Category Archives: guest speaker

February Speaker: Michael Borek’s Alternate Universe of Photography

As camera club members, we’re used to looking at certain kinds of photographs – dramatic landscapes, grandchildren’s faces, beautiful flowers, a grizzly bear catching a salmon, architectural exteriors, and the occasional abstract. However, there are other avenues of photography that we rarely explore. For example, we don’t pursue photojournalism, with its heart-wrenching views of wars, starvation, the underclass, or environmental degradation. Another photographic path we seldom take is the art photography shown in galleries, such as Multiple Exposures in the Torpedo Factory.

Our speaker this month, Michael Borek (website), will take us down that path. Some of his images he describes as “multi-layered, absurd, surreal.” Many are strange, with cerebral overtones. Often, they seem to reveal a particularly Eastern European slant. But they are always haunting.

MIchael BorekA photographer and freelance interpreter now based in Bethesda, MD, Michael Borek is originally from Prague, Czech Republic. Only after graduating from the School of Economics in the 1980s, did he realize that he did not want to work as an economist under the old regime. Instead, he took a job as a night watchman, while attending intensive English courses during the day. After passing the required exams, he started working as a freelance interpreter, which gave him more flexibility to pursue his interests. One of them, photography, stayed with him all of his life, and later turned into his second career.

Borek grew up in what he describes as “newly created, cheerless urban landscapes.” He found these constructions depressing and was instead drawn to older buildings. That these old structures were dilapidated and deteriorating only added to their appeal. After he moved to the United States in 1992, Borek continued to be fascinated by the “visual archeology” of urban decay, and the suggestion that things are not as they seem.

In 2006, Borek became a member of the Multiple Exposures Gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, and he started showing his photographs. In 2008, he had a solo exhibition at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, and, in 2009, he was a featured artist in the Rayko Gallery in San Francisco. During the last five years, his photographs from the abandoned lace factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, were selected for juried shows by curators from the Corcoran, Whitney, Hirshhorn, Getty, and Phillips museums, and one of them won second prize in the fine art category of the international competition of FotoWeek DC in Washington, DC.

Borek’s Scranton Lace project was also covered by New York Times and Daily Mail. In 2011, one of Borek’s solo exhibitions featuring his works from this portfolio was ranked as one of the ten best photography exhibitions in Washington, DC, by photography critic Louis Jacobson. In 2012, the Maryland State Arts Council awarded Borek an Individual Artist Award and Grant. In 2013, the US Embassy in the Czech Republic presented a solo retrospective exhibition of Borek’s photography at the American Center in Prague, and in May 2014 this exhibition was shown in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

In June 2014 Borek had a solo exhibition at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, as a part of celebration of 90th anniversary of death of Franz Kafka. In 2015, Borek’s photo from his new series Treachery of Images won first prize in FotoWeek DC competiton Places of DC. In July 2015, Borek had his first solo exhibition in New York City at the BBLA Gallery in the Bohemian National Hall where he presented his project What Would Sudek Do?

January Open Topic Judge Walt Calahan

Walt Calahan is an old friend of SSCC, and he’s served both as judge and speaker many times in recent years. Because of his wide variety of photographic interests and experience, he’s just the right person to judge our open competitions. Walt’s career in photography has taken him under the Atlantic Ocean on a US Navy Trident submarine, down lava tube caves in Idaho, into surgical clinics for Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia and the great northern woods of Canada, and being launched off the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier. As if that weren’t enough adventure, Walt has photographed myriad subjects, from the tumult of the revolution in Romania to children learning to tap dance. As his web site shows, Walt loves photographs that tell stories.

walt-calahanHundreds of magazines have used his work, including the National Geographic Society, Boys’ Life, Time, Fortune, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. General Electric, Yamaha, The Washington Performing Arts Society, Hillel Foundation, and Harvard Business School have asked him to illustrate their
publications and advertisements.

As an adjunct professor, Walt teaches photography for Stevenson University and McDaniel College’s art departments. He’s dedicated to his role as a teacher and claims it helps ensure a love for photography in the next generation of image makers. In his own education, Walt graduated with honors from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and then earned a Master of Liberal Arts degree from McDaniel College.

To learn more about Walt’s accomplishments and passions, visit www.walterpcalahan.com

January Speaker: Bob Catlett

This season, we’ll be trying some new approaches to Speaker’s Night. Of course we’ll still have our roster of pros who address various kinds of photography (e.g., food, black & white, nature, etc.). But we start the club year with a special treat: a look at the work of SSCC’s Bob Catlett, in his own words. He’ll not only show us examples of his work, but he’ll also explain his techniques for creating such images. Bob has been a member of SSCC since 1982, just about longer than any other current member. And over these 30+ years, Bob has grown to be one of the finest of the club’s photographers.

Bob CatlettWhen he was still in high school, Bob discovered photography and bought a contact printer for 620 film. That was the beginning. His first 35mm camera was a Vivitar; his next was a Pentax Spotmatic. Today, Bob shoots Nikon and has enough bodies, lenses, filters, lighting equipment, and accessories – not to mention computers and back-up storage devices – to fill a couple of large closets.

For formal training, Bob took some photography classes at Montgomery College after finishing his college studies in criminal law at Howard University and American University. But he probably learned just as much about photography from examining the landscapes of Ansel Adams, the vegetable images of Edward Weston, and the flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe.

