Bob Crum

We all know the delight of sniffing a new car's aroma, the cherished smell of plastic, leather, carpeting and rubber wafting in the air filling our giddy nostrils.

Why can't photographers enjoy the pleasure of sniffing a special aroma of a new camera? The last time I bought a new camera, I slowly opened the box, lifted the camera gently, removed the protective wrap surrounding the camera and what do I smell? A Chinese shipping port!

Speaking of cameras, Canon is back leading a charge featuring a different technology. The camera is Canon's new Ivy Cliq. The Cliq uses a technology called zink which is short for zero ink. It produces more traditional type prints but automatically and in 30 seconds. If you experienced Polaroid at some time in your life, you could relate to the Ivy Cliq.

Wired dot com wrote, "In keeping with the legacy of Polaroids, Canon's Cliq is not going to churn out museum-quality, crystal-clear prints. Still, it's undeniably fun to use and the results will likely be good enough for many people. If you're looking for an easy way to share those selfies or group portraits in the real world, the Cliq delivers.

It's super simple. There's no focusing, no worrying about exposure. You aim. You fire. You print. This is the perfect camera for phonetographers!

Back to wired: "You press the shutter button and 30 seconds later your image prints. It has no screen, no preview. There is a mirror next to the lens to help you frame selfies, but on the back there are just two buttons: one to choose your image dimensions (either 2 x 3 or 2 x 2 inches) and one to reprint the last image, which is handy when you're sharing photos with friends." (Two buttons!)

"The Ivy Cliq holds 10 Zink papers and the refill packs are small enough that you can throw a few in your pocket and you won't even notice them.

¬It does optionally store your images to a MicroSD card (64 GB max, like this one) so you can download and edit them using the desktop software of your choice. Just know that the Cliq has a 5-megapixel camera so they're not the kind of photos you can blow up bigger than 2 x 3 inches. If you bought your phone in the last few years, it likely captures better images than the Cliq.
There's one big gotcha: You can't take pictures without printing. The Cliq requires printing. But the whole point of the Cliq is to print and share in the moment.

The Cliq comes in red, blue, or yellow. It's slightly thicker than a deck of cards and small enough to squeeze into most pockets. It's a little tight in the pocket of your jeans, but considering that it's a printer inside a camera, it's remarkably compact.

There's also a Cliq+ model, which adds eight LED lights around the lens for better selfie lighting, shoots 8-megapixel images, and has built-in Bluetooth wireless support so you can print images you've taken with your phone, making it something of a hybrid camera/printer.

With a 5mp sensor, the Cliq won't produce stellar photos. Still, it's undeniably fun to use and the results will likely be good enough for many people. If you're looking for an easy way to share those selfies or group portraits, the Cliq delivers. As a bonus, Zink images are also stickers. Great for sticker lovers! And only $89.00 on Amazon! Ivy Cliq+ $129.00. The Cliq+ is a better value IMO."

Photo of the week is from the archives: Dodge blue truck at ghost town Bodie. Happy photoing.

Send comments, questions or suggestions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

On Thursday, May 28th Post Commander James Mills, Fillmore VFW Post #9637, awarded checks to two Fillmore High School students, Erin Overton (left) and Natalie Parish (right). It is the First Annual Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #9637 Scholarship. Photos courtesy Fillmore VFW Post #9637.
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Erin Overton
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Natalie Parish
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Courtesy Fillmore VFW Post #9637

The First Annual Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #9637 scholarships awarded to Fillmore High School Students, Erin Overton and Natalie Parish. We are Happy to share the future goals of Miss. Overton as she will be attending Santa Cruz University in the fall. Her plans for the future include a career in Children’s Book publishing, and guiding the future of our youth here in Fillmore.

Miss. Parish will be attending Moorpark Community College for the fall where she plans to earn a degree in agricultural communications. After her transfer to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to continue her education so she may use her agricultural degree to assist farmers across America.

The Fillmore Veterans of Foreign Wars Post # 9637 Post Commander James Mills presented the checks May 28, 2020 to the recipients with the VFW’s warmest wishes for a bright new future.

Fillmore Historical Museum does not have photographs of the Sespe School Miss. Smith taught at, but it would have looked similar to the school at Cienega, just east of Fillmore, and both were built around the same time, 1873.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

This is a verbatim copy of a history of the Sespe Schools, prepared by Clara H. Smith, who taught there in the 1886 -1887 school year. A long time teacher in Ventura County schools, she later taught in the Normal School at San Jose, Calif. She probably wrote this in the 1920s or 1930s. The items in brackets were corrections or clarification prepared by F. L. “Ted” Fairbanks, a resident of Fillmore from 1907 until his death in 1983.

