Melinda Salzman is one of SSCC newest members.  You may have met her at a recent meeting.  Melinda’s husband, Sherm Edwards, has been an active member of SSCC for some time.  She and Sherm originally learned about SSCC from Carl Brandt and his wife, Elsa, who was the violin / viola teacher for Melinda and Sherm’s daughter. 

Melinda’s interest in photography goes way back.  Her first introduction to art photography came when she was about 11 years old and her older sister married an art photographer.  In high school, Melinda seized an opportunity to take a photography class – complete with dark room instruction.  Her teacher, a professional photographer, was very impressed with one photo that Melinda took of the shadows of chains on the new concrete campus of the Chicago branch of the University of Illinois (the Circle Campus).  It was very reinforcing!

When Melinda was at the University of Illinois she signed up for another photography class, and had the opportunity to work outdoors with land cameras.  After that class, Melinda’s art photography went into remission.  However, her continuing interest in photography contributed to her attraction to Sherm when they first started dating! The fact that “we had both once upon a time developed our own photos was another cool thing about this guy.  Sherm even still owned some darkroom equipment.”  Later, when Melinda and Sherm bought their house in Silver Spring, they learned the previous owner had fashioned the basement bathroom into a darkroom (although they never used it as such).

Melinda took lots of photos of her two children as they grew.  She made albums for each of them to have when they were grown.  But when photography went digital, Melinda felt stymied:  “I froze” she recalls.  “You’re familiar with the term ‘math anxiety?’  I had ‘digital photo anxiety.’  Computers were too confusing to me.  Besides, I preferred to see actual prints, hold an album in my hand or view a photo on a wall.  I didn’t want to be tied to a computer to look at beautiful pictures.”

So, for several decades, Melinda has left the photo-taking up to Sherm.  But now, Melinda is  excited to learn that she can produce quality photos with her iPhone.  She was very excited by Michael Koren’s presentation on iPhone photography at a recent “A Closer Focus” meeting.  Melinda exclaims:  “What ho!  New territories to explore!”