Welcome to the Gateway Camera Club

Our goals are to share ideas, knowledge, and insight; to help improve the skills and abilities of our members; and to have some fun while enjoying photography. We recognize photography is changing, growing and with ever-emerging technologies, more exciting than ever!  Gateway was one of the first local camera clubs to embrace digital photography and, as a result, we have some very knowledgeable digital photographers. Many award-winning members of Gateway Camera Club honed their talents and abilities through the mentoring they found at Gateway.

Our club is very active and we meet on most Tuesdays from September to June 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Want to compete, learn and share? Check out our exciting schedule. Visitors and new members are always welcome. Just stop in and introduce yourself. We hope you'll soon find an aspect of Gateway that fits your interests. Please browse our website, learn more about what we do, and enjoy. And remember, enthusiasm is catchy. Come and catch some!  

The slideshow to the right are images from our May Competition

Interested in seeing what Gateway Camera Club is all about? You are welcome to join as a Guest Member for 30 days.  Just send us an Email and you will be added to the attendee list for the next 30 days.

Upcoming Events

Program Night  - May 20th - Zoom - "Looking Beyond a Single Image "Presented by Vanda Ralevska

In her presentation, Vanda will focus on her journey from capturing single images, through creating collections and series, to working on short and long-term projects. She will explore how working in projects and on books as a final result helps you get out of a creative block and find your own personal vision. Vanda will discuss several of her ongoing and completed photographic projects, how they keep her motivated and how they help her develop an individual and personal point of view. Vanda will demonstrate how a project-based approach and looking beyond a single image can lead to developing new, exciting ideas that can breathe fresh air into your photographic journey.

Bio: A photographer by heart, with love of silence and solitude, poetry, music and walking in the wild.

Vanda Ralevska is a landscape photographer based in London, UK. She is a member of the Arena Photographers group and a Brand Ambassador for Kase Filters UK. She is also a UK Landscape Photographer of the Year competition judge. Aside from her day job as a software developer and her love of photography, Vanda enjoys giving lectures about her journey as a photographer and her experiences along the way.

Having grown up in an industrial area of former Czechoslovakia, Vanda soon learnt how to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. Far away from the noise, and hustle and bustle of a big city she finds inspiration in quieter scenes and intimate details, whether it is on the coast, in woodland or in the countryside, even in industrial wastelands. In her images Vanda strives to reflect the atmosphere, feeling, and sheer wonderment that our natural world can evoke with us. These days you can find her along the edgelands and in undiscovered places looking for all the beauty waiting to be captured.

Website: https://mylenscapes.uk/

     

Image of the Year Competition - May 27th - Zoom - Judges David Long, Polina Plotnikova and Silvana Della Camera

Annual Meeting with Vera International Photo Club -  June 22nd - Zoom - 10:00 am to Noon

Gateway Members will once again join members of the Vera International Photo Club of Mojacar Spain to discuss their images.  Each club will share 20 images; Gateway’s images should show locations and events that differ from Europe. 

Please submit up to three of your favorite photos that capture a uniquely North America scene and/or a uniquely creative image. Our meeting is not a competition, but you should submit photos before June 18 on the website’s “Submit Images to a Competition” page.   Scroll to the bottom to the “Interclub Meeting with Vera Photo Club” 

Name and rank your photos:  Name of photo__Your Name_ 1 (your first choice), Name of photo_Your Name__2 (second choice)  The first choice images from the first 20 submitted will be included in the meeting.   Second and third choice photos will be added if fewer than 20 members submit images.   

All members, even those who don’t submit an image, are welcome to attend the meeting, but those who submit photos will have more fun.

Field Trip - Old Sturbridge Village - Saturday May 17th at 9:30 am

Come join us on Saturday, May 17 (rain date May 24) as we time-travel back to Old Sturbridge Village, a 200+-acre recreated 1830s rural New England town, which is the largest outdoor history museum in the Northeast.   We’ll explore the 40 historical buildings, including homes, a meetinghouse, a district school, a country school, a country store, a water-powered mill, trade shops and barns.  In the trade shops, we’ll chat with and photograph the many costumed historians as they complete the 1830s day-to-day tasks of a blacksmith, potter, cooper, shoemaker, printer and carpenter.  

