Member Bios
Michael Weatherford
I am a retired professional forester and nature photography enthusiast. I have worked in management for forest product companies in every Southeast USA state except Florida. Born in West Kentucky, I am now am happily retired in Arkansas. I've been shooting photos for decades, my first real camera being a Pentax Spotmatic purchased in 1969 while I was serving in the US Air Force. My favorite subjects are butterflies, birds and wildflowers. Visit my Flickr site at https://www.flickr.com/photos/124612053@N08/ to see some of my photos, and to confirm that I truly am an amateur. My wife Nancy and I live on our own little eight-acre nature preserve in a small town in Arkansas. It's my main "studio" located right outside my door! We like to travel, our favorite destinations are national parks.
Susan Cifaldi
Been shooting for only a couple of years out here in western New York, so still very much a newbie. With help and guidance from the award-winning photographer Andy Nguyen (https://www.andysphototours.com/galleries), I've graduated from Olympus (which I loved) to Nikon (which I love even more). In fact, it was Andy who encouraged me to join PSA. Looking forward to improving my technique and learning more about the intricacies of the Nikon DSLR system. Although I still get too many very disappointing shots, I always remember what Henri Cartier-Brisson once said, "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst," so I am happily working toward that magical 10,001st.
Cindy Marple
I am retired and living in the Phoenix area in Arizona. Photography has been a lifelong interest, starting with a Kodak Instamatic X-15 camera received for Christmas while in grade school. Nature subjects have always been the primary interest, starting with landscapes and flowers. When digital came along, it made it easier to pursue wildlife and birds, and today birds are my favorite subject.
I love to travel and have taken many photo tours and workshops over the years. Since I retired I’ve been able to do more of that, and have now visited all 7 continents. My favorite locations are remote polar regions, and more recently I’ve enjoyed the tropical regions of Central and South America where the bird life is incredible. When not traveling I spend a lot of time at a local Riparian Preserve photographing birds.
I’m an active member of several local camera clubs. I enjoy giving programs for photo clubs and local Audubon chapters, as well as judging for other local clubs.
You can see my work on my Smugmug page: www.cindymarplephoto.com.
Group Admin
Larry Treadwell
I am retired and living the good life in south Florida. I have always had a love affair with the wilderness and the natural world. This naturally led to an interest in photography so I could bring home memories from my adventures. I have thus been involved in photography for more than 40 years and have worked as a semi-professional including work for the PGA and LPGA as well as shooting sports for various local colleges and have photographed over 800 weddings
My favorite photographic locations are Everglades National Park (the hardest place I've ever found to photograph), the Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain National Park. That said, I will go anywhere to get a good image. I enjoy shooting the Milky Way and the night sky, a real challenge, and I enjoy using long exposures.
I have taught photography on the college level, belong to several local camera groups and have served as a photo judge at local clubs and competitions. During the last 18 months I have had the honor of serving as a judge for some international photo exhibitions with affiliations to the PSA and have found this to be a most rewarding experience. My photos have been hung in the U.S. Botanical Gardens Hall in Washington D.C. and I have had several exhibitions in the South Florida Tri-County area.
I am a member of the online group called The Nikonians and shoot Nikon cameras currently using a D800 and D810. While I have a collection of Nikon only lenses my favorites are my 24-70 and my baby, a 200-400 f4 beast that weighs 7.3 pounds. My hiking buddy is my tripod that goes everywhere I do.
Richard Matheny
Since my early years, I was fascinated with pictures and the stories and places they told about. I would grab every Nat. Geo. Mag I could get my hands on. Anything with lots of pictures was my choice of reading material. Those pictures were always a wonderment to me, something I could never hope to do and certainly places and people that I would never see or meet. I guess when we were young our dreams can seem almost unattainable. As I grew through the teen years and into my twenties, life started in earnest. A beautiful loving wife and three beautiful daughters to provide for. Eight grandchildren and "WOW" I’m up against retirement. I don’t think I every really let go of the dreams though. I had a wonderful life in those years, good job, loving family, but I was still looking at the National Geographic mag’s and buying inexpencevive cameras. Couldn’t ever bring myself to spend the big bucks, always thought that; that somehow would be selfish on my part. There was always some need that took precedent over mine.
We retired in 2004 and moved to South Carolina into a retirement community that had just about everything to do that could be done by Simi-old people. Well, they had this photography club. I joined and that was it. That $20.00 a year, all those wonderful folks and a studio with everything you could want. I was hit slap in the face with the possibility that I may get to live some of those dreams I had when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I have been at this thing "picture taking" about 12 years now. Pretty much self taught. I get a ton of help form some very knowable folks and this thing called "utube tutorials", books and photography magazines, I actually read the stories now and don’t just look at the photos. I would love to tell you that I have been to this and that renowned school of photography, but I haven’t. I will most likely never shoot for some fancy magazine or any thing like that. I try to sell a photo now and then so I can buy a new lens, but the best part is I am having a good time, meeting some wonderful folks of like mind. Doing my best to get better at this passion of mine, so much to learn.
So, I guess that’s it. If we ever met and you want to talk f stops and shutter speeds, we’ll have a blast. Just keep it simple.
Rich Matheny
Bud Ralston
For almost 60 years, I photographed a multitude of outdoor subjects, especially wildlife. Over time, I used every major camera manufacturer’s gear. I finally settled on the Nikon mirrorless system. Enhancing raw photos with Ai computer software gives me joy. Calling attention to our natural world is my passion.
All this makes life worth living.
You can see my work on: Bud Photo Displays and Bud Photo Sales
David Kepley
David's father was in the military, so he was raised in many different places, but went to high school on the north New Jersey shore. He went to college at Gettysburg College and graduate school at the University of Maryland. While working at the US Forest Service over 40 years ago, he was inspired by one of his colleagues to take up photography. A trip in which he visited some of the great parks in the American west cemented his lifelong love of trying to capture the beauty and majesty of the natural world. After his retirement, David has taken a number of different classes and workshops to perfect his craft. He is currently first vice president of the Vienna Photographic Society. His works have been juried into Nature Visions Photo Expo for the past four years, as well as the Joseph Miller Abstract Photography Exhibit. His work has also won many awards at his photo club. A passionate devotee of our national parks, during the 2016 centennial year David and his wife visited 10 different parks, capturing thousands of images of them! He hopes that the sense of awe and majesty that he sees in the natural world will inspire you as well.