Photographic Society of RI

Call For Photos

A. Cemal Ekin — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:35:32 +0000

The Pawtuxet Village Association is now seeking photographs for its 2014 wall calendar. Images should distinctly represent Pawtuxet Village and may include historic structures, nature, events and community scenes. The PVA would like to feature several of the village’s historic homes and other buildings in this calendar.

Images must be original and must adhere to the guidelines below. Owners of photographs selected for inclusion in the calendar will be notified by October 18, 2013 and will receive a copy of the calendar.

Set your digital camera to the highest resolution setting! (Most camera phones will NOT take quality images for calendar size.)
Resolution: 300 dpi
Minimum dimensions: 2550 x 3300 pixels
File format: JPEG only
Compress files and email to Donna Deforbes at
dmdeforbes@gmail.com (file must be under 20 megabytes)
DEADLINE: Monday, September 23, 2013

Who inspires you PSRI?

A. Cemal Ekin — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:30:05 +0000

A recent article I read somewhere got me thinking about who the photographers are that I admire, and why? What makes their photography enjoyable to me? What draws me in to their images on a regular basis? What is it about their images that causes me want to pick up my camera and shoot?

Top of my list, without a doubt has to be Joe McNally. Simply put, this guys images tell a story, and to me that is what photography is all about – telling a story. Taking an emotion or an event and capturing it in one slice of time. Conveying a feeling. Nobody does it like McNally does. I can look at his images, read his blog articles, and study his books all day long, over and over. Click on the link, check out his work, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

I first fell in love with Joe McNally’s photography back in July of 1990. In May of that year, puppeteer Jim Henson passed away, and the July issue of Life Magazine ran Joe’s photo of Kermit the Frog on the cover. That photo touched me in a way that very few photos ever had before, or have since. Never did I imagine that a photograph could convey such a powerful feeling. I still cannot look at that photo without a tear welling up in my eye. Kermit’s pain at the loss of his maker is as visible a part of that image as the directors chair itself.

Do I do the type of photography that Joe does? Nope. Do I WANT to do the type of photography that Joe does? Nope. Well at this point you must be wondering how he inspires me, and it is really simple. I see his images and I feel, and THAT is what I want to do. I want my images to invoke an emotion in my viewers, I want them to look at my image and have the same feeling that I had when I snapped the shutter. That is how Joe inspires me.

So fellow PSRI members, tell me – who inspires you, and why?

Mike Dooley

President, PSRI

Robert Doisneau on Google

A. Cemal Ekin — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:35:44 +0000

Google search engine is honoring the great French photographer Robert Doisneau, who would have been 100 on Monday. His photography explored the streets of Paris with insight, wit, and charm. It is worth reviewing his work.

A High School Project

A. Cemal Ekin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:32:43 +0000

I would like to share with you the publication Zach Dooley has created as part of his senior project. I agreed to be his mentor as he tried to learn the ins and outs of digital photography. To fulfill the requirements of his project, he settled on photographing the city halls of Rhode Island and decided to include the Foster Town Hall due to its historic significance. It is the oldest town hall in the country still in use, as I learned from Zach. He bridged this project with his history and civics courses and also wrote a paper which he is submitting separately. There is also a folio of nine photographs he had printed at Printmakers with a nice folio cover. He is rightly proud of his work.

Take a look at the magazine he put together with his photographs. I trust you will like what you see. If the spirit moves you, purchase a copy to encourage Zach to pursue photography as a hobby. He also got accepted to URI and he is considering marine biology as his major. If he decides on that I can see his photographic interest shifting from architecture to underwater photography.

He will present his creations at Pilgrim High School in May. I am sure he will impress his teachers with the quality of his work and the level of his learning. We have completed last bit of the paperwork today and he is ready to roll.

Congratulations Zach for completing this multi prong project.

Flash Applets Explain Photographic Concepts

A. Cemal Ekin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:07:41 +0000

Photography requires an understanding of some fundamental concepts like exposure, aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, and so on. As one experiences these in the field the abstract concepts make more sense and become second nature in the practice of photography. I have stumbled on a very interesting Web site that offers visual explanations of many photographic concepts. Some topics and their visual or verbal explanations may be too esoteric and complex, but several applets allow the visitor to play around with the settings of aperture, shutter speed, ISO setting, and a few more and see the results right away. My recommendations are, Variables that Affect Exposure, Depth of Field, and Gamut Mapping. Try any others if you like, but these three will make understanding, and then explaining to others, some of the fundamentals of photographic variables.