Looking back at 2011, it was a pretty interesting year, especially when it came to the happenings of the Newsvine Photographers group.  It certainly started on a high-note anyway.  The official recognition was undoubtedly a community motivator behind the many significant events that happened throughout the year and that leads me to believe you Photographers are capable of achieving great things given the proper motivation. 

Surely the coming year will bring unknown change, which is essential in maintaining a healthy environment.  While we work toward a better group for tomorrow and continue to struggle through our struggles, let us revisit some of the year's high-points from our columns for inspiration for the future.  Here's what I thought was significant from my Photographers column in 2011.  This is the second of a two-part series:

When I was a little girl, I used to love to play the game of Tag.

Photographers, there are quite a few birders 'round these parts and having a front page header to represent (and celebrate) the many here patient enough to hide (and wait... and wait... and wait...) until a bird arrives to take it's picture is practically mandatory.  The results have been wonderfully varied and the patience required alone proves it takes talent to produce those images.

There are already a few bird images in the pool so this one is part way complete.  The deadline is whenever Mal has enough photos (about seven) from as many people to finish it.  Old or new.  It don't matter.

This a ongoing project that Mal explains here and, for ease of all, utilizes this Flickr Pool.  Photographs may also be emailed to photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com.  If just signing up with Flickr, you can connect with other Photographers here.

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.

The 'theme' for the night is birds.  Bring 'em if you got 'em.  If you don't, browse around the 'net and bookmark some pages of bird photographs you like.  If you forget, or don't read this, or don't have the time, you can always search while someone goes ahead of you.  ;)

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail to request information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, February 2nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, February 7th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

There have been several kerfuffles in the last few months regarding the brand images designed to replace the existing written statements for foto-friday, et al.  Yes, Photographers was branded before the word ‘brand’ was ever used to describe anything it does. It has lent much to the success of the group.  Now that some time has passed and the ‘emotion’ has died down some, it is time to bring the topic up again, explain what was not clearly explained, and hopefully clear up some misconceptions.

To help achieve that, let’s take look at defining what branding is, how it applies to Newsvine Photographers, and attempt to address some specific issues and concerns that have come up.  Let us push the rock from the road and leave it in the rear view mirror.

The Newsvine Photographers group has a header on the group front page featuring photos by group members. The header photos are changed from time to time and are dependent on NVP member submissions for their content.

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, January 26th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, February 2nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

Newsvine Photographers

In my day job I work in a results oriented environment.  As a part of the transition from old school, I was forced to write 'performance standards' so management had measurable results to rate my performance.  It was exceedingly difficult for everyone to write.  This document was created in the same vein, to give Photographers, the administrators, and anyone that may care, a document to measure the performance and effectiveness of the Newsvine Photographers administration team.  Each main category is a 'key result' and the responsibilities are the standards used to measure that result.  Look to each standard and ask, 'is this happening?' to measure effectiveness in a given result area.

First and foremost, all group administrators are regular group members and are just volunteering their precious available free-time.  No one is compensated monetarily or in the employ of Newsvine.  Each has demonstrated the desire and ability to perform administrative tasks for the benefit of the group's members.  The administrators are:  Ben Josephs (owner), MalamuteMan, rottlady, etva, and HollyKl.  

The duty of the group administrator/moderator of Newsvine Photographers is to ensure that content submitted remains relevant and that the group stays on task and adheres to its vision.  This is accomplished through consistent and fair moderation of the group's guidelines and expectations, working to facilitate the cultivation of talent and ideas, maintaining and developing group activities, keeping open communication, managing group donations and meeting software, and maintain a schedule of inactive member purges (to keep it all fresh). 

Looking back at 2011, it was a pretty interesting year, especially when it came to the happenings of the Newsvine Photographers group.  It certainly started on a high-note anyway.  The official recognition was undoubtedly a community motivator behind the many significant events that happened throughout the year and that leads me to believe you Photographers are capable of achieving great things, given the proper motivation. 

