My how time flies when you’re having fun!

It’s been a fun year here at NVPS with many informative and entertaining programs, speakers, competitions, educational activities, galleries, forums, exhibitions, and field trips. It takes a lot of volunteers to coordinate so many quality presentations and activities. If there’s one thing I have learned as President this year at NVPS, it is to delegate, delegate, delegate. When you have such dedicated and capable volunteers, it is easy to trust the people who are responsible for the myriad of activities NVPS coordinates. I am so thankful to all of the Board Members and Volunteers who helped make this season another successful year for NVPS. And I am grateful for the members who continue to support NVPS. Your continued participation is the lifeblood of our club.

I’d like to say thank you to the current Board. If you have the opportunity, please take the time to show your appreciation for their efforts by thanking them in person the next time you see them:

Willa Siegel, VP Programs; Alan Tolk, VP Operations; Tami Steiger, Co-VP Competition; Kevin Egan, Co-VP Competition, Tom Brett, Treasurer; Fran Bastress, Secretary; Georgette Grossman, Past President and Programs; Ginger Werz-Petricka, Education & Training Coordinator; Roger Lancaster, Exhibits Coordinator (Nature Visions) and Bill Millhouser, Field Trips, Coordinator.

Also, Ron Taylor, Member’s Gallery Coordinator; Beth Morris, Member’s Forum Coordinator;  Judy Graham, Membership Coordinator; Alan Goldstein, Newsletter & NVACC Rep & Field Trips;  Scott Musson, Website Manager; and,  Special Board Members Mike Whalen, Bob Friedman, Willa Friedman (also Portfolio Project), and Sandi Croan.

Also, Melanie Marts, Exhibits (other than NV);  Chris Langford,  Education & Training; Dale Nelson, Meeting Facilities;  Paula Neumann and Melannie Egan, Membership; Joy Brathwaite, Membership (Ask Me A Question Table); Sam Schaen, Website; Steve Glintz and Jeff Hancock, Digital Projection;  Ceasar Sharper, Portfolio Project; Brian Payne, Tech Team & Membership Database; and John Singley, Tech Team.

I’d also like to thank our incoming president Kevin Egan, and everyone on next year’s Board, for agreeing to serve NVPS.

Although NVPS is on a summer break, please consider sharing your images (and adventures) on the NVPS Facebook page. And keep an eye out for an announcement about our upcoming summer field trip to Kenilworth Gardens (usually occurring sometime in July). If you have not been receiving announcements from NVPS, you can subscribe to the announcements list at http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=31 .

It has been an honor and my pleasure to serve as your president this year. I look forward to seeing everyone in September. Until then, keep on shooting.

Jamie Kiechlin
NVPS President 2015-16

“Photography is truth” ~ Jean-Luc Godard

Monthly Program

September 6th: TBA

The VP for Programs for 2016-2017 is Willa Siegel.

Education & Training

September 13th: TBA

The Education and Training Coordinator for 2016-2017 is Chuck Campbell.

Competition

September 20th: TBA

The Co-VPs Competition for 2016-2017 are Bill Millhouser and Judy Graham (competitions@nvps.org)

Competition Themes for 2016-2017

Note: The Board reaffirmed that there will be three themed competitions per program year, but there will be no theme competitions in the months of December, January, and February. 

The themes for 2016–2017 are:

• Love
  We turn our attention to one of the most valuable virtues; an international language and possibly the strongest of all feelings…Love! It is an invitation to explore the path of love as an emotion, an attraction, an attachment… in all its forms! Some sample images might include: a lovers’ embrace, a passion you love, an X drawn in vapor trails, a goodbye, a friendship, etc.
• Drag the shutter
  Show us your best shutter drag. Whether capturing motion in waves or panning cars zooming by, we want to see you get creative with this topic. Slow down your shutter speed to show a sense of motion or action.
• Colors
  Life is a stream of color. Red, blue, yellow, and a billion pigments in between… For this theme we ask you to show us color-inspired photographs. Scenes, details, narratives or moods. Subtle tones or Technicolor daydreams, color must be a primary component of your image.  For the Monochrome Print category, instead of producing a black and white photo, show us a color other than black along with white, i.e., red and white, blue and white, etc.

