The Holiday Party and final meeting of 2008 for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Bird Photography

Why photograph birds? Birds are beautiful creatures. They are also interesting. They lead fascinating lives. They exhibit exciting behaviors such as predatory, courtship, reproductive, nesting, and more. However, they don’t stay still for long and can be challenging to photograph.

Oliver Klink has tackled various aspects of bird photography over the last few years. His work has progressed from photographing birds for identification purpose, to capturing their challenging behaviors, to finally turning photographs into stunning wildlife art print. You will be dazzled by the story of the Black Crowned heron picking up ducklings, the hummingbirds hugging a backyard fountains, birds in flight at sunset, and many others.

Oliver Klink has a Masters in Physics engineering and an MBA in business. Klink also studied photography in college in his home country of Switzerland. He says, “Giving Nature the ability to speak through my camera is what inspires me.” Oliver travels to many countries to teach workshops and photograph animals in the wild. Oliver’s work has been exhibited at various US and international galleries. His most recent exhibit was at ModernBook Gallery in Palo Alto, California

Creating a Dance Calendar

Marty Sohl has been creating a calendar for the Lines Ballet company for many years. Currently the calendar is sold at all Barnes and Noble bookstores nationwide. This 45 minute presentation by Edward Casati, Marty’s husband/assistant will outline the process that Marty goes through for photographing the dance company, sorting and proposing the photos that can be used in the calendar, processing the photos and submitting them for publication.

1. Introduction
2. Presentation of Materials
3. History with Lines Ballet company
4. How Marty established her relationship with Barnes and Noble
5. A calendar photo session explained.
6. Sorting and selecting process.
7. File output – Quality and specs.
8. Questions and Answers

Holiday Party

It’s the end of the year and time for COBA’s annual Holiday Party! If you can, bring some snacks, food, drink and holiday photos to share with your fellow COBA members. The more the better!

At last night’s COBA meeting, Jim Rose brought with him a production Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the hotly anticipated replacement for the original 5D. I was very interested in seeing the high ISO noise characteristics of the new camera, and it did not disappoint. Jim asked that I not upload any photos that I took, but what I’m seeing in the images is a complete lack of objectionable noise at ISOs 3200 and 6400 (12800 and 25600 had quite a bit of noise, but are suitable for web publication). While taking photos last week during Jared Polis’ congressional run, I frequently shot at ISO 1600, the usable limit on the 1D and 1Ds Mark II. Having the ability to jack up the ISO two stops without any noise creep is very important and is one of the reasons why I’m looking at the 5D as my next camera purchase. The other two reasons are the smaller form-factor and the HD video capability.

RED announced the Epic/Scarlet line of cameras today, and it’s clear the photo/video convergence marketplace is heating up. It’s an exciting time to be a still photographer and videographer, that’s for sure! The price for the full-frame sensor Scarlet body is tentatively set for $12,000, quite a pretty penny. The smaller sensor Scarlet varieties will weigh in between $2500 to $7000. Check out the website for all of the gory details, including great photos of the Scarlet in DSLR mode. What I like about these cameras is that to upgrade you just have to buy a new sensor module; the accessories like battery modules, grips, viewfinders, etc., remain the same. Of course, it doesn’t help that the sensor modules are the same price as a complete camera from Canon, Sony, etc., but hey it’s a start, no?

I wonder if Canon will ever radically reinvent the DSLR to be more of a modular system like the RED. You can be sure that they and their competitors are taking notes!

Next month’s COBA presentation will feature Oliver Klink on Bird Photography and Edward Casati on dance photography. It will also be our annual Holiday party, so be prepared to bring some drinks and food for the group!

The November meeting for the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, in Cordura Hall 100 at Stanford University from 7:30-10:00 pm.

Canon 5D Mark II with Jim Rose

Jim Rose from Canon U.S.A. has received his sample EOS 5D Mark II and will answer any remaining questions about Canon’s latest DSLR.

Political Photography Part II: Jared Polis for Congress

For the past week, I have been in Colorado documenting the final week of Jared Polis’ campaign for a congressional seat in Colorado’s District 2. Following up on last month’s presentation by Mona Brooks, I will share my favorite photos and stories from the election trail. You can view photos of my trip following Congressman-elect Jared Polis on my SmugMug gallery.

For those who are more technically — rather than politically — inclined, I’ll also discuss equipment, what worked and what didn’t work, and what I’d do over had I the chance!

Gadget: What Would You Invent?

We’ve had presentations in the past from COBA members about their favorite gadget, but what about those gadgets that have yet to be invented? We’ll spend the evening discussing what we would love to have in our cameras, in our bags, and on our computers. Who knows, perhaps one day someone — or even you — will invent it!

SmugMug Monthly Contest

I completely forgot what this month’s photo contest will be, so for November, just bring the best photo you’ve taken in the past 30 days. The winner of the most popular photo will get a free 1-year Pro SmugMug subscription.

