Christmas Party

Everyone had a great time on the evening of December 6th at the 2009 NVPS Holiday Party at the Napa Yacht Club. Many thanks to all the volunteers who participated in making this a grand event, especially our Vice-President Nancy Hernandez. Our own member of the Paparazzi Ann Baldwin has put together some intimate shots of revellers at the party: click here to view them.

Exhibitions/Presentations

The NVPS 3rd Annual Exhibition "Connections" is over but it was a great show and we thank Sandi and Dana for staging it at Studio II.

The 2009 Napa Town and Country Fair, once again featured outstanding representation by NVPS photographers in both amateur and professional classes. The following members received awards: Amateur: Nancy Hernandez (13 ribbons including 7 first places, 1 being Best of Division), George Bartolome (13 ribbons including 5 first places and best of show in the Community Bank section), Lanny Johnson (100% success with his 5 entries: 5 ribbons including 4 first places), John Mellquist (100% success with his 4 entries: 4 ribbons including 1 first place that was Best of Division), Trudy Brutsche (5 ribbons), Mike Baldwin (4 ribbons), Bob McClenahan (2 ribbons), Joe Orsini (2 ribbons) and Bob Beardsley (1 ribbon). Professional: Richard Bruns (6 ribbons including 2 Awards of Merit and 3 Special Awards), Ann Baldwin (2 ribbons including 2nd in mixed media painting and an Award of Merit in mixed media painting), Betty Malmgren (2 ribbons including a first place and a Special Award), Marissa Carlisle (1 ribbon for an Award of Merit), and Kim Marhan (1 ribbon for a Special Award).

The 2010 fair will be August 11-15 with the theme "Blue Jeans and Country Dreams".

Slightly further afield, Betty Malmgren entered 12 photos in the Mendocino County Fair and won 12 ribbons including 7 first places, and Richard Bruns also enjoyed considerable success in the Lake County Fair.

The Summer 2009 NVPS juried exhibition with the theme “OUTRAGEOUS”at St Supery Winery featured 52 images selected by our juror Ron Zak. Images from Ann Baldwin, George Bartolome and Betty Malmgren received “Awards of Excellence” (click the photographer's name to view) and Honorable Mentions went to Mike Baldwin, Betty Malmgren, John Melquist and Priscilla Upton. This show was a great success and has convinced the NVPS Board to always stage a summer exhibition at an external site, to complement the winter exhibition at Studio II Gallery.

We adopted the downtown Napa venue of the 2009 "World Wide Photo Walk" as an NVPS field trip. This event was sponsored by NAPP, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. NVPS members displayed their images at the July 27th meeting at Studio II, and many are on show at http://www.flickr.com/groups/napaphotowalk/. The walk coordinator Vince Goetz, who was responsible for selecting the best image from the Napa walk to submit to the NAPP national competition, chose a beautiful photograph of the lobby of the brand new Avia Hotel on First Street by NVPS member Amber Starfire. Click her name to see the image. Click here to see the overall winners of the world wide competition, as selected by the NAPP judges.

Several NVPS members had images in the 2009 Studio II Gallery annual juried exhibition, this year on the theme "Neo Aesthetics". We congratulate Carol Mills on her 3rd place award and Ann Baldwin on her honorable mention for a large mixed media canvas, which was purchased at the reception by famous art collector Rene di Rosa of the di Rosa Preserve.

NVPS mounts 3 shows per year of members work at the Napa City Hall. The latest show featuring "Scenes of Napa" will hang January through April.

Yahoo Group

NVPS now has a Yahoo Group that all members are invited to join. Membership has to be approved by the administrator, who is also the webmaster, and who will usually respond within 24 hours. You can use this group to post technical questions, announce your latest photo exhibition, or communicate with other members on any topic relevant to photography.

Member News (Are you in a show? Have you won an award? Have you got equipment for sale? Please email news items to be included here)

Lanny Johnson and Judith Purdy both won "Honorable Mentions" at the 2010 Napa Valley Mustard Festival Photo contest that was held at the Rubicon Estate. Debbie Ames was awarded a blue ribbon for Artist of the Month from the Napa Valley Art Association. Her photo is hanging for the month in the Napa Library, Coombs Street.

Monday April 12 to Saturday April 24th, the Redwood Credit Union on 1705 First St. Napa will be displaying "The Photographic Experience", a photo exhibit from NVPS members Nancy Hernandez, Carol Mills, Cassandra Walker, George Bartolome, John Mellquist and Gene Piscia.

Long time NVPS member and graphic artist Jim Cross has been very active and successful of late. He sold and installed 7 photographs in the St. Helena Hospital's new Cancer Center and he also sold 3 photographs at the Kiwanis' Naked Vine auction. He has recently been invited to join "The Scattered Light" photo gallery in St. Helena, where will be showing his images. The first issue of Design Journal Americas published by GRAPHIS features Jim and his work: click here to see a 7-page pdf.

Interior designer Kathleen Fink of KMF Design recently commissioned NVPS member Jess Knubis to produce a series of photos for the new Hotel Luca in Yountville. More than 100 framed prints representing seventeen different images are now displayed in Hotel Luca’s lobby, guest rooms and spa. They present a view of the Napa Valley that draws on the rich history of the area while still being very modern. Images capture the strength and beauty of old vines. Others explore the area’s stone structures, exposing the craftsmanship and heroic labor of the region’s timeless buildings and historic bridges. To read more about this project click here.

NVPS member Vince Goetz was busy with a show in Beijing in October/November located in an area called the Dashanzi Art Factory, or 798.  "It is literally a square kilometer of galleries, studios, book stores, coffee shops, and restaurants." Immediately after Vince had another show at Gordon Heuther’s Hay Barn.

NVPS volunteers are sharing their digital knowledge and experience with young and eager photographers from 4-H.  Bob McLenahan has started this program with support from Sandi Ogle at Studio II Gallery, and with enthusiastic encouragement from Len Powers, who established the initial contact with 4-H. Bob has also created a Flickr group for NVPS. All members are invited to join this group and upload images: http://www.flickr.com/groups/napavalleyphotographicsociety/.

John Pitt was selected to have an image in a book published by the Photographic Society of America to mark their 75th anniversary. You can see a thumbnail of his image on their website (bottom right hand corner of the page).

In addition to her day job at Napa Valley College, Betty Malmgren creates photographs for Easy English Time. This is an educational newspaper with a national circulation Betty publishes for immigrants learning English as a second language and adult literacy programs.

Last summer NVPS members John Mellquist and Amber Lea Starfire taught classes in various aspects of photoshop. These classes are gone but watch this space for news of any new classes from either of them. Napa Valley College and Solano College offer a wide range of photographic courses ranging from beginner to advanced. Check their websites for full information.

In addition to their NVPS activities, Ann and Mike Baldwin have become Joint Presidents of the Berkeley Camera Club, which meets every Tuesday evening throughout the year. Any NVPS member interested in attending a BCC event will be very welcome. A calendar of events and information on the location of the meetings can be found on the BCC website.

Ann Baldwin's art instructional book was the top seller last season for publisher Rockport Press.  The title is Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists: Experimental Techniques for Composition, Layering, Texture, Imagery, and Encaustic.  You can read reviews on Amazon.com.

For sale or wanted to buy or swap

All NVPS members are welcome to send details of any photo equipment for sale or wanted, to be posted here.