NVPS

Programs: Tips on creating that Amazing UHD Time-lapse with Mark Kettenhofen
2022-04-05 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
For his presentation, Mark will talk about his time as a senior staff photographer with Nikon for more than 20-years, how he was tasked with creating marking imagery for Nikon. Mark’s last two award winning project were the showcase marketing adventures that were shown world-wide. These projects were to create UHD (4k) time Lapse for both the Nikon D850 and Z7 camera releases. Mark will break down how each project was shot, from lens choice, camera settings, supporting gear, as-well-as location choices and the apps he used to predict lighting and night skies.
Mark has been behind a camera for more than 40-years. He began his photography career in the US Navy documenting the Navy’s global operations as a Syracuse University trained photojournalist. Mark spent 20-years as a Navy Photojournalist traveling the world documenting historical military operations. His efforts and talent were recognized through numerous awards, including being awarded the prestigious Military Photographer of the Year. After retiring from the Navy, Mark spent 21-years working for Nikon Professional Services, as a senior staff photographer. With Nikon he continued his passion for adventure, travel and photography. Mark’s camera has taken him on expeditions to Everest Base Camp, the Galapagos Islands, the rugged coast of south & central America, and deep into the jungles of the Amazon River basin. With camera in hand, Mark has covered 4 summer and 3 winter Olympics, including being selected as an Olympic Venue Photo Manager for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. In addition, Mark’s focus has taken him to the sidelines of 5 World Cups, 4 Super Bowls, and numerous collegiate playoffs.
His personal belief of –Giving back as freely as you were given– has allowed Mark to be a workshop leader for Defense Information School, Nikon School, Santa Fe Workshops, Arizona Highways Magazine, US DOD Military Workshops, Lindblad Expeditions and Photography at the Summit Workshops. For 23-years he has volunteered as the Lead Team Leader for the Eddie Adams Workshop, an intense four-day gathering of top photography professionals, along with 100-carelfully selected students. Mark is the co-author of America from 500-feet II, a photographic exploration of the United States from the air with legendary landscape photographer, Bill Fortney. Mark volunteers his time with Team Rubicon, a vet-based disaster response team.
Mark’s passion for photography is only eclipsed by his love of adventure and the conservation of our planet.

Field Trip: Monuments at Night
2022-04-09 18:30 - 21:30
If you missed our Fall 2020 trip to visit the Monuments at Night, you’re in luck. Our April field trip will return to the monuments at (or just after) peak cherry blossom season. Lots of photographers visit this time of year, but what many don’t know is that the monuments are best viewed after sunset. This is a wonderful trip for all levels of photographers, especially beginners.
What:
The cherry blossoms will be well underway and Spring will be in the air. We’ll visit the World War II Memorial, Vietnam War Memorials, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and other nearby sites. Feel free to see and do as much as you want. There really is too much to see in one night.
Please note, the National Cherry Blossom Festival will be in full swing. In fact, there is a parade on the morning of April 9 (10am) along Constitution Ave. There is also a street festival on Pennsylvania Ave between 3rd and 7th St. until 6pm. Our activities will not be impacted, but this could impede your chances at getting the perfect parking spot.
Tripods inside the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial are prohibited. Tripods are allowed in most outdoor areas, however, if a park ranger asks you to move or pick up your tripod, it will be because you’re set up in a high traffic area.
Sunset is at 7:40 p.m. (EDT)
Equipment:

Sturdy tripod
Leave your super telephotos and fast glass at home.
Remote shutter or cable release will be useful to prevent camera shake.
Graduated filters are optional for sunset shots.
Flash and or flashlight is optional.
Your best walking shoes.

