Meet our 2008-09 New Members ACC has super members and we invite you to join our Club. As a member, you'll have the opportunity to learn more about photography, and share some of your photos in our website and your personal gallery. Click the images below to view each new member bio and a link to their photo gallery.
Autobiography: Tracey Armenakis I am probably the most novice member of the club! I was very fortunate to inherit many beautiful Nikon lenses, and bought a digital camera to use with them. With next to no knowledge, I joined the Arlington Camera Club, and what an excellent choice I made!!! Many members have gone out of their way to help me pursue my quest of photography!!! Although I haven’t found my favorite type of photography yet, I have experimented with nature, architecture, portrait and many others. The way I look at things has changed remarkably - and more creatively. I have taken several classes and joined many of the clubs outings. Club competition still seems a little beyond me right now. However, I now can look at a photo and see its positives and negatives (no pun intended). I am becoming a master at my camera, and improving on editing software. I am enjoying educating myself with many lenses. Another member of the club introduced me to the Lensbaby and I fell in love with what I saw on the internet! It arrived a few days ago, and I can’t wait to find my niche with the type of pictures that it takes. This club is for everyone. The vast knowledge of its members is remarkable, and the sharing of it is even better. I look forward to expanding of myself through photography! View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window
Autobiography: Karen Bezold I am a Chicago native but have spent most of my adult life living in Florida. I started taking photography lessons when my daughter, Allison, got a camera for her 8th grade graduation and needed someone to drive her to the junior college. I’m currently using a Canon 20D camera with a variety of basic lenses. I look forward to exploring Illinois and the Midwest now that I am back and improving my photography as I go. View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window Autobiography: Margaret Botchie I was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1946, the first year of the Baby Boomers. I received my under graduate degree in Elementary Education from Ohio State University, so I am a true Buckeye supporter. After teaching in Columbus for two years, I attended the University of Michigan, OSU’s arch rival, for my Master’s Degree in Library & Information Science. I came to Chicago in the fall of 1972 to begin work as an elementary school librarian in Park Ridge, IL, District 64 -- 32 years later (where did the years go?) Since retiring in 2004, I have worked part-time, volunteered in several different areas, traveled, taken pictures, had lunch with friends, etc. My first camera was a Minolta 100 or 101. I stayed with that camera for a long time until my eyes let me down and I couldn’t see to focus in low light situations. So, I went to an auto focus digital camera (Nikon D50). I have always enjoyed photography as a hobby. My friend Carol and I often traveled together. She would take 5 rolls of film and I would take 25 rolls of film. Carol and I have gone to a number of Family Summit Nature Programs sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation with 500 grandparents, parents, kids, couples and singles. These programs have taken us to many wonderful places to photograph, such as the big island of Hawaii, Mt. Hood area of Oregon, Big Sky, MN, inland Maine, and others. Door County is one of my favorite places to visit and I have taken 9-10 classes at The Clearing In Ellison Bay. I will be taking two classes there this summer. I am a 20-year volunteer at the Chicago Botanic Garden and it has also provided me with opportunities for photographs. I believe I have an eye for composition and by joining the Arlington Hts. Camera Club, taking classes, and going on photo shoots with class members I will be able to improve my technical skills . View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window
Autobiography: Sylvia Jenkins Photography is a relatively new interest. Prior to this, I have been a "snapshot" addict documenting anything important in my life from children, grandchildren, events, and travel. I have a lot to learn. My goal is to be able to capture the emotions in an image rather than just the pretty picture. My current camera is a Canon Xti. I am enjoying the club meetings and look forward to many more. Each meeting so far has been a learning experience and the members are a great group . Photo Gallery - TBA: Close Bio Window Autobiography: Marlene Jones Let me tell you a bit about myself as a photographer. While in New Jersey, I was able to attend a few meetings of the Ridgewood Camera Club, where I was able to meet some photographers who share my interest of flower photography. These were very sharing photographers who were highly artistic as well. In fact, I found that the judging in these Jersey clubs went beyond the “rules” of good photography and rewarded creative shots and those photos that had that extra something, that indefinable element that we call beauty, or fine art. You could see it in their work and, surprisingly, also in the flower photography. One photographer in particular, Dieter Steinmeyer, has developed his own unique style of flower photography over the years. From him, I learned how to stage a photo shoot, how to make a diffuser from a fly swatter, how to tilt the camera to give depth to your shot, how to shoot blue flowers in the earliest light of the morning and yellow flowers at the last light of day, when you think you cannot even take a picture. I still have the printout he generously gave me of some thumbnails of his work, and I use them for inspiration when setting up a shot or working in Photoshop. And he was just one of the photographers I plied with questions! As for my own sense of aesthetics, I judge by whether I would want to put that photo on my wall. What I love are the delightful, sometimes unexpected, conversations with photographers you admire, the early morning photo shoots when the world is temporarily beautiful and magical, my own prints lining my wall at home. That’s enough for me. View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window
Autobiography: John Kinyon My first camera was a Brownie, followed by a Kodak Instamatic and a Pentax MX. I got interested in digital in 2000 with an HP C-200. I moved to an Olympus E-10 and, when that broke on the 2nd day of a 3-week Hawaiian vacation, a Nikon D-100 with a 135-300mm lens. Along with the Nikon I use a Sony R1 with a 24-120mm lens and a Sony P-200. All of my cameras were second-hand. My original interest in photography was simply to document my family, friends and hobbies (primarily aviation). Later I met some friends who were professional photographers, and learned that one acquaintance was working on his Masters in Fine Art in photography. They began to mentor me and I was hooked. I've improved my understanding and techniques through seminars, Arlington Camera Club, discussions with other enthusiasts, and experimentation. I've established about 30 goals including techniques to learn, organizing photos and getting published . Photo Gallery - TBA: Close Bio Window
