The next meeting of the new Photographic Society of Cape Cod will be held this Wednesday, Feb. 11, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth. (Directions below)

We recently heard from our good friend Arnold John Kaplan, APSA-AFIAP, a member of the Cape Cod Art Association Camera Club, about a newly formed organization, The Photographic Society Of Cape Cod. The goal of the group is to explore photography as an art form. There is an opening social event tomorrow night for anyone who wants to check it out.

The announcement:

Storm Wave by Donald Gilbert of Plymouth, MA

Taken at Charleston Beach, Charleston, RI, at about 5 p.m. after a strong September tropical storm.
Camera: Leica iiif, Kodachrome 100 slide film.

Here's a final group of beach photos to inspire you to enter our monthly contest. We have more than 50 entries already, and this afternoon, we'll start featuring a few of them several times a day so you can begin to pick out your favorites for the big vote, which starts Sept. 1. We'll highlight each photo separately so you can leave comments, suggestions, or compliments for each photographer.

But between the contest entries, we'll continue to feature random photos from local amateurs, so please feel free to send your best stuff to raw@boston.com.

Meanwhile, enjoy more photos:

"Mayflower Beach, Dennis" by Sigrid Dempsey

Sigrid writes, "These images show my favorite beach -- Mayflower Beach in Dennis, which faces Cape Cod Bay -- on a stormy February 11th afternoon in 2008. Most summer guests are not likely to see it like this, with icy cold winds gusting. I thought it might be a refreshing change."

Sigrid used a Canon Rebel XT with no filters and took more that same day ...

"Finding Peace on the Shores of Humarock" by Connie Drapeau Kennedy

There's no reason why the work you put into making a great photo has to end inside the camera. As many of you know, there are many software editing programs available -- Photoshop being the most well known -- that allow you to sharpen, soften, saturate, brighten, or otherwise enhance your photos.

But you can also add filters and effects that make your photo look like it was done in colored pencil or watercolor, for example. Or you can add texture to your photo or even distort it. Experimentation is fun!

"Shell Pointe Sunset" by Sharon Morais
More in our series of beach shots from the good folks at the Cape Cod Art Association Camera Club. Sharon uses a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. This shot, at Shell Pointe in Onset, was taken at about 8:30 p.m.
Other camera details: f/36, 1/25 sec, ISO 800

Sharon shoots a lot of photos in and around Buzzards Bay, MA, where she lives...

"SPF 50" by Marilyn Blake
It's great when our photographers have a good sense of humor ... as long as the subjects of their photos do, too. This fair-skinned lass was doing her wishful thinking at Craigville Beach in Centerville.

This amateur photographer, Marilyn Blake, lives in Norwood, but hopes to live on the Cape some day. She uses a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi -- it's her first digital SLR. But she's a little nervous about taking it to the beach, so she usually uses her older Canon Powershot S2 IS for beach photos.

For the shot above, she was carrying the new Rebel. Her settings: 1/200, f/8, lens at 18mm.

She takes photos all over the Cape...

"Becalmed" by Ken Dorman

If you like photos that convey the solitude of the Cape's quiet corners, then you'll love Ken Dorman's shots, taken with a Canon 5D. The photo above was taken at Short Wharf Creek in Yarmouth in September of 2007 with a 28-105mm, 5-4.5 lens, set at 105mm. Other settings: f/6.3, 1/400 sec., ISO 200.

The following month, he returned and got a similar shot, from a slightly different angle:

"Waiting" by Ken Dorman

He used the same 28-105mm lens, set at 105mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec., ISO100.

Even his action shots convey a sense of isolation...

"In the Good Old Summertime" by Don Gilbert

We featured this photo from Don Gilbert on the Boston.com homepage over the weekend, but thumbnail size. Here's a better view of this picture, taken at Sand Hill Cove in Narragansett, RI last month. Don used slide film in his Pentax K100 to get this shot.

OK, time to fire up more photos sent in by the Cape Cod Art Association Camera Club to help kick off the site and inspire other amateur photographers to enter our monthly contest. Remember, the theme for August is "At the beach".

Maureen "Reenie" Dwyer of Barnstable not only has a good eye when it comes to taking pictures; she also has a droll sense of humor when it comes to captioning. Here are three photos she graciously sent us, all taken with her Nikon D80:

"All we need now is a little wind" by Maureen Dwyer

Maureen captured this lovely silhouette of a dad teaching his son to windsurf at dusk at Paine's Creek in Brewster. On this day her settings were f/8, 1/1000, with a zoom lens at 112mm.