Highlands Ranch Photo Club Meeting
January 8, 2008
Debbie welcomed everyone to the meeting, including a number of guests. She and Richard are co-chairs of the club, which usually meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Highlands Ranch Library. For February 2008, only, we will meet the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
Club members are invited to bring two or three photographs to share. If there is extra time after a presentation, these photographs are shared with the club members present.
Children's Book Author, Illustrator and Photographer Join Forces
By Claudia McAdam and Anna-Maria Crum
Highlands Ranch author Claudia Cangilla McAdam and illustrator Anna-Maria Crum brought their latest collaboration to the club and discussed the process used to bring their book from concept to reality. Their most recent book was "Maria's Mysterious Mission," which included text by McAdam, illustrations by Crum and photographs by noted Colorado photographer John Fielder.
Claudia McAdam began taking photographs at age ten. She has written a variety of materials, including magazine and news articles, the Denver Broncos Alumni newsletter and her best-selling children's Christmas book "The Christmas Tree Cried."
McAdam and Crum met at a critique writing and illustrator group. Both had previously worked with John Fielder. McAdam had previously collaborated on a children's book "Do You See What I See? which used cutouts from John Fielder photographs with text by McAdam. The book was the first children's book published by Westcliff, John Fielder's publishing company.
When McAdam pitched the idea for a book about a homesick llama in Colorado, Fielder suggested Crum for the illustration portion of the book design. The book uses a format where part of each illustration is photography and part is a drawing. There is a progression as the book goes along from mostly drawing to mostly photography. In the story line, the llama sees the world more realistically as she becomes more at home in her surroundings. In real life, John Fielder uses llamas to carry his photographic equipment for his photo shoots in the Colorado mountain ranges.
Anna-Maria Crum talked about the techniques she used to seamlessly blend her drawings with Fielder's photographs. She used Photoshop layers and cloning in a complicated process to accomplish her very interesting results. Much of her "magic" was accomplished using digital manipulation to blend the photo/illustration with the story.
Both McAdam and Crum talked about their collaboration and how the book was taken from idea to final product. The writing came first, then critiquing and editing. The next step was to find just the right Fielder photographs. Then Crum worked on painting the scenes and blending the paintings with the photographs. From idea to publication, "Maria's Mysterious Mission" took about nine months.
Claudia and Anna-Marie, thank you very much for an enlightening and interesting presentation.
Notes for Upcoming Meetings
February 19 - Randy Mare of Wolf Camera will have a presentation on the latest and greatest in photographic equipment. Please note that the February meeting will be held on the third Tuesday of the month rather than usual date because of a scheduling conflict. The meeting will be held at the Highlands Ranch Library.
The Lone Tree Photography Club is sponsoring their annual photo contest. The entry fee is $25 to enter up to four photographs. The show will be juried, so only selected photographs will be chosen for the exhibition.
March 11 - Larry Johnson will do a presentation on nature photography.
View reports from previous meetings - News Archives
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