Member Bios
Group Administrator
David Stout, EPSA
I was born and raised in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, close to the coast of Northumberland, to Scotland, the Lake District, and the Yorkshire Dales. Following a 45 year career as a printer of banknotes, I am now retired.
Since my first overseas trip - a voyage to Venice, Athens, Istanbul, and Naples in 1964 with a Kodak Brownie 44a camera, I have continued to travel and photograph as much of our world as possible. This interest took a major step forward when I joined a camera club in 1982 and my photography has progressed ever since.
I gained Licentiateship (LRPS) of the Royal Photographic Society in 1987, and Associateship (ARPS) in 1990. Four years on I submitted a successful portfolio to achieve the Distinction of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (DPAGB). A result of having over 390 of my images accepted in salons and exhibitions worldwide - some attaining gold and silver medals, is the Excellence distinction of the Federation Internationale l`Art Photographique (EFIAP).
In January 2007 I enrolled as a member of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and in June 2015 a further 360 acceptances has earned me PPSA, and in March 2020 with a further 360 I have gained EPSA.
As well as DPSG 27, I am also administrator in PTD IDG 3. And I am currently a member of a camera club here in North East England.
MY EQUIPMENT is as follows:- CANON EOS 5D Mark 3 camera, with Canon lenses from 17mm to 200mm, and an INDURO graphite monopod, all this kit is carried in a LOWEPRO sling bag.
DAVID J STOUT, EPSA, EFIAP, DPAGB.
Shirley Bormann, APSA, EPSA
Shirley Bormann APSA, EPSA
We retired to Arizona from Minnesota but still live part of the year in northern Minnesota. Both my husband and I love to travel and photography and travel are very compatible interests. We have traveled to about 70 countries and I have been to all the states and most Canadian provinces except Newfoundland. After an interesting trip, my husband and I often create a slideshow of our images to share with the community. Favorite subjects range from architecture, travel photography to nature and wildlife. I enjoy making monochrome images.
I currently use an Olympus 4/3rd camera but really enjoy photographing with my cellphone as well. Active in PSA since I joined in 2009 and our local photo club and statewide photo organization. I have over 2000 international acceptances. We have two children and three granddaughters.
Judy Burr, APSA, MPSA
Photography has been a passion for many years and was largely the result of my love of travel. I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware where I did my first black and white processing with my father when I was in Junior High School. I didn't really become seriously involved in photography until I graduated from college. I moved to Baltimore and eventually joined the Baltimore Camera Club. Some mentors in the club introduced me to PSA and I have been a member ever since. After my husband I were married, I moved to Kensington, MD. After moving to Kensington, I found the North Bethesda Camera Club where I now serve as the club PSA rep. I used to use Nikon equipment and still have some that is feeling neglected. I switched to a micro 4/3 system several years ago because it is much easier to carry.I use 2 EM-5 mark IIs and had my EM5 and EP2 converted to IR. I enjoy all kinds of photography and try to learn new techniques.
In recent years, I have become more involved in PSA and am in 3 study groups - this one, a monochrome one of which I am the secretary and a DD color one. I also serve as the director of the Travel essay competitions and encourage you to considering entering an essay. All the details are on the PTD webpage.I earned my PPSA in 2014, EPSA in 2016 and MPSA in 2020 and was honored with APSA in 2015.
Rich Krebs
I graduated from Grove City College a long time ago with a BS ME degree. I joined the Navy thru OCS and was assigned a ship in Norfolk, VA. After my tour there, I went to a ship homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. After PG school in Monterey, Vietnam and Washington tours, I got off of active duty and stayed in the Naval Reserve for another 20 years, retiring in 1991. After I got out of the Navy, I had positions with defense companies or the government in Annapolis, Md, Fort Meade, Md, Greenville, Tx, St. Louis and finally Colorado, where I retired from IBM in June 2006. I was a Project Manager.
I have been taking pictures since college using a point and shoot film camera. I started taking photos with SLR's in the Navy when I went to Japan. I changed to digital in the 1990's and a DSLR last year. I take landscapes, animals, birds, travel photos. I have thousands of slides and prints from the Navy tours to Japan, Europe, Vietnam and our own travels. Now I am strictly digital and have quite a few pictures saved and online. I recently purchased a Fuji XT-20 mirrorless camera and am trying to learn how to use it.
Esther Steffens
Bio Coming Soon . . .
N. Sukumar, APSA
I am a scientist, photographer, conservationist, wilderness enthusiast and educator. I was born in Calcutta, India, obtained my Ph.D. in chemistry from Stony Brook, New York, and have worked in the US, India and Germany, having spent about half my life in the US and half in India. My wife, Sunanda, was also a chemist and educator. After returning from the US to India, I founded the chemistry department at Shiv Nadar University and taught there for a decade before retiring recently. I now live on a mountain in the Himalayas.
I have served as president, webmaster and chair of the Slide and Fine Arts groups at the Schenectady Photographic Society, as well as Editor of its Newsletter, the FOCUS. I am also served as Program Chair and 2nd Vice-Chair of CPID and webmaster of CPID and the Nature Division in PSA. I have exhibited at several local and national galleries, presented programs at PSA and other international conventions, and been published in art magazines and the PSA Journal. My main photographic subjects are nature, landscape, travel and figure. I am fascinated with abstracts and the indirectly perceived. I also paint in pastels and oils. I enjoy both wet and digital darkroom work.
You can see my work on: Flickr album and Quo vadis blog and Blurb books
Michael Smith
Age 80
I grew up in a small town in Ohio, USA, and graduated from The Ohio State University in 1966 with a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. My first job was as a design engineer on the Boeing Supersonic Transport Program. I spent be majority of my career in aerospace, progressing from design engineering into applications engineering and eventually into Business Development Management. I retired in 2013 as President of the Aviation Recorders Division of L3 Communications in Sarasota, Florida where I reside today. The Aviation Recorders Division designed and manufactured the "black box" on aircraft that is recovered after and accident.
I am married to Katie, my wife of nearly 58 years. We have two children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild, who make their home in Ohio.
My profession gave me the opportunity to travel extensively around the world, as airplane manufacturers and airlines were our primary customers. Unfortunately, the nature of business travel didn’t provide me the opportunity to photograph many of the places that I had the pleasure of visiting. Since retiring, in addition to hobbies of golf, sailing, competitive ballroom dancing, and learning the Italian language, we have been traveling extensively. I have always loved photography, picking it up from my father who was an avid amateur photographer, but did not, until recently, begin to study how to improve my photography. I am truly an amateur but trying hard to improve my skills. I have much to learn, but I really enjoy capturing, and sharing, the wonderful places that we have, and are visiting. I joined PSA after having the privilege of traveling to Africa in October with J. R. Schnelzer and his wonderful wife Lisa, and really learning from them, and learning about PSA. I want to take full advantage of the opportunities through PSA to learn and improve my photographic skills. Photo taken in Kafue National Park, Zambia with my friend Matthew.