Garden Photographic Society

Members Welcome Meeting 2025-26 Season
2025-09-18 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
September 18th, 7PM, first event of the 2025-26 Season!: New Season Members Welcome Meeting! Bring your Summer Memories Images to share (Flash Drive, Flickr, etc.) Also, a quick “How to Enter Competitions” demo and tips from Bob Marin (if necessary). Bring a small refreshment to share. (Garden Learning Campus, Classroom 2).

Live Golden Hour Shoot at the Garden
2025-08-21 18:00 - 20:30 | The Heritage Garden, CBG, IL, United States
Meet us August 21st at 6PM at the Heritage Garden for a Live Golden Hour Shoot at the Garden.

Zoom Program: Garden Member Mini Programs
2025-05-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
May 15th 7PM Zoom Program: Garden Member Mini Programs:
Join your fellow club members as they present 15-20 minute programs. Presenters are:

Barbara Dunn
Don DeDonato
Dave Penner

Carlos Cardona

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81371784342

Garden Program: Live Photo Critique at the Garden
2025-04-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Pullman Room, Chicago Botanic Garden
Please join us at the Botanic Garden (Pullman Room) on April 17th, from 7-9PM, for our next Live Photo Critique Program!

Please bring images that you are working on (the ones you need help with) on a USB Flash Drive, or your laptop (2nd best), or maybe Dropbox/Google Drive/Flickr etc.

April Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #6
2025-04-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
April 3rd, 7PM: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #6 (Image submissions TBD). Special Theme: The Odd Couple
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84404888117

March Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #5
2025-03-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
March 6th, 2025, 7PM: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #5 (Image submissions are OPEN until March 5th Midnite).
Special Theme: “Home Sweet Home”. Notice the DIFFERENT URL to enter your images: https://www.caccaphoto.org/411ClientLogin.html
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89187898502

Garden Zoom Program: Joe & Marie Rackozy -“Winter Up North”
2025-02-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Garden Zoom Program: Joe & Marie Rackozy -“Winter Up North”
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84304974492

February Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #4
2025-02-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
February Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #4
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83585318974

Live Photo Critique at the Garden
2025-01-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Pullman Room, Chicago Botanic Garden
Jan 16th Program, 7PM: Live Photo Critique a the Garden! (at the Pullman Room): Bring your USB Flash Drives, laptops!

December Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #3
2024-12-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89425474759

November Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #2
2024-11-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
November 7th, 2024, 7PM: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #2

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87937082362

October Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #1
2024-10-10 19:00 - 21:00
Join us on October 10th- Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #1
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84110144643

Live Photo Critique w/Club Members
2024-09-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Pullman Room, Chicago Botanic Garden
September 19th, 2024:Live Photo Critique w/Club Members, Bring Your New Images (Prints, iPad, Flash Drive, Whatever!)
Join us for a fun evening, LIVE, BACK AT THE GARDEN for a Critique Night with your fellow club members. We’ll have refreshments and kick off the season in style!

Botanic Garden Golden Hour Photowalk
2024-07-05 18:00 - 21:00 | The Heritage Garden, CBG, IL, United States
Join your fellow club members for a Golden Hour Photowalk at the Garden on Friday, July 5th from 6-9PM. We’ll meet at the Heritage Garden (the Lilly Pond) at 6PM and break up into smaller groups to explore areas like The Japanese Garden, The Waterfall, Evening Island, the Fruit & Vegetable Garden, or wherever you want! We’ll reconvene at 8:15 at The Crescent to shoot the sunset.

Zoom Program: John Gerlach “Photographing the Landscape”
2024-05-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Learn the photo skills for shooting pro-quality landscape images easily and consistently. Exposure using the highlight alert, techniques for producing super sharp images, composition, subject selection, in-camera HDR, adding LED and flash lighting to the image, and the incredible power of focus stacking are carefully explained.

Bio: John Gerlach has been a professional nature photographer since 1978. Hundreds of articles and five books on nature photography John wrote have been published. John continues to photograph landscapes, wildlife, and macro subjects every day and loves to teach photography. Go to his web site to read his articles and see the workshops that are being offered. www.gerlachnaturephoto.co

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87164143033

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #6
2024-04-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #6
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87509078458

Karen Hirsch-“What I Look For When Making Images”
2024-03-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Zoom Program from Karen Hirsch-“What I Look For When Making Images”
I will give a little of my own history, and present some common characteristics found in my work. If there is time, I will present a taste of some of the bodies of work that I have produced.

