Last meeting of the year. This meeting is a business meeting where we get your input for club meeting ideas for the next year. We will take off for the summer and meet again August 24th at the Library.  Do check the Upcoming Events page for outings and other events over the summer.

TW0 CHALLENGES:  Brown, Faces in Objects, Shallow Depth of Field and Purple, Graffiti, Looking Down

On June 6, us for an outing to the Shelbyville Lake area. It's about 80 miles and a 1.5-hour drive from Champaign.   Upon arrival, we will start at the East Dam Access area.  We can visit the dam, observe the lake, and even hike a trail.  We may also visit the West Dam Access area, Forest Park, and the Shelbyville Sunken Garden.  As the day goes on, other areas may be included.  There is an abundance of  places on both sides of the lake, offering different habitats, birds, and wildlife.  Opportunities for bird, wildlife, nature, macro and landscape photography will be plentiful.

RSVP to Steve Heater here if you are going.

Google Maps Trip Link:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BeRALU8soUDQNiby6

Agenda:

4:00 a.m.: Leave QuikTrip at Neil and I74

5:30 a.m.: Make a pit stop at the BP in Shelbyville near the dam.

5:45 am: Meet at the East Dam Access Area Visitors Center parking lot.  Begin the day!

4:00 p.m.: Head towards home (or sooner)

General Information:

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Lake-Shelbyville/Plan-Your-Visit/Lake-Shelbyville-Visitor-Center/

Ebird hotspot map near Lake Shelbyville.

https://ebird.org/hotspots?hs=L1829436

The Carlyle Reservoir is about 150 miles from Champaign to the dam. Near the dam, there's a trail to a historic suspension bridge, the dam area itself should be good as well.  There is a beach there for shorebirds, and a marina.  Nearby is the visitors' center, which opens at 9am.  After exploring here, we will go to Eldon Hazlet State Recreation Area on the west side of the lake.

Weather cancellation decisions will be made by 5am on May 29.

Agenda:

4:30am: Meet at QuikTrip, I74 and Neil Street.

6:30am: Pit stop at Casey's

7:00am: Meet in the parking lot just after crossing the Dam.

Explore here for a while.  

Go to Eldon Hazlet State Recreation Area

Walk until our legs can't take any more, then head for home. 

Google Map of the trip:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/1wRRttP9bqAXHvJW8

Links:

Overall Map of the area:

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Portals/54/docs/recreation/caryle/maps/Carlyle%20Lake%20Vector%20Map.pdf

Carlyle Lake Army Corps of Engineers page

https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Carlyle-Lake/

AllTrails Map of Carlyle trails

https://www.alltrails.com/us/illinois/carlyle

Eldon Hazlet SRA information:

https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/park.eldonhazlet.html

Eldon Hazlet map

https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/parks/documents/eldonhazletsitemap.pdf

eBird Beach/dam/Marina hotspot

https://ebird.org/hotspot/L476309

eBird Eldon Hazlet hotspot:

https://ebird.org/hotspot/L164824

Please RSVP to Steve Heater here if you plan to come.

More details soon!

A few club members from Bloomington-Normal KodaRoamers Club will join us at the Champaign Library. We will have outside judges come to judge 30 images from each club (60 total images) on the theme Emotion.  No challenge for this meeting, but there will be snacks!

Sydney Oliveira, Wildlife Medical Clinic Program Coordinator, will share various Ambassador Animals that we can photograph. This will be at the U of I VetMed Clinic, 3505 Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building, 2001 S. Lincoln Ave., Urbana.

Lets go to the Route 66 Red Carpet Festival on May 2nd.  We will be leaving the QuikTrip at Neil and I74 about 630am.  Our first destination will be 329 W Main Street in Lexington, arriving there about 8am.  Once done in Lexington, we will travel Route 66 North as far as we can get. 

NOTE: Steve will have room for 1 or 2 people to ride with him if they prefer.  Please email him directly to make arrangements.  

Links:

https://ilroute66redcarpetcorridor.com/

https://illinoisroute66.org/event/2026-illinois-route-66-red-carpet-corridor-festival/

https://illinoisroute66.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/VisitorGuideIllinoisRoute66.pdf#:~:text=Don't%20Miss%3A%20The%206%2Dfoot%20tall,H

Google Map to Lexington

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2jBAqjLVgfiLt18D7

Please RSVP to heaterography@gmail.com

We are back at the Champaign Public Library this meeting. We will select 30 images from club members for the I74 Challenge (Emotion). If there is time we will do the challenge from the last meeting that was postponed, See you there!

Challenge - Purple, Graffiti, Looking Down

Send up to 5 images reflecting the theme EMOTION to champaigncountycameraclub@gamail.com

See Other Club Competitions for further information. This year’s theme is emotions.

Send images and entry form to champaigncountycameraclub@gmail.com $5 entry fee goes to Mary.

See Other Club Competitions for more information on entries.

4/13/26 — Purple: Graffiti; Looking Down

6/8/26 — Off White; Closer the Better; Natural Light

Send images to champaigncountycameraclub@gmail.com or bring them (early) to meetings so they can be loaded into the queue. Images should be no more than 1400 pixels horizontally and 1050 pixels vertically.

Our club treasurer, Tom Nelshoppen, will give a presentation on shooting Fireworks and Night Photography. 

