About Us
Who We Are
A group of photographers of all skill levels promoting conservation and stewardship of the Aransas and Matagorda Island area through nature and wildlife photography. The club is sponsored by the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island Wildlife Refuges (FAMI) and open to all individuals with a desire to learn more about nature and wildlife photography and to help achieve the clubs objectives of teaching photography to all age groups.
Club Charter
Purpose: To promote appreciation for and understanding of the natural environment of the Aransas and Matagorda Island area through nature and wildlife photography.
Membership: Open to all individuals with a desire to learn more about nature and wildlife photography and to help achieve the clubs objectives of teaching photography to all age groups.
General Program: The club is sponsored by the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island Wildlife Refuges (FAMI) and will run activities throughout the year to help participants become better naturalists and develop skills in nature and wildlife photography.
The Club will sponsor activities at the Refuge about once per season to coincide with events of interest to photographers. Tentative dates for 2009-10 include:
- October - activities celebrating National Wildlife Refuge Week!
- December - photo shoot and infoshare
- January or February - photo shoot and infoshare;
- April -photo shoot and infoshare;
There will also be additional activities at other times (organizational meetings, photo shoots, occasional seminars), as dictated by the interests of the membership.
Club activities will typically include information-sharing sessions with focus on stewardship and conservation of National Wildlife Refuges, discussions about equipment and techniques used in nature and wildlife photography, and how to process and share images.
Participants of different ages and skill levels are all welcome!
Age-appropriate activities for school-age children and an older family member (parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles etc.) will be a part of most Club events.
There will also be activities for those with an interest in learning about the more technical aspects of nature photography.
Equipment: Participants are encouraged to bring and use their own camera gear. This will usually be single-lens reflex digital equipment, but photographers using point and shoot cameras are welcome too!
For those without equipment, FAMI is interested in donations of older cameras for use by club members during events at the Refuge. If you have such equipment you want to put to good use, please contact Annie Clayton or John Noll.
FAMI has purchased two copies of Adobe’s Lightroom program for use on computers in the Aransas NWR Visitor Center. This program will be used to maintain a catalog of Club images and for processing and printing images during certain Club events. Informal instruction will be provided for those who want to learn more about how to use this program.
Organization & Fees: Club officers and structure to be determined by membership. At the moment there are no fees to join ANWR-NPC.
Contacts & Members
Contact John Noll at anwr.npc(at)earthlink.net or Sherrie Krause at president(at)friendsofaransas.orgor visit http://friendsofaransas.org