Somerset County Photography Club: Promote appreciation and enjoyment of photography. Meetings at the Bound Brook Memorial Library, 7:00 p.m., second and fourth Tuesdays. http://somersetcountyphotoclub.org

SCPC Bios - Speakers and Judges

http://somersetcountyphotoclub.org/speakers_and_judges.htm

The New Jersey Federation of Camera Clubs (NJFCC, njfcc.org) maintains “Judges and Speakers” lists that we pick many of our speakers and judges from.  Some of our own members speak or judge at other clubs and are on the Federation lists.

Club Members as Presenters:

Al Ernst, Presentations: "Star Tracker" device (mini-presentation) on Mar 12, 2019;

Ed Barry, began teaching photography courses locally in 1976, workshops in 1989, and is a past president of SCPC (1982-1985).  Presentations: �Introduction to Nature and Much More� on Jan 23, 2000; Feb 11, 2002 (J); Feb 10, 2004 (J); “Camera Handling & Operation:” Part I on Sept 25, 2007, and Part II on Nov 27, 2007;  “Composing in Camera vs PhotoShop” Part I on Sept 25, 2007 and Part II on Nov 27, 2007; (flyer) on Oct 28, 2008; and his last presentation entitled “Using Color as Both the Primary and Supporting Themes in Photography!” on Apr 27, 2010.

Arik Gorban has been judging competitions and giving presentations throughout NJ for clubs with the New Jersey Federation of Camera Clubs, is very active in photopoints.com and his website is www.agphotoworks.com.  Arik is a past president of SCPC.  Arik's presentations include: Dec 10, 2002 (J); “Enjoying (and Surviving) Digital Photography” on Sep 27, 2004; “Portugal in Spring” on Dec 14, 2004;“Visualizing Your Photography” on Feb 27, 2007; “The Digital Advantage” on Oct 23, 2007; “PhotoArt in the Digital Age, Ideas, Tools, Techniques” [doc], ideas and techniques by which digital imaging can be used creatively to enhance your photographs. Software such as Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements can be used to make minor adjustments that greatly enhance your images or to create digital art that requires extensive work.  Arik will focus on the ideas and concepts, but also show some examples of the process, step by step.  The program is ideal for photographers who are considering switching to digital as well as for those who have already done so, presented on Nov 25, 2008;  “Bad Weather Photography” on Sept 22, 2009;  “Digital Photography – Tools of the Trade” on Nov 23, 2010; “Enjoying Street Photography”[.doc] on Sept 27, 2011;  “Painting with Light” [Doc] on Nov 27, 2012 – followed up on Feb 12, 2013 by judging Painting with Light, and Open;  “Judging Photos (Notes)” [pdf] on Oct 22, 2013;  “Flower Photography” [pdf] on Mar 24, 2015; “Flash Photography” on Sept 8, 2015; Before and After on Sept 13, 2016. Black and White Photography — Creative Seeing and Handling” on Sept 12, 2017; “Single Flash Photography” on Sept 11, 2018; “Blending modes in photoshop” (mini presentation) on Mar 12, 2019; Apr 23, 2019(J);  “My Favorite Tools — Image Processing Software” on Sept 10, 2019; NJFCC(J) Oct 22, 2019(J); “Photography as Art” on Sept 8 2020; “Creating a Personal Photography Project” on Sept 14, 2021; “High Key / Low Key” Jan 24, 2023; “LR/ACR Masking” Jan 9, 2024; Jan 23, 2024 (J);

Becky Witt, has a computer science background and recently retired from Ericsson, and has many friends from working before that at AT&T.  Photography, especially of nature, has become one of my primary hobbies in recent years, along with a longstanding interest in the piano.  Most of the presentations trips and activites of Becky are shared together with her husband Phil.  Her images may be seen on Flickr, SmugMug and at the CamNats Gallery“.  Mar 10, 2020(J); Oct 12, 2021(J); Travelogue: South Africa/Botswana Oct 25, 2022; Dec 12, 2023 (J);

Beth Starr, Beth is also a member of CamNats you can see her gallery there.  Nov 13, 2018(J); NJFCC Fall 2019(J); Jan 14, 2020(J); NJFCC Nov 14, 2023 (J); Nov 28, 2023 (J);

Claire Gentile, Claire has been a photographer for over 25 years and studied Photoshop for 8 years.  She has been a Getty Image contributor for 5 years and many of her images have been published in travel and architecture magazines as well as marketing ads.  Claire sold many images and canvases as well as donated prints to charity organizations.  Presented “Blue-Hour Photography” on Nov 11, 2015.  Presentation includes basics and how-to’s pertaining to planning, preparation, exposure, camera settings and using neutral density filters during long exposures. Blue-hour is a period of time after sunset, and also before sunrise noted for blue skylight.  [500px] [Flickr / Staircases, in top 25] [pikdo] [Instagram] [Great Journal] [Favorites - YouTube]; Oct 24, 2017(J); “Architectural and Spiral Staircases” on Jan 9, 2018; Jun 11, 2019(J); “Long Exposure” on Oct 27, 2020;

David DesRochers (website), also see his photos at CamNats Gallery. Appearances: Mar 10, 2009 (J); Mar 09, 2010 (J); Jun 10, 2014 (J); “Flower Photography Workshop” on Jan 12, 2016; Artist Earth on Feb 28, 2017; “Landscape” Jan 22, 2019; “Art of Flower Photography” on Nov 24, 2020; Feb 09, 2021(J); “Winter Solitude” on Dec 14, 2021; “Painting with Cameras” on Nov 22, 2022; Oct 24, 2023 (J); ldquo;Composition in Photography” (mini topic) on May 28 2023;

David Anderson Ward (website) (Bio) (Galleries) (Blog) (YouTube channel).  Nature/Wildlife, Landscape, Fine Art, Sports/Action, and Architectural Photography, based in Hillsborough, New Jersey.  Looking through galleries and blog he has traveled to Hawaii, National Parks in the West, Western Coast in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, Canadian North, Iceland, and has taken pictures of the Aurora Borealis, and images locally in Presby Iris Gardens, Lockwood Gorge and Nature/Wildlife, Landscape, Fine Art, Sports/Action, and Architectural Photography in NYC, based in Hillsborough, New Jersey.  Presentation:  “Pacific NW - Mountains, Waterfalls, Rainforests, and Bald Eagles & Herons And Camping with Bears in Alaska” Apr 26, 2022.

