Come onnnnnnn Spring… It has been a cold winter but Spring will be here soon (I hope). Take this opportunity to plan your outside photographic adventures now. The following are a few places I have personally visited and photographed: National Cherry Blossom Festival (The Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C.) This year the festival dates are March 20–April 12, 2015.(http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/) Manassas National Battlefield Park (6511 Sudley Road, Manassas, Va.) Great battlefield and nature scenes. Usually the bluebells bloom by the old bridge in early April. (http://www.nps.gov/mana/naturescience/bluebells.htm) Burnside Farms (new location = 4617 B Logmill Road, Haymarket, Va.) Mother Nature is in charge of when the flowers bloom, but springtime plantings include daffodils (mid/late March), tulips (early/mid‑April) and Dutch iris (May). (http://www.burnsidefarms.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/BurnsideFarms) Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court Vienna, Va.) Walking trails, lakes, gazebos, cherry trees, irises, peonies, native wildflowers, birds, butterflies, seasonal blooms and foliage. (http://www.nvrpa.org/park/meadowlark_botanical_gardens/) Green Spring Gardens (4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, Va.) Wooded stream, valley with ponds, a native plant garden, a greenhouse filled with tropical plants. (http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/greenspring/) Other local photo destinations are listed on the NVPS website (http://nvps.org/home/?page_id-140) Last but not least, NVPS is revisiting the Truck Graveyard located in Columbia, Va., for a field trip on March 21. Check out details elsewhere in this issue of Fotofax. Hope to see you out and about capturing the beautiful scenes Mother Nature gives us this Spring! Georgette Grossman The Ask Me a Question Table continues in operation each Tuesday from 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm before the meeting. Two of our more experienced photographers will be manning the table. March 3rd: David Blecman – Glamour Portraits Using
David Blecman started his photographic career fresh out of high school in 1978, and before turning twenty, he was named Photo Editor of the county newspaper. After many years of shooting weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other family events, he started Positive Negatives in 1997, and concentrated more into the commercial photography arena. He is now an internationally recognized photographer and instructor. He has since photographed projects for such clientele as Sears, Color Me Beautiful, JCPenney, Bath & Body Works, Foot Action, Kaybee Toys, Littman Jewelers, Seagrams Americas, Holiday Inn, Wyndham Hotels, Days Inn, Hilton Hotels, The White House, Black Market, Water Water Everywhere, Cornell University, etc. David has also been hired to photograph such celebrities as President George W. Bush, Christina Aguilera, Jimmy Buffett, Steely Dan, Moody Blues, Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, Celine Dion, Gene Simmons and KISS, and numerous others. He currently shoots for magazines, clothiers, fashion designers, and numerous other print and commercial accounts, as well as for models, actors, and their agencies. He has been published hundreds of times, and his specialties include, but is not limited to; child and adult models, architectural, food, fashion, swimwear, location and studio work, products, headshots, etc. The Photographer’s Market, an international publication which advises photographers on how to market their photography as well as business practices, did a feature write-up on David and Positive Negatives in the 2001 edition. David continues to speak at modeling and photography venues, teach at modeling agencies, and continues to teach and mentor photographers, models, and makeup artists internationally, and his 2010 training course in the Caribbean was filmed to become a 13-episode television series. He also organizes exotic training events in the Caribbean , Bahamas, and Europe aboard luxury cruise liners with on-board and location shooting and training, and is an advocate of helping artists grow and protect their business and careers world-wide. David also helped in the planning and teaching of a photography training course for cancer patients at The St. Agnes Cancer Institute in Baltimore, Md. More recently, David is mentoring a group of over 500 amateur photographers, and is getting them exposure and recognition by having their work displayed and sold at a local framing shop and art gallery. His web site is at http://posneg.com/ The Co-VPs for Programs for this year are Tami Stieger and Willa Siegel. The line-up of speakers for the remainder of this Society year is as follows:
March 10th: “A Gift of Beauty and Peace” with Tuan Pham
It is about 75 minutes in length and consists of two parts. Part one is an ancient hands-on exercise called Relaxed Attentiveness, recognized by modern science to foster a mind state known as the Zone in sport or Flow in positive psychology. Part two is a PowerPoint presentation entitled The ABC of Visual Design, defines the task of the photographer which is to arrange visual elements into principles, like pictorial space, armature, rhythm, balance, etc… which in turn blend together to create artworks. About 30 images taken in and around the Washington metropolitan area will be used to show that you don’t have to travel long distances, climb mountains or wake up before sunrise to create photographs that make the heart sing. Tuan Pham is a member of Northern Virginia Photographic Society and Joe Miller’s GRC (getting it right in the camera). He trains in the tradition of Freeman Patterson and Zen Master/photographer John Daido Roshi, a student of Minor White. Tuan likes to take pictures the easy way. His stylistic hallmarks are subjects cameras often overlook. He calls them “Photos of Nothing.” He had five images in the recent 2014 Nature Visions Photo Expo, including one in the 2015 Travelling exhibition. Retired from careers in banking and conflict resolution, Tuan now teaches Mindfulness Meditation and Photography as Zen Art at the Arlington Adult Education center, U.S. National Arboretum, Green Spring Gardens. His next Photography as Zen Art workshop at Green Spring Gardens begins on March 28. For more information, contact zenttl02@gmail.com .
