Member Bios
Group Admin
Brad Becker
I got started photography over 40 years ago when my father lent me his Nikon F. Shortly thereafter my father built a darkroom and I had a lot of fun learning how to make my own black and white prints. I continued to enjoy photography for years but my passion for photography took off when a friend of mine introduced me to photoshop in the early 90s. In those days it was very expensive digitizing my kodachromes. I spent years manipulating the same couple dozen images until digital cameras came on the scene. Life has been very busy with work and kids but I am now feeling the desire to express my creative energies thru photoshop and am looking forward to sharing my passion with likeminded individuals.
Hazel Price
I live in a beautiful area of Wales called the Brecon Beacons and have been here for 45 years.
I retired from teaching and became interested in photography about 10 years ago. I have travelled a lot with my husband and have lived in the UAE for two years. We have family in Perth Australia and up until the pandemic have visited them there every year for several weeks for about the last 16 years. Whist there we have visited various parts of Australia and also Tasmania.
I began by being mainly interested in Landscape Photography and have been on several week long group workshops including Tuscany in Italy. I was introduced to the more creative approach on one of these trips by a photographer called Valda Bailey and have been moving in that direction more recently working on existing images to create a change in interpretation of the image. I have also been working on adding textures, ICM and multiple exposures. I have been a member of Hay Camera Club for about 5 years and enjoy entering their competitions but have only entered a few Salons in the past 2 or 3 years.
I am looking forward very much to sharing images and ideas with the rest of the group.
Melissa Cramer Sonnen
Melissa still uses her 1972 Minolta camera that started a life-long journey. She has been through the darkroom, film, slide, digital and finally mirrorless phases of photography, and is still amazed by what can be done with a camera. She joined PSA in 1978, which has continuously improved her photography. She is an active competitor, teacher, judge, presenter and worker for many photo clubs. She recently retired from the Gulf Region Membership Directorship, the Who's Who in Photography Chairmanship, the Arkansas Youth Showcase rep. position, and the Administator job for DDG-74, so she could accept the Publications VP position. She is also Competition Chairman and co-founder of National Park Photography Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a member of the Hot Springs Village Camera Club, the Photographic Society of NW Arkansas, the Huntsville Photographic Society (Alabama) and the Texas Professional Photographers Association.
Brian Swinyard, PPSA
Brian E Swinyard BA(Hons)(Psych) MA(Photo) MIfL
ARPS EFIAP/b DPAGB BPE3* PPSA HON.AFGNG HON.FPMP EP.GGC
PSA: CPID3* EID(C)3* EID(M)2* ND2* PTD2* PPL(C)1* PPL(M)1*
An Aspirational Image Maker with special interest in Creative, Travel still photography and Audio Visual sequences. His preference, with his wife Angela, is for long-haul, off-the-beaten track, back-packing type of expeditions which have included Bolivia, Cambodia, Falkland Islands, Greek Islands, Jordan, Peru, Slovakia, South Africa, Syria, Tasmania, The Gambia, Vietnam.
Born in 1943 in Bristol, England, Brian developed his first B&W photograph at the age of 13, while a member of the Rosyth & District Camera Club in Fife, Scotland. However, he did not begin a serious interest in photography until 1984 and since then he has been an active member of Cheltenham Camera Club and Gloucester Camera Club. He is a National/International Judge and a Lecturer.
He is regarded in the UK Camera Club Circuit, not only as a prolific image-maker but also as an inspiration to others. His photography, which nowadays is exclusively digitally-based is varied and shows a great deal of technical expertise, originality and enviable imagination. Many of his images have been accepted (currently over 3000, some medal winners) in National and International Exhibitions and Salons in Europe, Middle East, Far East and American continents. His work has been published in In-House and Photography Magazines and Journals.
Brian graduated BA(Hons) in Psychology with The Open University, Milton Keynes and MA in Photography with De Montfort University, Leicester. The latter included critical surveys and analysis of: Moment Of Death photographs in war photography, Urban Landscapes viewed as monochrome negatives and Personal Identity: Transition from Camera Club to Master of Arts Photographer.
Brian is a member of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), Photographic Society of America (PSA), Cheltenham Camera Club (CCC) and Gloucester Camera Club (GCC). Some of Brian's images can be viewed on the members' galleries at the RPS, PSA and Camera Club websites.
