Where did we begin and where are we going?
Our club’s history actually began in March 1965 when Sil Horwitz held a meeting at his home in Springfield, Va., to discuss ways and means of organizing a camera club to serve all of Northern Virginia. A group of Northern Virginia amateur photographers met. Afterwards, handbills were distributed and notices were placed in local newspapers inviting all interested persons to an organizational meeting at the Richard Byrd Library in Springfield on April 7, 1965. Twenty-two amateur photographers attended the meeting and formed what became the Northern Virginia Camera Club. A few had been members of the former Springfield Camera Club, but many were new to an organized camera club. All shared an interest in developing their photographic skills. The members elected Sil Horwitz president, Ted Kirkham secretary, and Harry White treasurer. A committee was formed to write a constitution, and the new club voted to join the Greater Washington Council of Camera Clubs (GWCCC) and the Photographic Society of America (PSA). Starting in 1973, the club provided workshops to bridge the gap between novice and more advanced photographers. That same year, several club members learned various specialized techniques and presented programs demonstrating those techniques to other members and several other camera clubs in the Washington area. Thus the tradition of the club’s photography education began. Within a year, the classes for competition were divided into Novice and Advanced, expanding the number of classes to five: two each for monochrome prints and color slides and one for color prints. A newsletter, the FotoFax, brought the club news to members’ mailboxes. During the 1974–1975 season, the Executive Board revised the constitution, bylaws, and rules of competition. Members ratified the revisions at the end of the year. One of the changes was a new name — the Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS). NVPS has grown over the years from 22 to almost 250 members. Our education tradition continues to this day with meetings every Tuesday from September through May. We sponsor lectures from outside speakers. Our own members give talks and present their print and digital photographs at meetings. We provide education and training through hands-on workshops and lectures. And, competition is alive and well, now with three categories (digital images, plus monochrome and color prints) and 3 Classes of photographic expertise. Members can participate in an annual Portfolio Project. NVPS holds field trips for members to practice their skills. We maintain a website, a Facebook page and a Facebook Social Group page. The FotoFax newsletter is now electronically delivered. Where do we go from here?
Through handbills and notices in local newspapers, all interested persons were invited to an organizational meeting at the Richard Byrd Library on Commerce Street in Springfield on April 7, 1965. Twenty-two amateur photographers attended the meeting and formed what became the Northern Virginia Camera Club. A few had been members of the former Springfield Camera Club, but many were new to an organized camera club. However, they all shared an interest in developing their photographic skills. The members elected SiI Horwitz president, Ted Kirkham secretary, and Harry White treasurer. A committee was formed to write a constitution, and the new club voted to join the GWCCC and the Photographic Society of America (PSA). The Northern Virginia Camera Club met regularly twice a month at the Richard Byrd Library but began to outgrow the space available and sought a new meeting place. The club moved to the Robinson Secondary School, 5035 Sideburn Road, Fairfax, Va., in September 1973. Workshop sessions, which were started in 1973, proved helpful in bridging the gaps between novice and more advanced photographers. In that year several club members volunteered to make themselves proficient in various specialized techniques and to present programs demonstrating those techniques to the membership. Subsequently, the same programs were presented at several other camera clubs in the Washington area. Until 1974, the club confined its activities to the fall, winter, and spring months corresponding to the school year. In the summer of 1974, the decision was made to try publishing the club bulletin, FotoFax, throughout the year and carrying out a summer program. The club held a picnic at Burke Lake Park in June 1974, an auction of photographic items at Robinson School in July, and a field trip to Old Town Alexandria in August. The classes of competition were expanded in September 1974. The slide-making competition was divided into Novice and Advanced classes, giving the club five classes of competition - two each in monochrome prints and color slides and one in color prints. In 1975, the color print competition was divided into two classes - small and large. In the Fall of 1980, the color print competition classes were redesignated Novice and Advanced but reverted to small and large in September 1982 owing to lack of competition in the Novice class. During the 1974-1975 season, the Executive Board worked on revising the constitution, by-laws, and rules of competition. They completed the task in May 1975, and the membership ratified the revisions at a regular meeting at the Robinson School on June 4. Later in 1975, the club voted to change the name to the Northern Virginia Photographic Society. The Society moved the meeting place in 1987 to the Washington Gas - Virginia Division facility, 6801 Industrial Road, Springfield. The move was made possible through the efforts of Chuck Cavagnaro. Due to construction work, the meetings were held at the Luther Jackson Middle School's multipurpose room on the first and third Tuesday, and at Falls Church High School on the fourth Tuesday. In October 1995, the meetings were moved back to Washington Gas Light. In March 2003, when Washington Gas declined the use of their facilities for meetings because of the security risk, and the code Orange threat level., the Society was able to move to our current meeting place at the Dunn Loring Fire Station, 2148 Gallows Road, Dunn Loring, Va. (Editor's Note: Most of this article was taken from a history in the November 1998 issue of FotoFax by Ed Templeman.) April 14th: Garden Subjects through Close-Ups with Learn how to capture the intimate beauty of garden subjects through close-ups. Josh’s presentation will cover use of close-up techniques, including capturing close-ups images with basic lenses, macro lenses, close-up filters, extension tubes, macro lights, diffusers and reflectors. Also, there will be a live demonstration of Photoshop/ Photoshop Elements post-processing techniques, such as focus stacking, content-aware applications, and close-up panoramas. You’ll leave the presentation a better photographer.
