Our judge for May’s black & white / monochrome competition is Missy Loewe, who returns to SSCC by popular demand. Last April, Missy judged our B&W competition, and we were all impressed with the clarity and helpfulness of her critiques. So this year we’ve invited her back. Missy Loewe has been the executive director of the Washington School of Photography since 1999. She is also president and CEO of Washington ArtWorks – home to WSP in its new location in Rockville.
At WSP, Missy teaches courses on such topics as figure photography and business and legal topics at both introductory and advanced levels. Artists and photographers frequently seek her expertise regarding model releases, copyright, contracts, and business issues. This makes a lot of sense, as Missy holds a law degree and a Master’s degree in business, which uniquely qualifies her to speak on these subjects.
Missy is not just sought after as a presenter and instructor. She has been writer and photographer for several books and numerous magazine articles. Her photos of historical artwork have appeared in a number of galleries and private collections. She is also the photographer for the “Virtual Pose” series of art-drawing guides and has authored books on photography, art, and modeling. Her own work has appeared in books, brochures, magazines, government buildings, gallery shows, and museums.
A favorite judge for camera clubs, Corey last judged for us in October 2014 for our annual Nature competition. Some of you may know Corey by having participated in one of the many photo workshops he offers throughout the mid-Atlantic area and up and down the East Coast. Farther afield, Corey leads international photo tours to destinations such as China, Cuba, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. Besides field adventures, Corey also gives software training and photography classes, mainly in northern Virginia but also on line. For image processing, Corey teaches Lightroom, Photoshop, and Aperture. His other classes focus on particular photographic techniques such as composition, macro, or lighting and flash. He even offers one-on-one or specialized small group training.
Before we look further at Henry’s enormous photographic accomplishments, let’s examine his role in SSCC. He served as our vice president from 2003-2005 and as our PSA representative from 2005-2008. Amazingly, Henry won the Photographer of the Year award eight times (advanced level) and was awarded the Master of Photography in 2004, when he had accumulated over 300 points in competitions. Henry also received our Len Tuchin Award for best in show of the year-end competition, the Joyce Bayley Award in the annual nature competition, and the club’s Service Award.
This evening we will have a special guest. Greg Holden will present a lecture discussing what types of subjects look good in black and white. Then, he will present “digital darkroom” processing, where he will demonstrate examples of converting a photo to B&W in both Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro. 
Let Cliff introduce himself to us first, in his own words: “As a photography major in a school of fine art, I was often asked to photograph artwork for other students…the painters, sculptors, and printmakers I knew. And I enjoyed a reputation for color accuracy, which I then parlayed into a small studio business upon graduation. Around the same time, I began working as a commercial picture framer and started collecting the tools I would need to produce my own work from start to finish. Roughly five years later, I was offered the opportunity to become a member of a gallery of like-minded photographers in an old munitions factory in Alexandria, Virginia. As a gallery member, my job was to install the monthly exhibitions. I purchased a full size utility van to move artwork.