Member Bios
Alan Lichtenstein, QPSA
I was born in Brooklyn, trained as a chemist but now I'm a retired assistant principal who purchased a digital camera in 2006, used it for 3 years in automatic until I finally decided I ought to learn what all those features and icons in the menu were. I'm an SOOC ( straight out of the camera) amateur and do no editing whatsoever, save occasional cropping and resizing where necessary. I particularly like images of sunrises and sunsets and I enjoy the blue and golden hours. My wife and I travel extensively, having been from the top of the world to the bottom, visited every continent and visited a country in every one of the 24 time zones. Because we travel with groups, I've rarely had time to set up a tripod, so virtually everything I have is hand-held. I am an unreconstructed Olympus user, but I traded in my E-5 and OM-10 for the SONY a-7 IV because I got tired of the 2.0 crop. Travel being my forte and great like, I've written three articles for the Travel Division Newsletter; one on Madagascar and its lemurs, another, about visiting, of all places, the NYC City Hall Subway Station, and the third, most recent about visiting Churchill, Canada to see the polar bears and the Northern Lights. My wife and I have been traveling for almost 25 years now, and are still going as strong as our advancing ages permit. I look forward to discussion in the group.
Group Administrator
Christian Kieffer, GMPSA
I am a Luxembourgish artistic and portrait photographer by passion who have been practicing photography over the past two and a half decades. My numerous roundtrips to Latin America since the late 90's have opened and shaped my photographic style into a photographic approach. With black and whites portraying indigenous, documentary, people to street photography scenes, I found what inspires me most. During the past years I have been engaged in developing a more artistic portraiture. Christian Kieffer / GMPSA / PJD Galaxy 1.
You can see my work on: Christian Kieffer Photography
Sylvie Tas
I am an amateur travel and wildlife photographer, originally from Belgium, living in the NYC metropolitan area.
My passion is traveling and discovering new places.
I look forward to be inspired and learn from you all!
Gordon Swetland
I'm a life long photographer and still every camera I ever owned, starting with a Kodak Brownie my grandma gave me when I was in 3rd grade. I'm a retired Army First Sergeant of 22 years, serving on Abrams tanks. Been to combat and acquired a thing called PTSD....so photography for me has gotten way more real and almost like an addiction. I shoot photos every day! If I'm out ofthe house the camera(s) are with me. I have done a few years of free lance work mostly with automotive hot rods, racing etc..
Currently I'm shooting with an array of Sony gear I have a new Sony A7C which I like alot....when I shoot large events I take along my older A7....my glass is another story. I hope to contribute here, my other goals include eventual PJ distinction and a portfolio distinction.
Zoe Kosmi
Bio Coming Soon . . .
Hai Nguyen, QPSA
Hai Nguyen, QPSA
I came to photography by chance after I retired early 6 years ago. At first, I learned from friends and mainly self-taught, I also attended some photography courses by PSA. I encountered countless difficulties but I overcame them thanks to my passion for the new hobby. I took many photos, in many places, the failures gave me new experiences and I grew up from there. I started participating in international photo contests from 2021 and I learned a lot from photographers all over the world. I love traveling, combining travel and photography is really great, I hope to have more beautiful photos from the places I am lucky once to visit in my life.
Frederick Emch
On many family vacations, I took snapshots or videos with my Nikon point and shoot camera. A few years ago, a friend got me to attend a local camera club meeting where I was mesmerized by the beauty and impact of the images. I put down my point and shoot and picked up my first DSLR. Photography is both thrilling and therapeutic for me. I was an engineer for 44 years. Now that I'm retired, I want to develop my creative side and push myself to see what is possible. I feel like I have so much to learn and I'm still finding my photographic voice. My goal is to always keep learning. The best part of my hobby is being outside or inside somewhere, creating photos with no set time to stop.