March 31st: How to Set-Up and Operate a Website for Photographers with Chris Langford On Tuesday, March 31st, Chris Langford, an NVPS member since October 2013, will share his knowledge on simple user-friendly website services for photographers. Chris will provide a review of the options available to photographers to create and maintain a beautiful website. He will also give an overview of some key concepts regarding websites, tips of what makes for a good one, why even have a website, how to associate an email with your website, what to look for when comparing website builder services, and much more. In this digital age having a website is a great way to share your photos with friends, family, galleries, and potential clients. The issues in the past that might have deterred many of us from creating a website (e.g., cost, time, and a lack of technical knowledge) are no longer a barrier. There are many website builder options for either the technical and non-technical photographer that are not only easy to use and manage, but best of all, inexpensive. Imagine a website that provides a one-stop solution to displaying, promoting, and selling prints! Whether you have built your own website from scratch or have zero experience in website design, everyone will gain some valuable information at this presentation. Chris says he is by no means an expert in this field, but through his day job, has learned about these options from a communication/public relations perspective. As such, his presentation will use terms that everyone will be able to understand. So in other words, no experience required to get something out of this presentation. About Chris Langford Chris Langford got into photography in 2012 after his wife bought an entry level DSLR to take better photos of their son. As they quickly learned, a nice camera does not equal great photos. Out of frustration and fascination, Chris began educating himself on the art of photography… with a little help from his OCD. After a lot of practice and experimentation, and the great resources and expertise within NVPS, his images soon gained the attention of friends and family members who asked if he could do photos for them, and from there it grew into a side business. Though Chris has yet to specialize in a particular style of photography, he leans more toward portraiture. Chris has done work for personal trainers, families, couples, businesses (headshots), and even real-estate agents. To see his work, you can visit his website at www.chrislangfordphotography.com, which is hosted by Squarespace.com. Here are a few examples of his photography:
The schedule of Education and Training presentations for the remainder of this season is as follows:
The Education and Training Coordinator for this year is Tom Pratuch.
March 17th: Judging by Gabby Salazar The theme for March's Competition night is “Still Life,” moved from February.
Gabby Salazar is currently the President of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). In 2004, she was named BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year and she is now a full-time nature and conservation photographer. Gabby returned in June of 2011 from a 10 month project in Peru funded by a Fulbright Grant and a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant. She worked with the Amazon Conservation Association (www.amazonconservation.org) to document the creation of the Manu-Tambopata Conservation Corridor. Gabby worked at over 15 sites along the corridor to document community based, government based, and foreign conservation efforts. Her project blog is www.roadtoamazonia.com. In September of 2008, Gabby was recognized by Glamour Magazine as one of the Top 10 College Women in the United States for her work with children, photography and the environment. Gabby graduated from Brown University in 2009 with a degree in Science and Society. Gabby is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Photography, a National Geographic Young Explorer Grantee, and a member of the Emerging League of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP). In 2014, she had a 30-image exhibit in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; her work has also been displayed in the International Photography Hall of Fame. Gabby worked for five years with Nature’s Best Photography to found a student magazine, promoting photography as a way to connect kids with nature. She continues to teach photography to children and teenagers around the world. Her work can be seen at www.gabbysalazar.com. Jamie Kiechlin Here is the Competition Theme and the date for the remaining themed competition. Street Photography - May 19, 2015 For this theme “street photography” is defined as a photograph featuring 1) the human condition or 2) the relationship or interaction between people and their surroundings. A street photo example could be a candid, semi-candid or spontaneous (but not staged) photo of a person (or persons) in a public, private or open place doing something other than posing for you to take their picture. February's Competition with the theme "Still Life" was postponed until the 17th of this month (March). The full list of competition results is available on the NVPS web site at http://nvps.org The NVPS Website has a gallery of past Competition winning images at http://nvps.org/gallery/v/competitions/.