Competition Themes for 2017-2018

The themes for 2017-2018 are:

• Faceless Self Portrait:
  This is not your normal selfie. Be creative and express your identity by taking a photo of yourself without your face.
• The American Experience –Americans at Work:
  For this month's themed contest, show us your best photos of Americans at Work. This may be of a single person, or multiple people, at work. The person or persons and the work being performed must both be clearly evident in the photo. Let’s showcase Americans at Work by demonstrating their emotions, determination, strength and pride!
• Visible Emotions:
  Some of the most powerful photographs are those that have captured emotions. Photographs that have impact and tell a story, show individuals with visible emotions. For this theme, photograph a person that shows us clearly visible emotions. This could be happiness, surprise, anger, sadness, excitement, pride, fear or disgust.

May Competition Results

The full list of competition results is available on the NVPS web site at http://nvps.org

Digital - Class 1
1st – Bill Millhouser – Museum Reflection
2nd – Steve Steiner – Venice Canal
3rd – Paula Neumann – Simply Divine
HM – John Murray – Fort Point Arches
HM – Kathryn Mohrman – Machu Picchu Bird’s Eye View
HM – Julie Konzelman – Cloisters
HM – Yen Nguyen – Notre Dame at Night

Digital – Class 2
1st – Karol Murray – Reflection of Trinity Church
2nd – Mark Chen – Manhattan Nights
3rd –David Crooks – Cannon Shooting Test in Williamsburg
HM – Philip Winters – World Trade Center

Digital – Class 3
1st – Tom Brett – Three Doorways
2nd – Jean-Pierre Ple – Spaceship on the Avenue
3rd – Judy McGuire – Jefferson Memorial
HM – Bob Friedman – George Washington Bridge

Monochrome Prints
1st – Bill Millhouser – Kogod Courtyard Roof Detail
2nd – Karol Murray – Federal Triangle
3rd – Kevin Egan – The Tunnel of Louvre
HM – Phil Winters – National Gallery of Art
HM – Fran Bastress – Farmland Architecture in Black and White
HM – Julie Konzelman – Lost City

Color Prints – Class 1
1st – John Murray – Bricks
2nd – Andrew Savino – Escape Route

Color Prints – Class 2
1st – Mark Chen – Light Through the Catacombs
2nd – Karol Murray – Fort Point View
3rd – George Lafko – Drunkenness of Noah

Color Prints – Class 3
1st – Fran Bastress – Old Derelict Grain Elevator
2nd – Kevin Egan – Brooklyn Lines
3rd – Ginger Werz-Petricka – Spiral

First Place images from May:

Additional winning images are available for viewing at http://nvps.org/gallery/v/competitions/2015-2016_Competition_Winners/

Class 2 Digital - 1st Place Karol Murray Reflection of Trinity Church	Class 1 Digital - 1st Place Bill Millhouser Museum Reflection
	Class 3 Digital - 1st Place Tom Brett Three Doorways
Class 1 Print - 1st Place John Murray Bricks
Class 2 Print - 1st Place Mark Chen Light Through the Catacombs	Class 3 Print - 1st Place Fran Bastress Old Derelict Grain Elevator
Monochrome - 1st Place Bill Millhouser Kogod Courtyard Roof Detail

End of Year Banquet 2016

Tami and I want to say "Congratulations!" to all of our overall End-of-Year Winners and to the winners of our NVPS End-of-Year Competition!  The quality of prints and digital images presented this year was wonderful, which highlights the very talented photographers we are proud to say are NVPS members.  We also would like to thank our End-of-Year Competition judge - Bill Tongue - who took time out of his busy schedule to look over the many amazing images which made it to our final competition of the 2015-2016 season.

We, along with all who attended our banquet, would like to express our thanks to all those who volunteered throughout the year and at the banquet itself.  Aside from your next-year's president being a bit scatter-brained, it went off swimmingly!

During the year we had help from Ginger Wertz-Petricka, Melanie Marts, Brian Payne, Ron Petricka, and others to help gather up the prints, and pass them through the light box each month.  Also, a big thanks to our tech team and others who supported each competition night by collecting the digital images, creating the galleries, setting up the light-box and other equipment, and running the show:  Jeff Hancock, Scott Musson, Sam Schaen, Alan Tolk, and Steven Glintz.

