Sheryl Adams
I joined the Silver Spring Camera Club 18+ years ago to supplement my free time after retirement. During the earlier years, I was mentored by a few of the more experienced professional photographers in the club (you know who you are). This increased my photography skills immensely. I also served on the Speaker Program to bring in professional photographers for presentations and lectures on a variety of topics.
My favored subjects to photograph include:
Concert Photography. Capturing the art of musicians through my lens is exciting. I find pressing the shutter at the right moment, the moment a fraction before the emotion peaks, brings my photos alive with the mood and expressions of the musicians and in a way they would want to be seen. Documenting these moments is fulfilling.
Graffiti Writers, Artists and Muralists. This is something I engaged in many years ago. When performance venues began to shut down, in 2020, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, I revisited this interest and ventured out earlier in the morning throughout the streets and alleys of DC, MD, VA and, more recently, Florida to capture the works of graffiti writers, artists and muralists. I am in awe of the skills used to place huge art work on massive walls. Capturing, in the words of competition judges, “out! other peoples’ art” brings me inspiration to document these pieces while they are still up. I had a recent experience that I photographed a mural early one morning and it was covered over by the evening.
Vintage and Classic Cars. It is also a joy to photograph vintage and classic cars. I am drawn to isolating parts of cars that show unusual lines, designs and colors. During the 2011-2012 period, I was humbled when awarded the Len Tuchin Award for my image titled “1932 Dodge Bros.”
In addition to photography, I enjoy international travel which has taken me to many places — China, Lebanon, Africa, Europe, Japan and more.
I am also an audio buff and a member of the DC Hi-Fi Group, an audio enthusiast group that focuses on the hobby of high-quality hi-fi listening, gear collecting and home recording.
Lisa Auerbach
As a teacher I got to welcome new students to my class each year, and as part of the membership committee I get to welcome new members to the club each year. It is my responsibility to inform members of the various ways they can receive information about the club, become active in our club, and feel a great part of the club.
Marc and I moved here from Houston TX in 2017, to be near our daughter and her family. In addition to them, SSCC became a foundation for us in making friends, continuing to learn about photography, and feeling a part of a community. It was our niche. In volunteering to serve on the membership committee, I made even more friends who help me grow, help me learn, and the best of all, make me laugh.
In addition to the camera club, I play pickleball several times a week, and I have made friends with that activity as well. I play respectably and am always trying to improve.
I like traveling around this area and am always open to a spontaneous field trip or an adventure within several hours away. I must decide for those trips if I will be a tourist or photographer. Many of you know that feeling. Smaller or larger camera? Wait for the perfect setup or take a quick snap and move on, often telling yourself you will return while hoping it happens.
Traveling, photographing, or simply joining our family and friends, gives me joy. I am glad to be living this life.
Bruce Schaefer: California Boy Comes to D.C. by way of France
The short story: I was born in Berkeley, lived mostly in the Bay Area (with stints in Bombay, Akron, Mexico City, and Caracas). In 1993, at age 50, living in Walnut Creek CA, divorced, empty nest, between jobs and relationships, I decided it was time for something different. So I sold the house, bought a Toyota RV, and drove across the country. Reached Baltimore and put the RV on a boat to Europe. Three weeks later, we reunited in Rotterdam, and I began a road trip around France, looking for a new home.
After 5 months of baguettes and misadventure, I decided France and I weren’t quite ready. So I put the RV on another boat, sent it back to Baltimore, and returned to eventually settle in Silver Spring in 1994. As a desktop publisher and editor, I found easy employment in the RFP/proposal industry that exists only here. By 2009, reading the Post’s annual list of the Top 100 Companies in the DMV, I found that I’d worked on proposals for 54 of them.
In desk-topping, you merge text and images, usually for hard-copy output. So I’d had long experience with photographs, tho I never got past point and shoot with my cameras. That changed as Renee and I got involved with SSCC. [We met online in 2001, a few months before 9/11; married 3 years later.] We learned so much – and saw such fantastic images – from the other members that we had to up our efforts. She’s been in the Advanced group for some years now; I just got kicked up from Novice, so my award-winning days may be over.
My subject interests include the places we travel to, especially the offbeat: Cadillac Ranch and Carhenge come to mind. More than places, tho, I love to capture quirky people doing zany things. Recent examples include zombie walks (great costumes), a cardboard boat race (costumes and sinkings), and the High-Wheel Bike race in Frederick. We drove to see the 50-foot rubber duck in Leonardtown, and we go up to Baltimore yearly for the Kinetic Art Race and Hon Fest. Next year I hope to catch some UFO conventions and record the National Pillow-fight again on the Mall.
SSCC has become a huge element in our lives. We both see so much more of life around us now, the result of learning how to create images. But far more valuable have been the friendships we’ve developed in the club. We hope more members will get involved in club activities – going on the field trips, setting up for meetings, help on the registration desk, little stuff – so that we can get to know you too: move beyond f-stops and learn about your journeys. We look forward to that very much!