Josh has presented photography workshops at the Smithsonian National Orchid Show, U.S. National Arboretum, U.S. Botanic Garden, Brookside Gardens, Sarah P. Duke Gardens, American Horticultural Society Garden School, Adkins Arboretum, and Longwood Gardens. In addition to being a Canon Camera instructor, Josh speaks at camera and garden clubs, judges photographic competitions, and exhibits his photographs in gallery shows. He is a member of Garden Writers Association, National Association of Photoshop Professionals, and member and past president of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society. Josh was voted best garden club speaker in 2005 and was a judge for the 2009 Garden Writers Association National Media Awards and the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Nature Photography Expo. Longwood Gardens selected Josh as its Instructor of the Month (October 2010) and was a selected photographer to assist the public in photographing Bruce Munro’s Light: Installations (2012). His web site is at Joshuataylorphotography.com Josh’s passion for the craft of photography is the inspiration for his photographic images. His compelling images of architecture, garden and outdoor subjects convey his passion. He hopes that his images will inspire, captivate, and teach others to experience his joy and love of photography. Through his insight and visual perception, common sights in the man-made and natural environment become more meaningful and take on greater significance. In other words, the ordinary becomes the extraordinary through Josh’s photographic vision and personal style. In his work, he wants the viewer to see that a “good” photograph doesn’t just happen; rather, it is made by the photographer. Examples of Josh's work:
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.
April 21st: Judging by Susan Ruddick Bloom April's Competition night has no theme. NVPS would like to welcome Susan Ruddick Bloom as our judge for the April competition.
Sue’s book, Digital Collage and Painting, by Focal Press, was released in 2006, and has been translated into Chinese and Russian, selling around the world. The second edition was released in 2010. She is also the author of Digital Painting in Photoshop, by Focal Press. She writes articles for leading photography magazines including Shutterbug, Stone Voices, After-Capture and more. She is a regular contributor to Australia’s Better Photoshop Techniques. Sue teaches workshops across the country and here at home (Glen Echo and Common Ground). She also leads photo trips abroad. Sue was our speaker on 6 November 2012. Her presentation was entitled "Interpretations" and related her work to the arts in general, sources of inspiration and creativity, and how we might make more meaningful images. 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. March's Competition Theme of “Still Life” was postponed from February. The full list of competition results is available on the NVPS web site at http://nvps.org Digital Class 1 Class 3 Class 1 First Place images from March:
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.
The Portfolio Project has been underway for several months now and many of you have posted images to your folders in the Gallery. It has been great to see what you have done, and we encourage you to look at everyone else's images and to give some feedback. It is always good to hear what other people think of our work, it helps us grow and can be the catalyst that makes a good presentation into a great one. For those of you who are working on your concepts but have not posted anything yet, we look forward to seeing what you have been doing! As for the rest of the club, if you have not signed up for the project, but have come up with a group of related images you want to share, you still have until April 15. Sign up instructions: For those of you who had challenges uploading your Artist Statement, we do need you to have the Artist Statement with your images. There are two ways I know of to get that in. If you want to put it on an image take the image into Photoshop and add a text box, you can then copy and paste the text from a document into the text box. I’ll be happy to walk you through the steps. If you want to attach a document to the gallery the easiest way I know is to save the document as an Adobe pdf. Since a pdf file is a picture you can then simply upload it as you would a jpeg image. The people at the “Ask Me a Question” table probably know other ways to do this also, just ask them or me. The final review is on May 12 with Brian Zwit so we want to make April 30 the cut off for new entries and changes to existing folders. Depending on how many people end up uploading images for review we want a maximum of 12 to 15 of your best images plus the artist statement as the number that will be shown for each of you. For those of you who have a story-like theme it's equally important to establish a flow, dawn to dusk, spring to winter, general to specific, old to new, perhaps a color flow, there are a lot of ways to tell a story. And then you need to think about how you will present your images to the club on May 12th. After all this effort you should show the world your achievement. Remember that the restriction on the number of images only extends to the review part of the evening, for your entire portfolio you can include as many images as you feel is appropriate to achieve your goal. There are a lot of ways to show your work, you can do prints, a book, even an auto-visual presentation in a laptop. A number of sources are available and we highly recommend you check out the excellent presentation by Scott Musson in the club archives at http://nvps.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/PhotoBooksCalendars.pdf. If you do a book, My Publisher, Blurb and Shutterfly all offer easy to follow instructions and quick turn-around time. The main thing is we want to get a chance to see what you have achieved and it's nice to have something tangible for yourself, your friends and your family. So remember the dates, upload your final portfolio by April 30 and be there on May 12 for the final review! For the end of year banquet please email me the names or jpegs of your favorite 3 images from this year’s portfolio. We will be part of the revolving slide presentation during dinner and should be able to get in three images from everyone! Ginger and Ceasar This year’s co-chairs for the project are Ginger Werz-Petricka and Ceasar Sharper. April 28th: Trip to Scotland – Beth Morris
