Thursday, March 11

Roy Sewall is a full-time photographer based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Roy’s interest in photography evolved from his travels in six continents, yet he found his own community to be one of the most photogenic locations in the world.

From 2001 to 2009 Roy concentrated on capturing scenes of the Potomac River and the adjacent C&O Canal. He then developed diverse bodies of work that include foreign and domestic destinations, architecture and design, people, nature, old places and things, and abstracts.

Roy has done extensive work for private and commercial clients, as well as Potomac River and C&O Canal-related government and non-profit organizations. He has exhibited in numerous D.C.-area group and one-person shows, as well as in his own studio.

Roy’s first photography coffee-table book, Our Potomac, from Great Falls through Washington, D.C., was published in 2005. The book led to numerous lecture and slide show engagements with local organizations, and established him as one of the leading photographers of the Potomac River and C&O Canal. His second book, published in 2009, Great Falls and Mather Gorge, took a magnifying glass to this extraordinary area. These are the definitive photography books of the river and canal in the D.C. area.

Roy offers both private and group instruction and critique to novice and intermediate photographers. In 2014 he became an instructor for the Capital Photography Center, where he offers classes and local field trips.

Roy has judged photographic competitions and has critiqued bodies of work at Maryland, DC, and Virginia camera clubs more than 70 times since 2006. He regularly does instructional programs at camera clubs and Nature Visions (Manassas, Virginia), with the most popular one being “Taking Your Photography to the Next Level” which he has presented to us.

He has made over 40 presentations to the general public about the Potomac River and C&O Canal using photographs from his two books. He has also made presentations of photographs of China from 1901 to 1939 by his missionary grandfather, Robert Fitch, to Chinese and US audiences.

In 2018 Roy was selected by the MPA to conduct their judges training program. Roy is also a past president of the North Bethesda Camera Club.

You can see Roy’s recent newsletter here: Roy Sewell February 2021 Newsletter