Written By Clara Smith

The original district known as the West Sespe included the land drained by the Sespe River and its tributaries, and also a portion of the land bordering the Santa Clara River. The eastern and western boundaries were the mountains, the southern boundary was the Santa Clara River. The region consisted of a Mexican land grant. Around the edge of this grant, the white settlers established homes.

A school for the white settlers’ children naturally followed. In 1874 or 1875 a schoolhouse was built on the north side of the Santa Clara River near the present site of the bridge crossing from Fillmore to Bardsdale. The builder was a Mr. F. A. Sprague. [This is the man sent to the penitentiary for the murder of T. Wallace More.] His son, Hartley and daughter, Ida, [should be Iva], hauled up the lumber from Ventura with team and wagon, and the father built the school house.

The first teacher was a Clara Skinner, followed by Lara Larson. Other teachers were Augusta Stevens, Maude Fisher, Ryal Sparks, and a man names Jordan. The last named showed his individuality by his way of dismissing the children at intermissions. Not the “one, two, three, four”, common in schools of the period, but “Get out of here.” The late Sol Sheridan began his school life in this little pioneer schoolhouse. [Robert M. Sheridan, prominent attorney in Ventura, says this is an error, that Sol Sheridan got all of his schooling in Missouri, before coming west.]

The school building was of the prevailing type, a wooden structure, 20 x 30 feet, having three windows on each side. The height of the ceiling varied according to the judgment of different teachers. It is recorded as being 11, 12, and 16 feet.

About 1879 or 1880 the schoolhouse was moved from its place on the bank of the Santa Clara River to the east bank of the Sespe River, or creek as it was called. This was about a mile north of the present rail (road) bridge crossing the Sespe. This was to give the school a more central place in the district. Here it stood in utter loneliness with only the roaring of the raging Sespe Creek in the winter, and the silence of the desert surroundings in summer. There were no trees, no shrubs other than the sage brush to break the monotony.

A glance inside the door shows a water bucket with a tin dipper standing on the floor surrounded by waste water. The water has been carried up from the creek, and the children quench their thirst until the teacher bans further drinking. A book case to the left of the door houses one hundred fifty volumes, many of which are beyond the ability of children to read. Supplementary reading material was unknown. The children sit in rows facing the teacher, whose chair and desk occupy a place on the platform at the other end of the room. Perchance an unruly child has a desk at her side. To the right of the teacher stands a manikin which shows the relative position of the different organs of the human body. This is the nearest approach to the instruction in hygiene which the children will receive. The three windows on the east side give plenty of heat in the forenoon, and those on the west side continue the warming process after lunch. Here the children of those early settlers learn according to their own abilities, and according to the skill of the teacher. Those whose names appear on the reports of the period are: Goodenough, Japson, Kellogg, Kinney [should be Kenney], Akers, Fine, McIntyre. There are no names of children born of foreign parents. Nor do the census reports show that there are any foreign children in the school.

The teachers are employed for eight months at a salary of sixty dollars per month. There is one record of a teacher being employed two years in succession. This honor goes to Miss Anna Persons who afterwards became a member of the Santa Paula School system. She had a record of being a superior teacher.

The chief agricultural products of the community were: grain and stock for the market, and grapes, olives, and garden produce for home consumption. It was not unusual for the children to be kept out of school to herd the cattle or to help with the farm work.

The railroad was built in 1887. Soon afterwards a water company developed and distributed water from the Sespe. The growing of citrus fruits began. The population increased. Mexicans came to work in the orange and the lemon groves.

Three districts were formed out of West Sespe, and three schools were built one further up the canyon was on what is now Grand Avenue. The second was the present San Cayetano and the third was Fillmore. San Cayetano became the school for the Mexican children.

Meanwhile the little pioneer school on the banks of the Sespe was moved to Fillmore. For a while it was used for a schoolhouse, when no longer needed, a doctor, J.P. Hinckley bought it and converted it into a drugstore, with a residence in the rear. After more than sixty years of service, it burned.

The writer recalls the faith the pioneers of the eighties had in the future of their community. They have passed on, and a few of their children are left to enjoy the fruits of their labor. And to see the marvelous changes that have taken place in this beautiful, fertile, Sespe Valley.

