Fran has been an NVPS member since 2010 and is grateful for all the information and encouragement she has acquired from the club and credits it with reigniting her passion for photography. 

  

 During recent years Fran has made three trips to Canada's Atlantic Provinces and she will be displaying photographs primarily from there, but from her other travels as well.  In September she attended the Andre Gallant/Freeman Patterson workshop, which she believes has greatly increased her "art of seeing".  

A native Washingtonian, Fran has been shooting landscapes for decades as a hobbyist but, like many NVPS members, had a hiatus while tending to family and career.  She initially became engrossed in photography after buying a secondhand Hasselblad and taking a photography course at the Boston Center for Adult Education where she developed her darkroom skills.  Her walls are covered with the many black and white pictures she photographed in New England and printed during those years, and the themes that stand out continue in her subject matter today:  the natural world and landscapes that incorporate water and things related to the sea, as well as aging structures--fishing shacks, boats, barns, and more.

Fran was hesitant about reengaging in photography and entering the digital age until she saw the Annie Leibovitz exhibit in 2006 at the Brooklyn Museum.  This prompted her to shelve her old Canon Rebel, buy a Canon 30D, and take courses from Eliot Cohen--Photoshop, Camera Raw, and photo printing.  Now several cameras later, she shoots with the Canon 7D and uses a variety of lenses, the most recent of which is the Macro 100 IS.  She does her own printing and matting and has participated in workshops and tours with Corey Hilz, Nikhil Bahl, and Blue Ridge.  Last year was the first year Fran participated in NVPS competitions, and she placed seven times in the color and monochrome print categories. In addition, she was juried into ArtSpace Herndon's Fine Art Photography Competition last May. 

Fran enjoys travel within North America, and hopes to photograph the aspens next fall near Flagstaff, Arizona, as well as the barns and landscapes in Vermont, where her son has recently moved.  Other than that, her plans are open and she continues to gather ideas from NVPS members as they show their photographs and tell about their adventures.