Alan Goldstein, our October Member’s Gallery presenter, traveled to Cuba under the guidance of Denise Silva and RoadRunner Photography Tours in January 2019. Alan and a group of five other photographers visited and photographed in Havana and about a half dozen other sights and towns. For photographers, Cuba is a country of marvelous colors, interesting people and luscious landscapes. Alan will take you along on his nineday adventure in this gorgeous country.
A member of NVPS since 2012, Alan has been involved in some way or other with photography for the past 60 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 an 8mm 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 made instant, crisp 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, D800 and now a D810 and a D850. He also photographs with his DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ drone which carries a 20-megapixel camera.
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. He photographed the progress of the building of the African-American Museum over a four-year period, gratis.
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. His photos have been used for greeting cards by non-profits, used for proposals by environmental entities, have been used by sports web sites, have appeared in newspapers, including The Washington Post, a museum, and even hang in a gas station.
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.
