Member Bios
Group Admin
Jessica Manelis
I have been creating art since grade school. At age 11, I began taking art classes every Saturday afternoon. Throughout high school, I continued drawing and painting in a variety of mediums and ultimately settled at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, pursuing a career in the professional arts.
While at Moore, I received many accolades from my instructors and won competitions where my work was featured in magazines. Upon graduation, I settled in to a career as a graphic designer. Finding that creatively stunting, I set out to pursue my true creative passion.
Self-taught, I fell into photography as a means of generating reference photos for future art projects. However, I found the photo process was more fun. Embracing the medium, my work has been exhibited in several group shows in Huntington, NY, Bethesda, MD, and Philadelphia, PA, most recently at The Philadelphia Sketch Club's Photography 2010 exhibit in October.
Currently I live with my husband, two kids and two dogs in southern New Jersey.
Like most photographers, I am always looking for that unique perspective or "special something" in an image. My work embraces various styles from clean crisp well-defined images with an interesting and vital point of view to compelling composition and fresh simplicity. My aim is to entice the viewer to look at the details to become aware of the color and form of the subject. Even when using textures to enhance a photo, the viewer is drawn in and the subject maintains its focus and import
Cindy Lynch
When I retired from being a school district administrator, I told a good friend that I wanted to take up photography when I retired. As a retirement gift, she gave me my first year's membership in the St. Louis Camera Club. That is when my new passion began. I found the people talented, friendly and so willing to share their knowledge with a beginner like me. I was both inspired and hooked. I had taken art classes my freshman year in college with thoughts of a career in art. However, I turned to education and had a very rewarding career. With photography, I found that I could develop my artistic side while also learning new technical skills. I love that photography keeps me learning and that my initial captures can turn into art in any number of different ways. There is always something new to learn. At the same time I joined the St. Louis Camera Club, I also joined PSA. I have taken advantage of the many opportunities to grow in the art of photography. I participate in two PID Digital Study Groups: Fine Art and General, where I am the secretary; as well as three PID Digital Dialogue Groups: General, Monochrome and Macro. I love the feedback I receive and often submit my images to these groups prior to placing them in competition.
Nelson Charette
"Embarking on my photographic journey in 1974, I was just 14 when I acquired my first 35 mm camera, marking the beginning of a lifelong passion. My transition into the digital realm commenced in 2004 with the acquisition of a Nikon D70. This marked the start of an evolving journey through several camera upgrades, during which I transformed my D70 into a specialized infrared camera. Additionally, I expanded my toolkit with a Nikon D5100, meticulously converted for full-spectrum photography. While infrared photography isn't my sole focus, it adds a unique flair to the work I proudly display at my camera club.
A significant milestone in my journey was in 2021, when I embraced the world of mirrorless technology with the Olympus EM1 Mark III, a 590 NM converted camera. This shift has been a revelation, allowing me to preview my shots with unprecedented clarity and simplifying focus adjustments. My preference for monochrome imagery often leads me to employ the 850 nm filter for its distinctive effect.
I warmly invite any questions and enjoy sharing insights from my expansive experience in the world of photography."
Mary Hinsen, BPSA
I live in Cromwell in the beautiful Central Otago area of New Zealand. I am a mother, grandmother, photographer, videographer and writer. My love of photography started as a child, when my father gave me my first film camera. I continued learning and experimenting through my school years, until study, work and children meant photography had to take a back seat. Through this time, however, I learned that art could take many forms. Design became my creative outlet, designing décor, clothes and food - creating something beautiful from something ordinary.
Now, as a photographer again, I particularly love to shoot people and food. I try to capture something special about a person, and to photograph food in a way that makes you really taste it.
I am always learning, of course! I am a member of the Queenstown Photography Club here in New Zealand, and also the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers. I joined the PSA to take advantage of a greater range of learning opportunities, and to get to know and learn from other photographers.
Bob Crocker
I'm a retired Groundwater Scientist now living in Wisconsin, my wife's home State. I've had a camera in my hand since I was a little tike, as did my brother. My father was in the military, so we traveled a lot when I was young, so I think this constant exposure to new environments fed our photo hobby. Unfortunately, most of these early photos were lost during many moves, several hurricanes, and bad storage.
I was getting rusty and frustrated with my photography until Digital came along. Digital photography renewed my interest and sparked me to improve and get serious with my image taking, so this group is a continuation of that growing/learning process. I was a Canon shooter for many years, now using the Sony mirrorless system; the a6500 is my current camera, and I use the Sony 90mm, 2.8 Macro lens. I used Apple's Aperture software for editing and catalogs until Apple discontinue the program. I pickup on Capture One Pro because I heard it is a good RAW processor (it is), it had similarities to Aperture, and Sony users got a discount. It's a great editor but I found it's cataloging feature confusing and too complicated. When the On1 people came out with their new RAW editor last year, I upgraded the plugins that I used within Aperture to their fully integrated, all in one program. More and more I'm using ON1 for all my editing and cataloging. I don't like Adobes subscription model.
Donna Becker
I began taking photos in 2023. Typically, when my husband would go somewhere for him to photograph, I would find hike or do some exploring in the same area. In 2023, we decided to go to Madagascar and Kenya for a month. Since the tours we were doing were for photographers, my husband suggested that I might want to take a camera and give it a try. I started using his back up camera and quickly fell in love with photography. I've never been an artsy person so it took me by surprise.
We have moved quite a bit but currently split our time between Arizona and Pennsylvania. In addition, we spend a fair amount of time traveling and not every trip is planned or focused around photography. I belong to the Phoenix Camera Club (AZ - since 2023), State College Photo Club (PA - since 2024) and PSA (since March 2026). I joined PSA for the learning opportunities. In addition, as a newer photographer, I am always trying to learn more, am open to feedback and suggestions.