For the banquet night itself, there are many who deserve a roaring round of applause, a score of high-fives, and a free photography trip to Iceland!  Only if I had that kind of money, of course...  Dale Nelson for arranging the venue; Alan Tolk, Bob and Willa Friedman, Judy McGuire, Bill Millhouser, Brian Payne, Dale Nelson, Alan Tolk, Jeff Hancock, and any others I may have missed for helping with the setup; and Georgette Grossman for all the work of creating the certificates, creating the program, assisting with the presentation of the awards, and too many other things to mention!  Mike Whalen for providing the sound system, Ed Funk for ensuring the trophies and plaques were ready, and to any and all I may have forgotten!  It was a wonderful evening with great atmosphere, great food, and great friends. So many people put forth truly exemplary efforts to run the wonderful organization that is NVPS.  Thanks to all members who have participated in any way this last year, because without you, NVPS would not exist!  

We wish everyone a safe and successful summer of shooting!  Get out there, create some great photographic art that makes your heart happy, and prepare them for next year at NVPS!

Kevin and Tami
Kevin Egan, Co-VP of Competitions for 2015-2016
Tami Stieger, Co-VP of Competitions for 2015-2016

End of Year Judge – Bill Tongue

Bill's first camera was a Polaroid Land Automatic 100 which he received as a wedding present.  After a few dozen shots of his reflection in the mirror while shooting pics of his new bride having a bubble bath in the heart-shaped honeymoon tub  and a few months of polluting the world discarding the Polaroid negatives, Bill purchased a Mamiya 1000 DTL and he was hooked.  

He took every class he could, read every magazine, built a small lab and took thousands of snaps of the kids and then burned out on photography.  Then, the first grandchild came along.   On the way to the hospital he stopped and purchased an Olympus C-720 3.0 mega pixel with a 128 Mb memory card.

Wow!  Instant access to his pictures.  The digital passion was ignited. 

Over the next several years he built on his original Nikon purchase, began shooting events, got bored, jumped into landscape photography and, at a flea market, discovered there was a market for his pictures.  Not the pure landscape shots but the “enhanced” versions.  Post processing and digital painting became his second passion.  

He has been reinventing himself and his photographic style ever since.

Bill is past president and currently a director of the Digital Photography club of Annapolis, has been published, done some magazine work and is a volunteer photographer for Wounded Warrior events.  His  work has been exhibited at Maryland Hall, the Maritime Museum, the Galleries and Quiet Waters and private galleries.  At home, he has a small portrait studio where he offers formal, informal, high school senior portraits and boudoir photography.   He also teaches digital post processing, have lectured at Maryland Hall and offer Annapolis-area photography workshops.  

Currently, Bill is working on two photography books.  The first is a book of caricatures from his street shooting trip to Ireland and, he is working with a tattoo artist from the TV show Ink Masters to spotlight his art.

End of Year Results – 2016

Photographers of the Year

Class 1 Digital Projection …………………………...……… Bill Millhouser
Class 1 Color Prints …………………………………………Melanie Egan
Class 2 Digital Projection ………………………………...… Mark Chen
Class 2 Color Prints ..... ……………………………………. Mark Chen
Class 3 Digital Projection ………………………………...… Judy McGuire
Class 3 Color Prints ………………………………...……… Stan Bysshe
Monochrome Prints …………………………………………Bill Millhouser

Versatile Photographers of the Year

Class 1 ……………………………………………………. Bill Millhouser
Class 2 ………………………...………………………….. Mark Chen
Class 3 ……………………………...…………………….. Stan Bysshe

Images of the Year

Digital Images of the Year
Class 1 – Lucy in Bubbles - Nichol Hockett
Class 2 – Lion Yawn - David Crooks
Class 3 – Dahlia Reflection - Kieu-Hahn Vu

Prints of The Year
Class 1 – Brothers - Ron Petricka
Class 2 – Did You Hear? - Judy Guenther
Class 3 – Sunrise Takeoff - Stan Bysshe
Monochrome – Boltimore Harbor - Alan Goldstein