Around the barns, roosters will strut, pigs will squeal, cows will moo, and newborn lambs will run on spindly legs to their mothers, all while smiling for our cameras.   These photographic opportunities are just not to be missed!  

We’ll plan to arrive at the Village just a few moments before it opens at 9:30 a.m., capture great photos until noon, then join up for lunch in the on-site cafeteria.  There are outside picnic tables, so anyone who prefers to bring a picnic lunch can do that.  People may then stay a long as they like, until the village closes at 5:00.

The entrance fee of $30  ($28 for seniors), is discounted by $3.00 if you buy your ticket in advance on-line.  The on-line tickets are good on any day the Village is open, so they will still be good if rain causes us to change the date to May 24.  Also, some town libraries offer passes for discounted rates.

Check it out on-line at:  https://www.osv.org

Sign up here>>  /club/Events_view.aspx?Eventid=2c637773-2357-4b8b-a3ba-20f08608eb4b

Lois Galluzzo

Gateway Club Picnic - Ashland State Park - Saturday June 7th - 11am to 5pm

Registration is open for our fourth annual Gateway Club Picnic. We will be at the Pavilion at Ashland State Park (156 W Union St, Ashland, MA 01721) again this year. The picnic will be from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday June 7th. Rain or shine.

Registration:  Click to see payment option then scroll to bottom of the page and click Registration Information>  /club/Events_view.aspx?Eventid=d03f6d9b-5ead-4757-a5e1-69645b75ff2c

We will provide sandwiches, salads, chips and drinks (water, lemonade, iced tea) for the very reasonable fee of $10 per person. If you wish, you can bring other non-alcoholic beverages for your own consumption. (No alcohol is allowed in the State park)

We suggest that members bring a dessert of your choice to share with others.

Guests are welcome.   You must register yourself and your guest on the club website home page. Registration will close at 11:59 PM on Sunday, 6/1.

Parking at the park is $8 but is waived for vehicles with a Handicapped license plate or placard, a Purple Heart Recipient license plate, or a Disabled veteran license plate. Parking is also free if you have a state senior parking pass (valid at most state parks). A senior parking pass is available to Mass residents age 62+ by mail or online for $10 and is valid for a lifetime. Information for obtaining the pass is available at https://www.mass.gov/how-to/get-a-senior-parking-pass If you do not have a permit, you can pay the daily parking fee at the payment kiosk at the park entry.

We are looking forward to another great opportunity to socialize with our fellow members and their guests.

See you at the park!

Frank Schimmoller and the Picnic Committee, 

Broadmoor Exhibit - May and June

Spring is here, so it must be time to exhibit our best nature and landscape photos at Audubon's Broadmoor!

We will be exhibiting at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, 280 Elliot St., Natick, MA during the months of May and June, 2025.   We will be hanging the exhibit on Wednesday, April 30^th at Noon.  We will remove the exhibit on Sunday, June 29^th between 9AM and 4PM.

Since Broadmoor is a wildlife sanctuary, they ask that our images represent nature or landscape themes. They do NOT have to be from the local area, although local images are always welcome.

We will host a “Meet the Artists” reception at Broadmoor on Sunday, May 18^th at 1PM. We are planning to have an optional casual walk through the sanctuary prior to the reception at 10 AM. Please mark your calendars.

We will be displaying a binder with Artist's Statements in the exhibit area. Artist statements are typically one page, 8 1/2 x 11, but any length is permissible. Artist Statements are due on the day of the exhibit installation. If you would like to see previous sample artist statements, please email me and I will be happy to send you some samples.

Photographer's Event List

Buz is creating an events of interest to photographers list.  This is intended to be an interactive list with any member sending Buz an event that they've learned about.  The event can be anything that you think would be of interest to photographers.  These could be larger regional events or small home town celebrations of some kind.   Any theme might be a good event:  specialty sports (nat'l leagues, we already know about), state and local fairs and festivals, flowers and gardens, historic, special visiting exhibits at museums, and events that defy categorization.  As you send Buz events,  he will add to the list and send out periodic updated e-mails.