Autobiography: Nora Liu My first contact with photography was at the age of four years, when I was watching my father's glass negatives slowly developing in a sunny window in their wooden frames. But it was a long time before I got my first camera after graduation - a Retina IIC with a separate light meter - for taking slides on trip halfway around the world. About 30 years ago I took classes in BW photography in sunny La Jolla, CA, including printing in a lab. This was an exciting period and I produced many pictures, mostly portraits. My enthusiasm was damped somewhat after coming back to what I called "zone-5 Illinois" and by the fact that I was raising 4 children and could not spend enough time in my dark room. My intense interest in digital photography is relatively recent. It was only a little more than a year ago that I realized the possibilities of this new technology and of having a good camera and lens. What a long way from glass negatives to seeing your pictures instantly on a laptop. I feel like Aladdin must have when he opened the door to the treasure trove. The possibilities are endless and there is so much to learn! I am planning to work hard. View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window
Autobiography: Michelle Thrane I have a BFA from Ohio State where I studied painting and graphics many years ago. I came to photography through my interest in art. I bought a camera a little over a year ago to take pictures of my paintings to submit to juried shows. To learn how to better photograph my paintings, I took a course at Harper College in basic digital photography, and Nancy St. Clair invited me as a guest to the Arlington Camera Club. I soon realized I wanted to learn more about photography and be able to use the camera to create art. The more I learn about photography the more I realize that I have much more to learn, and the camera club provides a great place for that. I’m mainly interested in travel photography, portrait photography, and altered images. Photo Gallery - TBA: Close Bio Window Autobiography: Joanne Trahanas Hi. I am happy to be a member of ACC. Since joining I have met many wonderful people and my time as a member has opened a much larger world of photography to me than I ever imagined. When I joined I was just dabbling at photography. Since joining, I have begun to study the craft and art through books, videos, podcasts, and online information. In addition, I have attended a couple of classes at The Morton Arboretum, hope to take some online courses, have been on a couple of Hank Erdmann's workshops, and have tried to participate in a couple of the club's outings--all of which have been informative and great fun. Finally, I enjoy my work with the club newsletter, Through the Lens. My participation on this committee has allowed me to join two of my favorite past times--photography and writing. I haven't found one area of photography that interests me most yet and am not sure I ever will, because I like them all. I love photography because there is so much to learn, it is ever evolving, offers creative challenges, and most important opens up a world of people to you like none other. Photographers--amateur and professionals are most generous with their talents, secrets, and time. This, of all aspects, has impressed me so very much since taking up the hobby a couple of years ago. By the way, the most gracious are the members of our club who share their skills and tips all the time. Well, that is all for now. Happy shooting, everyone. . View Photo Gallery: (Click Here) Close Bio Window
Autobiography: Vesla Zlateva I always liked taking pictures, although in the beginning it was more snapshots than real images. About five years ago I decided to become more serious with photography and signed up for a class in the local community college. One class led to another and then another. I was surprised at my own increased interest the more I learned. Also I discovered that sometimes the simplest images that I admired in magazines and art galleries were the most difficult to make. I realized that photography is more than simply pointing the camera at a subject and pressing the button. Sometimes it is even difficult to understand what the real subject is! Photography is a way of expressing myself, revealing to the world what I see and how I feel about it. Photography is a proof that we are all different and the same scene invokes different feelings in each of us. I like the experience of capturing my feeling when I look at something and trying to relate this feeling to others. I joined the Arlington Camera Club a little more than a year ago, since I had attended all the local photo classes. I also wanted a constant group of people who share the same interest in photography as I do. So far it has been very beneficial for me and I plan to continue attending the meetings for a long time. I consider a picture to be a success when I manage to capture something new in what seems an ordinary scene and relate this to others so that they can feel the magic I felt when I saw the scene. It is not easy – I am very far from where I would like to be, but I feel tremendous pleasure in the journey itself, even if I never reach my goal . Photo Gallery - TBA: Close Bio Window
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This past year I spent quite a bit of time in New York. We stayed along the river in Jersey City, and many a morning I would get up at 4 am and go down to the river to shoot the NYC skyline. At first, there would be just the faintest bit of light in the sky. The lights of the city were dazzling, a breeze swept down the river, and an occasional jogger in sweats passed on the wide, paved river walk. Sometimes, I would walk south past a marina to a small lighthouse near the Holland Tunnel. Here I would feel very close to the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building across the river. Barges and large container vessels passed on the river, their strings of lights bright against the dark water. Soon, the morning light would start to gradually light the sky, which changed magically, quickly, from almost black to purple to deep blue. I would shoot one section, then another of the skyline, hoping to stitch the photos later in a panoramic, with the light changing as I shot first one section, then another, the boats passing as I shot.
I have always liked variety in my activities, and I suspect that is how photography will go for me as well. I enjoy nature photography tremendously for the peace and beauty it brings. At the same time I love photojournalism and trying to capture people in unique ways; unfortunately, I am too shy to ask them permission to use their photos for anything. I love street photography and architectural photography. The list goes on and on. Mostly, I am starting to discover what I guess is called "creative photography"-photography that doesn't just focus on specific rules and parameters, but photography that evokes emotion, lots of talk, and creative surprise. On a recent vacation to Peru, I took this shot at the "CUSCO Market Place" -- I very much enjoy photography as I travel.