Member’s Gallery – Prints (Virtually): Bears of Brook Falls with Jerri McDermott & Digital: America the Beautiful with Lynn Cates

Prints (Virtually): Bears of Brook Falls with Jerri McDermott

Given a blank sheet of paper in elementary school with an assignment to draw something terrified Jerri as she could never come up with something original. Then in seventh grade she took the art elective which opened composition, rule of thirds, perspective, color wheels, light, shadow, and how to make something uniquely mine.  Since her teenage years she explored various forms of needlework and quilting playing with patterns and color combinations. All of this helped her as she took up photography seriously as she approached my retirement from teaching and work as a school librarian.

Jerri attended college at East Stroudsburg State University and worked in the Poconos but never really had the time or money to vacation or explore the area. When a friend found a John Barkley trip to the Poconos, she signed up hoping to learn the basics of using a digital camera.  Though the camera she borrowed for the class had a broken metal piece in the view finder she was able to capture some interesting images, learn the essentials of a digital camera and had a blast meeting fellow photographer.  John suggested she deserved a better camera so she purchased her first digital camera, a Nikon D7000 and started visiting local parks and historical sites shooting whatever caught my eye.   Most years her family visited Williamsburg at least once a year to get away from this century. That year she decided not to take traditional shots but ended up shooting fences, locks, historic tools and small details that mean so much but are often overlooked.  Jerri was hooked.

As she neared retirement from teaching and being a school librarian, she wanted a hobby that her husband Jim and she could share.  Joining NVPS gave her inspiration and allowed her to take photography to the next level learning processing skills, and other camera techniques. Jerri has since enjoyed varied field trips that pushed her beyond family and landscape shooting, to shooting seasonal flowers, birds, old cars, trains, abstract images.

Inspired by all the beautiful bird images in competitions she took a class with Jim Clark in Chincoteague on shooting shore birds. Now Jim and Jerri visit several local parks getting up earlier than the birds to capture these wonderful creatures and other local wildlife. Moving to wildlife photography has inspired some of their favorite vacations to Yellowstone, both in summer and winter, to the Canadian Northwest, to Alaska, Maine and the Great Smokies.

Jerri currently shoots with a Nikon D500 with either an 18 to 200 lens or a Tamron 150 to 600 lens. She recently purchased a Nikon Z50 mirrorless camera with a 15 to 50 mm and 50 to 200 mm lenses and is trying to master mirrorless shooting.  Jerri has been fortunate to have some of her images juried into Nature Visions and honored at the Waterford Fair.

In 2018 Jim and Jerri were lucky enough to travel to Brooks Falls National Park in Alaska to shoot the annual Brown bears salmon run.  It was an awesome adventure being so close to these magnificent creatures.   The first thing upon reaching camp the rangers gave a safety lesson on interacting in bear territory.  It is approximately a mile hike from camp to the viewing platforms by the falls. Trails are not just for people, and part of the adventure is encountering them on the trail.  My presentation images feature bears of various ages, fishing, fighting, playing and even relaxing. I hope you enjoy her work.  These photos were shot with the Nikon D500 and the Tamron 150 to 600 mm lens.  Most, but not all, were shot with a tripod.

Digital: American the Beautiful with Lynn Cates

Lynn became serious about photography in June 2015. That month she began shooting RAW at a workshop in Acadia National Park, and she took Corey Hilz’ class “Lightroom in a Day” and started processing her images. She is passionate about combining her photography with her cross-country road trips. She loves her Nikon D850. You can view her work at rdtrpr.com.

For the November 2020 Member’s Gallery Lynn will share grand and intimate landscape images from her road trips across America. She will include the national parks, coastlines, forests, mountains, and tiny natural jewels she encountered along the way.