Robert Thoresen
The photography club’s photo field trip planner, Nancy Lammers, took first place honors with a portrait of a young woman in a hillside village in Chaing Dao province in northern Thailand. April’s contest theme was World Cultures. Nancy and husband Peter took a tour of Thailand in the summer of 2011. In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, due to conflict with the military regime in Burma, now Myanmar, many Kayan tribes fled to the Thai border area. Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck section, which became self sufficient on tourist revenue and did not require governmental financial assistance. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. If a woman chooses to remove the rings after many years, there is discomfort which ameliorates after three or four days. Nancy mentions that after taking her trip there has been considerable criticism of making the long neck women a tourist attraction. Nancy used a Panasonic DMC-FZ35 Camera. 32.7 mm focal length (184mm 35mm equivalent) 1/30 sec, f/3.7, ISO 800.
Bob Aagaard placed second with his picture from March’s Wa:K Indian Pow Wow at San Xavier Mission. The young Native American, probably in her teens, was participating in the dance where all the participants paraded past the audience. She could have been Tohono O’Odham, but she could have been from any of the other tribes that participated in the Pow Wow. She was dancing near a male from the Shoshone tribe. It was a cold and windy day, not very sunny which probably resulted in the colors not being washed out from sun’s glare. Bob used a Nikon D5100 with AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4 – 5.6 IF-ED lens. 200 mm (300mm 35mm equivalent). 1/640 sec, f5.6, ISO 400.
Robert Thoresen shot his third place alley scene in Nogales early this spring in front of the Hotel Pasaje. The tourists seem to be slowly returning to the border town’s retail zone. Robert didn’t buy anything at the local shops, but he did find a gem of a shop for jewelry, china and crafts at the El Serape on Obregon Avenue. He slipped back in May to do his Mother’s Day shopping. Robert used a borrowed Nikon D5100 with AF-S-DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5 lens. 29 mm focal length (43mm 35mm equivalent). 1/125 sec, f5.6, ISO 220.
The Photography Club of Quail Creek has a monthly photo contest for its members and schedules numerous photo field trips over the course of the year. The club meets the second Wednesday of the month in the Gold Room of the Madera Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. Guests are welcome. For current events and details visit the club’s website at http://www.pcqc.org.