Don Hiscott, of Pinehurst, was elected president of the Sandhills Photography Club for 2009 recently. Other officers elected were Len Bernard, of Seven Lakes, vice-president, programs; Donna Ford, of Carthage, secretary and Denis Smetana of Southern Pines, treasurer.

Officers will be installed at the annual Christmas dinner to be held Dec. 8 at Table on the Green. This will be the final event of the year for the club.

A special slide show featuring photographs taken by the 29 members who took a three-day fall field trip to Boone-Blowing Rock will be shown at the dinner as well as the presentation of the prestigious Stoffel Award to the two members who have accumulated the highest number of competition points at the Class A and Class B levels, respectively.

The club is preparing for an exhibit of members' works in January/February at the Hastings Gallery of the Sandhills Community College. Members may submit up to four works for the show by Dec. 15.

This show is always of great interest to those who pursue photography as an artistic endeavor.

The November program presented by Mark Buckler, program director at the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife, was a lovely slide show full of creative nature photography taken by Buckler and set to the music of George Winston.

Buckler has never taken a photography course in his life but his life experiences have aided in his becoming a remarkable photographer. He has lived on Cape Cod, and went to school in Vermont where his training was in wildlife biology, so he comes to photography from the scientific side of nature. He loves being outdoors and urged his audience to pay attention to the details, try to capture the essence, the emotion of a photograph and make images that tell a story.

One last piece of advice given by Buckler was to always look behind you before you leave a shoot. There may very well be something even more interesting to photograph.

Competitions for 2009 were announced so members could begin taking fresh new photos or rummage through their collection of photos that fit the topic and time frame. In February the digital competition subject is people and scenes of Moore County. In April the competition will feature animals of all sorts from the wild, in captivity and family pets. It, too, is digital.

If you want to learn more about photography, think about joining the Sandhills Photography Club. Meetings are held on the second Monday evening of each month at 7 p.m. at Christ Fellowship Church at the corner of Midland and Pee Dee roads in Southern Pines.

Additional information about the club can be found at www. sandhillsphotoclub.org.