Invited Artists

Mark Armbruster (he/him) (born 1970, lives and works in Baltimore, MD. USA) is a photo-based multimedia artist who creates art in reaction to climate change and human's effects on the landscape. Through the use of non-traditional landscape imagery used as a backdrop for painted, laser etched graphs and charts that are representations of data from studies on climate change and its numerous effects on our environments. Mark received his B.F.A. in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1992, and an MS in Instructional Design and Technology from the University of Maryland in 2019. He has exhibited his artwork in numerous group shows and publications nationwide.

The main paradigm in Norman Aragones’ photographic art revolves around the concept of depth—having some level of meaning within the photo and thus attempting to elicit a viewer's reaction through deliberate imagery. Norman’s hope is that the viewer comes away with some feeling, idea, and/or perspective from seeing his photos. The techniques he uses in creating photographic images are not something specific. He just tries to work diligently in creating something particular that he had envisioned previously in his mind's eye.

Adam Avitable is an author, comedian, photographer, and content creator who uses whatever medium is available to resonate with his audience by evoking laughter, anger, sadness, compassion, or empathy. With a mission to provoke thought at all costs, Adam has no compunction laying himself bare, literally or otherwise, for an artistic concept. He has no formal training in the arts, just a creative soul, an overwhelming desire to create, an inability to accept failure, and too much audacity thanks to his law degree.

Jaime Bird is a self taught street and documentary photographer. Her photography connects modern life and the comforting, familiar nostalgia of yesterday. Extracting moments of the quiet mundane to the emotional warfare of protests. Observations of life captured in a candid way, Jaime's photography has been internationally exhibited in Australia and Mexico as well as multiple cities across the country. She is a member of Group A (Pgh), Cleveland Photo Fest, and the Cleveland Print Room. She currently resides in Pittsburgh.

Although I've been an avid photographer for more than 50 years, it's only during the past decade that I've entered competitions such as this one. In fact, my entry in the 2018 Allegany Arts Photography competition was my first successful entry anywhere, aside from a handful of local non-juried events. Since retiring from my day job in 2010, photography has occupied an increasingly significant portion of my daily routine, whether by taking photos, printing them or entering them in competitions such as this one. Now in my 80th year, I hope to keep at it well into the future.

Stephan Brigidi, born Providence, Rhode Island in 1951, received an MFA at RI School of Design 1976. He was Fulbright-Hays Fellow to Italy from 1977-78, and awarded a Photographer’s Fellowship from the NEA. He has been invited to artist residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, and MASS/MoCA. Brigidi is a retired Professor of Aesthetics & Photography, and recently a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2023. Brigidi’s publications include Angels of Pompeii in 1992, Remarkable People 1995, Afraid of the Dark: A Venetian Story, 2015, The Fire of Rome 2016, Portrait 2017, and ROME 1970s in 2019. His photography has been acquired by more than forty museums in the US and Europe. Brigidi is President of the Bristol Workshops in Photography, Bristol, Rhode Island.

Sally Canzoneri’s art has been shown and won awards in numerous regional and national exhibitions. These include solo shows at DC area galleries including those at Glen Echo Park, the Art League Gallery, the Hill Center, and in Touchstone Gallery’s Spotlight Art Series.  A number of her pieces have been in the the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities Art Bank collection and the commission has awarded her several Arts and Humanities Fellows grants. Canzoneri’s work is also in private collections and in the Montgomery County Contemporary Works on Paper Collection. Canzoneri has studied with internationally recognized book artists and has taken courses in photography, picture book illustration, digital books, and printmaking. She received a B.A. from Bennington College, an M.U.P. and a J.D. from the University of Illinois and has been a city planner and a government attorney. Canzoneri grew up in rural Vermont; then lived in Minnesota and Illinois before moving to DC.