Clara H. Smith
Teacher in Sespe School District, 1886-1887

Fillmore Unified School District

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE 2020-21 PROPOSED BUDGET

INFORMATION/DISCUSSION
2020-2021 Proposed Budget / Presented by Andrea McNeill, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services

Approve Change Order #2 for Fillmore Middle School Baseball/Soccer Field Improvements Project, 543
A Street, Fillmore, CA 93015, Project 2020-004

Approve Submission of Form J-13A, Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency
Condition, for Social Media Threats

Approve Contract for Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations, and leaves

Temporary Procedures for Virtual Public Participation in School Board Meetings
Temporary procedures for virtual public participation in FUSD school board meetings will be held until further notice.

Next Meeting Dates:

Regular Meeting
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Meeting Times
Closed Session - 5:30 pm
Open Session - 6:30 pm
Address
627 Sespe Avenue, Fillmore CA 93015

Regular Meeting
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Meeting Times
Closed Session - 5:30 pm
Open Session - 6:30 pm
Address
627 Sespe Avenue, Fillmore CA 93015

Bob Crum

The menace COVID-19 is taking a toll on my psyche. Others must feel likewise. It's frustrating that there isn't a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. It's as if the virus is lurking everywhere, ready to ravage any human within striking distance. It's hoped that a resolution is found sooner than later.

Thank you writers! So many emails bombarded me that I need shields like those of the Nebulon-B Frigate! Twelve percent (I did the math) of my 2,692,585 readers appear to be incorrigible. So many to reform but try I must. By the way, phonetographers, you might find reading the legals more interesting. Just a thought.

One issue in particular (SOOC), has raged since the dawn of the digital photography age. Petapixel penned that many photographers seem to get some sort of “pure as the driven snow” feeling from posting the acronym “SOOC” (Straight Out Of the Camera) next to their digital pics. Yep, the same-old same-old "SOOC" is back! Ugh!

Why do I protest? I don't object to the principal. I object to the ignorance of the majority who don't know what "get it right in the camera" really means! They tout that their photo is special because they got it right in the camera, meaning that they didn't have to post-process. That sounds reasonably innocuous so, what's my problem? Well, let's see.

Any photographer, with any digital camera in "Auto" mode, can usually get it right (exposure) in the camera. And post the photo on social media with the acronym "SOOC" insinuating: "Look, people, NO post-processing!" Get the smelling salts; I'm getting nauseous.

When a photographer creates a photo by programming ISO, aperture and shutter speed for the desired effect, 'properly' composes the image, and captures the photo in focus and didn't require any post-processing, I'll respect his declaration: SOOC. But, not even that photographer can legitimately proclaim that his photo wasn't processed. Oh how I love to nitpick.

The photo straight out of the camera was processed by the camera's internal computer according to algorithms programmed by the camera's engineers. The photo is a jpeg that has been compressed considerably, meaning half the original pixels were discarded. So, pure as the driven snow it is not. More importantly, just because a jpeg SOOC of the camera wasn't post-processed doesn't mean that it's a photo that's as good as it could be! It's not!

Getting off "auto" mode and shooting manual mode is often intimidating for many photography neophytes. To help you understand the ISO, shutter speed and aperture relationships, I found the following perfect analogy from "cambridgeincolour.com".

"Achieving the correct exposure is a lot like collecting rain in a bucket. While the rate of rainfall is uncontrollable, three factors remain under your control: the bucket's width, the duration you leave it in the rain, and the quantity of rain you want to collect. You just need to ensure you don't collect too little ("underexposed"), but that you also don't collect too much ("overexposed"). The key is that there are many different combinations of width, time and quantity that will achieve this. For example, for the same quantity of water, you can get away with less time in the rain if you pick a bucket that's really wide. Alternatively, for the same duration left in the rain, a really narrow bucket can be used as long as you plan on getting by with less water.

In photography, the exposure settings of aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed are analogous to the width, time and quantity discussed above. Furthermore, just as the rate of rainfall was beyond your control above, so too is natural light for a photographer." Now, grab your 'bucket' and go photoing!

Photo of the week is from my archives: Canyonlands National Park as seen from a Dead Horse State Park vista, Utah.

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

This event is closed to the public. Do Not Attend. Please watch the live stream from home. Thank You.
Watch Live June 4th, 6pm on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dIROP_M2-s8

This event is closed to the public. Do Not Attend. Please watch the live stream from home. Thank You.
Watch Live June 3rd, 6pm on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lJ8BwwoeDoc