Member Bios
Group Admin
Barbara Asacker
Greetings,
I live in Massachusetts and am a member of a local camera club. I enjoyed taking photos for many years. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic. However, I always shot on auto mode. In 2016 I joined a camera club, and learned how to properly use my camera. It opened up a new world of photography. My learning journey began and continues.
I shoot with a Nikon D500, Nikon D850, and Nikon Z6 ll.
Maude Svensson
I am Maude Svensson and I am drawn to the dual worlds of monochrome and color imagery. As a new member of the Black and White photography group, I'm excited to deepen my exploration of the evocative power of black and white photography.
My fascination with black and white photography stems from its remarkable ability to reveal raw emotions, create stark contrasts, and distill stories to their essence. When color is removed, I find that the fundamental elements of composition, texture, and light emerge with compelling clarity, allowing viewers to connect more intimately with the subject matter.
I am continually inspired by a diverse range of photographers whose work spans both color and black and white traditions. I love Jerry Uelsmann's surrealist compositions, Saul Leiter's poetic approach to everyday scenes, Sune Jonsson's documentary sensitivity, Rodney Smith's elegant surrealism, William Eggleston's pioneering color work that finds extraordinary beauty in ordinary subjects, Fran Forman's dreamlike photomontages, and Roy Andersson's distinctive cinematic vision that finds extraordinary beauty and meaning in ordinary subjects and moments.
I live in Maryland where I am a member of both North Bethesda Camera Club and Silver Spring Camera Club.
Peter Elliston
Hello. I live in Taunton, Somerset, UK but was actually born in a much smaller place - Guernsey in the Channel Isles where as a teenager I was able to use the school darkroom to develop my pictures. Even then I was an enthusiastic photographer of people and this interest has stayed with me today as most of my shots are of people in informal situations. I very much enjoy photographs of everyday life.
Later, as a teacher, I had very little time or money to pursue my hobby except on holidays where most of my images were of my family - my wife Fran and my daughter Lucy as well as the rest of my family in Guernsey or my wife's family in Yeovil, Somerset.
But when I retired from teaching I started a business selling first edition fiction across the world and had a little more time for photography and by then the digital age had arrived. We had moved to the Isle of Wight but eventually moved to Taunton and I began photography again. I am a member of the Wellington and District Camera Club in Somerset and enjoy taking part in their competitions and in a digital critique group similar to this. I have also over the last few years started sending images to international exhibitions - with varying success! You soon get to realise that not all of your pictures are world-beaters! I very much look forward to taking part in this group.
I use a Fuji XT3 with mainly an 18-55mm lens. I process my images in Lightroom and then Photoshop occasionally using filters such as NIK and working with the images on an iMac. My printer is an Epson SureColor P600
Robin Mellor
I live in North Devon, in the southwest of England. I am retired and enjoy gardening, writing, walking - and, of course, photography.
I become hooked on photography in college when someone showed me how to develop and print black and white photographs. My first camera was a Yashicamat 6x6 and, all these years later, my preference is still for monochrome and the square format - but I do shoot colour as well. The Internet has revolutionised sharing photos and entering exhibitions, but I still like to make prints and for this I use an Epson SC P600 printer.
I use a Nikon D800 with a variety of lenses, and a small Nikon A; increasingly, I also shoot using an iPhone 15 Pro.
For processing, when I moved from the darkroom, I initially used Photoshop and Lightroom but have become dissatisfied with their subscription model so switched to Affinity Photo 2 (one off payment) which is excellent.
I enjoy photographing most subjects, but not sport or natural history, and look forward to seeing your pictures and sharing some of mine with you.
Mark Lieberman
I live in Newark, Delaware a pleasant suburban university community. My interest in photography began in my childhood using film Kodak Brownie cameras and later in high school and college using a Konica S2 range finder and the Minolta Maxxum 7000 with one of the first automatic focus systems. With the demands of family and work, my photography was mostly put aside until my children became adults. With the advent of digital photography, I began using Canon cameras starting with the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and later the Canon EOS Rebel SL2. In my early use of digital cameras, my photography usually focused on travel, family and macros of flowers. After my retirement in 2017, I was able to devote more time to photography.
In October of 2018, I joined the DPS (Delaware Photographic Society). At DPS I entered competitions, participated in field trips, exhibitions and volunteered for the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography (WIEP). My activities at DPS inspired me to purchase more gear with the addition of a bridge camera, the Sony RX10M4. I am somewhat eclectic in my gear choices and over the past two years I added a mirrorless full-frame Nikon Z7 and most recently an Olympus OM1. At DPS, I have assumed several leadership roles including my current role as President and my past role as the Projected Image Director. I am also a member of PSA. I have become a photography enthusiast with picture taking as my main hobby.
Kathleen McCrary
My name is Kathleen McCrary and I live in Seattle. As a kid my dad's interest in photography rubbed off on me. I shot film for quite a while before finally going digital in 2006.
The primary subjects I'm interested in are architecture, candid images of people, transportation, and travel. I shoot pretty much anything that looks interesting or has some kind of challenging element such as difficult lighting situations or movement. I nearly always shoot available light, handheld. Occasionally I use flash for fill. I don't like to be encumbered with bulky equipment so I shoot exclusively with a Canon S95. I own a DSLR and a mirrorless camera but I rarely use either of them. I shoot everything in RAW format, manual mode.
I work on my images on an old Dell laptop using mostly Canon's Digital Photo Pro (an older version, which has an HDR tool I like). I also have the Nik suite and use Nik SilverFX (I think that's the name) quite a bit because I create a lot of monochrome images.
Which is why I'm very excited to be part of the Monochrome study group. I'm brand new to PSA so I am still learning my way around. I look forward to participating in Group #99!
Mark Holbrook
I am a 76 year old retire educator. I've been interested in photography for almost 50 years, but have never taken it anywhere until recently when I started getting some of my better photos printed and hung. I have never sold photos and do not aspire to do so, I would just like to produce better work.
I retired 12 years ago from a principalship at a fairly large high school in central Wisconsin. During my career in education I taught Vocational Agriculture, was a school psychologist, elementary and middle school principal, and, finally, a the high school principal.
Prior to going into education I worked as a cowboy in two different ranches in Montana and Wyoming, worked as an industrial manager for Frito-Lay. I also served 6 years in the military( army) working as a training officer, a rotary-winged helicopter pilot, and an instructor in the U.S. Army Armor School. I am a Vietnam vet.
My other interests have included, but not been limited to backpacking, biking, scuba diving, parachuting, equestrian activities (between my wife of 49 years, we have six horse), and since retirement, traveling the U.S. and abroad.