Minutes of the February 4, 2024 meeting of the Michiana Bonsai Study
Present: Larry Benjamin, Dave Bohn, Diane Buday, John Cervowski, Lisa Chilik, John DeMaegd, Mariah Eicher,
Steven Hage, Mary Hesser, Bruce Kennedy, Christy Koch, Julia Koch, Kevin Mann, Janie Minick, Steve Moore,
Location: Middlebury Public Library
Program:
The topic of this meeting was photgraphing our bonsai. We were fortunate to have Tim Priest from Grand Rapids, Michigan,
as our guest presenter. Tim is a professional photographer and experienced bonsai hobbyist who has had trees win best of show
awards at both the Michigan All-State and Midwest (Chicago) shows.
Tim started by pointing out the fact that the crucial factor in getting good photos is lighting. He showed us how this could be
achieved both with the equipment he brought as well as that he had used in the past in his studio. Tim also showed us how we could
obtain good lighting ourselves using a reflector and LED bulb that we can purchase at reasonable rates.
After a short break for refreshments (brought by Lisa Chilik), Tim used his equipment to take photos of all of the trees that
participants had brought. Using data collected by our secretary, Lisa, Tim sai, with wire that he will email people these high-res photos.
primarily for Before we adjourned, Larry announced the topics, dates, and locations of our next three club events. He reminded us of our
March 3 meeting at Linton's Enchnted Garden, where we will be pruning conifers, especially junipers, and he invited us to join him
at his house April 7 where we will be able to more work on more species of trees. He also announced that our club will be conducting
a workshop primarly for beginning hobbyists where they will get a pot, soil, wire and a tree. He pointed out that we will need club
members to serve as instructors to assist in this.