Member Bios
Allen Kurth
I’m an advanced amateur photographer. Now that I’m retired I have more time for photography. I moved to Nebraska 35 years ago as a single parent and wasn’t sure what I would photograph here. I had no interest in photographing birds. I had never seen an eagle in the wild and was excited to find that a pair were nesting here for the first time. I was determined to get a good photo and soon found that none of my gear was adequate for eagle photos. I was hooked.
Nebraska has proven to be a good location for bird photography. Many birds migrate through in the spring and fall. Sandhill cranes make Nebraska a stopping point on their journey north. I’ve spent a couple of days shooting prairie chickens every spring. I live close to one of the only woodlands in Nebraska.
I shoot with Sony mirrorless cameras and do nearly all my bird photography with a telephoto lens. I shoot everything in raw and use a PC with Photoshop and Lightroom for processing. I want to participate in some competition and think that PSA could help me with that.
Jim Bodkin, APSA, PPSA
I am a resident of the Chicago area for the past 35 years with a passion for nature photography. Prior to that we lived in Florida for 8 years after growing-up in Virginia, as various Engineering and Management jobs influenced our location.
I have been a long-time casual photographer, chronicling the kids growing years and travels with 35mm color film. With the advent of good digital cameras, in 1998 I decided to get more involved with digital photography since my background in electronics and computers supplied the new skills required. Wife Diane and I have traveled to all 50 states and 45 foreign countries and we wanted to have a hobby that could easily capture our travels and our love of nature. This has blossomed into our involvement in 2 local photo clubs, the Chicago Regional group CACCA, joining PSA, and me chairing up the PSA Chicago Chapter and the Nature Division of PSA.
We typically shoot all types of nature subjects from macro to landscapes, with our favorite being birds. We still document our travels and family events, especially of the 3 grandchildren. Additionally, we also compete in local, regional, national and international competitions.
We both shoot Canon equipment. The Canon R6 and 7D Mk II bodies are our latest with an assortment of lens. My favorite lenses are Canon 100-400mm and Canon 500mm f/4 with a 2X teleconverter. Whereas I used to be able to pass equipment down to Diane when I got a newer model, I am now purchasing 2 of everything as her skills have increased.
I work exclusively on Mac computers, with archiving and 100% of the improvements performed in Lightroom and an additional 10-20% in Photoshop, Aurora, or other specialized software and plug-ins. I produce my own prints, up to 17" wide, on an Epson 3880 printer.
I am constantly looking for improvement in my work and B&W is an area where I want to improve.
Deborah Albert
I am a retired pediatric surgeon, ardent animal lover and passionate wildlife advocate.I photograph to share the marvels I have seen in the hopes of inspiring people to save the wild places.
Raj Panandiker
I am a Chemical Engineer, retired after working for the same company for over 30 years. I have been doing landscape photography for many years but I am a novice in wildlife. Since retirement, my wife and I have been traveling, hoping to make some interesting images. I joined PSA just recently but I have been an active member of the local Photo Club - a PSA affiliate.
I use Canon gear - R3 with 600mm or 100-500 lenses.
I hope to learn from this group to improve my technique.
Group Administrator
Lillian Roberts, APSA, GMPSA/B
Lillian Roberts, APSA, GMPSA/b, has been an active nature and wildlife photographer since the late 1990s. She joined PSA in 2001 but only recently became more active first in competition and now as 2nd ND Division Chair. In taking on the study group administration, she hopes to both improve her own understanding of the division but also give back to an organization that supports and facilitates photographers at every level.
Graham Harris
Graham Harris is an amateur photographer based in Toowoomba, Australia. He retired in early 2024 as an extension agronomist with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. He has been a member of the Toowoomba Photographic Society since 2005 and was recently became President. He has a broad cross-section of photographic interests but considers his greatest interest is in nature, people and event photography.
He has Photographic Honours achieved through acceptances in National and International Salons with the following organisations:
• Australian Photographic Society – Fellowship (FAPS)
• Federation Internationale of Photographic Art – Excellence FIAP (EFIAP)
• Photographic Society of America – Proficiency (PPSA)
• Global Photographic Union – GPU-Crown 2
He has been an accredited judge with the Photographic Society of Queensland since 2009. He has judged in excess of 125 club competitions and is currently a Star Ratings Director for the Photographic Society of America.
Pinaki Sarkar
I am engineer by profession and an amateur photographer (do not make money out photos). I love traveling around the world and going out in general with my camera and taking pictures. My Insta handle is pinaki.sarkar5. Usually, I post my photos there...
Sajeev Krishnan
Hi, I'm born and brought up in Kerala, India, popularly known as God's own country! A structural engineer by profession and a photographer by passion. After my post graduation in structural engineering I worked in India, Malaysia , UAE and now for the last 15 years working in Qatar.
I started my photography journey with a borrowed Yashica Point & Shoot film Camera just to capture the moments and document the places that I used to travel. Although during the early few years of mine, neither I knew nor I paid attention to artistic perspectives such as composition and light, thus, wasted many years of my life just clicking generic documentary shots. However, as I came in contact with a few eminent photographers across the world through social media and photography portals such as Flickr, 500px, I was amazed by the images they have created. That spiked an ignition within me to learn how can I too create such images. I started joining local workshops and watching YouTube videos to nurture myself and finally to calm down and think through the composition and various angles before pressing the shutter while on spot. I am more into wildlife though I like other streams too such as astro and street photography.
During this journey of mine, I gradually upgraded my gears from Nikon D40x to D500 and finally D4. Mirrorless camera will be the ultimate aim. However I am fully satisfied with my current gears.
You can see my work on: sajeev.krishnan001