Surely the coming year will bring unknown change, which is essential in maintaining a healthy environment.  While we work toward a better group for tomorrow and continue to struggle through our struggles, let us revisit some of the year's high-points from our columns for inspiration for the future.  Here's what I thought was significant from my Photographers column in 2011:

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 12th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, January 19th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, January 26th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

Newsvine Photographers

Please welcome HollyKl to the administrative team.  It has become a time honored tradition to have new moderator's announcements delayed.  When I apologized for not getting to it (these are hard to write!), she replied with, 'that's OK, I see myself as a moderator in training.' 

HollyKl has demonstrated her dedication and commitment to maintaining and creating a quality experience at Photographers.  She developed Tuesday Techniques in this vein.  And as a prolific photographer, she has inspired many with her articles.  She also has been attending the administrative meetings and lent much to the process of future group development. 

Please use this article to celebrate HollyKl.  Hoot 'n halla, y'all!

While we're on the topic, this announcement comes packaged with a sort of Newsvine Photographers group update.

These administrators (MalamuteMan, rottlady, etva, HollyKl) have been indispensable in the development process.  We'll try not to keep the wheels turning but through many meetings, we've hashed it out and are currently working on documenting the results.  One of those documents is 'Newsvine Photographers Administrative Performance Standards'.  This is a document to let the average user know what to expect from the administrative team and it is near publication.

All submissions should contain your best content from 2011.  Please limit entries to one or two articles.  And please tell us why you think they are your best.  Thanks!

If you don't mind contributing these images to the front page header, please also add them to the Newsvine Photographers Header Pool. 

Articles should also contain:

• tags:  photo-challenge, best-of-2011
• The photo-challenge branding (further instructions).

Come to a virtual-vinemeet if you need an opinion! 

http://photographers.newsvine.com/photo-challenge for previous challenges and entries. 

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 5th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.

2011 has come to a close and was a big year for Photographers.  Here's to a better 2012.  Let's share our best photographs from the year. 

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, January 12th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, January 19th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

The quince originates from the area between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea, known as Caucasus.  Although most who are familiar with the odd fruit associate it with jams and preserves (it very high in pectin), the quince has a long and rich history.  It could have very well been the forbidden fruit Eve picked from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Cultivation began in Mesopotamia between 200 and 100 BCE.  To the ancient Greeks it was a symbol of fertility.  Charlemagne is said to be partly responsible for introducing it to the French.  It even held brief popularity in colonial America (but was promptly replaced by the apple).

Although still considered common in the Middle East, the quince has been relegated as a specialty fruit and can be found in markets specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine or in the dark corners of your chain grocer.  It is a most unfortunate fate for a food of such rich history and wondrous flavor.

Quince is seasonal and available in the fall through January.

I spontaneously picked one up from the local food co-op, and the first thing to notice is the smell.  Quince's are extremely fragrant, so much so that one may want to consider leaving them in the kitchen for a few days as a natural air freshener before eating them.  It is somewhat laborious to prepare and cannot be eaten raw - it's as hard as winter squash and much too acidic and tart - but the effort is well-rewarded. 

With this one quince, it was decided to do a simple poach:

Vanilla Poached Quince:

about eight quinces
a vanilla bean
sugar, to taste (the recipe says 3/4 cup but it doesn't quite need that much)
water

• Bring about two liters of water to simmer in a heavy saucepan.
• Meanwhile, remove skins with a vegetable peeler and cut each quince, very carefully with a sharp knife, into wedges. 
• Split the vanilla bean pod, remove the seeds, adding both to water.
• Add quince and sugar.
• Cover and simmer, stir occasionally very carefully, for about three hours .

It's recommended the quince be refrigerated overnight to allow the flavors to settle (it still tastes wonderful if you don't).  As the quince cooks, it turns from white to a fleshly pink-orange color and it emits an absolutely intoxicating fragrance that fills the house for the entire day (seriously, even if you don't eat it, the fragrance alone is worth the effort).

I served this with freshly made whipped cream.

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, December 29nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, January 5th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

The Newsvine Photographers are wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas with the new group header. For this header we have images contributed by etva, Dubbya R, hollykl, rottlady, Soovivers, and me, Mal.

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.

In addition to sharing our photos, let's start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner.  We are WAY past the deadline.