Beth Morris is a photographer who specializes in nature and travel photography, but believes that a great image can be taken anywhere and always strives to give a unique perspective to what she sees. She has been shooting since the age of 12 when her grandmother gave her first camera, a Kodak Instamatic. Beth knew that photography was going to be more than a hobby when she was in New York City and the only way to get the image she wanted of the World Trade Center was to lie down in the middle of the road between the two buildings and shoot straight up ... much to the dismay of her family. In 2008 she, along with her partner Rob Skerman, founded Morris Skerman Photography. While they offer workshops to multiple locations, their primary loves are the southwest coast of England, and the southwest United States and they have created a successful formula for workshops that combine history, creativity, fun, and technical support with the goal for every photographer to be inspired by their experiences with them. In addition to the workshops, her images can be found on postcards that sell along the south coast of England, as well as on several stock imaging sites. She speaks at numerous camera clubs each year and she has also recently been contracted to do marketing work for a pub company in England. Beth is a member of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS) and the Weymouth Camera Club (WCC) in Weymouth, England.
The Forum Coordinator for this year is Susan Phillips.
April 28th - Prints by Willa Siegel and Digital Images by Kieu-Hanh Vu Photography has become Willa's passion. She is drawn to color, texture, and luminosity: soft focus macro and abstract photographs. Willa joined NVPS in May of 2011, after working for almost 40 years in the Federal Government’s national Head Start Program. Her last position was Head Start’s Literacy Specialist. She tinkered with photography earlier in her life, but for her it was more snapshots than photography. In 2011, Willa took up photography seriously. Willa considers herself a novice, because while (IMHO), she made some beautiful photographs, her technical skills are still developing. She has no formal schooling in photography, but has taken classes and workshops in macro, flower and landscape photography, as well as Lightroom. She considers herself a serious amateur. Her images have been juried into various shows, including Nature Visions and the Joe Miller Abstract Show. Last month, one of her photos, Mysterious Calla, was sold from the Vienna Art Society show at Greenspring Park. Willa's favorite subjects are soft focus macro shots and abstracts. Since she is still working on her focusing abilities, her favorite subjects are ones that stay relatively still… mostly flowers. They don’t care how long it takes her to compose her shots. She have recently switched from Olympus to Fuji, and currently shoots with a Fuji XE1. Not sure if it is technically a gadget, but her favorite accessory is a Canon 500 D close up lens. It allows her to travel without taking a dedicated macro lens. Willa is married to David Siegel, and has a stepdaughter, Lauren, 31. Willa hopes to keep learning more, both in terms of her skill level and her ability to ‘see’ and that her passion for photography continues to grow. Examples of her work:
While photographers usually learn to take pictures first and then learn how to edit their pictures using post processing tools, Kieu-Hanh went the unconventional route. She first learned about the editing tools when she took a computer graphics course in college, and because she was so interested in those editing tools, she began learning about photography so that she could apply her skills. She first picked up a point-and-shoot camera in 2006, and learned how to take pictures at the Vietnamese Photographic Society in Falls Church, Virginia. She has since moved on to several SLR digital cameras, and currently uses a Canon 7D Mark II. Kieu-Hanh has joined NVPS since 2008. She is also a member of Photographic Society of America (PSA) and the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP). She considers herself as an avid amateur photographer. She always travels with some kind of camera, big or small. To her, the best camera is the one she has with her. She uses photography as ways to relax and to reduce the stress from her hectic lifestyle. Her main interest is nature photography and photojournalism. When creating an image, she focuses on making the image unique so that it stands out from similar types of image. She also tries to convey an idea, message, or thought in her images. Kieu-Hanh has earned two Bachelor’s degrees – one in French Literature and one in American & British Literature from the Polytechnic University of Saigon, Vietnam. She also holds a Master’s degree in Information Systems Technology from the George Mason University, Virginia. She is currently working as a Systems Analyst at Department of Housing’s Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG). She lives with her husband in Fairfax. Kieu-Hanh has won numerous competitions and awards for her photographs at international, national, and local competitions. Some highlights of the awards she has received are:
Kieu-Hanh’s photography plan is to continue to improve her photography skills via NVPS’s education and training presentations. Examples of her work:
The Member's Gallery Coordinator for this year is Colena Turner. Presentations scheduled for the remainder of this season are:
April 15-19: New York Field Trip (Filled)
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 include Rockefeller Center, High Line, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Lastly, we plan to go to the adult candy store, B&H. Mike and Bob
The NVPS By-Laws require the appointment of a Nominating Committee to prepare a roster of proposed officers, in support of the required annual election. Nominees must agree to serve, if elected. The list of nominees is below and was announced, as required, at the second club meeting in March.
