News

Latest News and Announcements

August Meeting

Many thanks to Vince for his fascinating talk last Thursday evening at Primal Gallery. He covered his history shooting for publications around the country, covered many technical aspects of the craft, and presented some really amazing images.

Next Meeting, September 10

Our next meeting will be a photo walk on Mercer Street, Dripping Springs at 6:30pm on September 10th. Come along with a camera and see just how many great photo opportunities there are right in the center of the town.

Battle of the Brands, October 8

Our October meeting will be a “Battle of the Brands” where users of different cameras will discuss the pros and cons of their particular system. We already have volunteers signed up to talk about Canon, Nikon, Sony and OM System but if you shoot something else, Fuji, Leica, Hasselblad or whatever, and would like to present about your system, please drop us an email and we’ll make sure you are included in planning discussions for the meeting.

Songwriters’ Festival, October 16-18

The organizers of this year’s Songwriter’s Festival are looking for volunteer photographers to cover the event and provide images to the festival and artists for use in future publicity. If you are interested, drop us a line at DSAL.photo.club@gmail.com or leave a comment here with your name and email address and we’ll get you added to the list.

Volunteers are also sought to live stream performances so, if you have an interest in video and could help with this, also let us know.

Exhibition Space, November 2026

Primal Gallery has kindly offered us 3 display racks for the month of November and members are invited to submit up to two sale-ready photographs to add to the display. Bring them to the gallery any time after November 1st and hang them yourself. I’ll update this post later when I hear what the sale conditions are and what, if any, labelling is required. If we find that there’s still space available after everyone who is interested has hung two images, we’ll allow additional images to be added.

A closely cropped image of two football players.

8/13 Speaker: Vince Curletta – “Software Developer to Sports Photographer”

Club co-leader Vince Curletta is currently a sports photographer working for MaxPreps and photographing sporting events in the Texas Hill Country. Vince studied photography at the University of New Mexico and worked as a stringer for Associated Press. He changed his major to Computer Science and spent the last 40+ years developing software in various corporate environments. In 2013 he started working for the Chicago Sun Times as a freelance sports photographer. After moving to Texas, he began working for MaxPreps. Now that he’s retired from software development, he’s shooting sports as his main job, and is enjoying his love for art and photography more than ever.

In his talk “Software Developer to Sports Photographer” Vince explains his path back to photography, specifically sports photography, and tries to encourage others to pursue their love of photography.

A closely cropped image of two football players.
A single basketball player on the court.
Field trip text heading

4/12 Pedernales Falls Field Trip

We’ll be having a field trip to the Pedernales Falls State Park bird blind on Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 10am. You will need to make a park reservation (cost $6 if you don’t already have a pass) ahead of time by clicking here. Feel free to bring a guest as this is a great introduction to some of the interesting things we do.

This will also be a great opportunity to fine tune some of your photography. If you have questions about settings for photographing birds, there should be plenty of experienced club members to ask for advice.

The bird blind is about half a mile from the park station on the left side of the road and is well signed.

An aerial view of the carnival at the Founders' Day celebrations in Dripping Springs, Texas on April 26th, 2024.

PODS Christmas Party, December 12th 2025 6:30pm

This year’s Christmas party will take place on Friday, December 12th at 6:30 PM, located at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church (301 Hays Country Acres Road).

For this year’s event, we are serving chicken piccata, with the option to add shrimp if desired.

Please RSVP by Thursday, December 4th, which should include:
    •  If you are attending YES or NO
                 If yes:
            ▪  Number of attendees in your party
            ▪  Whether you will bring a dish – if so, specify what dish you will bring. Deserts, salads, and side dishes are always appreciated.

We will also be hosting our traditional “white elephant” gift exchange. To participate, simply bring a wrapped gift valued at $25 or less. Our master of ceremonies for the evening will once again be none other than Doug Gephardt. Even if you choose not to partake in the gift exchange, I assure you it will be an enjoyable and entertaining evening for all.