Prints – Tami Stieger

Tami’s love for photography began in high school. The scents of the darkroom pulled her in. She started using her dad’s Pentax 35mm. For graduation her parents bought her first camera, a Nikon 2000. Tami studied commercial art and photography in college. As a stay at home mom, Tami used her creativity and skills teaching others how to organize, design and preserve their memories.

Years later, Tami’s passion was reignited when her husband gave her the best present ever. Dave surprised her with a Canon T2i which opened up the new world of digital photography. Dave continues his support and encouragement by taking weekend trips, being a chauffeur, carrying her gear and providing feedback.

Tami has been a member of NVPS since September of 2012. Since joining NVPS, she has served on the board as the Membership Coordinator and Co-VP of Programs. Tami received NVPS Versatile Photographer of the year awards in both 2012 and 2013. The friendships and knowledge Tami has gained means more to her than anything.

Through the lens Tami has made wonderful friendships and has created works of art. She enjoys volunteering and photographing veterans with the Honor Flight program. When Tami isn’t photographing veterans, you can find her wandering around our national treasures or enjoying a weekend of fishing with her husband.

She is a Canon photographer, her favorite piece of gear is her 7D Mark II and her go-to lens is the Tamron 24-70.

“I enjoy sharing my passion and love of photography with the hope for you to feel as though you are standing by my side while I capture these moments in time. In our busy world we tend not to see the beauty in everyday situations and in the simplest of objects.“

 

 

Prints – Melanie Marts

Melanie, for 20 years, has been a Gemologist and independent appraiser, who joined NVPS in 2007. She one of many who used disposable film cameras to take family photos in the 1980’s, and they weren’t very good pictures. She started out with a Polaroid camera in the early 1990’s to take pictures of the jewelry she appraised, because that was the easiest. Her first digital camera was an Olympus point-and-shoot, which had all of 1.2 megapixels, and those pictures weren’t great either. Her next camera was a 7.1 megapixel Olympus, and that was when she realized she could take pictures of other stuff in addition to jewelry and family.

 

Using Georgia O’Keefe as her inspiration, she started out taking pictures of flowers in her backyard. In 2006, she acquired her first SLR camera, a Nikon D80, and never looked back. She currently is using a Nikon D300, with a 24 – 120 mm f4 lens as her main lens.

 

In 2011 she graduated from the Washington School of Photography’s professional photography program. Melanie takes pictures of just about anything if it looks interesting to her, using various techniques and processing to achieve her vision. She still loves to take pictures of flowers, and Georgia O’Keefe is still her inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Images – Alan Goldstein

A member of NVPS since 2012, Alan has been involved in some way or other with photography for the past 54 years (not bad, considering he’s only 29!) It all began with a science teacher instructing him on the art of film developing. At that time, he was using a Kodak Brownie. Veering off during his teen-age years to using a movie camera, he returned to still photography during his college years and while working as a reporter for his hometown newspaper.
Alan was supposed to call in a newspaper photographer for photos, but she lived nearly 30 miles away, so he opted to take photos himself. At first, he used a Polaroid Type 103 for photos since it was instant, clear pictures. But encouraged by a classmate and photographer, Alan got access to the college’s darkroom, and processed Tri-X each time he had a news event or other photo request. This plus being a radio disc jockey probably contributed to his less-than-stellar GPA!

After graduating from college, Alan enlisted in the Navy, becoming a Navy Journalist and later a Public Affairs Officer.
His high school girlfriend had a Nikon SLR, and that became Alan’s Holy Grail. As a low-ranking Navyman, Alan scraped up the money and bought his first true SLR — a Minolta SRT-101. As he progressed up the Navy ranks, he upgraded to a Minolta X700.
Fast forward to 2003. Alan’s brother-in-law was getting married and Alan was the photographer. An acquaintance who was a Nikon rep loaned Alan a D100. It was love at first click! Since then, Alan has had a D100, D200, D300, and now a D800.

Alan considers himself an advanced amateur, even though he has made more than five figures making pictures. His biggest job was making progress photos of the deconstruction and reconstruction of the D.C. public library in Georgetown.

Retired from the Navy in 1994 and retired from Civil Service in 2011, Alan is happy to spend his time making images. He loves photographing just about everything, but really likes night scenes and landscapes.
Alan says he loves being a member of NVPS. He has gained some great friends, enjoys the camaraderie, and has learned something new nearly every meeting.