In 2018, Brian published his first book entitled 'Two Become One: Painting with Word and Light' (ISBN 978 1789013 720) which was a joint collaboration between Richard Lodge (diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, who wrote the poetry) and Brian (diagnosed with lipo sarcoma, who produced the photography).
Brian joined the Photographic Society of America (PSA) in 2004.
Tom Kredo, EPSA, SPSA
I live in Rochester NY with my wife and Abu our cat. I grew up in Detroit and moved to Rochester for a better job. I am retired from the computer industry and photography is now my main hobby. We like to travel to at least one interesting location a year, however COVID has put a hold on traveling for now.
I started shooting Black and White when I was in college and developed my own film and prints in the school darkroom. I couldn't afford color printing and it was more difficult to hand process due to the precise temperature requirements. I always had an enlarger in my basement until digital cameras were affordable. I'm glad to be rid of the chemicals.
I'm basically self taught with a few art and photography classes sprinkled into my learning. Every year, I seem to treat my photos with more abstraction. Post processing in Lightroom, NIK and Photoshop are essential tools into how I create an image. Only in the last six months or so have I tried to create composite fantasy images. I'm loving it, and would like to continue to improve. COVID isolation forced me to look at other aspects of image making.
I belong to the Science Museum Camera Club and like to compete in local photo competitions. I am also responsible for selecting club images for the club PSA contests.
I use Nikon and Fuji cameras in APC, FF, and Medium formats.
You can see my work on: 500px
Nadia Trevan
I live on a beautiful island called Tasmania, a state of Australia, situated on the Tasman Sea.
Some of our famous exports are the Looney cartoon character "Tasmanian Devil" and of
course Errol Flynn.
Although I took family photos with my Nikkormat film camera, I never really took
photography seriously.
On our first trip overseas, I bought a canon point and shoot and was hooked from that
moment. That was 2009. Not long after I bought my entry level DSLR canon camera. My
progression has led me to the challenges of trying different genres of photography.
I enjoy being part of a camera club and that personal contact with like-minded people who
share an interest in photography. I have taken on many roles on the committee including
Secretary and President. I’m currently the President of the Tasmanian Photographic
Federation, a peak body with affiliated camera clubs.
In 2016, I came across Brooke Shaden photography and was inspired by her creative work
and so this led me to try compositing. I enjoy the creative process and always looking at
ways of telling some sort of a story; one that you would not normally be able to do with a
single photo. The story part of my composites is what motivates me to take images that can
be used to capture a person’s imagination.
Lisa Cuchara
Lisa Cuchara, PhD, Master Craftsman, Master of Artist, Master of Photography, HonNEC, is very passionate about photography and she enjoys both being behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. She loves to photograph nature but finds many subjects equally intriguing. From birds and flowers to babies and UrbEx/HDR, she appreciates the world around her and embraces the challenge of interpreting what her eyes see and her heart feel via her photographs. Lisa says that photography allows her to pay attention to the details, to be mindful, to slow down and appreciate all of the beauty, details and nuances of everyday life. Lisa met her husband Tom thru photography, and they are both very active in many local, national, and international photography organizations. They have had many successful gallery exhibitions, their work has been accepted into many juried exhibitions and their images have won awards at the local, state, national, and international levels. Their photographs have appeared in Adirondack Life, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, in calendars and on calendar covers, and on the cover of a fictional paperback novel. Lisa has also had images accepted into the PPA (Professional Photographers Association) loan collection and has earned three Bronze image competition cases. They have published two books with Amherst Media: "Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things" is about their HDR and light painted images (Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex and also available at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes & Noble) and their second book "The Frog Whisperer" http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs is about macro photography, using frogs as subjects. Lisa & Tom have been photographing people professionally for over 16 years and have their own Photography Studio in Hamden CT. Their portrait philosophy is based on "We do not remember days, we remember Moments". Lisa & Tom love to teach, inspire and share. They have presented a wide variety of motivational and instructional programs and workshops (Photoshop, Digital Workflow, HDR, RAW processing, Macro photography, Travel photography) at many photography groups, conventions, and organizations. Check out their photo and editing classes, their photo tours and workshops, and view their photographs at www.PhotographyByLisaAndTom.com. Get Tips & Tricks about photo ops, post-processing, creativity, gear, etc. and learn more about their photography classes and workshops by joining their email list http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-photolist.