Bonnie B. Collier lives and works in Boyds, Maryland.  She graduated from Radford College, received her Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University. Bonnie was an instructor of Art at the University of Maryland, Hood College, and Montgomery County Public Schools.  Her photographic images have evolved from the darkroom to the digital format.   Bonnie’s work has been exhibited widely. Her work is in numerous collections including the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Montgomery County Public Art Trust.

Scott Cutter is a Western-Maryland-based graphic designer, illustrator, and photographer. He has owned and operated a successful graphic design business for over 20 years, and remains active in the local art community. His art can be seen in the many businesses for whom he has branded and designed during his career, as well as in large-format installations in public spaces and outdoor event venues.

Sandi Daniel is a local as well as national award winning artist. She has lived and worked all over the United States. Ms. Daniel has exhibited extensively throughout the US as well as Japan. With over 75 successful exhibitions she is a seasoned professional artist. Her work has been shown in museums, galleries as well as academic universities, including the Hecksher Museum Bienniel, the Steinberg Museum of Art at Hillwood and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Sandi Daniel is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she received a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Hallmark Institute of Photography where she studied commercial photography. She is highly experienced in photo retouching both analog as well as digital. In addition to making artwork Sandi has also run children’s art programs and curated art shows for Vision Gallery in Arizona.

A resident of Middleton, Massachusetts, Steve’s body of work is primarily connected to railroads and both urban and rural landscape scenes throughout New England and the Northeast section of the country.  He is an artist member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and the Rockport Art Association and Museum.

It was an exhibit with the theme, "cityscapes" which challenged me to photograph the urban landscape. I liked construction sites where the building materials and activity were surrounded by the rigid geometry of the surrounding buildings. I liked photographing the architectural detail that gave buildings personality. Which is what attracted me to photograph the peeling layers of yesterday's sign of the Orchid Cleaners. Only a moment in time until the sleek new modern restaurant moved in, calling their style "urban chic."

Valerie Dyer is an award winning photographer who lives in Frederick, Maryland. Her primary focus is in landscape and nature photography. When she is out taking pictures, she looks for scenes which convey mood and emotion. Valerie is a retired nurse and enjoys traveling with her husband and visiting her daughter who is going to school in Europe.

Mr. Edson started photographing in the early 1970’s, shooting mostly black and white documentary street photography. After graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA, he went on to become a successful commercial freelance photographer, living in the Boston area while being contracted for assignments for regional, national and international clients in editorial, education, corporate design and advertising projects. He currently shows his fine art photography in solo and national group shows while his photographs are collected in both private and corporate collections.

I am a Maryland based fine art photographer specializing in landscape photographs of the Maryland, Virginia, and DC areas. My photographs have been featured in more than a dozen solo exhibits and more than 80 group and juried exhibits, and are on permanent display in the Maryland House of Delegates office building in Annapolis. Sales of my photographs have raised thousands of dollars for charities such as the C&O Canal Trust, Rachel’s House, and Critical Exposure.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leemgoodwin/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leegoodwinphotography

I bring to photography a unique personal history. As a trained classical violinist and Bluegrass Fiddle Master, my career as a touring musician, recording artist and educator spanned non-stop from 1960 to 2013. Starting as a young teenager I have been obsessed with photography my whole life, from bathroom/darkroom 21/4 x 21/4 black and white and color film to today’s digital revolution. My four primary musical goals have always been expression, innovation, technique and composition. In applying exactly these same four intentions to my photography I find that musical and photographic composition are quite the same, both depend entirely on the artistic placement of available or sometimes imaginary elements. The creation of both music and photography starts before using the instrument, both start with seeing.  In my images I seek a sense of surprise, something new on the palette.  I intend to create a more extreme idea of contrast, slightly surreal, darker shadows, bright highlights.  I'm happy to stay near the border of representational and interpretive, stepping over the line a little and then coming back.         My work has been featured in many dozens of exhibitions throughout the U.S. and has garnered many awards including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Award, Exhibition and Traveling Tour.

