After months of planning and making reservations, Alan and his wife Marty set off on April 25, 2022, for a 156-day journey around the U.S. in their 27-foot motorhome. The trip took in 25 states and many National Parks as well as other interesting places. They returned on September 27. Obviously, Alan made photos.  Over 21,000!  This presentation attempts to distill those 21,000 images into a 10-minute Members Gallery.

BIO

A member of NVPS since 2012, Alan has been involved in some way or other with photography for the past 60 years.  It 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 a 35mm camera and access to the college’s darkroom, and processed Tri-X each time he had a news event or other photo request. 

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 Navy man, 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, D810, and since November 2017, a D850.

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, 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.