P3D Detroit - November Report

[fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dr. George A. Themelis)]

Another great night in Detroit...  The program last night was the PSA
interclub competition.  Members of each stereo club entering slides as a
club.  The slides are judged by different clubs which take turns.  Clubs
collect points depending on how their members do.  Awards are given to the
club with highest points, best participation, etc.

Some very good slides, many from P3d well-known names.  I recall the names
(sorry for the misspellings!) of Bruce Rosenberger, Bill Walton, Shab Levy,
George Philosophos, Elizabeth Mitofsky, Larry Moor, and others...  It was
an impressive showing... The first place went to Pauline Sweezey (President
of PSA) for a wonderful fall view in the woods.

The subject of the stereo slide competition was "Wood".  We saw some good
slides but I personally found the quality level a bit low for such popular
subject.  Judging (from 3 judges) was a bit erratic with low scores for
some good slides towards the end.  One slide that I particularly liked was
a piece of wood on fire, close-up.  Clever idea and the lighting was good. 
It got an HM.  Dennis Hanser took two second places and he is still ahead
with a comfortable margin.  Paul Talbot had a 3d and one HM.  

I got a 2nd place with a pleasant slide showing a platform and rail and the
Brandywine falls (close to my house) in the background.  I learned a good
lesson from this slide.  Instead of mounting the chips with the closest
object (which was about 15 feet away) almost at window level, I left a good
gap on purpose.  This increased the sense of depth.  I would encourage
people to experiment with the placement of the stereo window because this
can make the difference in a competition.  RBT mounts encourage such
experimentation.

As I mentioned, I had my wife judge the slides.  She insisted on
kicking out slides that did not emphasize wood.  I had a nice slide of some
boats and a wonderful early evening sky with clouds and nice colors.  The
boats were too dark and the main subject was the sky.  I liked the picture
and would have entered it, but my wife said that it has almost nothing to
do with wood.  She is, of course (as always :-)), right but I don't think
it matters.  My experience is that the judges are more affected by the
impact of the pictures and do not have the time to think how well each
picture fits the assignment.  Oh well,  I will enter it in the open at the
end.

Assignment for next month:  "Sky Things"  (includes everything that can
fly, airplanes, balloons, birds, planes, kites, etc.)  With Dennis doing so
well this year, I have taken the "lazy approach"  I am sure I'll find
plenty of pictures of planes and maybe a few birds in my collection.

Reporting from Cleveland for the Detroit club, George Themelis


------------------------------