Category Archives: Club News & Events

Field trips, photo shows and other club events and news

2025: Our Year in Review

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It was another good year for our Club! Some highlights…

Membership: 

  • 35 as of December (almost the same as Dec. 2024, though some of the faces had changed). Sadly, we lost a beloved longtime member, John Poirier, who passed away in May 2025.

In-person events: 

  • 4 Club field trips and photo walks (2 of them off-island)
  • Annual Fall Show

As well, four club members gave in-person photography presentations for the community.

Exhibitions:

Members who displayed prints in our shows: 
13 (35% of club). This included:

  • 4 solo shows (Medical Centre)
  • 2 group shows (Medical Centre)
  • 1 group show (Chiropractic)
  • 1 group show (annual fall Rollo show)

Learning & inspiration at our 19 zoom meetings:

  • 5 guest presentations – one more was re-scheduled to 2026
  • 2 presentations by club members
  • 9 themed photo assignments
  • 18 members shared about 800 images from our assignments & field trips

Financial matters:

  • Balanced budget achieved again this year
  • Raised almost 10% more revenue than forecast, mostly due to donations
  • Expenses were only about 75% of forecast, mainly due to one cancelled speaker fee
  • Top revenue sources: membership fees, donations, silent auction
  • Top expenses: speakers, communications (zoom & website accounts)

The full 2025 financial statement will be available to members once it has been finalized and approved by the executive.

Website:

  • almost 1000 visitors in 2025, mostly from Canada
  • 23 new posts added (events, speakers, shows etc)
  • Top post in 2025: “Gabriola Artists” (Blair’s show) – 73 views

Top pages & downloads in 2025 (# of views):

  • Home page (800)
  • Password-protected Members page (418)
  • Contact page (123)
  • Membership / why join? (75)
  • “Size matters…or not?” – Image Size & Dimensions (62)
  • Jurgen Lobert zoom recording, “Night Photography” (50)

Best wishes from the Executive to all Club members, for a wonderful 2026, filled with opportunities for learning and growing creatively!

Linda, Sally, Corinne & Laurie

“Dream – Believe – Create” – January 7, 2026

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With special guest presenter, John Barclay

After having to re-schedule several times, we are delighted to finally be able to welcome John Barclay as our first guest speaker of 2026.

John is an award-winning freelance photographer based in Bucks County, PA.  A passionate photographer, workshop leader and inspirational speaker, he has been presenting his programs to audiences around the world and his work has been published in a number of books and magazines. John has received an excellence award from B&W Magazine and was chosen by Dewitt Jones to participate in Dewitt’s www.healingimages.org program. You can see a few of John’s images below (click to enlarge).

Four photos by John Barclay, including black & white, color, landscape and abstract images.

John explains the background and purpose of the presentation he’ll be making:

“Why Dream – Believe – Create? There was a time when I felt I could not create. My self-talk was, I am not a creative person, I’m not smart enough, I can’t do this. After seeing images projected at the first workshop I took, I dreamed of becoming a good photographer. Primarily with the help of well known accomplished photographers Tony Sweet, Nancy Rotenberg and later Dan Sniffin, I was able to chip away at the negative self talk and believe that I could create worthwhile images. Thus Dream – Believe – Create has become the centerpiece of what I teach in my workshops. I believe that everyone has dreams and can achieve their dreams. I also believe that when you truly believe, you will be liberated to be able to create.

The process and journey required to create images feeds my soul and brings me great joy. My goal in this presentation is to inspire you to capture the essence of the subjects you are drawn to, using the creative medium of photography. This might entail capturing a small intimate portion of a scene. It might involve more creative techniques such as multiple exposures or the “slide sandwich” or camera movement for a more expressive interpretation.

I will also touch on the digital darkroom including the popular HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology and how having a keen understanding of these can help you achieve your artistic vision. Numerous examples will be shown which include traditional nature scenes as well as more abstract and urban compositions. We will explore the beauty in both the grand scale as well as more intimate details. The ideas presented in this program have application to any genre of photography.

I believe, like Ansel Adams, photographers bring to their images their own journeys, their sense of the world, their experiences and their passions. For me photography is simply another medium of artistic expression, visual poetry if you will.“

You can learn more about John and his work at www.barclayphoto.com.

The meeting will be held via Zoom, on Wed. January 7 at 10 am PDT. The link will be sent by email to all Gabriola Photography Club members on the weekend before the meeting. Make sure your membership is up to date so that you receive this info.

A note to non-members of our Club: you’re welcome to attend this event as a guest; contact us by January 5 to sign up.

November 23: Annual Show & Sale!

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Gabriola Photography Club’s annual Show & Sale will take place on Sunday, November 23. It’s a great antidote to the dark days of late fall.

Poster with two egrets walking along in shallow water against a blue background.