Article II. Elections Election of officers shall be held annually. The President shall appoint a nominating committee. The committee will prepare a single roster of proposed officers by mid-March and obtain the agreement of the nominees to serve if elected. The list of nominees will be announced at the second regular club meeting in March. Any additional nominations must be made by the second regular club meeting in April, in writing, to the Chairperson of the nominating committee. Such nominations may be made and seconded by any club members other than the candidate. The candidate must notify the chairperson of the nominating committee, in writing, of his/her willingness to accept the nomination and serve if elected. The nominating committee shall then notify all members, in the newsletter and by posting the names on the web site, of the nominees for each office. The chairperson of the nominating committee shall present the roster of candidates at the first regular club meeting in May. Election will be by voice vote when there are no additional nominations or by written ballot when additional nominations have been made. Vacancies in the elected club offices shall be filled by the President subject to approval by the Board. Vacancy of the President’s office shall be filled on a temporary basis by the Vice President for Programs, or if the Vice President for Programs is unable or unwilling to serve, shall be filled by the Vice-President for Competitions. The Acting President shall convene a special meeting of the Board within 30 days for the purpose of electing a successor President to complete the term. Selection of a successor President shall be by majority vote of the Board. 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. 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 was the guest speaker at the Washington School of Photography Camera Club, 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Md., on March 18th. She presented "Venice in January" which included information and images from her trips to Venice in January 2014 and 2015. Examples of her images:
Willa Friedman Willa Friedman's image, Street Art, which was accepted for publication in the 2015 issue of the Northern Virginia Review, has been selected as the winner for the Artwork category. There was a reception to launch the Review on March 26 at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College. 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. Mike Whalen and Judy McGuire Members Mike Whalen and Judy McGuire were interviewed March 16 by WFMZ-TV, Allentown, Pa., during an informal photographic field trip to the Middle Creek Wildlife Refuge in Clay Township, Lancaster County. The NVPS members, along with Bill Millhouse and Alan Goldstein, were at the Wildlife Refuge to photograph the snow geese. The manager of the Refuge reported 110,000 snow geese there that day. The interview was posted to the station's internet site at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/folks-flock-to-see-thousands-of-snow-geese-at-middle-creek/31875794 Wayne Wolfersberger Member Wayne Wolfersberger had some photos and video published by Washington Post on line in mid-March. These were shot on snow and ice covered Great Falls as four kayakers went over the icy falls. Next day the video was carried by the Weather Channel and along with the video he had a live interview. The link for the Washington
Post is: 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 Caesar 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. 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 by 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 until 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/
North Bethesda Camera Club The North Bethesda Camera Club (NBCC), is sponsoring an all-day event in Gaithersburg on April 19, 2015. This program, called “Through the Lens: A Photographer’s Journey,” will feature Bruce Dale, an award-winning National Geographic Photographer, as the keynote speaker. NBCC is looking forward to having him share his photographic experiences and his ideas about where photography is headed. The program will also include a panel discussion on challenges to photographic creativity, with input from not only Bruce but also Elizabeth Krist (chief photo editor at the National Geographic) and others. Major sponsors of the event at this point include Mac Business Systems, Nikon, Epson, Ace Photo, and Fuji. Tickets for this special event are $35, and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Ticket price includes a seat for the presentations; food, access to the vendor hall, and a chance to win exciting door prizes from vendors such as Adobe and Think Tank. For more information and to register, please visit http://www.nbccmd.org/event2015.htm. A PDF flyer with a link to most of this information is also attached for circulation to your membership. Melissa Clark
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