Digital Image of the Year - Class 1 Nichol Hockett Lucy in Bubbles	Digital Image of the Year - Class 2 David Crooks Lion Yawn
Digital Image of the Year - Class 3 Kieu-Hahn Vu Dahlia Reflection
Color Print of the Year - Class 1 Ron Petricka Brothers	Color Print of the Year - Class 2 Judy Guenther Did You Hear?
Color Print of the Year - Class 3 Stan Bysshe Sunrise Takeoff
Monochrome Print of the Year Alan Goldstein Boltimore Harbor

Willa Siegel, winner of the Ollie Fife Award

Willa Siegel was awarded the 2016 Ollie Fife award at the End-of-the-Year Banquet June 17 for her image Busy Bee.

Oliver E. “Ollie Fife” Pfeiffer, FPSA, was born April 2, 1912, in Middleton, Mass.  He died June 14, 1996, in Alexandria, Virginia. Ollie was a Fellow of the Photographic Society of America and active in many of its activities, among which he was Photojournalism Division News Editor for many years, wrote numerous articles and lectured and presented programs at PSA meetings and conventions.

He was a member of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society and other area camera clubs in and for which he conducted programs and judged photographic competitions. For more information on Ollie, see the May 2015 issue of FotoFax.

The Ollie Fife Award was instituted by NVPS in September 1996. At that time it was awarded for the Best Slide Image of the year. Beginning in 2010-2011 it was renamed the Ollie Fife Image of the Year. The End-of-Year Banquet judge selects the winner from all images that qualify for that year’s end-of-year competition. The award is a trophy once owned by Ollie Fife and donated in his name by his daughter Pat Salamone. Winners of the award have been:

Ollie Fife Image of the Year

Ollie Fife Image of the Year
Willa Siegel
Busy Bee

Bob Friedman presented with Joe Atchison Award for Outstanding Service to NVPS

Bob has been a member of NVPS since 2004. He has held a variety of positions including President, Competition Vice P President, Database Manager, and Field Trip Coordinator. He has done workshops, galleries, and forums. As the nominating committee pointed out, when something needs to be done, Bob comes through!

• He converted our membership system from a spreadsheet to the Microsoft Access database, and maintained the database for four years.
• Many consider the New York City field trip during his Field Trip coordinator stint among the best in the club’s history.
• He has provided instruction on matting several times over the years.
• He has organized the Self Improvement program over the course of several years and instigated the “What did you do over the Summer” gallery
• He has been a Meadowlark and subsequently Nature Visions volunteer for almost as long as the exhibition has been in existence.
• He has set up the coffee service at meetings for several years and procured the new Keurig coffee system for the club.

Whatever job he undertakes, Bob leads by example, convincing others of the need to give back to our organization. Bob always has the best interest of NVPS at heart.

Six members were promoted to the next higher class due to the number of points they gained during competitions. These are: From Class 1 to Class 2 - Bill Millhouser, Melanie Egan, and Yen Nguyen. From Class 2 to Class 3 - Mark Chen, Alan Goldstein, and Judy Guenther. Congratulations.

Images from the 2016 End-of-Year Banquet

Competition Image Use

The NVPS Website has a gallery of past Competition winning images at http://nvps.org/gallery/v/competitions/. If your image placed first, second, third or received an honorable mention in a club competition, it is eligible for this gallery.  Images are not posted automatically, you must specifically provide consent for your image to be included in the gallery.

To have your winning image included in the gallery, email competitionwinners" at "nvps.org and provide the following information:

Your name
Image Category (digital, color print, monochrome print)
Image Class (1, 2, or 3)
Competition Date

Digital Winners: When you upload your image for the competition, you can check the box to grant permission for it to be posted if it wins.  

Print Winners: send a digital version of your print, sized as if it were for digital competition.

The FotoFax newsletter is usually finalized during the weekend immediately following the monthly club competitions.  If your image is a first place winner and you send it in before the Friday following competition, your image will be forwarded to the editor for inclusion in FotoFax.  If you have not provided permission before that deadline, another winning entry may be used.

Portfolio Project

The Co-chairs for the Portfolio Project for 2016-2017 are Bill Corbett and Dennis Govoni.

Forum

September 27th: TBA

The Forum Coordinator for 2016-2017 is Kirk Johnson.