I attended the Professional Photography Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology and graduated from Penn State I have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions and national juried shows where I have been honored with many Best of Shows and First Place Awards. I was selected as a North Rim Grand Canyon Artist in Residence. One of my photographs is part of the permanent collection at the Grand Canyon National Park Museum. My work has been published in the National Parks and Pennsylvania magazines and also hangs in public and private collections including Andrews Air Force Base.

Lingxue (Luna) Hao is a photographer from China who is now based in LA. After graduating from Beijing Film Academy, she worked as a food photographer for two years. While studying photography at the Savannah College of Design and Art, she turned her focus to telling stories through the camera. She is particularly interested in finding beauty from the ordinary and mundane and creating a virtual diary based on everyday love, loss, and reflection.

Denise’s photographic style is centered around landscapes, wildlife, and often abandoned architecture. She aspires to capture the unusual in the usual, the extraordinary in the ordinary. Accentuated with natural lighting and strong compositional values, scenes and snippets of time are made permanent through the lens. Denise often photographs abandoned structures and vehicles as a way of elevating their decrepit state into something worthy and beautiful; remembered. She is especially drawn to patterns, symmetry, and line elements. Denise’s award-winning work is gaining attention on the regional and national stage through art festivals and exhibits.

Drayden Hebb is a lifelong photographer and Clinical Social Worker, retired, who takes spontaneous photographs that often reflect the relationship between solitude-loneliness and safety-fear. She is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Robert Hein is a Professor of Art and has been teaching photography at Frostburg State University since 2007. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally in juried exhibitions, fellowships, and solo shows. He has received Maryland State Arts Council artist awards, and makes frequent speaking appearances in regional arts councils, galleries, and museums. He lives in Frostburg with his wife and two children, one dog, one cat, and lots of cameras.

Visual artist Sam Heydt has lived/worked in Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, Athens, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Reykjavík, Udaipur, and Vienna.  She is both the founder and director of Jane Street Studio, L.L.C., a design firm in business since 2012, as well as KITSCH, a gallery and concept store launched in 2020. Working across mediums, HEYDT employs a range of materials often reinventing and trespassing their associative use. Marrying images of destruction with portrayals of the American Dream, her work confronts the disillusionment of our time with the ecological and existential nightmare it is responsible for.  Heydt's work has been shown in galleries, museums, art fairs and film festivals worldwide.

Kristine Hinrichs has shot and posted to social media every day for thirteen years. Her focus is on city life and the interrelationships between the architectural and human elements of the city. She has recently begun printing her images on silk and presenting them as layered pieces to mimic the way the elements of the urban environment move, change, and change each other. She also likes the contrast between the often hard urban environment and the softness of silk.

Born in the DRC and raised as a refugee in Burundi, Richard defied odds through resilience and creativity. Despite challenges, he excelled in education and represented his high school internationally in robotics. In 2015, he discovered his love for photography, seeing it as a bridge between people. Pursuing higher education in mass communication with a focus on photography, Richard's story embodies the transformative power of following one's passions.

Patricia Gallagher Lanigan’s introduction to photography in the 70’s was through the lens of her father’s Zeiss Ikon camera. Retirement and travel have given her the chance to get behind a digital lens to find the ordinary that in a particular moment presents the extraordinary. Her unfiltered unchanged pictures represent the image presented to her in that moment not the sought out perfect shot.

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Walter Levy has been an avid amateur photographer for fifty years. After studying for two years at Rochester Institute of Technology he stepped away from a career in photography, instead making his way as a computer technologist, preserving the freedom to create according to his artistic vision. After modest successes in photography competitions in high school and beyond, Walter worked mostly in obscurity for decades. Beginning in 2019 he has engaged more fully with the art community, enjoying the opportunity to share his work with a wider audience. His work has earned recognition and awards in group shows as well as solo exhibits. He is currently seeking a venue for a retrospective show.

