Get ready to snap, search, and smile! Join our wild and wacky Aperture Adventure Quest! Let your lens will be your guide through the diverse landscapes of Patapsco Valley State Park. From our pavilion, you're within easy reach of a world of photographic opportunities. Watch for the dynamic motion of mountain and road bikers as they navigate the winding paths and roads, offering a perfect chance to practice your panning shots. Just a short walk away, the gentle flow of the Patapsco River invites you to capture tranquil reflections or the drama of moving water.
Six categories, six chances to win a prize ($25 gift card). Straight out of the camera, picked by your peers, an adventure that can be as mild or wild as you can imagine…within legal, moral, and ethical boundaries, of course. Enter as many or as few categories as you like; the goal here is to have some fun, show off your creativity, and make some memories with your fellow photographers. Everyone who participates will be entered into a prize drawing, so get ready for a picture-perfect adventure filled with laughter and friendly competition! More details to follow!
Categories:
1. CLOSE-UP/MACRO: The main subject should dominate the shot and make viewers feel close to it. The goal of a close-up is to show a sense of immediacy and highlight detailed features of the subject.
2. INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOVEMENT: A photo taken with deliberate camera motion during the exposure to create artistic or creative effects. This technique can produce images that appear impressionistic or abstract. It may involve shaking the camera, moving it in a straight or curved path, or zooming the lens while the shutter is open. In-camera multiple exposures are permitted.
3. LOOKING UP: Tilt your camera upward and capture the world from a different perspective. It could be a ceiling, flowers from ground level, buildings, trees, or anything that requires your camera to look up.
4. Long Exposure: Capture an image that shows a long-exposure effect or uses a slow shutter speed. This technique may use time-lapse to capture stationary elements of a scene while blurring or obscuring moving elements (e.g., flowing water).
5. PANNING: Panning involves tracking a moving subject in the camera while using a slow shutter speed. The goal is to keep the subject in focus while blurring the background, highlighting motion in one shot. There may be some motion blur in the subject, but it should be less than in the background (i.e., it might not be perfectly sharp). Panning can express emotion and tell a story by showing the movement of a subject relative to the background. A panning motion is like how a person turns their head from left to right.
6. PATTERN: Your challenge is to find a subject where repetition is the dominant visual feature and to compose your shot to emphasize that sense of rhythm, order, or design.
Last but not least, what kind of gathering would this be without an educational component? We plan to have a short member-led program that our hikers will enjoy! Those ready for a short quarter mile trail climb from the swinging bridge parking lot will enjoy the Cascade waterfall – a perfect subject for long-exposure photography. MDPPA President James Corbett will lead a short excursion departing at 10:15 am from the Cascade trailhead parking lot by the swinging bridge. James recommends a tripod and a lens somewhere in the 14 - 24 mm range. If you have a neutral density filter and remote trigger, bring them along. Waterproof hiking boots and a change of socks are recommended in case the shot required stepping into the water. The trail to the Cascade waterfall is a quarter mile with some roots and rocks in the path. You'll appreciate good traction and sturdy soles. And yes, the images you take are eligible for the Quest!
Like a game of chance, and the opportunity to support the Association at the same time. We have a 50/50 raffle planned for you! That's right, take a chance for just $5 a ticket to split the pot with MDPPA.
If the Picnic isn't enough to get you motivated to join us, we are including a Gear Swap as well! So, bring your old gear and wallet! Don't miss this chance to clean out some space to make room for that new stuff you want!