Members Gallery

September 27th: Digital Images by Michael Aarons and
                   Prints by Patricia Deege

The Member's Gallery Coordinator for this 2016-2017 is Ron Taylor.

Field Trips

Summer Field Trips

July 23, 2016: Kenilworth Gardens, D.C.
Start time: 6:30 a.m. Gates open around 6:30 depending on the Ranger on duty.
Subject: Lotus blossoms, wildlife, insect macro, etc.
What to bring: Tripod helps, your choice of lenses from macro to wide angle to tele, diffusers and reflectors (if you have them), polarizing/neutral density filters, good place to play with flash techniques. Bug repellent and rain gear as needed. Water and snacks.
Please be sure anything left in the car is out of sight and covered.
Best light is usually first thing and unless cloudy, things get a little bright by 10-10:30.

August 11, 2016: Longwood Gardens PA
Thursday August 11th. (Day of the week chosen to avoid traffic and crowds as much as possible.)
Longwood Gardens Pa. Web site: http://longwoodgardens.org/
Start time: 3:30 PM, but you can come anytime you want. We will meet at the gift shop inside the entrance.
Subjects: flowers in the afternoon, water lily exhibit (in the middle of the Conservatory) just before sunset (6-8). Night time light show, “Nightscape” best shot after 9 p.m.
You have to buy tickets to the exhibits in advance. http://longwoodgardens.org/nightscape
The Nightscape ticket covers admission but these sell out fairly quickly. If you are interested, I would purchase your ticket early.
For those wishing to spend the night instead of driving home, here is one list of hotels: https://www.tripadvisor.com/HotelsNear-g52926-d286194-Longwood_Gardens-Kennett_Square_Pennsylvania.html
There is a cafeteria at the Gardens that serves reasonable food.
What to bring: comfortable walking shoes, the garden is spread out. Tripod will give the best results for the night shoot, macro, wide angle and mid zoom should cover all bases. Diffusers and reflectors for flowers as needed.
At this moment I am not sure of the rain date policy.
There is ample parking and you can go back and forth to your car if you want to selectively carry gear for the time of day.
Please email me for questions and to let me know that you will be going:
field-trips@nvps.org

Board of Directors

A full list of all current NVPS Board members and their club contact information also can be found at: http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=23

NatureVisions

Nature Visions 2016

NVPS Members:

Within the next few days (June 22, 2016) I shall be submitting the list of NVPS member emails to NatureVisions so that you can receive discounts for the event, plus receive pertinent information that will helpful to you about NV and allow you to submit digital images for the competition.

If you belong to more than one Nature Visions participating club (the original six camera clubs in Northern Virginia, plus North Bethesda and NIH), you may be assigned to a club other than NVPS. That is, your name and email address would be submitted more than once and you may not be assigned to our club. You would then have to submit your images through that club. I think it may be a random assignment process.

If you plan on submitting photos through your other club, and not NVPS, please send me an email (naturevisions@nvps.org) to that effect and also let me know the name of the other club I will take your name off of our list so that there is no duplication. If you plan on submitting through NVPS, you do not have to notify me, but please notify your other club of your intent so that they are not dealing with the same situation.

It must also be remembered that you can only submit images through one club.

I would like to have your information by the end of this week.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information, and thanks for your help.


Best,

Roger Lancaster,
Vice President, Nature Visions, and NVPS Rep to NV
naturevisions@nvps.org

Announcements

Notice: The information about workshops and events not sponsored by or affiliated with NVPS are provided as an informational courtesy to Members. Individuals should review the detailed rules and conditions for contests and gallery shows to determine what impact entering an image has on the photographer's rights and ownership of the submitted images. Review the descriptions of workshops to see whether participation in a particular workshop would actually meet your personal learning goals. NVPS attempts to screen events for legitimacy and quality; however NVPS does not recommend these events and cannot assume responsibility for their ultimate quality. We recommend due diligence and encourage you to share your experience with other club members.

Members' News:

Exhibition at the Art League Gallery

Two members of NVPS had their images juried into the June 2016 open exhibition at the Art League Gallery, 105 North Union St., Alexandria.  Those with images juried in were Willa Friedman’s U Street Reflection #3, and  Georgette Grossman’s A Man and his Dog. The show was juried by Jeff Huntington, an adjunct faculty member at the Corcoran in Washington D.C.