Brandon Hirt is a Fine Artisan Photographer from the forest of Pennsylvania that uses the power of photography using long exposure, mood and unique perspective in my camera to tell stories to his collectors. Brandon tries and capture the beauty of wherever he is from a rusty forgotten trolley car to the warm morning sunrises on a snowy mountain. He will use his digital darkroom and strive for capturing it in camera because he would rather have his camera in his hand instead of sitting at a computer.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, inspired while living in Colorado, traveled abroad while now living in New Jersey; perspective, composition and contrasts drive my passion for photography. I focus on the “Fine Art” aspect of my images as I want to produce images that people can be proud to display. My subject matter varies, but is usually concentrated on nature, architectural and classic automotive subjects. My printing is archival using high quality paper and long-lasting pigment inks. Today my images are shot and edited digitally, but I began by shooting35mm and 2 ¼” film in a darkroom. My fine art works are held in many private collections in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Vermont, Ohio, and Rome, Italy.

Amber Kresge is a local fine art landscape and still-life photographer. However, she also enjoys shooting many other types of photography and has extensive experience in many various genres of photography. Some of Amber's work can be viewed locally inside of the Lakeside Grille restaurant in the Rocky Gap Casino, Resort, as well as on her Pixels.com and Fine Art America.com websites.

Annie Lasher is a hobbyist photographer who looks forward to the day when she has more time for it. Her favorite subject matter is travel photography, especially urban landscapes. Although she loves spending a day shooting, she really, really hates post-processing. She has had the pleasure of being hung in a number of local, regional, and national shows. In a perfect world, she would like to have Annie Leibovitz and Vivian Maier as neighbors.

Prescott Moore Lassman is a lens-based artist living in Washington, D.C. whose work spans the genres of documentary, portrait, travel, and street photography.  Using an intuitive approach, he searches for images that resonate, for moments of synchronicity in everyday life. He is a four-time recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship awarded by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and his work is in the permanent collections of D.C.’s Art Bank and the City Hall Art Collection. Prescott’s photographs have been exhibited widely in national and international art and photography exhibitions and also have been published in Black & White Magazine, Shots Magazine, The Sun Magazine, AAP Magazine, the Antietam Review, and the Washington Post.

Guntis Lauzums photographic journey began with the gift of a 35 mm camera for college graduation in 1976. His passion was born for creating fine art photography. He received an AAS degree in Photographic Instrumentation in 1982. Today in the digital world, he exhibits locally, nationally and internationally in various competitions and exhibits. He has been in many juried groups shows and received many awards. He is a member of Wisconsin Visual Artists WVA since 2015 as well as the Coalition of Photographic Artists CoPA, and American Latvian Artists Associatiom. His work is in a Latvian Museum in Cesis as well as private collections. You may follow him on Facebook and Instagram @guntislauzums. He is represented by Gallery 218 in Milwaukee.

Bob Lukeman resides in the American Southwest. Born in New Mexico, he has lived mainly in rural Texas, west of Fort Worth. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the University of North Texas. His passions include commercial photography, film and video production, music and photographic art. His travels have taken him throughout, not only the Southwest, but to Europe, Mexico, North and South America, capturing the things he sees. He is currently imaging his personal photography archives for a forthcoming book, Witness Marks, Photography in the Nick of Time.

Bob’s work has been in numerous photo exhibitions around the country, and his work is exhibited in his Studio/Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas, a beautifully restored building constructed in 1915 as a neighborhood grocery store. His photographic artwork is in private collections in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Washington and Paris.

Jillian Abir MacMaster is a Palestinian-American photographic artist from Frederick. Her portraiture explores age, immigration, family history, and power balances. She exhibits her work regionally and is passionate about community art.

Suzanna Mars is a former photojournalist whose "Nocturnal" series is influenced and inspired by the work of Edward Hopper (and a bit of sci-fi). The image you see of an art gallery called WarpHaus was lit in part by the headlights from oncoming vehicles as they passed through a traffic circle, creating a sense of cinematic storytelling and impending action. Who is approaching? Where is this, anyway? That's up to you!