When:
Saturday, April 9, 2022 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p. mRain date on Sunday, April 10, 2022 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Where:
We’ll meet at the World War II Memorial for what we hope will be a wonderful sunset behind the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool. When that’s done, we’ll travel West along the Reflecting Pool to visit the Vietnam War Memorials, Lincoln Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. We’ll also go behind the Lincoln Memorial to view the newly rehabilitated Arlington Memorial Bridge and the Rosslyn skyline.
If there is enough interest, Steve will be willing to lead another another group from our meeting spot at the WW2 Memorial to the Tidal Basin visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, FDR Memorial, and finish at the Jefferson Memorial.
Metered parking is in effect from 7am-8pm on Ohio Dr. SW. The cost is $2.30 per hour with a three hour maximum ($6.90 total). Please note that the cherry blossom festival will still be going on so the parking lot at the Tidal Basin Paddle Boats will probably be filled with equipment and closed to the public. The parking lots A, B, and C along Ohio Dr just past the 14 St. overpass should be an option. The metro blue and orange lines will also service Smithsonian and Foggy Bottom which are the nearest stops to our field trip.
We hope you can join us!
Rena Schild and Steven GlintzField Trip Coordinators 2021-2022
* Photographs of the monuments courtesy Rena Schild and Steven Glintz. Additional examples and inspiration available on NVPS galleries.
Field Trip: DC Monuments, Sep 2020Field-Trip: DC at Night, Dec 2014

Portfolio Project – Final Portfolio Project Review, Group 1 with Cynthia Keith
2022-04-12 19:30 - 21:00
Portfolio Project: The first final review of the Portfolio Project will be held with Cynthia Keith as our reviewer for the first group of this years participants.
Cynthia L. Keith is a native Washingtonian. Her love of photography started in a journalism class at Walt Whitman High School and over the years has led her to scenic locations from Alaska to Maine in search of landscape images. Her specialty is garden landscape photography, a marriage of her vision for the grand landscape and intimate flower portraits.
Cynthia has been a member of the North Bethesda Camera Club since 1992 where she has exhibited, participated in numerous presentations, and served on multiple committees. She is a frequent judge at camera clubs in the greater Washington area.
Outside of photography, she has a BA in Music and an MBA from the University of Maryland and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Cynthia has worked for several financial firms in the Washington, DC area during her career as an investment manager. She is past president of the Washington Association of Money Managers and the CFA Institute in Washington.

Competition with Judge Nicol Hockett – No Theme, Open
2022-04-19 19:15 - 21:30
Competition Theme: Open within the past three (3) years
Nicol Hockett specializes in portrait photography with an approach that balances authenticity in studio craft with a refined finishing style to bring out and preserve the beauty of the subject’s character.
As well as her passion for making portraits, she also creates lens-based, contemporary visual art that is playful and vibrant and inspired by beloved people, places, and things.
Her photographs have earned awards and recognition in leading international photographic competitions and exhibitions and have been published in the Journal of the Royal Photographic Society, Photographer’s Forum Best of Photography Annuals, Artistonish Contemporary Fine Art Magazine, and numerous exhibition books. She has exhibited work at the National Geographic Museum and in physical and virtual galleries in the United States and Great Britain.
She is an Associate of The Royal Photographic Society (ARPS), a Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) with the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and an Advanced Member of The Center For Photography At Woodstock (CPW).
Please see Nicol’s website: www.nicolhockett.com

Member’s Gallery – Prints (Virtually): Getting to Know You with Susan Blalock, Suzy McIntire and Terri Lannigan
2022-04-26 19:30 - 19:45
This evening will be an NVPS first: a Group Member’s Gallery featuring three of our newer and new to gallery presentation members. Susan Blalock, Suzy McIntire and Terri Lannigan present three mini Member’s Galleries.
Susan Blalock
Susan got her love of photography from her grandfather and helped him develop photos for family holiday cards in his home darkroom which was located a closet under the stairs. She purchased a digital camera several years ago and the pandemic gave her the opportunity to spend more time taking photos. Finding NVPS was quite the happy accident for Susan when she started to look for a local camera club to join. NVPS’ weekly meetings, variety of speakers, field trips, and the mentor program were all interesting and last winter she decided to join the Club. Since the Fall Susan has been working with mentor Will Friedman and so far their focus has been working on black and white images. Willa’s guidance has helped Susan to improve how she sees images and improved the tonal range of her images. Susan is still very much a “newbie” and she enjoys nature photography, long exposure, and macro, but is not opposed to giving any genre a try.

Suzy McIntire
Suzy has had two wonderful mentors since she joined NVPS in 2019: Willa Friedman and Stan Bysshe. She can’t thank them enough for help to learn her Fuji, how to shoot in RAW and use HDR and LightRoom, how to choose a picture for competition, and the importance of “knowing her bird.” There was excellent discussion of issues around street photography, and some pictures even got competition awards, although not when she didn’t listen to Willa.

