The location will be same last year, the Sheraton Washington North Hotel located at 4095 Powder Mill Road, Beltsville, MD 20705 (map).

Drinks (cash bar) and socializing begin at 6:30pm, with food service starting at 7pm. Year-End Competition Awards, a guest speaker, service awards, and other events ensure a full and fun evening.

Cost and other details to follow.

Photographer, multi-media strategist, interactive producer, anthropologist, it’s hard to categorize Josh Cogan, especially as each facet of his work influences the other facets. Even as a photographer, it’s tough to tack a label on Josh’s work. Portraits, travel, commercial – but there’s an essential documentary core. As noted in a recent article by Dan Havlik in Imaging Resource, a digital photo newsletter, “Josh Cogan’s background in anthropology gives him a unique perspective as a photographer, and his passion for traveling around the world to document its peoples, cultures and traditions gives us a rare glimpse at humanity’s hidden stories.”

While in college, during a semester of study in Israel, Josh discovered that the camera can be, as he says, “a good excuse to bridge the gap between yourself and people you don’t know.” He took his entry-level camera with him everywhere. Josh graduated from the University of Maryland with a Master’s degree in anthropology, spent a few years experimenting with life, and then, as he says, “took to the road with a mission: to document vanishing cultures and enrich our understanding of social issues through photography and new media.” The camera became for him the essential tool for ethnography; it lets him blend his passion for travel with his anthropologist’s inquisitive mindset. More specifically, he uses it to record how and where cultures meet and merge and the changes caused by cultural interactions.

One of his recent projects was titled “Tomorrow We Disappear,” a documentary film plus still shots that cover the “magicians’ ghetto” in New Delhi. It’s a seedy neighborhood of performers, puppet masters, and various other artists in danger of eclipse. The stills, expressive and haunting, were shown during last fall’s FotoWeek at the 6th and I Synagogue downtown. Another of Josh’s own special projects – as opposed to commercial work for clients – is called “Pilgrim” and depicts religious moments across the world’s traditions.

Josh has received considerable recognition for his work. His images have been published in the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, and in Travel and Leisure magazine, among others. Recently, he received the German Marshall Fund Fellowship for his work on agribusiness in Brazil. One of his multimedia projects, “Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica,” was created with the multimedia firm BlueCadet, where Josh was an interactive producer. It won Josh an Emmy for New Approaches to Documentary. These days, Josh is in demand for his commercial work, yet he still finds time to travel extensively, keep refining his photographic expertise, and grow in depth as a human being.

For this month’s macro / close-up competition, Terry Popkin reprises his role as judge. With the perceptive eye of both a scientist and an artist, Terry brings unparalleled insights into views of small universes.
Terry has been creating elegant images for at least 30 years, and his photographs and articles have been published around the world. He believes that creativity is the basis for both fine art and fine photography and that the two are inseparable. As a result, his passion for both has led him to produce beautiful images that elicit feeling about people and about the environment.

Some images, Terry notes, are captured by photographers out of impulse. However, he encourages us to learn to expand our vision. He advises that we look further, and then take great photographs when we know the light is perfect and the composition is well thought out. In a practical vein, Terry notes that if we are limited by a selection of lenses, or even by a particular camera, we should plan our photographs around our equipment. Sometimes, all we have with us is a 24mm-70mm lens, but that can be enough to create a significant image, full of feeling.

Most camera club members, according to Terry, have wondered what it would be like to become a professional. What is it that separates the professionally made photographs we have admired, that make us say WOW, from images we might have taken and shown in a camera club competition? Usually, it’s the basics. Terry advises we should take the judges’ critiques to heart and learn to improve our images. Besides good technique, we also need talent if we want to move ahead and consider going pro. But, he adds, that’s something we can all sense intrinsically. To really operate at a successful pro level, Terry recommends going to business school and learning how to market one’s work. Bottom line, says Terry: “Once your creations have sold, work becomes play!”

Terry Popkin earned his BS in chemistry and physics and his MS in microbiology at Pennsylvania State University. For about 25 years, he was an NIH research chemist-microbiologist and an electron microscopist. Since 1972, he has been a professional photographer. In addition, he has been the president/CEO of The Children’s Learning Center since 1994.

Thursday, March 7 : Speaker Night. Vickie Lewis

Thursday, March 14: Competition Night, Open, Judge: Walt Calahan

Thursday, March 21: Education Night, Wedding Photography with Irene Abdou

Saturday, March 23: Field Trip: Maryland Day at St. Mary’s City

Halfway through the year, with 85 members, SSCC is still looking to fill a couple of positions! It’s time to step up and volunteer!

Your club needs a backup and trainees for a couple of positions, including Competition Night projectionist and Cable Release Editor. Jim Rogers occasionally goes out of town and digital competitions need to be ”covered”. He would love for another member to learn how to
· gather digital entries
· manage the digital competition software and hardware for presenting entries on competition night
· lean how to present entries in a way that entrants & titles remain anonymous
· report competition results

Also, Dave Mullen would like to show someone how the Cable Release sausage is made.

If you are interested in any of the these positions please send an email to dave[at]nora-school.org.