Dan McCormack studied Photography from 1962-1967 at the Institute of Design,  at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago where he studied with Aaron Siskind, Arthur Siegal, Wynn Bullock and Joe Jachna. Next, he earned an MFA in Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1967 to 1970 having studied with Barbara Crane and Ken Josephson. He began photographing the nude with Wendy, his wife while exploring his MFA Thesis. Then for over fifty years he explored various techniques and processes and cameras while photographing the nude as a central theme.  Dan taught Photography at Purdue University, Pratt Institute, Suny New Paltz, Mercy College and finally at Marist College where he taught for 24 years before retiring.

Pippi Miller lives, plays and photographs in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She owns a gallery there where she immerses herself not only in her own need to create but finds her happiness in being an all-in-one support system for the local art community. Her current series of work is based in the solace and peace she finds when considering the complexity and multitude of human emotion that have soaked into the roots, rocks, and waters of these old mountains that embrace her and her family. Gallery Website: www.milleroffmain.com

Victor, based in New York City, is an award-winning architect and photographer whose photography has been featured in the Times of India, National Geographic Your Shot, and USA Today. He was honored to have two of his images selected by Ken Burns in a national competition.  You can follow Victor on Instagram @edivictor.

C E Morse was born in Camden, Maine. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Photography after studying with Paul Krot and Aaron Siskind.  He further studied at the Maine Photographic Workshops (now Maine Media Workshops) and the Maine College of Art. C E now lives in Cumberland Center, Maine and travels widely photographing abstract details of found objects and aerial landscapes.

Giuliana Nakashima is a student at the University of Houston. After working for almost twenty years as a dentist in Brazil, she moved to the United States and decided to try a major in Photography. Aging is her central theme since she is the oldest student in her class. Giuliana explores the benefits and difficulties of living “out of place” in different contexts. Time makes her think about her experiences, losses, achievements, and dreams.

Born in Philadelphia, Steve Netsky lives with his wife and daughter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his photography, he is drawn to intricate urban landscapes which he prefers to shoot in black and white.

In the diverse journey of my life, the intertwining paths of photography and storytelling have been a constant thrill, each click of the camera cherished. Growing up at the Jersey Shore to currently living on Long Island, managing my life as a dedicated mother and independent woman, photography remains an integral part of my life. My home is adorned with photographs and portraits of memories made, while albums and scrapbooks are lovingly tucked away in various corners. I believe that transforming memories into tangible snapshots that we can embrace for generations to come, helps to keep my photography constantly evolving.

The reoccurring theme of much of Allison’s work is seen in the contrast between Nature and Man. Being made in the image of the Creator, much of what is done in the built environment is quite artistic, even when it wasn’t meant to be. There is artistic beauty & in much of everyday life. Hopefully these photos catch a glimpse of this, and will assist the viewer to open their “own lens” and enjoy the man-made, utilitarian “sculptures” often in the midst of the beautiful natural surroundings. Allison currently lives in a small condo in downtown Gastonia, just west of Charlotte with the wife of his youth, Kathryn, with all seven (adopted) children somewhat nearby, with 13 grandchildren, which is a marvelous thing.

Based in Boston, US, Mary L. Peng is a self-taught multi-media artist, spanning collage, digital art, painting, mixed-media installation, and photography, whose oeuvre delves into the intricate links between the human body and psyche, reality, perception, and nature. Blending visual elements as organic living forms, Peng’s work oscillates between outright exploration of visceral aesthetics and the probing of philosophical concepts on constructionism and connectedness.  Peng sets out to capture the contradiction and harmony of human existence by exploring the ever-evolving dynamic between material and transcendental realities.

Stone Peng is a Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA-based national and international award-winning photographer. Awards include 1^st prize at the Ray and Nancy Loeschner Art competition 2020, 2^nd place at the 2019 and 2021 Black and White Spider Awards, 3^rd place at the 2020 International Color Awards, 3^rd place Aperture 2020, 2^nd place 2022 Great Northern Art Explosion and over 70 others. I have exhibited my photos in 30 different states in the USA and have been included in numerous publications.

