Competitions for

2025-26

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• Due Oct 1- Insects and Spiders
• Due Nov 1- PSA Round 1
• Due Dec 1- Leading Lines
• Due Jan 1- PSA Round 2
• Due Feb 1- Through my Window
• Due Mar 1- PSA Round 3
• Due April 1- Abstracts

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Intra-Club competitions:

Each of the intra-club competitions will be judged in two categories: Contest images and Critique Only. Your choice. 

 A member can enter 1 or 2 images in each contest. In addition, you can enter 1 or 2 images in Critique Only by itself or in addition to the images to be judged. Images in Critique Only should fit the same topic.

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PSA PID Competitions:

The Photographic Society of America Projected Image Division inter-club competition, Open. Any subject, any processing or editing. 

There are two divisions: Color and Monochrome. You may enter the same photo in both divisions (i.e., one in color and a duplicate edited to monochrome), but they need to have the same title/file name.

In order to compete, you must have a permission form on file with the PSA. See message from Fran Nunn, Secretary.

This is a competition between PSA member clubs from around the US and the world. We will vote to choose 6 images to send as our club's entry. PSA will give each image a numerical score, and each club's total score is tabulated over the year to assign its relative place within its group. 

Member clubs are divided into 6 groups, A through F, according to their cumulative score over the year. Currently we are in Group A for Monochrome and Group B in Color. Our Monochrome images did very well last year and advanced the Club's standing where we currently remain.

Meeting was called to order at 6:05 pm by Bob Ruble.  The meeting was attended by 8 members in person at the Billings Public Library and 11 members online via Zoom. 

Program:

• This meeting was a follow-up to the December meeting during which Doug Johnson, professional photographer and teacher in Missoula, did a presentation on Black and White Photography. Members submitted 2 images each to a gallery. Doug used this meeting to do a live critique of the images.  He offered suggestions on how to improve images, when to convert from color to B&W, and post processing demo in Lightroom Classic and Nik SilverEfex. He suggested writing down your recipe or steps used when processing and paying particular attention to contrast by adjusting Shadows, Highlights, Black point and White point.

• The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for MONDAY, Febuary 2, 2026,  at the Billings Public Library and via Zoom. 

Submitted by Fran Nunn Sec/Treas

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Bob Ruble. There were 14 attendees at the Library and 4 members on Zoom.

Announcements:

• Reminder to submit images for PSA Round 3, due March 1.

Program:

• The results of the contest and Comments only for Leading Lines were presented and discussed by Ric Zimmerman, a local professional photographer with 62 years experience.  Ric talked about photography as writing with light. He suggested thinking more about your compositions, as if you were taking one shot with a film camera and paying attention to compositional elements like line and shape to help. He also emphasized the importance of naming conventions when choosing a title for your photo. Also, look at your image upside down during post processing to see these elements without the subject being your primary focus. 
• HM- Erin Ruble- Cross
• HM- Larry Bean- Silent Watchman
• HM- Bob Ruble- The Path
• 3rd- Patrick McDonald- Steps
• 2nd- Erin Ruble- Ghosts of the Past
• 2nd- Sharon Christensen- Tree Shadows
• 2nd- Patrick McDonald- Blizzard
• 1st-  Larry Bean- Dead Zone

 The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 2, 2026 at the Billings Public Library and via Zoom.

Submitted by Fran Nunn Sec/Treas