If your image placed first, second, third
or received an honorable mention in a club competition, it is eligible for this gallery. Images are not posted automatically, you must specifically provide consent for your
image to be included in the gallery.
Then it will be time to think about the form of your final presentation in May. You can do a book, prints, slide presentation on a laptop, poster…Check out Scott Musson’s excellent presentation on Photo Books and Calendars that was originally presented at the club on 3/30/2010 at: http://nvps.org/main/f_stop/docs/PhotoBooksCalendars.pdf. Upload deadline to participate in the final review will be April 30th. The final review will be on May 12 with Brian Zwit. Be sure to check out Brian’s website at http://schoolofcreativephotography.com/brian-j-zwit/ . 1. Get registered as a gallery user by going to http://nvps.org/gallery/main.php and clicking on register (upper right hand corner). Follow the directions on the screen to get yourself a login and password. If you are already a registered user of the gallery then you start at step two. 2. Send your gallery user name (not your password) to portfolio-gallery@nvps.org and request Portfolio Project participation. 3. You will receive an email confirming creation of your album at which point you will be able to upload pictures as well as comment on other member's pictures. Please say hi to Ceasar and me at the meetings, we’d love to see you! Ginger and Ceasar This year’s co-chairs for the project are Ginger Werz-Petricka and Ceasar Sharper.
March 24th: Ten Photographic Techniques That Are
BIO Mike has served numerous positions since joining NVPS in 2009, including his current job as Co-Coordinator of Field-Trips, and past positions as President, Co-VP of Competitions, and Assistant Webmaster. He has received several NVPS annual awards including, Photographer-of-the-Year, Color Print of the Year and the Ollie-Fife Award for Image of the Year. Examples of Mike's photography:
The Forum Coordinator for this year is Susan Phillips.
March 24 - Prints by Fran Bastress and Digital Images by Kip Holdridge On March 24, Fran Bastress will present her prints and Kip Holdridge will present his digital images for the Members Gallery.
She initially became engrossed after buying a secondhand Hasselblad and taking a photography course in Boston, where she developed her darkroom skills. Her walls are covered with the black and white pictures she took during her years in New England, and some themes in those photos continue in her work today: the natural world and landscapes that incorporate water and things related to the sea. These interests attracted her in recent years to Canada’s Atlantic Provinces, including New Brunswick where she took the Andre Gallant/Freeman Patterson’s photography workshop. Fran credits it with heightening her ability to see the world around her. It was an Annie Leibovitz exhibit in 2006 that prompted Fran to reengage in photography and enter the digital age. She shelved her old Canon Rebel, bought a 30D, and took courses from Eliot Cohen. Fran has been an NVPS member since 2010 and is grateful for all the information and encouragement she has acquired from the club, and she credits it with reigniting her passion for photography. She serves on the board as secretary/historian and is participating in the Portfolio Project. Last year she was awarded print of the Year (Class 3) for her Monk in Bhutan Doorway. Many of the prints on display are ones that placed in NVPS competitions, as well as those juried into other exhibits: ArtSpace Herndon, Nature Visions, including their traveling exhibits, and Joe Miller’s Abstract Exhibit. Later this year Fran has a solo exhibit scheduled. She’s recently updated her website and suggests visiting it to see the photo slideshows with musical accompaniments: www.visionsbyfran.net Kip Holdridge ![]() In a small town in Northwest Colorado, history and traditional endure in one of the largest annual horse drives in the country. A herd numbering over 400 strong, one of the largest in Colorado, is driven from their winter range to a ranch through 60 miles of countryside over two days. Kip’s presentation will chronicle several years of the horse drive, including the herd, riders, and working cowboys and cowgirls in action. The presentation will also feature Northwest Colorado’s other equine attraction, the majestic wild horses of Sandwash Basin. Kip Holdridge learned “the basics” of photography at a young age. At 6 years old, his mother taught him the mechanics of using an SLR camera and the rules of composition. After a childhood behind the lens, Kip and photography slowly grew apart as after school activities took up more of his time. After finishing college and starting a career, he found his way back to photography with a little nudging from his mother. He purchased his first DSLR in early 2008 and joined NVPS in the spring of 2009. Kip was the recipient of the NVPS “Photographer of the Year” and “Image of the Year” awards in the Novice Unrestricted Digitally Projected Images category for the 2010-2011 competition year and the “Photographer of the Year” award in the Advanced Digitally Projected Images category for the 2012-2013 year. Kip’s photography can be seen online at http://www.flickr.com/krhphotography The Member's Gallery Coordinator for this year is Colena Turner. Presentations scheduled for this season are:
March 21st: Return to the Truck Graveyard, Columbia, Va.
