Will Haubert

Prints: The Will you Barely (some degree of pun intended) Know

Will Haubert figures that just about everyone knows his basic story – that he retired from his government job on September 2, 2008 and joined NVPS 3 hours later. His transition consisted of riding Metro home and a quick dinner. He has been pushing his shutter release almost non-stop ever since.

Will began his photographic journey by taking pictures while hiking just about anywhere west of the Front Range. You probably know his landscapes – a Blue Sunrise in New Mexico, the red hues of the Wave. And a few local images – the Jefferson Columns. But something happened to Will about a year or so ago. During a wonderful trip to China led by Yulan Guo and Corey Hilz, Will started taking pictures of people. Well, mostly pretty women.
And it didn’t stop with wheels down at Dulles. It seems that Will couldn’t call himself a photographer unless he felt comfortable taking pictures of people. So for the past year, that is pretty much all he has done. His wife was skeptical when he set up a photoshoot with a model during a hiking trip he made to Utah a year ago. It was the highlight of Will’s trip and changed his photography dramatically. Now he shoots all models all the time.

For a man who spent a lifetime being a generalist, his single-minded focus on models is surprising, if not shocking. Ask why and you’ll get a reply like this: “I truly love women and love to portray their beauty. Beauty is soul-deep and that’s what I seek in my images. If I do it right, a woman’s inner beauty will reveal itself to the lens – and to the viewer’s eye.” He hopes that when you view his images at Member’s Gallery, that’s what catches your eye …

Ursy Potter

Ursy in Ghana – Digital Presentation

I have wanted to go to Africa for a long time. But I never wanted to go as a tourist or on a fancy animal safari.

I learned of an opportunity to go to Ghana, in West Africa, last summer and stay with the Ewe tribe, living with a Kente weaver and working with a traditional potter in a village about an hour’s distance by various buses, taxis and Trotros. So off I went by myself having no idea of what to expect about anything. I discovered the Ghanese people are intelligent, beautiful and oh so friendly. The children are polite and mannerly.

I was the only white person for the almost one month stay but I had no mirror and so I just felt like one of the gang. Bobbo, the Kente weaver and my host, has eleven sons and seven daughters and is thrilled by all of them. The youngest is perhaps twelve years old and every one of them is intelligent, speaks English and is accomplished. Bobbo is 74 years old and has had several wives.

I was expected to wear a long skirt and a head covering as is the style for women.

Being on the Equator I was expecting Ghana to be beastly hot. Instead, I left the beastly hot Washington, DC weather behind and found it comfortable in Ghana by comparison.

Not having worked in clay for ten years I wondered how it would go. Since their techinique is so different from mine that didn’t matter. I was a dilettante no matter what. The women with whom I worked spoke only Ewe and my English was of no help but they were so patient and kind it was all fun using hand gestures. The kids are adorable. Ghanese are strict with children so they learn at an early age to toe the line, although as soon as I got my camera out the kids popped up in front.

Now I’m studying African drumming from Kofi Dennis, a Ghanese drummer here in Northern Virginia. I’d enjoy going back, perhaps as a drummer.

Ursy Potter

The March Members Gallery will be followed by the March Forum