Next General Meeting:
Meeting Preview—Ken Graff - Organizing, Editing and Sharing Photos
Date: Tuesday, September 3, 7 p.m
Location: Danbury Hospital Auditorium
Directions

By Lisa Leifels

Photographer Chase Jarvis once said that ‘the best camera is the one that’s with you’.  This is a quote I found on the website (www.grafficx.com) of Ken Graff, whom we are lucky to have as our presenter at the September 3rd general meeting.  Ken is going to show us some examples of the amazing photographs that the small camera on your phone is capable of taking.

The first digital camera was sold in Japan back in 1989 and, about a decade later, in the year 2000, the first camera phone was sold in Japan.  Since that time the quality of the cameras included on most phones has improved dramatically.  In today’s world more photographs are taken on smartphones than on any other type of device.  Now that it has gotten more convenient than ever to take pictures spontaneously of both the trivial and monumental events unfolding around us, a common problem many of us face is what to do next.   How do you organize the large volume of valuable photographs you have accumulated over the years?  This is one of the many questions that Ken will be addressing.

Ken is a photographer, educator, and digital artist who worked for more than three decades at Union Carbide, taking photographs all over the world.  He has been the digital imaging SIG leader for DACS for the past 15 years and he teaches at The Danbury Senior Net. 

He will also be demonstrating how much fun digital photography can be by exploring the editing features of the free program Picasa.  He will show us how a simple photograph can be transformed into an exciting piece of art with the touch of a mouse.  Picasa was originally created by a company named Lifescape in 2002 and was bought by Google in 2004.  The program can be used to help you organize, view, edit, and even share your photos.  In case you were curious, the name “Picasa” is a blend of the name of the Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso, the Spanish phrase mi casa for “my house”, and “pic” for pictures.  

Not only does the device in your pocket make phone calls, play music, and take pictures and video, according to Ken it is also a digital darkroom.  There is no shortage of apps in the photography category, there are literally thousands, and they can do unbelievable things.  Another topic Ken plans on covering is showing us a few other editing apps available for the Android and iPhone, which rival the capabilities of Photoshop for a fraction of the cost. 

Ken will end his presentation with a Question and Answer session, so bring all your fellow photography friends and plenty of questions, and you will end up with the knowledge you need to finally gain better control over all of those priceless images you’ve taken on your phone.

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DACS meetings are usually held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions and parking information.)

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m.

DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic.

Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990.