Please sign up: Sign-up sheets will be provided at NVPS meetings, or you can email field-trips@nvps.org with your name, email address and cell phone number. Also indicate if you would like to be a car-pool driver (or passenger). Additional information will be provided to those who sign up. Note: There is a $20 cash fee per person that will be collected on site and provided to the property owner. Mike and Bob
New York Field Trip • April 15-19 Because of the long lead time needed, we're posting this information on the proposed field trip to New York City in April. For planning purposes we would like to know how many members are interested in this field trip. For logistic purposes we are limiting this trip to ten. Here are some details: The hotel is in Secaucus, N.J., a 15-minute bus ride to Manhattan. The nightly rate is about $150/room. Currently we have 10 rooms reserved. The only rooms available have a king size bed and a pull out bed. There will be a lot of walking and taking the subway. Lots of food, pizza, Chinese, Italian and of course a deli. Night photography in Times Square is planned as well as night photography of the N.Y. skyline. Locations planned: Some costs other then the hotel room: Please email us answers to the following questions: 1. Are you planning to come on the trip? Bob and Mike field-trips@nvps.org The following is the list of our elected officers for program year 2014-2015. A full list of all current NVPS Board members and their club contact information can be found at: http://nvps.org/home/?page_id=23
Announcements Notice: The information about workshops and events not sponsored by or affiliated with NVPS are provided as an informational courtesy to Members. Individuals should review the detailed rules and conditions for contests and gallery shows to determine what impact entering an image has on the photographer's rights and ownership of the submitted images. Review the descriptions of workshops to see whether participation in a particular workshop would actually meet your personal learning goals. NVPS attempts to screen events for legitimacy and quality; however NVPS does not recommend these events and cannot assume responsibility for their ultimate quality. We recommend due diligence and encourage you to share your experience with other club members. The Annual NBCC Photo Essay Program Members of NVPS and their guests are invited to attend the North Bethesda Camera Club (NBCC) Photo Essay 2015 presentation Sunday, March 8, from 3 to 5 pm. The presentation is held in the auditorium of the Rosborough Center at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Md. NBCC has been presenting these photo essay shows every March for nearly 30 years. The shows have grown in quality and audience size and are now held in a large auditorium. The program is intended to showcase the participants' photography and to entertain members, their families and friends, and members of other local camera clubs. Additional information can be found on the NVPS web site at http://nvps.org/home/files/PhotoEssay2015BrochurePDF.pdf
Members' Resources: Do you need help with a photography problem, but don't know who to ask? The Members' Resource Program is here for you. Have you ever been asked, "How do you do that?" If so, then consider sharing your knowledge with other club members. Our members routinely receive photo awards and recognition and have images in shows. As FotoFax only comes out monthly, the best place to look for current events is on the website at: Ginger Werz-Petricka Ginger Werz-Petricka will be the guest speaker at the Washington School of Photography Camera Club on March 18th. She will be presenting "Venice in January" including information and images from her trips to Venice in January 2014 and 2015. The program starts at 7:30 at 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Md. Bob and Willa Friedman Bob and Willa Friedman have had work juried into the Photoworks Gallery and Photography School's 2015 show, My Little Town: A Photography Exhibition about Washington, D.C., Juried by award-winning photographer, Peter Garfield (The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Washingtonian), this exhibition showcases the neighborhoods and local stomping grounds of Washington, D.C., providing a glimpse into the more intimate and personal side of our nation's capital. The exhibition runs through April 12, 2015. Photoworks is located in historic Glen Echo Park, Md. ArtSpace Herdon juries in NVPS Members Six NVPS members were juried in to the Fine Art Photography Competition at the ArtSpace Herdon. They are Fran Bastress, Patricia Deege, Bob Friedman, Georgette Grossman, David Heagy, and Benita Mayo. Also juried in was judge Roy Sewall. Each year, ArtSpace Herndon invites photographers from Virginia, D.C., Maryland, and West Virginia to participate in a Fine Art Photography