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!
Nov. 13 – November Competition: Open
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.
Nov. 6: Guest Speaker Dan Scenna Talks about Photographing Bands
This month’s speaker offers us an inside look at performing musicians. Dan Scenna has been concentrating his efforts in a year-long study of local musicians. He is the “house photographer” at Blue Sky Tavern in New Market, Maryland. Since January, 2014, Dan has photographed the open mic and bands booked at the Blue Sky every single week. His presentation to SSCC is the result of that work.
Dan is an award-winning photographer and educator, based in Frederick, Maryland. His work includes portraiture, abstract, macro/close up photography, still life studies, and fine art. On the education side of his profession, he teaches classes and conducts workshops on a variety of photography subjects. In fact, his workshops on studio and location figure fine art and portraiture have produced many contest winners for his students.
Though skilled in many aspects of the field, Dan’s first photographic love is black and white. The ability to show form and texture, using directional light on the subject, is his favorite method. He enjoys being able to use the same basic techniques across different genres to produce emotional and thought-provoking responses from the viewer, regardless of subject matter.
October 2: Guest Speaker Sasha Vasiljev
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.
October 2: Social Hour at 6:45
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!
Guest Speaker Night Sept 4: White House Photographer Dennis Brack
A White House photographer talks about White House photographers: that’s our September speaker, Dennis Brack. He’s covered 10 presidential administrations and has known the inside scoop for 50 years. During his time as a news photographer, Dennis worked with, drank with, and laughed with many of the colorful characters that photograph the presidents and their families. Over the decades, he’s interviewed countless photographers to collect their stories. The result is his book, Presidential Picture Stories: Behind the Cameras at the White House. Having been awarded dozens of 5-star reviews, the book delivers a fast history of the news picture business and a collection of delightful stories about the characters behind the cameras. We’ll hear some of these stories and how the book came about.
Dennis Brack notes that though his clients have changed over the years, LIFE and Newsweek were among the most important. For TIME, he averaged a picture a week for 23 years. As the Washington photographer for Black Star, he’s a member of the White House ISP pool, which consists of the eight major photo agencies that travel with the President in Washington. A major story for Dennis Brack was the coverage of the first Gulf War. In one week, his photographs were on the covers of TIME,Newsweek, US News, Paris Match, and many other magazines throughout the world.
For 25 years, Dennis Brack was the secretary /treasurer of the US Senate Standing Committee of Press Photographers. This 6-member committee determines the photographic coverage of the House and Senate, the conventions, and the inauguration. He was also President of the White House News Photographers Association for many years. Recently, he was the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner and honored at the White House News Photographers Association Eyes of History Gala. Like many TIME Magazine photographers, Dennis Brack has given his photographic collection to The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas. The transparencies and negatives will be preserved to be a source for future historians. The Briscoe Center has sponsored a major exhibition of Dennis Brack’s photographs.
For a quick view of Dennis Brack’s work, visit www.dennisbrack.com