What are Bob’s favorite subjects? From what we’ve seen of his work in club competitions, his first love is nature – anything from wide open expanses of landscapes to jewel-like detail of macro shots of flowers. He especially enjoys the constant changes in nature subjects, seasonal changes and changes in the light and shadows depending on the time of day. But Bob is almost as happy in a studio environment and has spent a lot of time experimenting with figure studies. As outgoing as Bob is, it’s no surprise that he also enjoys photographing people, capturing just the right expression that reveals a person’s essence.

Along with Bob’s career, first with the Metropolitan Police Force and then the Federal Reserve Bank, he found time to serve SSCC. He was treasurer for eight years, vice-president for two years, and field trip chairman for well over 10 years. Now, Bob serves the club as a director and uses his long experience with SSCC to advise the officers and committee chairmen of our board.

One of Bob Catlett’s golden characteristics is his unfailing generosity with information and willingness to help other photographers, no matter what their level. Thank you, Bob!

December 10: Rust & Run Speaker Judges Industrial/Mechanical

Last January, Don Rosenberger brought his fascination with decaying buildings to us in a presentation he called “Rust & Ruin.” Now we’ve invited him back to judge our images of industrial and mechanical objects and structures, some new and some well beyond their prime. With his eye for the built environment, Don seemed like just the right person to judge this month’s competition.

don-rosenberger2In spite of his passion for the architecture of decay, however, Don’s primary focus these days is landscape photography. But how he got to this point is an unusual story. After a serious start in photography, in 1983, Don sold all his camera gear and walked away from photography. Then, in 2005, he found another camera and has spent most of his weekends and vacation time since then trying to make up for those lost years.

Since his return to photography, Don has worked with and been mentored by a great group of well known – and some not so well known – photographers. He shoots with everything from the iPhone to high-end DSLRs and infrared. However, he emphasizes, it’s not the camera that’s important; the camera’s just a tool for the photographer’s vision. And a lot of Don’s vision comes from spending a great deal of time outside – often in remote locations. He says this gives him a serious appreciation for our natural world. It’s Don’s hope that his images bring others that same feeling.

Don is the former presentation manager for the annual Nature Visions Photography Expo in Manassas. He’s also a partner in Road Runner Photography Tours, leading national and international photography travel adventures.

Don’s website

December Speaker: Andy Bittner on Building the Cathedral

If the Washington National Cathedral had a fan club, Andy Bittner would definitely be its honorary president. He lives and breathes the cathedral and knows it as no one else does. He knows the cathedral’s history inside and out, and he knows every corner and probably every stone in the great building.

andybittnerWashington native Andy Bittner was born into a house full of cameras in 1962. His father was a U.S. Navy-trained photographer and former member of the White House Press Photographers Association. When Andy was a child, his father was also a drummer in the Washington Scottish Bagpipe Band, whose annual schedule included playing the Kirkin o’ the Tartan, the annual blessing of the Scottish clans in America, at Washington National Cathedral. Some of Andy’s earliest and fondest memories involve attending that event each year and exploring the Cathedral, which was still under construction at the time.

An avid skateboarder from an early age, in the 1980s Andy combined his familial inclination toward photography with his passion for skateboarding. Known to the skateboard world as “GBJ” (long story…), Andy’s photography was eventually published in the top skateboarding magazines of the era (TransWorld, Thrasher, and Power Edge), as well as the popular D.C.-area skate ‘zine, Lapper. Andy’s most recent contributions to skateboard media have been a large amount of photography for a documentary film, “Blood and Steel: The Cedar Crest Story,” currently in production on the west coast.

In the year 2000, after a lifetime of dedicated interest, Andy overcame the reluctance that grew from his awe and volunteered as a docent at Washington National Cathedral. He was quickly recognized for his detailed knowledge of the building and his unique, compelling manner of conveying that information. As a photographer in the cathedral environment, Andy specializes in what he calls “stained light,” where sunlight, colored as it passes through a stained glass window, falls upon the cathedral’s stone architecture. October of 2015 saw the publication of Andy’s first book, Building Washington National Cathedral, a photo-and-caption documentation of the cathedral’s construction, as part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. The book is now available in stores and through Amazon.

In February, 2016, Andy is arranging for a special tour of the cathedral for SSCC members. More information to come soon!

November Open Topic Judge Gary Landsman

Scheduled to judge last spring, Gary Landsman had a last minute emergency and asked to be rescheduled. And now, here he is…in his own words. He’s wry, he’s edgy, and somewhat implausible. He sent in a highly personal, if not downright idiosyncratic, bio for the Cable Release. With only minor edits, here’s Gary Landsman’s take on photography and himself…

LANDSMAN, WHY?

I get it, been at it over 20 years, shot everything from cockroaches to Presidents. No humor intended.

garylandsmanI’ve lit 737’s for US Airways (the whole plane) and other parts for AAA. I know what it is to solve big hassle problems on the fly, where to put a light, how to put a light, how to talk to the cop that needs validation.

I even had a police sergeant loan me his gun and badge for a Time-Life books shoot; hope to heaven his captain never finds out.

Solve the technical problem, see it fast, and get it done, as often is the requirement.

Location almost always has its caveats. Figuring it out is what I do. Never let the client know the issues unless they need to be involved to solve the problem. They expect me to get it done, on budget, on time and better than they expected.

PERSONALITY

My subjects run the gamut of “been photographed” experiences. Some have been abused, some ignored, some ugly, some with high expectations. I make them all feel at ease, so I can capture great images of them. That’s likely my best and unusual character as photographer.

SUMMARY

Light. Comfortable subjects. Ability to get what you need done regardless of parameters and issues.

Gary’s Website