Playing with Light: Colors and Silhouettes

January 24, 2026

Oakmont of East Sacramento

 5301 F Street

Sacramento, CA 

Hi Gold Rush Members and Friends;
As you know, Gold Rush has a format of a morning presentation and an afternoon shoot based on the morning program.  For the New Year, we have a new workshop subject,  Playing with Light: Colors and Silhouettes on Saturday, January 24th at 9:30, and it should really be creative and fun.  

In the colors portion, we’ll have three colored lights (red, green, and blue) aimed at a screen, and when you have an object between the lights and the screen some colors are blocked and others intersect, with lots of resulting colorful, graphic designs.  The Silhouettes set-up will be similar though with a white light and screen, with a chance to explore some simple ways to add interest, uniqueness, and beauty to your silhouette images.  Be sure to bring your cameras and/or smart phones (tripods not needed), and you’re invited to bring objects that you think might be interesting (Truman suggests objects 8-16” tall, e.g. flowers, statues, cars, figurines, etc).  

You can register now for the workshop at https://tinyurl.com/playingwlight.

Another first!  Adding more options for participation, after the presentations there will be time for the presenters to (gently) critique up to two of your images related to the topic, i.e. interesting light.  

Please send your images to Philip Venable (philip@philipvenablephotography.com) by 1/17/26.  Also, you can send up to 8 images from our last workshop on Street Photography to Phil by the same date for inclusion in our program slideshow (assuming you ignored my advice to do it right after the workshop while fresh in your mind...)

The workshop will be at our usual location at Oakmont of East Sacramento at 5301 F St., and we’ll be charging $25 for our day guest pass to attempt to function in the black—still a great deal, and another reason to join Gold Rush as the workshops are then free!  Information to join Gold Rush and PSA will be at the workshop.  

Approximate workshop schedule:
9:00 Registration (with coffee and cookies)
9:30  Intro meeting and slideshow of images from last workshop on Street Photography
10:00-11:30 Presentations on Playing with Light: Colors and Silhouettes
11:30 Critique of submitted images on light
12    Pizza lunch ($ collected beforehand), or bring your own lunch.
12:30+ Shooting of Colors and Silhouettes set-ups

Presenter Bios:
After Gold Rush decided to proceed with the Playing with Light Workshop, Sam Shaw designed and created the Colors set-up for us.  He has a science background, with an MS in computer science, and has been interested in photography since high school.  He is active in local camera clubs, Gold Rush, and PSA (the Photographic Society of America), where he has held various offices.  Sam has shown programs on a variety of photography subjects, judged photography competitions widely, and perhaps most remarkably, has participated in the PSA 365 project (taking daily photos on given subjects) since December, 2014 without missing a day!  Sam is especially recognized for his imaginative creative photography.

After 35 years of serious photography, Truman Holtzclaw has blended his skills of teaching high school biology, his enjoyment of nature, and his love of photography.  He enjoys most all photographic endeavors, including attending and presenting at workshops, leading field trips and tours, and competing and judging in local and international competitions.  Truman is past-president of the Sacramento Audubon Society, the Sacramento Sierra Camera Club, Gold Rush, and the Lincoln Hills Photo Club.  He is constantly experimenting with new photography techniques and subjects, with silhouettes just being one example. 
 

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FUTURE GOLD RUSH IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS

We have fall, winter, and spring programs;

no summer programs.

Event location is:

Oakmont of East Sacramento,

5301 F Street, Sacramento, CA 95819.

See MAP HERE.

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FUTURE GOLD RUSH ONLINE PROGRAMS

During the months that we do not have in person workshops (other than the summer months which we take off), we host online presentations via Zoom. Check back for upcoming events.

FUTURE PSA CONFERENCES

The next PSA Photo Festival will be held in September 13-19, 2026 in Las Vegas, NV with excellent programs and tours to local photogenic spots.  Go to Photographic Society of America for more information.

Viewpoint Gallery INFORMATION

Viewpoint Photographic Art Center is a wonderful resource for local photographers, with excellent monthly photography shows and workshops.  Visit Viewpoint at 2015 J Street from Wednesday through Saturday 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM, They would love to have you become a member to support local photography and/or volunteer to help as a docent, or whatever else appeals to you or even mount your own show!  Viewpoint Photographic Art Center