Category: Uncategorized

This coming February, our competition theme will be “architectural elements.” To help us orient our minds and our cameras toward this topic, our speaker this month comes to us from the faculty of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of the University of Maryland. Our speaker, Professor Robert Lindley Vann, will talk about photography as a way to learn to analyze a structure and its components.

Professor Vann, whose background is in both architecture and archaeology, teaches two survey classes in architectural history as well as advanced lecture courses in Greek, Roman, and Pre-Columbian architecture. Recently, he’s also begun offering seminars that focus on the city in the classical world, the town of Pompeii, and architecture for entertainment in the Roman world.

But teaching in the classroom is only part of Lindley’s activity. He also participates in archaeological field work – for example, at Sardis in Turkey, Carthage in Tunisia, and other sites in Jordan and Sri Lanka. He has even co-directed underwater excavations in the harbor of Herod the Great in Israel and directed a survey of ancient harbors in Turkey. One especially interesting project in Pompeii investigated the role of food and drink in that ancient city. These days, Lindley also involves his students in this field work and research.

Lindley lectures widely, presenting research papers here and abroad. He also publishes in numerous scholarly journals. His own education prepared him perfectly for his professional life: As an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, Lindley studied architecture and archaeology and then received his PhD at Cornell.

We will visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery on November 22. We will meet at the National Shrine (400 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, D.C. 20017) at 10:00 a.m. Here are a few rules to consider at the National Shrine: The Crypt Church area is off limits Nov 22 because of an event. Tripods are permitted. We cannot photograph people. Stay in all public areas. Photos may NOT be displayed, posted online, exhibited in galleries, published, or sold unless approved by the National Shrine which, we have been assured, is not likely. Photographers will need to give way to guided tours if he/she is set up in the path of the tour. Parking is free.

We have an appointment at the Franciscan Monastery (1400 Quincy St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20017) at 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. to photograph inside. They only ask that we send some of the photos for their use – which they will credit to the photographer. They also request that we not use the images for commercial use. The gardens are also supposed to be very nice but they may not be very lovely they at the end of November. Parking is free.

We are on the calendar at both places. Contact Beth Echols (beth.echols@gmail.com) if you need additional details.

This November Education Night will be our
annual Gadgets and Gifts program. There’s
always something new and interesting
introduced by the manufactures or seen at
Photo Plus Expo that is touted as the must have
item to make your photography better, easier
or more profitable. Additionally, if you have
something that you feel is the perfect gadget or
gift for a photographer; bring it to the meeting
to share with us as to why you like it.
Bring notepads to the meeting to fill out your
wish list to leave around the house or office as
Holiday gift ideas. You don’t want to be the one
that receives a Yankee Candle gift card because
your family or friends had no idea what to get
you!

As always, the open competitions give you free rein to explore your individual approach to photography. All subjects and all techniques are admissible, including manipulation in-camera or with post-processing software.

Over the last few years, Sasha Vasiljev has put in an annual appearance at SSCC, either as speaker or judge. Many of us still remember his extraordinary images and the stories of his treks in Nepal and the Himalayas. The portraits of people he encountered on those adventures were as memorable as his breathtaking landscapes. Those portraits were on exhibit last year at the Watergate Gallery downtown, where Sasha regularly exhibits. In that welcoming space, we’ve also seen Sasha’s delicate seascapes, his evocative images of the cloud forests of Ecuador, as well as a series of finely crafted still lifes that frame views from his home in Washington’s tallest building.

What magical places will Sasha introduce us to in his presentation this month? You’ll have to come to the October 2 meeting to find out! By way of background, Sasha is not only an award-winning photographer but is also codirector of Nature & Photography Tours, LLC (www.NaturePhotographyTours.com), which is a boutique tour company specializing in nature, culture, and photography eco-travel. As an educator, he is on the faculty of The Washington School of Photography and Washington Studio School.

In Sasha’s own education, he first concentrated on fine art but ultimately received his degree in biology with a major in botany. He went on to curate major tropical orchid collections in his native Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. While living in Moscow, he had the opportunity to study photography under the mentorship of distinguished Russian landscape photographer, Boris Mashkov.

Since moving to the US over a decade ago, Sasha’s work has been exhibited in galleries and acquired by many private collections internationally. He is honored by having several of his images in the permanent collection at the Embassy of the Republic of Costa Rica in Washington, DC. His work has also been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and has been published in numerous magazines, such as Nature’s Best Photography Magazine, Fine Gardening, Washingtonian, Orchids Magazine, and Ecuador Infinito Magazine.

In 2015, Sasha plans eco-photo tours to Ecuador in March and August, to Cost Rica in June, to Nepal in April and September, and more prosaically, to Maine in June. See http://naturephotographytours.com/ for all the details. In addition to these tours, Sasha also offers numerous workshops locally as well as private instruction. The workshops cover such topics as headshots and portraits, editing with Lightroom, and two levels of photography basics. For complete workshop descriptions and registration information, go to: http://alexandervasiljev.com.

SSCC FALL SOCIAL HOUR

Members new & old are getting together

on Thursday, October 2

from 6:45 to 7:30

before our regular speaker’s meeting

Join us for the cheer!

Refreshments, of course!