Arts Cafe Exhibition at 147 Harrison Avenue, Parksville, November 17 through December 31st.  (Arts Cafe hours are Monday – Friday from 9  to 4.) Ten members of the OPC are exhibiting twenty-five (25) photographs of varying sizes at this pre-holiday show.
Membership of OPC consists of over one hundred photographers from novice to professional.

Bread and Honey Food Company wants approximately ten (10) pieces with the theme “French Country” to show for six months at their business location

Please submit your image files to Levonne by Saturday, August 2nd.

The exhibit will start in January

The show is on and it looks great!

Several of our members are exhibiting over 40 images at TOSH during January.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Brandt Festival (also known as the Nature Festival) at the Bayside starting Saturday, March 7.

Contact Levonne for details about the silent auction and submissions.

North of LA,  South of the Bay

by Debra Kuzbik

There’s an expanse of California coastline that stretches from Los Angeles to San Francisco that is wild, beautiful, rugged, and mostly untouched.  My family and I have enjoyed a number of winters there, exploring the beaches, the little art communities and the inland rolling hills of wine country.

The pace of life is slow and it is easy to imagine that you have stepped back in time to the 60’s.   The ice cream parlors, surf shops, Volkswagen mini-vans, woodies with surf boards on top and the ever-present music of The Beach Boys, The Ventures, The Mamas and The Papas, and the Surfaris can easily transport you to younger days.

Quirky, eccentric, unique and occasionally bizarre—the Californians who call the Central Coast home live in cautious harmony with a sometimes dangerous land.  Earthquakes, wildfires, drought, and the occasional hurricane occasionally wreck havoc on their idyllic, laid-back, beach lifestyle—but the siren call of the surf promises a perfect ride!

There is an open exhibit during the month of July, details to follow

Contact Levonne for details about the silent auction and submissions.

The Oceanside Photography Club has an open exhibit for the members.

Contact Levonne for more details.

A reception will he held on August 8th from 1:00 to 3:00

Please attend

Shelley and Jack are sharing an exhibition at the MAC during August.

Shared Vision sums up the love we share for photography.  We go somewhere to take photos and discover that we see the same things in completely different ways.  We hope that this exhibition will show you some of the beauty we have found on our travels.

There is an opening reception on August 8th from 1:00 to 3:00

Living on the Edge: Vancouver Island’s Wild West Coast

Photography by Debra Kuzbik

Although we think of the west coast of Vancouver Island as foggy, rainy and grey (and it often is), there is a colourful world that reveals itself when the tide recedes.

I have decided to interpret the wild west coast through the colours of the sea creatures at low tide.  Purple, coral, green, ochre and blue creatures abound and share their world for a few hours, until the ocean returns to envelop them in mist, fog and a mono-chromatic world of grey.

The McMillan Arts Centre is delighted to participate in the Brant Wildlife Festival by hosting an exhibition that includes our own John Critchley.

John’s show is all about local wildlife or wildlife that is accessible without traveling too far from home. The bear photos were taken in Bute Inlet which is within a day’s travel there and back from Campbell River. The bird photos are all from walking around the French Creek area and some as far away as Nanaimo River Estuary. Most involved multiple attempts/ visits to the area and some long hours waiting for the right shot to materialize.

John began playing with a camera fifty years ago but only really got serious about ten years ago. Since then he has been shooting at anything that moves and some things that don’t (landscape) but recently has started to focus more on wild life than any other genre. All of these exhibition photos have been taken within the last two years and all were taken on Vancouver Island except the bear shots. Some were taken in his back yard.

As with most amateur photographers, his desire is to take better pictures and in that regard the learning curve for technique and equipment is very steep. He still has a long way to go and many shots to track down, but despite the cost and the disappointment it remains a hobby that intrigues and excites him.

Please vist the opening on March 5 from 1:00 to 3:00