The July 2009 meeting of the Camera Owners of the Bay Area (COBA) user group will be held this Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at SmugMug headquarters in Mountain View from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm.

Note: This meeting was originally scheduled to happen in June, 2009 but had to be postponed until this month.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Richard Ressman takes photos as a volunteer for an infant bereavement organization, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Parents of stillborn or dying infants need only call Dr. Ressman and he will drive to a local hospital, set up a small studio in a hospital room, take photos and produce prints as well as a CD and DVD that the parents can treasure. At the June 10 COBA meeting, Dr.Ressman, an Area Coordinator and Certified Trainer for NILMDTS, will present information and photos highlighting his experience with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Attendees will be given information should they be interested in joining and working with the organization. (www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/)

Richard Ressman bought his first Nikon camera in 1969 as a Surgical Intern in Chicago and has been taking photographs since. He developed and printed his first photos in his eleven by seven foot Intern’s call room. In 2002, he changed careers from that of orthopaedic surgeon to full-time photographer. Exhibits include three photos in the eMotion Pictures Exhibit sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons which traveled to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, and Madrid, Spain. He had a photo of Bo Diddley in the 2008 eMotion Pictures Exhibit in San Francisco.

He practiced orthopaedic surgery for thirty years before becoming a full-time photographer. He did everything from operating on fractures to replacing arthritic knees and hips. Dr. Ressman recently traveled to Viet Nam to donate all his unused surgical equipment. He got two companies to donate thousands of dollars of equipment, and as a volunteer taught surgical techniques to surgeons in Ho Chi Minh City. His reason: The Vietnamese people suffered enough during the Viet Nam-American war and he wanted to give something back to the Vietnamese people. It was a rewarding experience for everyone involved. He now calls himself a Photosurgeon: that’s an orthopaedic surgeon who aspires to do photography on the cutting edge. Some of his work can be seen on his website www.photosurgeon.net.

How Accurate Are Your Prints?

How happy are you with printouts from your printer or from your favorite print provider? At the last COBA meeting, we had a long discussion about various printers and printing providers. Now’s the time to test and compare them with your fellow COBA members!

1. Go and download the 60MB COBA Test Print Photo from Sam Linville
2. Print an 8×10 photo. Either do it yourself at home or take it to your favorite print shop. Do not perform any color correction yourself in Photoshop.
3. If you are having this printed out, try to get two copies done at different times.
4. Compare with your fellow COBA members, who will be doing the same!

Perhaps after this meeting, you’ll change print providers!

Meeting Location

COBA is now meeting at SmugMug offices in Mountain View.

SmugMug
67 E. Evelyn Ave, Suite 200
Mountain View, CA 94041
http://tinyurl.com/apnhvz

On Sunday, Facing East Dance & Music held its tenth anniversary benefit party at Uptown Body and Fender in Oakland. Aside from fixing cars, the proprietor, Giovanna, also uses her building to showcase the local arts scene. The venue was fantastic for the party and would make a good screening location for our film too. Catering was provided by Leslie Masler from Just Delicious, and the food was indeed scrumptious and wonderful. Rae especially liked the nectarine slices and I enjoyed the orzo salad.

It was great to see so many of the Facing East dancers at the event, though many of them were unfamiliar to us. It’s been awhile since Rae last danced for FEDM. As you know, we’ve been busy with our documentary film, Autumn Gem. Count Aileen, Claudine, Perry (she’s so tall now!), Elizabeth, and of course Sue Li-Jue, among the dancers we enjoyed reconnecting with.

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Randy didn’t know it was coming. Carolina got the word out and organized a great surprise birthday party for Mr. Lau. Everyone met at Coconuts in Palo Alto last night for the festivities; food was great and the conversations even better. With the weather getting hot and many people planning on leaving the area in the next few months, Rae and I are going to get started organizing our next pool party!

Photos from Randy’s 34th Birthday Party:

View photos at SmugMug

I had a great time at my first WWDC. Aside from photographing the keynote, I didn’t take too many photos during the conference; I was too busy taking notes and learning iPhone development and debugging my projects for Snow Leopard compatibility.

Here’s a sampling of photos that I did take during the keynote and at the WWDC 2009 Beer Bash held on Thursday. See you all next year!

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Dardy held a housewarming party to christen his new place, which looked suspiciously like his old place (only seven doors down). I ran into several people whom I haven’t seen or talked to in years, like Eriko, David, and Helen. Last week, I returned my key and finally closed my PO Box at Stanford. I’ve had this mailbox for the past 12 years and have been checking mail at Stanford for the past 16 years. For me, this was the end of an era — no more lingering connections to Stanford. As for Dardy, it’s the start of a new era for him… the homeowner’s era!

Here are photos from the event!

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