Bishop-Eastern Sierras Field Trip

October 13 - 15 (Tuesday through Thursday)

The Thousand Oaks Photo Group is returning to Bishop and the Eastern Sierras during what should the peak week of fall color! Pete Scifres is planning and guiding of this trip.

Why did we pick these days?

TOPG did a similar trip in 2019 on almost exactly the above days (the 11th-13th in 2019), and we saw excellent fall color. By intent, this trip is scheduled during the week to avoid weekend crowds (it will be crowded anyway but not AS crowded).

You must be a TOPG member to go on this trip, paid your annual dues (which are due by the end of September) and have signed the club’s Liability Waiver. Non-TOPG member partners/guests must also sign the waiver if they participate in the scheduled photo shoots. The waiver is on the club’s website where it can be downloaded. Please print, sign, and scan/email or give to Pete. If you are bringing a guest/partner, please do this as soon as you rsvp and not require me to follow up on this.

Participants must RSVP on TOPG’s Heylo site.

Further details about the field trip can be found at our Heylo site where you can sign up for this field trip. To participate in this or any TOPG sponsored field trip, you must be an active TOPG member and register for each sponsored event. Find out more about specific field trips at our Heylo site or contact our Field Trip Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Coffee and Cameras
On the 4th Wednesday of each month at 1:00 PM

Please join fellow club members for Coffee and Cameras at Stonehaus in Westlake Village on the 4th Wednesday of each month for coffee and camera talk. Each month, a group of TOPG photographers gather to chat and have coffee, a cold drink or a late lunch and share information. Stonehaus is located at 32039 Agoura Rd, Westlake Village, CA 91361

TOPG Webinar Series

Experimental Processes: Watergrams, Lumens, and Magnetic Fluids 

Host: Mike Macartney

Presentation by: Lori Pond, Visual Artist
Website at https://www.loripond.com/

 Video Link:  Lori Pond Webinar

 Downloads: No downloads at this time.

 Lori Pond is a visual artist based in Los Angeles. Her photography and mixed media projects encompass themes such as: good vs. evil, life and death, the impermanence of all things, how our brains interpret "reality" and, most recently, experimental techniques. Using ferrofluid, food coloring, magnets, found objects, saran wrap and sound waves, she produces abstract, mind- bending images in her series, "The Atlas of Chimerical States." Her most well- recognized work is her series, "Bosch Redux." She replicates details from 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch's works. She recreates every detail by hiring propmakers, prosthetics designers, models, and costumers to match his paintings. She has also made bodies of work using infrared photography, drones, wet plate
collodion, and silver and gold leafing. 

Lori  discussed experimental processes she explored over the past year: Cymatics, Watergrams, Lumens, and Magnetic Fluids. The two images attached, from left to right are: "Jewel" (using the magnetic fluids technique), and "Ukiyo-e." (Lumen process.)

Webinar presented on April 12, 2026. via Zoom

TOPG Webinar Series

African Photo Safari

Host: Carl Volpe

Video Content:  Carl Volpe's African Safari

Downloads: No downloads at this time.

 Details:  For many photographers, an African safari is a once-in-a lifetime bucket-list trip. Carl Volpe, a long-standing member of TOPG, has taken wildlife safaris for more than 10 years and has photographed in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. Using a travelog of his images, Carl shares the safari experience and photographing in the bush. He’ll discuss the technical challenges of shooting in the field and offer some hints for getting compelling images - even when the action borders on chaos.

Webinar Presented on October 27, 2025 via Zoom.

TOPG Discussion Series

Panel Discussion: Photojournalism vs. Documentary vs. Street Photography
Video Recap

Host: Debi Aquino

The video of the live panel discussion comparing and contrasting Photojournalism, Documentary Photography and Street Photography is now available on our YouTube channel.

What the video is about: TOPG members Nancy Lehrer {Documentary Photography), Scott Harrison (Photojournalism) and Mike Macartney (Street Photography) provided insight on how all three genres overlap and blur together at times. 

The panel discussion was a live event conducted on February 1, 2025 and was recorded before a live audiance for broadcast on our YouTube channel.