There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, December 22nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, December 29th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

Newsvine Photographers

If you deleted your Newsvine account or have been inactive on Newsvine for more than a year, you were removed from the Newsvine Photographers group.  In this first round, no one received an official email notification.  In retrospect, members deserve the courtesy of a notice.  Apologies to those 25 members, but most of you were deleted Newsvine accounts.  This member purging will continue happening on a regular basis. 

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.

In addition to sharing our photos, let's start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner.

There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, December 15th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, December 22th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

This is not an attempt to claim or assume any authority on Newsvine, and should not be construed as such. Rather, it is written with the goal of clarifying what I see everyday - misconceptions about the meaning and application of the First Article of the Newsvine Code of Honor.

Foodies. You know who you are. You lust over heirloom tomatoes. You covet thy neighbor's fennel. You melt over Beaufort d'Alpage. Yes, that's you! Come here to share anything about food. Satisfy your hunger.

All submissions should contain content that belongs to the Foodies! group.  If you don't mind contributing these images to the front page header, please also add them to the Newsvine Photographers Header Pool.  Need some inspiration?  Check out the entries from the last food challenge or this Flickr group.

Articles should also contain:

• tags:  photo-challenge, foodies
• The photo-challenge branding (further instructions).

Come to a virtual-vinemeet if you need to collaborate! 

http://photographers.newsvine.com/photo-challenge for previous challenges and entries. 

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 1st at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

After a week break for the holiday, we're ready to resume the Thursday meets, which is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.

For this session, let's share our holiday photographs and start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner.

There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, December 8th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Thursday, December 15th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.

Maybe Newsvine, and the Internet in general, is supposed to be entertainment, just some distraction from the many very real issues we face individually and societally. That's not exactly what it was designed for but, hey, with so many new people 'getting online', knowing exactly how to participate is going to be a guessing game until contact is made with the right people.  That's understandable.  It all needs to start somewhere.  Knowing that these people will eventually [hopefully] catch on and contribute more positively is what keeps the hope alive.  In the meantime, unfortunately, it leads to a lot of childish and pointless behavior that attempts to undermine everyone's efforts.

Newsvine Photographers

Please welcome etva to the administrative team.  This is also not very new news.  etva has inspired many with her photography and has always done her part, above and beyond, in contributing to the community here at Newsvine Photographers.

etva has demonstrated her dedication to NVP, sharing a vision for a strong photography community that provides compelling content and plenty of learning opportunity.  She has done this through selflessly assisting and inspiring Photographers and continually offering her opinion and suggestions on group matters, which are always presented calm and rationally (she always seems so calm and cultured at the virtual-vinemeets).

Please feel free to hoot n holler and celebrate etva.

The current administrator policies are as follows:

• Removing inappropriate content and gently inform users why the content was removed.  This information will be left in public Newsvine Photographers group discussion.   
• Recruit and usher in new group participates.  This includes providing instruction when appropriate: tag suggestions (having the proper tags is very important!), helping and encouraging users to use the brand imaging properly, sending and approving member invites, and helping out with Newsvine and photography in general [but everyone should get into doing this].
• Regularly communicate and collaborate with other group administrators, as well as working to cultivate available talent.
• Respond to email that comes into photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com and informing the other admins when they do, so users don't receive duplicate responses. 

If anything was missed or needs to be altered, please voice your opinion and questions in the comments below. 

Thanks,

Ben

Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, November 17th at 6:00 PM Central.  That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian.  Expect a run time of one or two hours.   These sessions are always BYOB. 

This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.

Agenda / Summary

Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool.  This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot.  Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share. 

Your assignment for this meet, should you choose to accept it, is to bring photographs of food instead of your usual fare.  It doesn't matter if you've shared them before.  They can be photographs from past holidays and fancy dinners, random shots of food, or photographs that you found on the 'net. Uh, you better bring some of the recipes too - there are a few food-crazed maniac chefs running 'round these parts (not naming names ;).

Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets.

Joining the Meeting

The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information.  Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday, November 24th @ 12:00 PM CST - Canceled for Thanksgiving (don't forget to photograph your dinner!)

Thursday, December 1st @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!

Donate to Newsvine Photographers

All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.