The Reston Photographic Society will meet at 7:30 PM on April 15, 2024, on Zoom.  The Zoom Code will be provided closer to the meeting.  It will be an exciting meeting discussing Artificial Intelligence and Photography.  This session will also be of interest to graphic artists.  Jim Zuckerman will be the speaker.  His bio and some examples of his work are below.

Jim Zuckerman left his medical studies in 1970 to pursue his love of photography and turn it into a career.  Jim specializes in wildlife, nature, travel photography, and digital effects. Jim was a contributing editor to Photographic Magazine for 40 years, and he is the author of 26 books on photography.

His images, articles, and photo features have been published in scores of books and magazines including Time-Life books, publications of the National Geographic Society, the Economist, Life Magazine, and Omni Magazine.  His work has also been featured on scores of jigsaw puzzles, national ads, calendars, murals, greeting card lines, and more.

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Jim leads photo tours all over the world to many destinations in the U.S. as well as exotic locations like Indonesia,Patagonia, Iceland, China, Morocco, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Italy.

The March meeting of the Reston Photographic Society will be held on Mar 18 at 7:30 PM in Room 1 and 2 at the Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods.  We are very fortunate to have Judy Graham with us.  Judy is an amazing landscape photographer and will share her approach with us.  Details are below.

Elements of Creative Landscape Composition by Judy Graham

Judy Graham is primarily drawn to photographing dramatic landscapes, often remote and difficult to get to. Initially her interest was in the desert southwest; however, in more recent years she has expanded her travel to include such places as Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, Bolivia, Patagonia, Scotland, and the Canadian Rockies, Norway and Yellowstone, in winter. The cold or bad weather does not get in her way.

Judy’s presentation, “Elements of Creative Landscape Composition”, is about her approach to the art, covering topics such as her gear and accessories, camera settings, time of day for best results, various composition techniques, and challenges in the field. This presentation is sure to provide useful information for novice and intermediate photographers, and advanced photographers will similarly find useful information about how she sees compositions.

Judy has lived in the Washington, D.C. area most of her life. She retired March 1, 2018, after a long career in the field of human resources management for corporate America. Judy has served in various Board positions for Northern Virginia Photographic Society (NVPS), including President for the 2021-2022 club year. Judy joined the Capital Photography Center as an instructor in 2022.

RPS is looking forward to our January meeting as we begin a new year. We are going to kickoff with Betsy Wilson exploring still life photography from a different perspective. This meeting will be held on January 15 at 7:30 PM on Zoom.

The Zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86405021230?pwd=NUxIYlNpZE13bWJUak1rZnV5azZjdz09

Meeting ID 864 0502 1230
Passcode 461194

Still Life – Beyond Fruit Bowls and Flowers – Betsy Wilson will explore the world of still life photography through her unique perspective.  A combination of traditional still life subjects, nature’s fascinating still subjects, and a few whimsical and unusual creations, Betsy’s still lifes provide studies in composition and lighting. Unlike landscape or street photography, the photographer is in complete control of subject matter, composition, shape, color, depth of field, lighting and presentation.  The true skill lies in the ability to take something mundane and everyday out of its normal habitat and transform it into something of beauty by using our skills as photographers.

Betsy began learning photography after retiring from a career as a newspaper publisher.  Her husband Jim gave her his hand-me-down camera and a lot of encouragement, and he now says he created a monster.  Her passion for photography includes a wide variety of types including macro, landscape and nature photography.   In addition to being honored as Photographer of the Year Award at the Chester County Camera Club, she has received numerous recognitions for her artistic photography including a Silver Medal awarded at the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography, and First Place Award in Photography at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Betsy is an active member of the Chester County Camera Club, and has givennumerous presentations for camera clubs in many states.

The RPS November meeting will be on November 20, 2023 at 7:30 PM via Zoom.  The Zoom code will be distributed closer to the meeting.  Doug is a professional photo educator with wide-ranging experience and expertise.  He will be discussing Low Light and Night Photography.  His bio and some detail on his presentation are below as is his website.  Looking forward to seeing you on Zoom on November 20!

Doug Johnson is a highly respected professional photographer and educator, always sharing the art of photography with his students and colleagues. He has conducted over 150 workshops in some of our world’s most beautiful locations: in the flower fields of Namaqualand, South Africa, the vibrant city of Havana, Cuba, and our country’s world class national parks.

For more than twenty years Doug has educated hundreds of students, from all over the world in the technical and aesthetics of photography through Rocky Mountain School of Photography programs and workshops. He has taught alongside some of the most respected educators in the field including Alison Shaw and Freeman Patterson, as well as good friends, Neil Chaput de Saintonge, Eileen Rafferty, Elizabeth Stone, Tony Rizutto and Tim Cooper. He believes education and truth are the “means to the end” and that good old-fashioned love, peace and fun are the vehicle we use to navigate through our journey.  Doug’s lifelong passion for teaching the technical and aesthetics in the art of photography is a direct reflection of the long term relationships he shares with his students and peers.

https://www.dougjohnsonphotography.com/

Low Light and Night Photography
No need to put the camera away when the sun goes down! In this educational lecture, Doug will explore low light photography and help you create an easy process to capture great night photography, from the neon of downtown to the star-filled sky.

Please join us for the RPS April meeting to be held Monday, April 17, 2023, at 7:30 PM in the Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods.  Janet Sifers, one of our members, will take us into the world of Abstract Photography.  Her work is both exciting and mysterious. This meeting would be interesting to both photographers and painters and all are welcome.

Creating Abstracts with Photography

Most photographers have a specialty like nature, flowers, landscapes, or street photography. Just about any of these images can be raw material for abstracts — both found and created — and lead to an amazing new piece of art. In this presentation, we’ll walk through ways to look for abstracts in the images you’re capturing as well as how to create abstracts from images using tools like Photoshop and Fragment.

Janet Sifers 

Janet is an award-winning fine art photographer and technology marketer from Herndon, VA. She is a member of the League of Reston Artists, the Reston Photographic Society, and Falls Church Arts. 

She is inspired by the amazing diversity of our world, from gorgeous outdoor vistas and colorful plants to the lines and shadows of great architecture. With her images, she reminds us to pause and take in the world’s beauty. 

Connect with her on Instagram (@janet.sifers) and Twitter (@JanetSifers) or visit her website​ ​www.janetsifers.com​ to see and purchase her work.

Please join us for the RPS March meeting to be held Monday, March 20, 2023, at 7:30 PM in the Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods.  Patricia will take us to Africa through her photography.  This meeting would be interesting to both photographers and painters and all are welcome.

Africa on Safari, Culture, Stories and Amazing Wildlife   

Another World

Patricia Deege

The African bush is a world that many of us aspire to visit but perhaps will never see.  Patricia’s travels there began in 1989, with subsequent visits in 2013, 2015, and 2019.  Many changes were evident during that time period, but the excitement and fascination of seeing the multitude of wildlife in its natural environment never fades. This story takes you from the jungles of Botswana, to the vast open spaces of Kenya’s Massai Mara, the majesty of Victoria Falls, the marvels of Kafue National Park in Zambia and Huange in Zimbabwe. And, finally, the street life of Arusha in Tanzania and the wonders of Ngorogoro and the Serengeti.