China was my 59th country visited & one of the most interesting photographically. The 3 1/2 week photography trip included a number of PSA [both US & China] ‘big-wigs’ & visited only 3 areas of this huge country— Inner Mongolia, coastal fishing villages south of Shanghai & the Beijing area. My photographic subjects included many people who seemed unfamiliar with Westerners & cameras. The people seemed to be very curious & friendly. Although personal wealth is increasing, many people seem involved in manual labor & small scale business. The majority of people whom I saw are not rich. Other photographs show scenery, living areas in cities & villages, some animals and other interesting scenes from those 3 areas of China. My favorite images are from the coastal fishing area. My hope is to return to China in the next year for photography in other areas– or, the same areas again.

Biography:

Tom’s ‘’life’s work’’ involved college graduation from The Citadel with a Regular Army commission as an Infantry officer. His 30 1/2 Army years were extremely satisfying and involved plenty of travel, including 7 overseas assignments [with 3 combat tours] and 3 years of teaching at West Point. His photography introduction came at age 23, but was strictly at amateur level and only during Army off-duty time.

After Army retirement, Tom earned both photography degrees from N. VA. Community College. He ‘found’ NVPS about 16 years ago and has been a Board member for about 14 years, having held 7 positions, including Secretary, Treasurer, VP for Competition, VP for Programs & President. He has been 4 times a Photographer of the Year with 3 Images of the Year. Among his most important training has been almost all of Joseph Miller’s workshops & Freeman Patterson’s South Africa workshop. Tom has been awarded the NVPS Distinguished Service Award and NVPS’s highest award, The Joe Atchison Award For Outstanding Service.