Competition. The competition is open to fine art photographers aged 18 or older working in any medium (digital or analog, color or monochrome), and using any printing technique. ArtSpace Herndon is operated by the Herndon Foundation for the Cultural Arts. Members Images Submitted to George W. Glennie Nature Exhibit The NVPS images selected for the George W. Glennie Nature Exhibit are now available for viewing on the club website, both as a slide show on the main page of the website and in the gallery at http://nvps.org/gallery/v/exhibits/Glennie2015.. This is a digital competition. Clubs are invited to submit up to 10 images in numerous categories. Annually more than 100 clubs worldwide participate in this exhibit. Additional information about this completion can be found at the Merrimack Valley Camera Club website http://mvcameraclub.org/comp-interclub/comp-interclub-01-glennie.htm. This year's submission includes images from Ceasar Sharper (2), Sandi Croan (2), Fred Siskind (2) and one each from Yue Xu, Stan Bysshe, Barry Sperling and Bill Corbett. Please take a look at your fellow club members' work. Kirk Johnson
The article accompanying the photo says: Today’s Shutterbug Photo of the Day is this ghostly, futuristic shot of the DC Metro by Kirk Johnson. Johnson actually shot this with his Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, proving that you don’t always need a traditional camera to get a cool looking image. "A quiet afternoon (before the afternoon rush hour) at the South Capitol metro train stop in Washington DC,” Johnson writes about the photo. “Took a series of photographs of this commuter train as it was coming out of the tunnel. I loved the way the light scattered, dancing across the walls, ceiling, and tiled floor. The picture has an almost eerie, foreboding feel to it.” The settings on Johnson’s Samsung S3 were: aperture priority, average metering, 1/15 sec shutter speed; f/2.6 aperture; ISO 800, 3.7 mm focal length. Post processing was done using both Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Topaz Black & White Effects. If you want to enter Shutterbug Photo of the Day, post an image in the Shutterbug Photo of the Day Gallery and include your real name and some background on the image (how and where it was shot; the story behind the image; gear and settings used etc.) in the description field to qualify. John Eppler John Eppler has an image of a blue poppy taken at Longwood Gardens has been selected for publication in the North American Nature Photography Association’s Currents Magazine 2015 Showcase Edition. The Hylton Center's Second Annual Juried Exhibition The Hylton Center is hosting its Second Annual Juried Exhibition to celebrate the region's vibrant visual arts community. A distinguished panel of judges will jury submissions and choose the top entries to be exhibited in the Hylton Center's Buchanan Partners Art Gallery from May 17-June 28, 2015. Along with the honor of being chosen to exhibit, the following awards will be announced at a reception on Thursday, June 11. Award recipients will receive a certificate, a cash prize, and the winner of "Best of Show" will have an opportunity to exhibit their work in a solo show in the Buchanan Partners Art Gallery during the 2015-2016 season. Submissions are due between February 1, 2015 - April 1, 2015. For more information, see http://www.hyltoncenter.org/gallery/juried.html NVPS Photography Exhibit, March 31 to May 31 Think about the exhibit to be held in the office of Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross from March 31 to May 31. The office has offered NVPS their walls to show our work. The supervisor likes to have art on the walls in the center which is on Columbia Pike in Annandale. It isn't a very large space, and we can hang about three dozen pictures. There will be a sign up sheet at meetings until we have the number of images we need. This show will not be juried – I will accept the first 25 to 30 images listed. It will be necessary to have a limit of one framed photo per person. The subject matter will be loosely limited to Fairfax County and may not have recognizable people. There are additional opportunities to hang photos coming up; watch for announcements as we get closer to the dates. There is still time to photographic some great places in Fairfax County. More information will follow as we work out the details. Willa Friedman, Coordinator of Exhibits Other than Nature Visions Washington School of Photography (WSP) Located within WSP, the Washington Gallery of Photography hosts monthly gallery shows, open to the public, and consisting of work from mid-Atlantic Photographers. They hold regular gallery receptions, hosted on the first Friday of each month. See details on their calendar at: http://www.washingtonschoolofphotography.com/
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