Sarah Hood Salomon is a fine art photographer whose work challenges the definition of a photograph, explores its dimensions, and questions its ability to represent the ever-changing nature of the world in a two-dimensional plane. Her award-winning images and photographic sculptures have been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows across the country. She has an MFA in photography, and is a photography judge, curator, educator, and author.

Brian Sesack is an American photographer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  As a self-taught artist, he has learned how to use photography for his creative self-expression and to transform from looking to seeing.  He attempts to create images that bring the viewer into the subject by documenting textures and tonal qualities. Over time, Brian has discovered that not only is it essential to produce a beautiful image, but it is through this process and the state of being creative that joyfulness comes to him as an artist.

Writer, occasional book artist, and photographer Denis Sivack has written and lectured on the photographers Alfred P. Maudslay and Frederick Sommer and on the use of language in photographic literature.  He has long been an active member of the Society for Photographic Education and has made conference presentations on both the regional and national level. Some publications have been in The Polaroid Book, Quarter After Eight, Gargoyle, Weber Studies, Home Planet News, and the Elvis edition of River City. While he has long been active as a fine art and documentary photographer, he has also been a volunteer field worker on team projects in conservation biology and archaeology. He retired from 46 plus years as a full-time college English professor in 2011.

Derek Slagle, Ph.D., M.S. (he/him/his) is an American documentary and fine-art film photographer, based in Little Rock, Arkansas, covering narratives primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. His photographic work has expanded to partnerships with nonprofits, individuals, communities, and governmental entities for documentation of conservation practices and plant/ land/ animal management processes. Dr. Slagle was recently selected by the Mid-America Arts Alliance as a 2023 Catalyze Grant recipient. He has exhibited photographs broadly in various museums, publications, and exhibitions.

Cody Steckman is a hobbyist photographer. What started as a way to capture photos of he and his wife, Brianna's cross-country train honeymoon in 2021, turned into a true passion for photography. A marketing and graphic designer by profession, Cody loves the creative challenge of photography and hopes it shows in his work.

Benjamin C Tankersley is a fine art and commercial/editorial photographer. He earned his BFA in Photography from the Corcoran School of Art in 1999 where he is currently an adjunct professor. Benjamin is a regular contributor to The Washington Post and contributes to other local and national publications.  Benjamin also works at producing and exhibiting fine art photographs that are in various private and public collections and he has a self-published photo book included in the Indie Photobook Library at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University and the Self Publish, Be Happy collection at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. Benjamin continues to work on personal photographic projects as well as commissioned work and resides in Baltimore Maryland.

Paula Tremba was raised during the era of black and white television, film, magazines, and family photos. She is fascinated with the way photography reflects our inner lives and how it brings out childhood playfulness and curiosity, allowing her to experiment, explore, learn and always ask ‘what if.’ Today she embraces her passion for photography through macro (close-up) photography, intentional camera movement, multiple exposures, abstracts, and the use of an infrared converted digital camera to extract and emphasize the mystery, mood, and power of a scene and the possibilities that exist when combining it all together. Her goal is to carry the viewer to another world, to pause, look again, enter a moment of contemplation, and perhaps inject their own story. She is self-taught and lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Eric van den Brulle studied fashion photography with acclaimed photo-icon William Klein at Parsons and later studied cinematography with Academy Award winner Gordon Willis at SVA in New York City. He began his photography career as an assistant to celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz during her famed GAP portrait period. His own career has included a wide range of clients: MoMA, Michael Kors, Mexx, Lionel, Cole Haan, architect Robert Stern for The 7th Art, luxury kitchen designer St. Charles, Fox & Fowle Architects, EYP Architects, Jonathan Taylor Design, designers Brad Ford and Carolyne Roehm for Wantful Magazine, and designer Craig van den Brulle to name a few. His work has appeared in Travel & Leisure, Vogue, Men’s Journal, Paper, Roomplanners, ForbesLife Magazines as well as The New York Times. His series of architectural images, “Structures,” was reviewed by ARTnews contributor Barbara Pollack. He has exhibited in New York with Clic Gallery, Mary Gearhart Gallery and the Puffin Gallery. His work over the years has been recognized as some of the best work in photography by many of the industry’s most prestigious creative periodicals, including Communication Arts, Graphis and American Photography. Eric became a frequent supporter of Tibet House, donating his images to the annual Tibet House Annual Benefit Auction after a photographic trek through Tibet with singer/songwriter James Taylor. His work has been collected by fashion icon Donna Karan, Academy Award film director Robert Benton, pop artist Takashi Murakami, and model Frederique van der Wal.