Location

Cordura Hall 100
210 Panama Street
Stanford, CA 94309
http://tinyurl.com/6ct8ob

Cordura Hall is on the corner of Campus Drive and Panama Street. Park in the lot across the street. Cordura 100 is next to the courtyard between Ventura Hall and Cordura Hall.

On Tuesday, Jared, his staff, friends, and family, finally saw the ultimate result of their hard work and sacrifices for the past year and a half as he was elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives next year. Jared won by a convincing margin, 60% to 36%, over his primary opponent, Scott Starin.

Before heading to downtown Denver for the Democratic Election Party at the Sheraton Hotel, we stopped by a couple of election watch parties in and around Boulder County. Everyone was fired up as the early results displayed on the TV showed a decisive blue shift in Colorado and national politics. I can only imagine the somber and sad scene at some of the Republican watch parties; in most races, they really got pounded. As Jared was introduced, I saw a different Jared than I have seen over the past week. Instead of calm, cerberal Jared, he transformed into a motivational leader, rousing the group assembled at Woodies restaurant with an exciting speech of hope and change. That was a small hint of what was to come when he was introduced as the new Congressman-elect of Colorado’s District 2 at the Sheraton Hotel.

Jared’s staff and family were hanging out in the restaurant and a suite in the Crowne Plaza. Jared stopped by the suite and popped the cork off a new bottle of vintage Jared Polis 2008. I met Jared’s brother, Jorian, after what must have been 15 years; he had grown so tall in the intervening years while I have stayed the same height! I was looking through my senior yearbook the other day, and I noticed that those who were pre-schoolers when I was a senior would have graduated from college this past year!

After spending some time in Jared’s suite, we headed a few blocks over to the Sheraton. Our entourage made its way backstage, stopping several times as people came up to Jared to congratulate him. This would be a common occurrence throughout the evening!

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Today is finally election day! For Jared, it’s been one and half years of hard campaigning. Today, he did his final Honk and Wave in Boulder before heading to Longmont, Colorado, to help out with Betsy Markey’s campaign.

Heading down to downtown Denver for the Democratic Election Party. So, without further ado, some photos from earlier today. Click on the link below to see them!

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Here’s a random set of photos from the last day before Election 2008. It’s been a long campaign and everyone is ready to move on with the next project. For Jared, hopefully that will be a Congressional Seat in Colorado’s District 2. For me, it’ll be back to the Bay Area to work on the documentary and my various consulting projects.

Click the link below to see the photos.

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Our last stop of the day was to The Meridian Retirement Community in Boulder. As at Northglenn Heights, the staff arranged for interested members to meet, greet, and ask questions to Jared. One of the attendees was Boulder native and 99-year old Mildred Walton. She’s turning 100 years old on November 7! That’s got to be a rare combination, a centenarian and a native of Boulder, Colorado!

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For our final event of the morning, Jared made an appearance and spoke with members at two assisted living care centers. I wasn’t allowed to photograph at the first one, but I had ample opportunities to do so at the Northglenn Heights Assisted Living and Memory Care Center in Northglenn, Colorado.

Jared spoke with members there for a good hour, covering topics such as the war, the economy, and healthcare. The country clerk will be coming by later today or tomorrow to retrieve the members’ voting ballots. After his visit, perhaps Jared has secured a few more votes!

Click on the link below to see the photos!

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Following the Thornton Park-N-Ride event, we stopped by the local Starbucks to refuel and check email before the next event at two assisted living care centers. As we were leaving, we noticed a yellow school bus passing by. Jared waved to the bus, not realizing initially that it was actually from the Charter School he founded, the New America School! From its website, “The New America School is a system of publicly funded charter high schools. The mission of The New America School is to empower new immigrants and English Language Learners with the educational tools and support they need to maximize their potential and live the American Dream.” Jared founded the school back in 2004, and they have expanded to several locations in Colorado, with a new campus opening soon in New Mexico.

Jared ran over to the bus, which had stopped by the signal, and spoke with the students for several minutes. They all seemed pretty jazzed to see the person who started their school. As I have traveled with Jared around Colorado, I’ve been astounded by the impact he’s made around the state. From schools to Spanish-language theaters to the Jared Polis Foundation to various Internet companies, Jared is ready to make his mark in our government. I can’t wait to see what he will accomplish next!

Click on the link below to view the photos!

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Jared has been campaigning for the past year and a half. During that time, he met thousands of commuters at various Park-N-Rides in his district. This morning, we left for one final time to the Thornton Park-N-Ride to meet and greet with commuters and likely voters on the last day before the election.

We were joined by Lisa, Jonathan, Sam and Gina. As at the previous Park-N-Ride that I photographed, a number of people had already voted, and many of them for Jared. I didn’t notice, however, a few tepid handshakes. Perhaps these people were going to vote for Jared’s opponent, Starin, tomorrow morning?

We’ll see!

Click on the link below to view the photos!

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