Ed Roberts, Ed runs North Lights Studio in Raritan, has a Blog, and you can signup for a newsletter.  galleries.  Sept 25, 2018 “Flash Photography”

Gary Martin ; [bio] [galleries] [Winter] [Storm Animations] [St Lawrence River] [Navasink] [Fences, Lenses, Stairs] [Photo Mosaics (links); Lighthouses on Nov 12, 2019

George Hall. “Know your Lenses” (date unknown); Nov 13, 2007 (J); NJFCC memorium

.  George passed away Jan 28, 2018.

Harry James, on May 22, 2012, presented “Landscape in Art and Photograhy” -- Land expresses itself in rocks, waterfalls, forests, clouds, heights, vistas, reflections, sunsets and the list goes on. Why do we go out into wild land, to visit and spend time in it? And what do we hope for when we make images of the natural landscape? — This presentation will examine images of the natural landscape from the 1800’s to the present. We will view images of the North American landscape made by painters and photographers in many styles including utopian, dystopian, pictorialist, realist, abstract, surreal, expressionist and impressionist. The images and ideas will invigorate your own landscape photography.

On April 26th, 2011, Harry presented “A Study of the Styles of Famous People-Photographers”.   Description: To inspire our people photography we will look at the photographs of people taken by five famous photographers.  The study will include portraits, candids and street photography.  Though some of the work is photojournalism, the selected photos will focus more on people and less on events.  The photographers surveyed: Walker Evans, in a style he called documentary, took his most famous photos of poor people in the rural South during the Depression.  Henri Cartier-Bresson did street photography and also portraits in France and the USA.  He said he was looking for the moment of inner silence in his subjects who he called his “willing victims.” From 1936 to 1975 Charles “Teenie” Harris photographed life in the black neighborhoods of Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Courier.  Arnold Newman was noted for his portraits of artists and politicians in the “environmental” style, where the surroundings of the subject add to the composition and the understanding of the subject.  And finally, William Klein, who is famous for his street photography in a style he called pseudo-ethnography, produced photobooks on his wanderings through Rome, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow and New York.

In 2009 Harry gave his first club presentation on one of his favorite techniques “High Dynamic Range Imaging” on Nov 24, 2009.   The HDR process is an answer of sorts to the frequent problem of capturing high range scenes with low range camera sensors.  The presentation gave an overview the HDR process, showing many examples of the process and the results.

Michelle Fisher, Schooze and Learn topic 2020-04-28;

Phil Witt, as a birder nature photography is my primary interest. As a volunteer, I run photo workshops at the Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary of NJ Audubon, and I currently serve on the NJ Audubon Board of Directors. By profession I'm a forensic psychologist. Phil is also a member and past president of CamNats.  See Phil's photos at on Flickr, SmugMug and at the CamNats Gallery“.  Presentations at SCPC:  Photo Composition Workshop”, October 25, 2011, basic principles of composition--rule of thirds, watching the edges of the images, capturing the moment, choice of focal length, and so on. Participants will learn what equipment can be used to achieve different effects. By the end of the workshop participants will understand lenses, camera bodies (mostly digital single-lens reflex cameras), megapixels, shutter speeds, f/stops, focal lengths, apertures, exposure histograms, and depth of field - and how all of these can be used to take good nature photographs. Beyond equipment, the workshop will begin to cover the principles of composition and digital editing. Although the focus will be on nature photography, many of the same principles and equipment needs apply to other kinds of photography as well.  “Introduction to Digital Editing” on September 25, 2012.  “Bird Photography” on Sept 24, 2014.  “Landscapes” workshop on Oct 27, 2015 will focus on techniques used to photograph landscapes.  In addition to reviewing equipment selection and use, the topics of time of day, weather, composition and light will be covered. Participants will be introduced to the use of filters to control dynamic range and exposure time--such as neutral density and graduated neutral density filters.  Nov 28, 2017 (J); Oct 23, 2018 (J); “Confessions of a Nature Photographer” Nov 27, 2018.  Oct 08, 2019(J); Nov 10, 2020; Travelogue: South Africa/Botswana Oct 25, 2022; Sept 26, 2023 (J); “Infrared Photography” (mini topic) on May 28, 2024;

Phil Witt and Dave DesRochers run a series of Digital Photography Workshops at the NJ Audubon center in Bernardsville.
Phil and Becky Witt often give nature travel presentations at Somerset Naturalists (disbanded June 2018) Mar 2016.

Sudhir Mehta “Frequency separation in photoshop” (mini presentation) Mar 12, 2019; Mar 10, 2020(J); “Moonrise/Moonset Planning and Photography” (mini presentation) on May 28, 2024;

Information on Speakers and Judges: Many of our speakers have web sites, click on the links in the program, and on this page.

If a presenter or judge has their own photography website please use contact email so it can be added to our site somewhere on links page.

Updated to show presentations/judges between Sept 2000 through Sept 2015
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Additional Speakers not on Speaker's List

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