Barbara O’Shea passed word along to me about this and I thought it would make a good field trip to close out the autumn season.  Hope you can make it: Bedford Hills, NY is approximately 40 minutes from Stamford.

Location:  Steinhardt Property, Bedford Hills, NY
When:  Sunday, November 2
Time:  Meet at 1:00pm
Where to Meet:  Stamford Commuter Lot off of Exit 35 Merritt Parkway
RSVP:  Please call or email David Henkel to confirm your participation in the field trip.  dhfore@hotmail.com or 203-509-4667
What to bring:  Camera, Tripod, Cost of gas should be shared

On Sunday, November 2nd, the Steinhardt Property, part of the Garden Conservancy, with one hillside where more than 300 different cultvars of Japanese Maples will be in their glory this coming Sunday, located near Bedford Hills, NY will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm.  There may be a host of dahlias if the frost has not hit them too hard.  It should be magnificent!

The 56 acres, a private property owned by Mr. and Mrs. M. Steinhardt, has been designed by Jerome Rocherolle, assisted by his wife Carol and by sister Caroline Rocherolle, over the past 20 years, with great respect, never imposing on it’s natural beauty.  The Japanese Maple Woodland Garden with it’s extraordinary variety of maples, winding paths covered with pine needles, water flowing through rocks, under a moss covered bridge, and another chinese red colored one, is not to be missed.  The colors should be at their peak on November 2nd.

The remainder of the property is wonderful to walk through even in the fall.  There is a 3 acre covered aviary with ducks from all over the world, many animals from camels, to lemurs, porcupines, peacocks, and other exotic species in different areas of the property.

It will also be open to the public as a fund raiser for the Garden Conservancy on the 1st Sunday in May that is not Mother’s day.  Keep that in mind.  At that time, you can walk at your leisure through the Yellow Garden, the Alpine Garden, walk along all the paths of the property (except those close to the owners home), with it’s variety of flowers and shrubs, see a Cutting Garden with it’s multiple rows of tulips and daffodils, and the Woodland Garden whose flowers underneath the maples are beautiful and interesting as well as the light greens and pinks of the Japanese Maple leaves themselves.

Our November competition is coming up on Wednesday, November 5, starting 
at 7:30 pm.

The assigned subject for November is Nighttime.

***Entries into the digital projection category must be sent to the image collector (DHFore@hotmail.com) no later than 3:00 pm Monday, November 3.***

Print submission are accepted the night of the competition up till 7:15pm.  We will start promptly at 7:30pm.

Our third Wednesday meeting coming up is one that has been run by Club Member Nancy Zager for the past couple of years.  It is such a good time that its becoming an annual event.  Here is more information about the meeting coming up:

THIRD ANNUAL YOU ARE THE CRITIC

Our next third-Wednesday meeting is on October 15 @ 7:30 p.m.

For those of you who have come before, you know what a great evening this is.  Lively, in fact.  Impassioned at times.

For the rest of you, here’s the drill:

This is a fun evening and a learning one.  To have to critique an unfamiliar photo makes you think really carefully about what you’re looking at and to call to the fore all your knowledge of what makes a good photograph.  The rules are simple–tell us (if you wish) what you think of the photos shown whether your thoughts be positive or negative, but do it gently.  This is supposed to be a help session.  In the past it has been, and people have learned both from giving and getting constructive criticism.

Previously we have let photographs be submitted anonymously, but since everyone always claimed ownership anyway, this year we’ll credit the photographers.  And this year all submissions will be digital.  So send David a maximum of two photographs, color or black & white, formatted for digital projection:  768 pixels high x 1024 pixels wide maximum, at a resolution of 100 ppi (the same as all digital submissions).  Name them:  yourname_phototitle.jpg (as in nancyzager_abstractchickensalad.jpg).  Send them to David at dhfore@hotmail.com before Monday, October 13, noon.  The sooner the better.

So, submit a photo you think is not quite right, but you don’t know why, and the members will help sort out your problems.  Or send a photo you are pleased with, and the members will let you know if you ought to be.  You needn’t tell us which you have in mind.

Hope to see you all on the 15th.