Karen I. Hirsch is an award-winning photographer whose photography has been published internationally. From her early days doing black and white documentary photography to her current creations of abstracts, alterations of reality and mixed media, she uses recurrent elements that define her work. She will be illustrating the principals behind her imagery with a number of examples. Karen’s images have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, Palm Beach as well as in Chicago. She has received art grants from the Illinois Arts Council and from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. She won the grand prize in a Daily News Kodak competition and in an ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) competition. Karen has photographed corporate moguls including Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, Olympic athletes, iconic musicians, movie stars and even U.S. presidents. The government of China invited her as a VIP guest to photograph the city of Rizhao. Karen is co-president of Fort Dearborn-Chicago Photo Forum. https://karenihirsch.com/

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81229158740

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #5
2024-03-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #5
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86045604433

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #4
2024-02-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Topic: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #4
Time: Feb 1, 2024 07:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86556961878

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #3
2023-12-07 19:00 - 21:00
Topic: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #3
Time: Dec 7, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84641715589

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #2
2023-11-02 19:00 - 21:00
Topic: Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #2
Time: Nov 2, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86858316302

Fall Color Photowalk: Des Plaines River Trail Hike
2023-10-21 13:00 - 15:00
Fall Color Photowalk: Des Plaines River Trail hike, Saturday, October 21st, 1PM.
Join Edgar Reihl for a photo walk along the Des Plaines River Trail to enjoy the fall colors. We’ll park at Potawatomie Pond just off Dundee Road in Northbrook, (take the Potawatomi Woods access road just before you get to Wheeling) which is a lovely spot for picture taking. From there, we’ll walk north along the river for about a mile, crossing the bridge into Lake County; a spot with vibrant colors. We’ll continue on the trail for about another ½ mile to the second bridge, passing through beautiful forest areas. You can bring a tripod for picture taking at Potawatomie Pond, and if you have a lightweight one you can take it along on the hike if you wish. The total distance is about 3 miles.

Tony Sweet: Personal Space: "Macro to Close-up to Intimate Scenics"
2023-10-19 19:00 - 20:30
Our Thursday, October 19, 2023 @ 7:00 PM Hybrid (Garden & Zoom) program will be from Tony Sweet: Personal Space: “Macro to Close-up to Intimate Scenics”
After becoming a photographer, I migrated from traditional landscapes and wildlife to macro, close-up, and small scenics, which I found more conducive to interpretation and self expression, more like having my own personal space.
We’ll be focusing on interpretive flower photography, small scenes, creative techniques, special effects, suggested projects, and more. It is the intent that the photographer gain a greater sense of self expression and a deeper sense of vision. https://tonysweet.com/
LIVE at Chicago Botanic Garden, Learning Center, Room 6, or:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82638079178

Zoom Club Meeting/Competition #1
2023-10-05 19:00 - 21:00
Competition #1/First Club Meeting of the season is Oct. 5th on Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89235701879

JP Stones: "Storytelling for Photographers"
2023-09-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Hybrid
Our Thursday, September 21, 2023 @ 7:00 PM Hybrid (Garden, Regenstein Ctr, Pullman Room) & Zoom program will be from JP Stones: “Storytelling for Photographers.”
Storytelling is powerful. It’s also confusing. How can one photo tell a whole story? In this program, we look at how to adapt a story for photography. We then discuss how that story can help you pose your models and create an engaging composition that will draw a viewer into your photo. Storytelling in photography has a fairly big limitation. A story occurs through time, but a photo is just this small slice of time. So, can a photo actually tell a story? And if not, then what is Narrative Photography? https://jpstonesphotography.com/

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83538585629

Brookfield Zoo Photowalk
2023-07-27 09:30 - 11:30 | Brookfield Zoo, 3300 Golf Rd, Brookfield, IL, United States
Join us in our Garden Summer Photowalk, to The Brookfield Zoo (3300 Golf Rd, Brookfield, IL). Meet Barbara Dunn at the entrance to the South Gate at 10AM for a 10-12Noon Photowalk! Click here to purchase tickets to the Zoo beforehand: https://www.czs.org/OnlineTicketing ($30 General/$25 Seniors). Of course, you can stay as long as you like!
Please RSVP to Barbara (bdunn23@sbcglobal.net) so that she knows how many are coming. Thanks to Barbara for hosting us! See you there!

LIVE & ZOOM Garden Club Meeting/Competition #6
2023-05-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Topic: GPS Club Meeting/Competition #6
Chicago Botanic Garden (Regenstein Ctr-Pullman Room) & Zoom (Link below)
Time: May 4, 2023 07:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83542141897

Kathleen Reeder-“Post Processing Wildlife Images”
2023-04-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
About this webinar: The primary objective of post processing is to maximize the impact of what you saw or felt in that defining moment when you pressed the shutter. The changes and improvements you choose to make to a photo are largely a personal choice, but there are basic changes to keep in mind that can increase a wildlife photo’s impact. In addition, if you shoot in RAW format, photos can look great on the camera’s LCD screen, but most require post processing to be a “finished image”, even when you do everything right in the camera. Kathleen Reeder will present the post processing considerations and steps to maximize the impact of your wildlife photos.
Topic: GPS Program: Kathleen Reeder-“Post Processing Wildlife Images”
Time: Apr 20, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86808403467

Online Garden Club Meeting/Competition #5
2023-04-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Topic: Club Meeting/Competition #5
Time: Apr 6, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82097304267

Online Garden Club Meeting/Competition #4
2023-03-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Topic: Club Meeting/Competition #4
Time: Mar 2, 2023 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85110195994