Georgette Grossman • A Man and His Dog

Willa Friedman •U Street Reflection #3

Judy Guenther

Judy Guenther has two images juried into exhibitions. The first, on the left, was juried in to the Art League's May open juried show. The piece is titled Patagonia Clouds 2. 

Also, Judy's piece Flying, right, was selected for the Hylton Performing Arts Center's Buchanan Gallery 3rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition. The show at the Manassas, Va., center will be on display through July 10.

Susan Phillips

Susan Phillips had two photos entered in the Washington School of Photography exhibit in June. The Washington School of Photography was founded in 1976, to bring professional photographic education to the Washington, DC/Baltimore metro area. It is located at 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Md.

Just One of Those Things

First Things First

Ginger Werz-Petricka

The “Mirror to the World” exhibit now at Photoworks at Glen Echo Park has been reviewed by Louis Jacobsen for the Washington City Paper.  He was very complementary, saying that Ginger Werz-Petricka’s photographs of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was one of the two strongest contributions in the show this year.  See the full story at:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/museums-galleries/blog/20780264/documentary-reflections-in-photoworks-mirror-to-the-world

News from other local clubs

Calling All Photographers!

The Vienna Arts Society's annual Photography Show at the Vienna Art Center is scheduled for August 2 to September 3.  They are delighted to announce that Denise Silva  http://denisesilvaphotography.com. has agreed to judge the show.  Photographers from around the region are invited join VAS members for the exhibition.  If you are willing to help with plans for the exhibit and/or the reception on Saturday, August 6,  please contact Kelly Rankin at kellyinvirginia@gmail.com

Exhibition Opportunities

Announcements of exhibitions or contests are provided for information purposes only. There is no actual or implied endorsement by the Northern Virginia Photographic Society.

SoFoBoMo 2016 Starts on 1 July

"As Jacob flipped through the pages of the latest copy of LensWork, he thought to himself, I could do that!  I just don't get to visit those exotic locals."

How many times have we heard ourselves say that when looking at a photo book or magazine layout?  But do we?  Do we take the time and effort to pull together a cohesive body of work? To format it into a logical flow? To write some text to bring it all together?  The sad answer is that all too often we just don't.

Some of our clubs do a portfolio project (or photo essay) every year, which is a good start.  Building that theme-based series of photographs can be daunting.  But year after year our club members are able to achieve that goal.  This year, why not take it a little farther?  Develop a HUGE sense of accomplishment by taking part in Solo Photo Book Month 2016.  Shoot your photos, write your text and format a great photo book all in a single month.

Challenge yourself to create that PDF book in 31 days.  Have the flexibility of picking the best 31 days in July and August for your 'fuzzy month.'

Your photo book can be on any topic you can dream up.  Going on vacation to the beach?  Won't you have at least 35 images of the fun you have with your family?  Attending a photography workshop like Corey Hilz's Butterflies at Brookside Gardens Workshop?  Won't you capture 35 fine images as the Eastern tiger swallowtails alight on lavender?  Either is what you need to create your PDF book.

There are only a few rules associated with SoFoBoMo.  Check them out at the website http://www.sofobomo.com/rules.

Looking for inspiration?  Check out what other participants have created at SoFoBoMo projects.  Matthew G. Schmidt made books in 2009, 2010 and 2011.  His favorite is still the 2009 book, "How Towels Make Love," available on Blurb    While not 35 images, Matt wrote the text and took the 15 photos in less than 36 hours.

Not sure where to start?  Get some great technical tips on making photo books at SoFoBoMo.  And read what other SoFoBoMo participants have to say at our blog.

Sound interesting?  What are you waiting for?  Come join us in the fun at http://www.sofobomo.com/user/register.

Matthew G. Schmidt

Washington School of Photography (WSP)

Located within WSP, the Washington Gallery of Photography hosts monthly gallery shows, open to the public, and consisting of work from mid-Atlantic Photographers. They hold regular gallery receptions, hosted on the first Friday of each month. See details on their calendar at: http://www.washingtonschoolofphotography.com/