will then be returned to the OPC web screen with the photo upon which you wanted to comment.  At this point enter your comment in the gray box and "Post" it.

Scroll down the page to view previous comments.

Image 2: Commenting upon a Photo

5. Uploading Photos

OPC members routinely upload photos to three galleries: the competition’s Critique and non-Critique galleries and the Field Trip galleries. No automated procedure has been established for uploading to other galleries; we will establish such procedures as the need arises.

The general procedures for uploading to the three routine galleries follow a three-step process.

1. Assign the standard filename to the selected jpg photo. The standard filename format is

         Title [spaces between multiple title words] <space> <hyphen> <space>
         LastnameFirstnameinitial.jpg

For example, Double Daisy - BradshawG.jpg

2. Point your browser to the appropriate OPC upload gallery using a link that will be emailed to you.

For the competition galleries, the two links (Critique and non-Critique) will be emailed one week prior to the competition that takes place on the second Friday of the month.    To give other members an opportunity to pre-screen the competition photos, please upload your photos no later than the Thursday at noon before the competition.

For the field trip galleries a single link will be emailed to participants the evening of the field trip.

3. Drag and drop your photo into the upload gallery. You may also select the photo from within the “upload gallery” page by clicking “Browse Computer.”  The OPC website administrator will then move your photos from the private upload gallery to the public competition or field trip gallery within 24 hours.

Detailed descriptions of these procedures are available in “OPC Photo Repository, Member’s Guide” at the OPC website under the “Site Notes” menu (https://goo.gl/TkoKkN).

Note. Since our current image hosting service offers unlimited storage, the OPC no longer requires a restricted image size for uploaded photos.

6. Guidelines for Monthly Competitions

Each month club members may submit up to two photos to the Competition galleries by following the procedures described in “5. Uploading Photos” above. The photos may be uploaded in any combination to the Critique and non-Critique galleries.  Please don’t put the same image into both the Critique and non-Critique galleries.

Specific themes are established for most months.  Some months are considered OPEN with the only requirement being the photo was taken in the past two years.  We generally do not meet for a Competition in August.

The current year’s themes are listed in the OPC Information Portal’s “OLLI Photo Club – Monthly Themes” page (https://olli.gmu.edu/bi-monthly-photo-themes/).  The link for that page can also be found at the “OLLI Photo Club – Overview” page (https://olli.gmu.edu/photography-club-overview/).

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

WIFT - Critiquing Abstracts, a Few Notes on

Assuming that one goal of art is to communicate, criticism of abstract art must first determine what the piece communicates to the viewer.  Unlike representational art, the communication may most often exist at an unconscious level or at a level difficult to express in words or actions, for example, abstract art may be trying to communicate what the color “red” is.  Nevertheless, some criteria for judging representational art can be applied to abstract art.

It is my hope that the following definitions and critique approaches will help us critique abstract photos in the WIC (Weekly Image Critique) gallery.  The information below was gleaned from information publicly available on the web and includes, for the most part, information that seems to be consistently understood across recognized authorities, qualified discussion groups and specific artists.

Definition of Abstract Art

“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward, you can remove all traces of reality.” -  Pablo Picasso

“Non-representational works of art that do not depict scenes or objects in the world or have discernable subject matter.”  (from MOMA)

“Remove [a work of abstract art] from its art world context and it loses its meaning entirely." (From David Carrier in Aesthetic Theory, Abstract Art, and Lawrence Carrol, read first full paragraph through following page.)

The “art world context” of WIC photos includes three elements: the artist (photographer), the exhibition (WIC gallery), and the critique (provided by an OPC member).  Remove any one of these elements and the art ceases to exist.

“Abstract photography, sometimes called non-objective, experimental, conceptual or concrete photography, is a means of depicting a visual image that does not have an immediate association with the object world and that has been created through the use of photographic equipment, processes or materials.”  (from Wikipedia)

Definition of Creativity

“To bring into existence something new … through imaginative skill.”  -- Merriam-Webster

“…real creativity is independent of the creator.”  -- Harq al-Ada, on Leto II’s recognition of his role, Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert

Some Approaches to the Critique of Abstract Art

Fundamental Criteria for Evaluating Abstract Art, from a discussion at ResearchGate:

• “…abstractions [are] not about the typical aesthetics, such as color, composition, perspective, etc. However, it's about the innovation.
• “…a high degree of craft can be indicative of great abstract art - obviously not a popular point of view in a world dominated by conceptual art.”
• “…abstraction in any work of art is devoid of standard rules of objective judgement.”

Judging Guidelines from the Naples Camera Club: Focus point should be sharp and clear, unless the work is abstract.  Color should be believable, unless the work is abstract.

What makes a good abstract, from artist Jane Trotter: Simplicity, Composition, Lighting, Angle of View, Harmony and Cohesion, Mystery and Accessibility.

Judging Abstract Art, from the Emerald Photography Society: “…use your response to an image, concentrate on the big elements & use the sandwich method.”

“The Sandwich.  What that means is start off with a positive, then discuss the weaknesses, and finish off with what worked well.”  See How to Give and Take a Critique.

Judging Quality of Abstract Painting, from Artwork Archive: Recognize the intention, find conscious composition, notice meaningful use of color, spot deliberate textures, understand history and significance.

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects

Overview.

This page lists the galleries for occasional personal photo projects or for personal field trips to nearby locations offering a wealth of photographic opportunities.

WHIM - WHatever Image Mélange

Definition

The WHIM is a gallery for members' short personal projects, e.g., a special event, a travel destination, photographer's profile, etc.  After uploading no more than a dozen images, the member will present a short program of about ten minutes at an upcoming OPC meeting.

File Naming Convention

YYYYMMDD - LastnameFirstInitial - Short Title - [Sequence Number] - Photo ID

The gallery contains images in reverse file name sort order.  Brackets ("[" and "]") indicate an optional field.  Spaces are before and after hyphens for legibility.

"Sequence Number" functional only when "Short Title" is the same for all photos in the date batch.

Upload

Tyson's Corner Street and Architecture

Definition

A gallery for members to share their individual field trips to Tyson's Corner.  Tyson's is a great suburban location for photographing architecture and people on the street.  The distances between venues are fairly large but one can take advantage of COVID by parking almost anywhere on deserted streets and parking lots.

File Naming Convention

LastnameFirstInitial - Title - Photo ID

The gallery contains images in reverse date of upload sort order.  Brackets ("[" and "]") indicate optional field.  Spaces are before and after hyphens for legibility.

Upload 

George Mason University Campus

Definition

A gallery for members to share their individual field trips to the GMU Campus.  The GMU campus has some beautiful architecture, hardscapes, gardens, stands of trees, monuments, art, and people (even with social distancing).   There is a charge for parking even during COVID.

File Naming Convention

LastnameFirstInitial - Title - Photo ID

The gallery contains images in reverse date of upload sort order.  Brackets ("[" and "]") indicate optional field.  Spaces are before and after hyphens for legibility.

Upload

Overview • Galleries (See Galleries) • Monthly Themes • Field Trips • Speakers • Projects