Shutterbugs March Meeting Announcement

The West Central Georgia Shutterbugs will hold their March meeting on Tuesday, March 8 at the Thomaston-Upson Arts Ccouncil on the square in Thomaston, Georgia at 6:30 p.m. David Akoubian is coming to present our program. David has been photographing for over 30 years and has compiled a large library of images. He does all types of photography and photographic services, but he specializes in nature. David has a special love of the outdoors and spends a large amount of his time doing outdoor activities. He has been a Georgia resident for over 40 years but travels whenever possible, photographing wherever he visits.David has been working as a nature photographer for many years and has taught workshops with several different companies including the Great American Photography Weekends and the Showcase School. David teaches classes and leads workshops primarily in the southeastern United States. For more information about David please visit his website: http://www.bearwoodsphotography.com/.

GNPA Annual Expo - January 28-30 at Callaway Gardens

Several Shutterbugs attended the second annual Expo hosted by the Georgia Nature Photographers Association (GNPA) at Callaway Gardens on January 29-30, 2011. Featured speakers were David Middleton and Jim Clark, both highly skilled nature photographers who are nationally known. Once again, Shutterbugs claimed a good share of awards during the photo competition, which was judged by the two speakers. Out of the 30 or so awards presented, five went to Shutterbugs! (That's significant, given the caliber of the judges and the images in the competition.) The Viewer's Choice award went to Anna Mary Ellerbee. Best in Show went to John Quinn, who plans to join Shutterbugs, so we are already claiming him! He also earned an Honorable Mention, as did Jimmy Day, Anna Mary Ellerbee and Johnnie Ann Gaskill.

Approximately 100 photographers registered for the Expo, among them our own Allen and Anna Mary Ellerbee, Jimmy Day, Marcia Fisher, Johnnie Ann Gaskill, Dianne Kelly, Alicia Pastiran and John Quinn. They enjoyed the food, fun, photo shoots, over $1,000.00 in prizes, members' slide show, vendors, free camera inspection and discount cleaning, as well as the photo competition and keynote speakers. In summary: A wonderful time was had by all. Hopefully, even more Shutterbugs will plan to attend the Expo next year.

John Quinn received Best of Show with Dragonfly and Lily. He also received an Honorable Mention in the Macro Category for Lily in Bloom. Anna Mary Ellerbee received Viewer’s Choice for The Gift and an Honorable Mention for Purple Haze. Jimmy Day had an Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category for Love Bugs. Johnnie Ann Gaskill’s Marred Landscape received an Honorable Mention in the Landscape Category.

Congratulations

Two Shutterbugs, Malgorzata Florkowska and Bonny Shockley, were juried into Arts Clayton – Juried Photography Show and Competition, September 28 – October 29. Arts Clayton is located at 136 S. Main Street, Jonesboro, GA 30236, www.artsclayton.org/gallery. Admission is free; open T-F 9-5pm, Sat 10-4pm. Congratulations!