OVERVIEW OF THE PHOTO GALLERY
HISTORY & WALTHAM CAMERA CLUB
When I was a teenager I fell in love with photography, was Vice President of the Woburn High School Photography Club, and was even interviewed in our living room by one of the great photographic schools but it was teaching, not photography, that was my path at the time. It was not until the 1990s, however, when Nikon just came out with the semi-professional N8008 and I had the funds that I was able to purchase this phenomenal camera with an SB24 flash, several lenses, a very sturdy tripod and camera bag. I was in photography heaven and joined the Waltham Camera Club so that I could perfect my skills. When I first joined, in order to compete, I had to have three slide photos. Since I had no time to purchase slide film, take photos and have them developed, I had three of my film photos converted to slides, which was a big mistake because they lost a lot in the conversion and therefore the judges gave me the lowest score on each. I'm a fast learner and immediately purchased slide film, listened to all the comments the judges made on everyone's slides, took notes and typed them at home, kept reading my Nikon camera booklet as well as photo magazines, and my first year managed to take home a second place trophy in Class B. The next year I took home the first place trophy and entered Class A where I was up against the very knowledgeable long-timers.
SLIDES
Over the years I accumulated a lot of slides and put together numerous slide programs of places and events that I loved including: Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, King Richard's Faire in Carver, the New England Folk Festival in Natick, slides of organizational and other special events, and flowers, birds and animals. I love taking very colorful photos that zero in on the essence of a flower, show the costume, face and personality of a person, depict an event, or express the beauty and harmony in a natural scene. As of 2013 I no longer have any slides, having given away slide trays and slides to lots of organizations and having destroyed most of the rest. Some of my favorite slides were converted to digital format before my final giveaway to King Richard's Faire.
DITIGAL PHOTOS
Today I take digital photos, because that's the newest technology, although I miss my Nikon N8008 with all its bells and whistles, but my life now is "less" instead of "more" so I have a simple Panasonic Lumix camera that has a built-in telephoto lens and macro setting that is much easier to transport. The good thing with digital photography is that you can delete the photos you don't want and don't have to spend a lot of money on film and processing. However, to make sure a photo is shown in the best way, it often has to be tweaked in Photoshop or some type of editing software. Lighting is a often a big issue and cropping is very important to cut out extraneous background. The good thing is that cameras as well as cell phones continue to improve so that photo taking is better than ever.
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
Photoshop Elements is an excellent photoshop tool for the amateur photographer, whereas the more expensive CS versions are for those who work on manipulating photography each day. I took a course in Photoshop CS2 but it was so complex that the teacher herself had to take the course three times before she could even begin to understand it. I love taking an original photo and seeing what can happen with various Photoshop Elements artistic renderings. I showcased some of these on the Porter Art Group (PAG) cable TV shows in Stoneham MA for four years that usually aired the second Wednesday of the month around a particular theme.
For approximately 800 of my better photos by category, please go to The Coming Light website.
 https://sites.google.com/view/en-lightphotos