We invite all members of the Sierra Club San Diego’s Photo Section to our October 2022 online meeting. We are very happy to welcome San Diego photographer Blake Shaw back, this time with his presentation “Birding In The Middle Of Nowhere.” Meeting date and time are at the end of this invitation. Please continue reading if you’re interested.
Birding In The Middle Of Nowhere
Why would three friends travel to the middle of the Bering Sea? One word: Puffins!
Join San Diego photographer Blake Shaw as he chronicles his 2019 trip to Saint Paul Island, Alaska.
St. Paul Island is not large, but its cliffs, tundra, lakes are visited by 200,000 birds each spring and summer. Two puffin species, auklets, cormorants, shorebirds and songbirds breed there. 314 bird species have been recorded there, and Northern Fur Seals and Arctic Foxes are abundant.
Only 500 people live on the island, which retains its Russian and native Alaskan heritage. It’s the middle of nowhere, but it’s definitely somewhere to visit, photograph and enjoy!
About Blake
Blake Shaw is a physician, photographer, and native San Diegan.
His fine-art and nature photography have been displayed around San Diego for at least fifteen years. His photos have hung at the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Ordover Gallery, Barstow’s Route 66 Museum as well as a various locations in Mexico.
His fifth solo show of bird photography at Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center will be on display from October 22 through December 2, 2022. (Address: 1 Father Junipero Serra Rd, San Diego, CA 92119; Gallery hours 9am – 5pm; artist reception October 23, 2-4pm).
Blake’s bird photography has appeared in Birdwatcher’s Digest, Living Bird Magazine, and the Audubon Society website and iPhone app. His photo, Eleven Turkey Vultures, received an honorable mention in the 2016 Audubon Magazine Photography Awards.
He views bird photography as a chance to experience nature more fully, explaining: “I try to spend more time observing individual birds, thus being able to capture more interesting and more natural behavior.”
Blake travels each year to a different part of Mexico to photograph Day of the Dead. On his travels he has probably visited as many states in Mexico as in the United States, on each trip photographing cultural events as well as birds.
He shares a new photo almost every day at his blog, www.photoabcs.com
Gallery
Here are a few photos from the presentation:
Goodies for Members
After the presentation we will take a short break and then have a free drawing where members can win coupons from local businesses, a book from Rocky Nook, and more!
MemberShare
After the break and giveaways, we continue with our MemberShare. Each member gets to share up to five photos with the audience.
Photos don’t have to be recent. SEND YOUR BEST PHOTOGRAPHS. For example, create a small series of five favorite images or a project, and share with others what your photographic interests are about.
Here’s a quick reminder of the guidelines and procedure:
- Send up to five photos via Dropbox file request.
- Check our guide on image sizes, JPEG quality, file naming, metadata
- Prepare to speak no more than 10-20 seconds on each photo
- We expect technically solid photographic work
- Deadline for MemberShare submissions: Friday, October 14, 6pm
- Nameplates: feel free to include a vertical orientation headshot with your photos
To submit your images, simply click this button:
If you need help or if there’s anything unclear about this procedure, the Dropbox help article on file requests contains everything you need to know.
NOTE: Your photos are only shown during MemberShare and will be deleted afterwards. We do not keep copies. There is no need to watermark your photos. If you feel that you must add a logo or other overlay, please keep it small and unobtrusive.
When the MemberShare is especially popular, we may have to reduce the amount of images from each member. If that happens we will announce it before MemberShare begins, and hope for your understanding.
Meeting Date & Time
The Zoom link to join the meeting will be sent to members a few days ahead of the meeting, via our mailing list. If you never used Zoom before, you can download the client software here.
- Date: Saturday, October 15, 2022
- Time: 1.45 PM opening of meeting (please join early if you never used Zoom before!)
2 PM start of meeting and main presentation
- More information about our online meetings is here: Online Meetings
See you at the meeting!