Terri Lannigan
Terri was introduced to photography by her father, an avid photographer of nature, trains and automobiles. They spent many hours hiking and capturing photos, mostly landscape, with her trusty Pentax K1000. The cost of film was prohibitive during college and early professional years, and photography fell by the wayside. With the advent of digital photography, and with young children, Terri again picked up the camera for family events and vacations. As the kids got older, and time was more available to return to hiking and to devote to the craft of photography, Terri was lucky to be encouraged by Georgette Grossman to join NVPS. She hasn’t looked back! Originally, thinking that she would focus on mammals and landscape, she found that vision difficult to realize for short weekend jaunts and ended up developing a love of birds, insects and tree frogs. NVPS has been a huge contributor to her growth as a photographer and she is looking forward to continuing to learn and grow through the many resources available here.

Member’s Gallery – Digital: People, Places and Things with Greg Smith
2022-04-26 19:45 - 20:00
People, Places and Things (but not in that order!)
This presentation is broken into three parts: People (street photography), Things (that caught my eye) and Places (landscapes and places) from our travels over the last few years.
Greg Smith Bio:
Enthusiast to Opportunist to Hobbyist to “Something More”?
Greg became familiar with photography from an early age. His father, serving in Ireland and Cyprus, took many pictures throughout their many travels, always considering angles and framing the subjects when he could, and describing what and why as he did so. Many a slide show was enjoyed!
Greg got his first SLR (Minolta) prior to deployment to the Mediterranean Sea with the Marines, knowing there would be ample opportunities for pictures. However, it was when attempting to take a picture of the Duomo in Florence, Italy he realized he needed a wide-angle zoom, as he had to take the picture from 3 blocks away to get it all in! He secured his lens at the Navy Exchange in Naples, and so the enthusiast was hooked.
When Greg’s wife upgraded her camera, he took over her Nikon 5600 and began taking pictures again. He was able to have a cup of coffee with a retired Marine who introduced him to NVPS, showing him several amazing award-winning photographs. K-12 invited Greg to visit a club meeting, which he did, along with his wife, and shortly after they joined.
Since joining NVPS he has enjoyed the inspiration of seeing amazing pictures, the creativity of other members and the focused opportunities afforded by the themed competitions. Taking more pictures led to upgrading to a Nikon D750, and with the encouragement of his wife, adopted shooting primarily in manual mode.
Now Greg enjoys shooting whatever he happens upon: birds and landscapes primarily, and street photography when afforded the opportunity. He is becoming more purposeful in his photography, moving from just shooting snapshots to thinking about compositions and seeking out better environments for capturing images. He and his wife Gitta are anticipating an RV trip to Denver, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks, with many stops along the way, and hopefully will have many opportunities to expand his skills.

Member’s Forum – The Art of Building Photography with Jim Sinsheimer
2022-04-26 20:00 - 21:00
Construction photography is a subject that not many photographers get at chance to explore. For me, however, it came as an integral part of my career in architecture and construction project management. My interest in photography paralleled my architectural education during which I documented most of my college projects. As my career developed, so did my interest and fascination with photographing not only the finished projects, but the process of creating them as well.
I started to record the process in a documentary form, but soon saw the potential to go beyond to capture the incredible images of light, color, form, texture, and composition that the construction process can produce. The images can be of materials, machinery, and equipment; and of course, the trades people themselves.
Capturing images on a construction site is a challenge on two levels – technical and interpersonal. The technical challenge is being at the right place, at the right time, with the right light. Understanding the construction sequence is of course very helpful. The pace can be fast and often sporadic, so there’s no time for lighting setups, umbrellas, or other assisted illumination. You must use what is there. Equipment needs to be simple and flexible. In the early film years, this was a challenge without quality zoom lenses. So, I carried two cameras with different lenses – one normal and one telephoto. As digital photography developed, I was able to simplify this to one camera and two lenses.
Developing a level of familiarity and trust with the construction team is as important as the technical aspects. The craftsmen are at first suspicious of a photographer in their midst– they are concerned that the pictures will be used to show them doing something wrong. So, I start by being as inconspicuous as possible until my presence is accepted. It helps to give trades people a print of their picture – they love to show their families how they look at work.
Of course, I’ve shared these images with the architects and builders I’ve worked with. Some of these images were published in the October 2011 edition of Lenswork. I hope you will enjoy them too.