This fun, free event runs from 12:00 to 4:00 pm at the Rollo Centre (685 North Road, in the Village, across from the school).

In addition to the gorgeous prints, greeting cards and other photographic items you’ll find on hand, the Show offers a good opportunity to talk photography with some of the folks involved in the Gabriola Photography Club, and learn more about our group, which welcomes new members.

See you there!

“Vimy and beyond: Visiting war-related sites in northern France” – November 5

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with special guest presenter, Libby Gunn

With Remembrance Day approaching, we are very pleased to welcome Libby Gunn as our next guest speaker, for a presentation that promises to be as moving as it is appropriate to the occasion.

In November 2022 Libby visited war-related areas of northern France, including Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach and other less well-known sites. She’ll share her photos and describe her experience of visiting these sites at our club meeting on Wed. November 5.

Close-up of a war memorial at Vimy Ridge with statue of a seated, grieving woman
At Vimy Ridge © Libby Gunn

Libby is a writer and photographer who moved to Gabriola Island ten years ago and has since volunteered in various capacities with Gabriola Land & Trails Trust. Previously she spent most most of her adult life in the NWT, working with Parks Canada for much of her career. As a writer, she has been longlisted three times for the CBC Nonfiction contest, has had her articles published in several magazines. and has self-published an illustrated natural history guide to the landscape near Fort Smith, NWT. She now splits her time between Gabriola and Lake of the Woods in northern Ontario. 

Libby describes her fascination with photography:

“I loved photography as a kid. As a teen I set up a black-and-white darkroom in the basement laundry/furnace room of our house in Vancouver. I spent many late-night hours under that red light trying just one more print to get it right… Art history captured my attention when I was at university. I loved learning more formally what I already worked with intuitively: line, shadow, composition. Later I played a lot with video. With the advent of digital pictures I have done less photography as I loved the rigour of film and  the mystery of the darkroom, but I am still composing  photos in my mind as I look out at the world, and a compelling photo still moves me.”

The meeting will be held via Zoom, on Wed. November 5, 2025, at 10 am PDT. The link will be sent by email to all Gabriola Photography Club members on the weekend before the meeting. Make sure your membership is up to date so that you receive this info.

A note to non-members of our Club: you’re welcome to attend this event as a guest; contact us by November 3 to sign up.

Re-Scheduled Again: new date January 7, 2026 – “Dream – Believe – Create”

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With special guest presenter, John Barclay

(Originally planned for Nov. 2024, but postponed due to a storm and internet outage.)

We are pleased to welcome John Barclay as a guest speaker. John is an award-winning freelance photographer based in Bucks County, PA.  A passionate photographer, workshop leader and inspirational speaker, he has been presenting his programs to audiences around the world and his work has been published in a number of books and magazines. John has received an excellence award from B&W Magazine and was chosen by Dewitt Jones to participate in Dewitt’s www.healingimages.org program. You can see a few of John’s images below (click to enlarge).

Four photos by John Barclay, including black & white, color, landscape and abstract images.

John explains the background and purpose of the presentation he’ll be making:

“Why Dream – Believe – Create? There was a time when I felt I could not create. My self-talk was, I am not a creative person, I’m not smart enough, I can’t do this. After seeing images projected at the first workshop I took, I dreamed of becoming a good photographer. Primarily with the help of well known accomplished photographers Tony Sweet, Nancy Rotenberg and later Dan Sniffin, I was able to chip away at the negative self talk and believe that I could create worthwhile images. Thus Dream – Believe – Create has become the centerpiece of what I teach in my workshops. I believe that everyone has dreams and can achieve their dreams. I also believe that when you truly believe, you will be liberated to be able to create.

The process and journey required to create images feeds my soul and brings me great joy. My goal in this presentation is to inspire you to capture the essence of the subjects you are drawn to, using the creative medium of photography. This might entail capturing a small intimate portion of a scene. It might involve more creative techniques such as multiple exposures or the “slide sandwich” or camera movement for a more expressive interpretation.

I will also touch on the digital darkroom including the popular HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology and how having a keen understanding of these can help you achieve your artistic vision. Numerous examples will be shown which include traditional nature scenes as well as more abstract and urban compositions. We will explore the beauty in both the grand scale as well as more intimate details. The ideas presented in this program have application to any genre of photography.

I believe, like Ansel Adams, photographers bring to their images their own journeys, their sense of the world, their experiences and their passions. For me photography is simply another medium of artistic expression, visual poetry if you will.“

You can learn more about John and his work at www.barclayphoto.com.

The meeting will be held via Zoom, on Wed. November 19, 2025, at 10 am PDT. The link will be sent by email to all Gabriola Photography Club members on the weekend before the meeting. Make sure your membership is up to date so that you receive this info.

A note to non-members of our Club: you’re welcome to attend this event as a guest; contact us by November 17 to sign up.