February Speaker:  Fred Siskind

Fred Siskind with newly hatched Imperial Moth

Fred Siskind is a nature photographer specializing in wildlife.  In addition to regularly photographing in Washington area parks, he has traveled to many U.S. National parks as well as game parks in Kenya.  He is a long time member and former president of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society, and a member of the North American Nature Photography Association. He is currently enrolled in the Fairfax Master Naturalist Program.

As our speaker, Fred will discuss macro photography in the field with an emphasis on photographing insects – dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, and caterpillars.  He will describe the equipment he uses; cover the essential requirements for producing a good photograph – composition, background and foreground control, depth of field, gardening, and lighting.  In addition, he will provide some hints on how to find dew-covered insects and present Dew Trek, a short slide show set to music.

His photos have been published in many magazines (Audubon, Birder’s World, Bird Watcher’s Digest, National Geographic Kids, Smokies Life), books (American Birding Association, Capstone, Kidsbooks, National Geographic), calendars (Audubon, Shearson, Tildon), and used in exhibits (Huntley Meadows Park, National Park Service, National Arboretum) and brochures and posters (Huntley Meadows Park, Time-Life Books).  He collaborated with former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, on a poetry/photography book for children titled Face Bug, which can be ordered on Amazon.

His photos can be seen at http://www.agpix.com/siskind.