Kieulan Nguyen – Digital Images
A native of Vietnam, Kieulan came to America a week before the end of Vietnam War in 1975. She has spent two thirds of her life in Fairfax, Virginia and has considered this place as her second homeland. Married with 3 grown children and her lovable dog named Chewy. Her husband retired in April of this year and though she has not thought about retirement yet she is looking forward to retiring in 5 years.
Kieulan has loved photography for many years. She bought her very first camera right after she finished college but only got serious about 10 years ago. Kieulan considers herself as a self-taught novice photographer and believes she only knows 10% about photography.
Kieulan has been a member of NVPS since 2014 and is also a member of theVietnamese Photography Society for few years. Her fulltime job with the Department of Homeland Security does not give her much free time to travel and explore new aspects of photography or even participate in any competitions. Perhaps when she retires she hopes that she is still healthy enough to continue to pursue her love for photography.
Her first love for photography has always been macro photography. Her love for photographing flowers starts from studying the works of Tony Sweet, Denise Ippolito, Sandra Bartocha just to name a few. Kieulan is also interested in Abstract, Architecture and Landscape photography and hopes to spread her wings in these areas.
Digital photography has given Kieulan new ways to see and capture things surrounding her and that comes with a lot of trials and errors. Doing photography has taught her to be patient, persistent, and attentive to detail, appreciating what Mother Nature has been giving and grateful for how beautiful the world is. Taking photographs is her meditation when she is out with nature. Her passion for capturing surrounding things not only has grown stronger but making beautiful images is what she strives for.
Kieulan has been a Canon shooter for the last 20 years. She upgraded from a Rebel T1i to a 5D Mark III two years ago and it was the best decision ever. For post processing, she uses Photoshop 2015 CC, Nik Collections and few Topaz plug-ins.
Kieulan has kept her life busy with so many things. Besides photography, she loves to cook for family and friends, bake cookies, host parties with friends, go shopping and now she also takes Chinese brush painting.
Kieulan’s presentation: “My Vision Through the Lens” represents a small sample of her work from the last 5 years. Digital photography has continued to evolve for the better and as a novice photographer, she knows she still has so much to learn to be able to create images that interpret a scene in an artistic and aesthetic way to evoke emotions rather than just documenting a scene.
Tami Steiger – Prints
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, Co-VP of Programs and Co-VP of Competition. 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 and Heroes on the Water organizations. When Tami isn’t photographing 
veterans, you can find her wandering around our national treasures or enjoying a weekend of fishing with her husband.
Tami has always been creative and has incorporated her artistic talents into her photography. When taking photos, Tami envisions a work of art. In the gallery she will be showing, you
will see just that.
She enjoys sharing her passion and love of photography with the hope for you to feel as though you are standing by her side while she captures these moments in time. In our busy world we tend not to see the beauty in everyday situations and in the simplest of objects.