OUR CHALLENGE: Purple, Graffiti, Looking Down

Following up on our recent workshop on macro photography, Lisa Foster and Ray Silva will lead an outing to Meadowbrook Park to put our new skills into practice. We will start at the Hickman Wildflower Path. The closest parking lot is the one on Race St. It will be cool so wear something warm and we will see you there!

The regular meeting scheduled for March 23rd will now be held as a Zoom meeting. Please have 5 of your favorite images ready to share. There are no restrictions, no category, no date limit...just 5 of your own images that you especially like and be prepared to share why. We will share everyone's images and if there is time, we can share more. You might want to have 10 ready just in case we have extra time.

The Zoom link will be sent out via email soon.

OUR CHALLENGE:  Black, Square, High Contrast

Join us for a walking tour of the some of the architecture on the University of Illinois campus. The students are on break so we thought it was an ideal time to explore some of the great buildings, statuary, and plantings on the Illinois campus. The event is planned to include the lunch hour for those of you who work on campus and others to join us, even if only briefly.

We will meet at the east entrance of the Main Library. The parking lot near 4th and Armory in Champaign wraps around the building on three sides and should provide ample parking. Most of the meters on campus use pay by app, but there are generally Champaign parking meters available in the area on 5th Street south of the Armory, Daniel and John Street as well as near the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

11:30 a.m. - Meet at the Main Library - We can decide then which direction to go - the Quad and Foellinger Auditorium, Bio-Genomics Building, Funk Aces Library, BIS, Krannert Art Musuem (especially if the trees are in bloom), Design Building, Armory, and more.

1:30 p.m. - Wrap it up and maybe find somewhere to eat a late lunch.

Please RSVP to Lynne at lmrudasill@gmail.com if you are interested in joining us.

.

Join Lisa Foster and Ray Silva for a hands-on workshop exploring setups, lighting, softboxes, and more used in macro photography. Come prepared to have some fun!.

Here's a list of  helpful items to bring if you have them, no  worries if you don't.  Ray and Lisa will bring props, plus exta supplies Canon, Nikon and Olympus shooters can use. 

Macro lens (or even a wide angle lens)

Tripod (with an Arca Swiss type quick release would be helpful)

Tabletop tripod

Remote shutter release - either cable or wireless.

Flash

Light panel

Diffusers 

Focusing rail

Extension tubes

Extra batteries & chargers for camera and flash.

Memory card

Some small thing to photograph if you have something in mind.

We are meeting in the Lewis Auditorium in the basement of the Urbana Free Library.

WE WILL BE AT THE URBANA FREE LIBRARY AT 6:00 P.M. UNTIL 7:30 pm.

Lisa Foster will call the meeting to order. Ray Silva will provide a presentation on Milky Way Photography and Capturing the Night Sky.

Challenge: Red, White and Blue; Rust and Junk; Texture

Tom Nelshoppen will call the meeting to order and Allen Wehrmann will provide a review of the BIS winners from the 2026 competition.

Challenge: Pink; Fin, Fur, Feathers; Framing

The Great Lakes Falconers Association will be in Urbana for a major meeting from February 13-15. As in the past, members of the club can take this opportunity to capture some great images. Plan to meet at 8:00 a.m. at the Comfort Suites (2001 Lincoln Ave.) in Urbana if you are interested in this event. If you have not attnded this before, one of the club members will be happy to give you some advice.

Kim Ormsby will call the meeting to order. The program for the meeting will include presentations by Doug Mills and Lynne Rudasill from trips to parts of Indonesia. Doug will show us images including some of the beautiful dragonflies he captured in Papua, and Lynne will provide images and information from various islands near Bali.

Challenge: Black and White (the subject is black & white, not black & white by editing); Bumpy; Bokeh

Steve Heater will provide the program. Topic: Ebird and Birding Photography plus an exploration of the resources from Cornell University related to the topic.

Challenge: Silver, Tiny, Side Light

Topic: Club Meeting-Challenge and Birding and eBird presentation 1/26 6:30pm
Time: Jan 26, 2026 06:15 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83370214553?pwd=lklM7XgalqY99prveqCjZWnRicB9ax.1

Meeting ID: 833 7021 4553
Passcode: 583966

Challenge photos - Contrasting colors, ornaments, ICM (Intentional Camera Movement)

Program - Shea Belahi will share her pictures from a recent trip to Japan

This is near Winamac, Indiana, and is about a 2.5 hour drive.  Indiana State Parks do charge a $9 entry fee.  See links below for the park, the trails and a google driving map.  This park does have some historic structures, along with varying habitats.  There's prairies, woods, some sandy trails, and wetlands, and are rated easy to moderate.  While there won't be a huge variety of birds, that just adds to the challenge.  Lots of other opportunities for photography. We are leaning towards doing the trail 1, 4 and 5 loop, but will discuss with participants on site. Time to shake off the rust and get out in nature! 

Early look at the weather looks good.  Sunny, limited wind, temperatures 25-35, wind chills 18 to 30.  Any decision on cancelling will be made on or before January 1st.

AGENDA: (All times here are central time, the park is on eastern time)

5:00 am: Leave Casey's in Urbana

7:11 am: Sunrise

7:30am: Arrive (Parking lot near vault toilets heading back to nature center)

Hike until we are done

430pm: Sunset

LINKS:

Main park link

https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/tippecanoe-river-state-park/#Activities

Park Map:

https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/files/tippecanoe_river_trail.pdf

all Trails link for the park:

https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/indiana/tippecanoe-river-state-park

RSVP to Steve Heater at cccc-champaign-county-camera-club@googlegroups.com