Prints with Minnie Gallman

Photography is a creative outlet that encourages me to look at the world in different way. I’ve always had an interest in photography and remember my first camera, a Kodak Brownie. Recently, I found a photo I took of my sister when I was four years old. Since then I have owned many cameras and taken many photos. Some of these photos have documented family and friends celebrating life, while others attempt to make the ordinary become extraordinary.

My primary interest is in nature photography which presents a constant challenge to create photographs of something that is familiar to all of us. My ongoing project is to produce an annual calendar of photos from where I grew up in rural Ohio. Among the fields, woods, and lakes there is endless subject matter. Over the years my photography technique has changed but the beauty of nature remains constant.

One of the benefits of photography is the opportunity to mingle with a fantastic group of people through joining a camera club. I am a member of both the McLean Photography Club and the Northern Virginia Photographic Society. I have served as officers in both of these clubs. These groups have introduced me to ideas, methods, and techniques that I can use to improve my photography. I’ve been awarded many ribbons over the years including End of Year Competition for Best Slide, Color Print, and Monochrome Print. Another advantage of being a member of a camera club is the opportunity to exhibit. Some of the places my photos have been exhibited are: Hendry House, Arlington Library, Fairfax County Center, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, George Mason University, Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery in Annapolis (where I was awarded an honorable mention), and the National Geographic Society. Most recently, I was a finalist in the Washington Post Travel Photography contest where there were 1,700 entries. This photo was taken with my iPhone. My photos have won Honorable Mention from Chesapeake Bay Magazine and Best photo from the U.S. Lighthouse Society. I’ve furthered by knowledge by attending seminars and workshops offered by the National Zoo, Dewitt Jones, Marc Muench, Eliot Cohen, Freeman Patterson, Eliot Stern and Andre Gallant.

My current camera is a Nikon D300s. I use archival ink and paper to print my photographs and note cards which I sell at the Artisans and Wild Bird Store in McLean.

Digital with Wayne Wolfersberger

An ecologist-naturalist, educator and nature photographer by professional training and passion, Wayne has integrated all areas to become a well-respected professional nature photographer in the Washington DC area. His photographic expertise was honed while working for a D.C. area commercial photography firm in the 1960’s, the US Navy Photographic Center and involvement in numerous professional seminars and workshops.

Wayne is a member of NANPA (North American Nature Photography Association), NAPP (National Association for Photoshop Professionals), the Vienna Photographic Society and Northern Virginia Photographic Association (since the mid 1980’s) for which he served as VP and President. Wayne has delivered numerous and varied photographic programs for many local groups in the Greater Washington area, in the Southern Appalachians, and internationally in the UK and Australia. Many of his images have appeared in local, national, international magazines (including multiple images in Nature’s Best), on calendars, postcards, and exhibited as fine art prints.

Wayne teaches a variety of photography classes locally during the fall, winter, and spring (if not on short travel excursions) but during the summer you will find Wayne photographing in Yellowstone National Park where he has been working for the US National Park Service since 1999.

Wayne’s best advocate and critic is Donna, his wife of 43 years.

Favorite subjects are always nature and travel but he shoots any thing that presents itself as a photo op. Of course, now that his grand daughter (21 months) is here in the States, so shooting baby pictures is becoming more of his personal thing. Wayne has done a lot of sports photography, especially of his two daughters as they were growing up in Fairfax, and he used to do weddings, and some portraiture. One type of photography that Wayne has never done is underwater photography. Maybe in the future…..?

A number of years ago Wayne was accepted for a Fulbright teacher exchange position in the United Kingdom for a year. He was able to take his entire family (wife and two daughters) and traveled to Matlock where he taught eight different subjects at an all-girls boarding school. The UK teacher and he swapped teaching positions as well as houses. It was a tight fit for us because she was single but “we survived the small quarters”. During the mid term and term breaks we traveled all over the UK and Northern Europe. The lasting affects were two traveling daughters as they grew older. One, upon graduating from university moved to Australia and has been working as an environmental scientist for the last eight years. Currently she and her family are in the process of moving back to the States.

Wayne grew up with Nikon equipment and started serious photography with the Nikon F1. Now he hopes to do much more with video working with Final Cut Pro and the iMac.