Holgas and Jalapenos - The Saloon 1/10/08

Suds and Silver certainly hit the new years ground running last Thursday with what was possibly its largest turnout in history! It was a truly eclectic mix of food, fotos and fermentation.

8 enthusiastic attendees (Andy, Frank, Graeme, Erica, Patrick, Paul, Praveen and Steve) ensured there was a lot to talk about, washed down with, as per usual, lashings of superb beer.

Paul once again was successful in making this years Krappy Kamera toy camera juried show. This wasn't surprising when we saw some of his prints he submitted to the jury. Here are a selection of winning images from the show. Great job Paul, and we can't wait to see your chosen images that will be featured.

One thing I promised Frank was the shot of Erica assisting me for our photo shoot a few weeks back. Here she is elegantly holding the flash while I shot the lovely Liz Morel on 14th street. This did somehow raise the issue of the lack of female members of S&S and any suggestions are welcome!

Frank filled in a few more details of FotoWeek DC, a brand new photography festival taking place in DC during November 2008. More details, including contact information for volunteering can be found on their new website. In addition, Frank has a new column out with LOTS of information on the festival and the kick off event. Check it out here.

Frank brought along a Nikon D300 (with the 18-200mm VR lens) that he was sent from Nikon to review. It was basically an excuse for us to play with it ALL NIGHT LONG. I can safely vouch for all of us and report that the general consensus was that it seemed a highly capable camera, excellent in low light, enourmously complex but above all a joy to handle (if a 'tad' heavier that Praveen's Leica M8). Suffice to say that the beast certainly made the rounds that night.

Frank also showed us some superb examples of different prints from one of Judy's Venice shots. Among the prints were an inkjet printed by Steve, a traditional print by Frank as well as print that was digitally scanned and printed by a professional lab. Despite the low light of the Saloon, was a great way to compare the different qualities and styles of each print.

There was a discussion (possible arguement - details are still a bit hazy) at some point in the evening about Annie Lebowitz and the Queen which then focused on some other royal photographers. Frank was correct in naming Anthony Armstrong Jones (or Lord Snowdon to his mates) as the shooter in question. Graeme was had obviously had one too many at this point and mumbling the name of another royal image maker - Lord Litchfield.

Once again the iphone was on top form as we viewed some of Steve's recent honeymoon shots from Rio and Argentina.

Finally Andy, Praveen and hopefully Graeme are looking at heading to Mexico in late February to visit founding S&S member Dan. This trip would most likely follow Praveen's workshop with Mark Ellen Mark. Details are still being ironed out but stay tuned for further updates.