In the 1970s I had one-man photo shows at SohoPhoto Gallery in New York and the Catskill Center for Photography in Woodstock.  In 1976 faced with the need to support a new family, I became a medical researcher and for the next 40 odd years used photography primarily for record-keeping.  In 2011 I was admitted to George Mason University as an MFA candidate, graduated in 2015 and once again consider myself a photographer.

Sandra’s work focuses on photography emphasizing human condition in social identity, culture, diversity. She has dedicated long-term projects on women, LGBTQI, minorities, and American pop culture.  Sandra has received numerous distinguished awards and nominated in Prix Pictet theme HUMAN in UK 2023, winner for OpenWalls in the Recontres d’Arles France 2023, exhibitions including at the Phillips Collection, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Aperture Gallery, and more.  Her work is in several private and public collections including Gordon Parks Foundation.

I'm a recovering engineer who is enjoying learning some cool things I can do with a photograph, aspiring to create a scene that deserves some consideration, though I try not to take myself too seriously.  My inspirations include geometry and technology, Weston and Mapplethorpe, Penn and Newton, Muybridge and Edgerton, the real and the surreal, myth and reality.  Much of my recent work reflects reality distorted or abstracted, informed one way or another by my sense of increasing uncertainty regarding the state of the world.

Fred Zafran has long been interested in photography as a distinctive means of storytelling.  His work examines the artistic possibilities of photographs that combine the poetic with a representational view of the world.  The resulting images which Zafran calls “poetic narrative,” are post documentary in that the stories are open ended, subjective, rich in symbolism and metaphor, and encourage consideration and interpretation by the viewer.  Fred Zafran is a juried artist of the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA, a represented artist of Multiple Exposures Gallery, and exhibits his work throughout the DC metro area.

As an artist, I have been creating photographs for the past 48 years. My evolution as an artist parallels my professional development. In the past, I had darkrooms both at home and work. Today, I use my digital camera and Adobe Photoshop. I love the rich tonalities of a black and white image. My inspiration to capture and present an image is not limited in any way to specific subjects. I am interested in the entire visual world and want to share that diverse array so that you may enjoy the excitement that I feel when I see something in an interesting light.

Douglas Zaruba, born in Buffalo, NY, in 1949, embarked on a diverse artistic journey. His academic pursuits at the State University of New York at Buffalo encompassed Fine Art, Architecture, Poetry, and Physics. During the mid-70s, Zaruba shared a studio space at Essex Street Studios in Buffalo with fellow artists, including Duayne Hatchett, Robert Longo, and Cindy Sherman.

Initially finding success as a painter, Zaruba transitioned to become a nationally recognized jewelry designer and master goldsmith. In 2005, he took a transformative step by relocating to a remote Caribbean Island off the coast of Panama, rekindling his passion for painting and sculpture. Returning to the US in 2010, Zaruba dedicated himself to both fine art and fine jewelry design. However, in 2021, he retired from jewelry design and retreated to a secluded cabin in West Virginia, fully committing to his pursuit of fine art. This trajectory reflects a dynamic and evolving artistic career influenced by his studies in Zen and Taoism, life experiences, diverse disciplines, and a continuous quest for creative expression. Douglas Zaruba maintains a studio 4978 Old Martinsburg Grade Rd, Augusta, WV 21704.