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• Tom Crews
• Tim Christoffersen
• Tom Donahoe
• Gary Ellis
• Jim Hafft
• Randal Hake
• Jim Mammon
• John Ricca
• Jerry Samelson

Tom Crews

Concord, California
(925) 682-5361
xptom@sbcglobal.net

Format: Digital - RAW

Camera: Canon Rebel Xti

Lenses: Canon EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Filters: Hoya UV, Circular Polorizer

Flash: Built in camera flash, Canon Speedlite 420EX

Tripod: Giotto GB2130 w/ Bogen (Manfrotto) 3-Way Head

I have been a photographer for over 30 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Landscape
Events
Family & Friends
People
Underwater
Travel

My favorite places to photograph: Town of Locke

My favorite destinations: Thailand

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop CS3 (Proficiency - Skilled}

I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Occupation: Semi retired, avid amateur photographer, instructor

My web site: www.http://xphomestation.com

My favorite techniques: Exposure Lock, Center Focus

My photographic philosophy: "Get it right in the camera."

This is my favorite photograph: The Place of Refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Tim Christoffersen

Walnut Creek
925-946-0878
tim.christoffersen@gmail.com

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Canon 20D

Lens: Canons: EF 85mm 1.8f; EFS 17-85mm; EF 100-300

Filters: neutral density; bought graduated neutral density but have not used

Flash: Canon 580 EX

Tripod: Bogen

I have been a photographer for 5 years but picked up pace a little over last 3 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Portrait
Family
People
Architecture
Animals
Travel

My favorite places to photograph: Asia and hopefully Africa and parts of Middle East on horizon. Also starting photographing Monterey Bay coastline area.

My favorite destinations: India, Southeast Asia, Monterey Bay. I hope to enlarge the list of favorite destinations.

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop CS3 (Proficiency - Skilled)

I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Occupation: happily retired

My web site: www.timchristoffersen.com

My favorite techniques: I like to shoot photos of people. Making them comfortable, getting verbal or non verbal consent, and, if you have time, hang out for a while with them.

My photographic philosophy: not developed

This is my favorite photograph: Man in Blue Jacket on Early Morning Walk in Hsipaw.

Tom Donahoe

Walnut Creek
925945-8142
tdonahoe@astound.net

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Canon 20D

Lens: Canon 17-35mm f2.8, Canon 70-300mm IS, Canon 100-400mm IS, Canon 60mm Macro f2.8

Filters: polarizer

Flash: Canon Speedlite 580EX

Tripod: Manfrotto 190MF3

I have been a photographer for 50 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Events
People
Animals
Night
Travel
Macro

My favorite places to photograph: European Cities at Night, Wildlife locations, Coasts, harbors, around water

My favorite destinations: Antarctica, Africa, Southwest, Europe

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop CS2 (Proficientcy - Proficient)

Occupation: Civic and nonprofit volunteer

My favorite techniques: Shoot from the right place on the XYZ axis:

X - move left or right
Y - get low or high
Z - be the right distance from the subject

My photographic philosophy: "Get close, keep it clean and not cluttered, include a visually interesting foreground."

Gary Ellis

Walnut Creek
925-932-6541
misterellis@mac.com

Format: Digital-JPEG

Camera: Canon 20D

Lens: Canon 24-70mm L

Filters: UV, polarizer

Flash: Canon 430 EX, built-in flash

Tripod: Bogen Manfrotto 3021B PRO

I have been a photographer for 3 years seriously + 5 years in my teens.

My areas of photographic interest:

Portrait
Landscape
Events
Family
People
Architecture
Animals
Sports
Night
Flowers

My favorite places to photograph: San Francisco downtown and waterfront, Any sports field, Crowds.

My favorite destinations: Carmel/Monterey/Pacific Grove

Program I use to edit my pictures: iPhoto, Photoshop Elements 4.0. (Proficiency - Novice - I have the program, which I use occasionally.

Occupation: Teacher

My web site: http://web.mac.com/misterellis

My favorite techniques:

I use the histogram a lot, especially in bright light (thanks to Tom Donahoe).

I am willing to try different camera angles and to take extra steps to get a good shot (e.g. climb fences, walk across a field to sneak up on animals, ask permission to photograph from the sports field). I also experiment with shutter speeds and panning (thanks to Tom Crews).

Ask permission to photograph in restricted areas (e.g. ask for a press pass to shoot an event you want to shoot).

When shooting moving subjects with a telephoto, set the shutter speed to at least the reciprocal of the focal length (e.g. 1/300 for a 300mm lens), and faster if using a crop camera (e.g. 1/500 for a 300mm lens with my Canon 20D).

My photographic philosophy: "Don't be shy--go where you need to go and do what you need to do to get the shot. Try for the impossible and see what happens."

This is my favorite photograph: "Parking Lot Storm". One evening I came out of a Wal-Mart and saw this amazing sunset, colors that I'd never seen before, and never since.

Jim Hafft

Walnut Creek
925-944-5053
hafft@astound.net

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Nikon D70

Lens:

Nikon 105mm macro/2.8D, Nikon 24mm-85mm/2.8-4D, Nikon 80mm-200m/2.8D, Tamron 17mm-35mm/2.8-4.0

Filters: polarizers, ultra violet Harrison&Harrison

Flash: on camera

Tripod: Bogen 3021, Bogen 190MF3

I have been a photographer off and on since 1967.

My areas of photographic interest:

Portrait
Landscape
Events
Family
People
Animals
Night
Travel
Macro
Still
Flowers

My favorite places to photograph : California

My favorite destinations: California Coast, California mountains, Italy

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop CS3, started to use Adobe Lightroom (Proficiency - Skilled)

I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Occupation: Engineer Technician in Biotech industry.

My web site: jimhafftphoto.com

My favorite techniques: files from Photoshop User magazine, other photo magazines, Scott Kelby, Ben Wilmore books

My photographic philosophy: "Show others the beauty and mystery all around them."

Randall Hake

Walnut Creek
925-430-6845
rbhake@pacbell.net

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Canon 1Ds Mark II

Lens: Canon 16-35,24-70,70-200,100-400

Filters: split neutral density grads, polarizers

Flash: Canon 580 EX

Tripod: Gitzo 1348

I have been a photographer for 2 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Landscape
Events
People
Animals
Macro

My favorite places to photograph: Sierras

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop (Proficiency - Skilled - I can complete most editing tasks.)

Occupation: Retired

Jim Mammon

American Canyon, California
707-649-2741
jdmammon@aol.com

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Nikon D200, D80

Lens: Nikon 18-200mm VR, Nikon 70-300 VR, Sigma 50-500mm, Sigma 10-20mm

Filters: UV

Flash: Nikon SB 600, SB 400, and on camera flash

Tripod: Benro

I've enjoyed photogaphy for over 40 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Landscape
Events
Family
Animals
Travel
Macro
Flowers

My favorite places to photograph: San Diego County and Yosemite

My favorite destinations: Planning a trip to China in 2008

Program I use to edit my pictures: Nikon Capture NX. (Proficiency - Skilled)

Occupation: Retired. I love photography and shooting muzzleloading rifles and old west single shot black powder cartridge rifles.

My favorite techniques: I am beginning to use my tripod and monopod as a part of my standard equipment.

My photographic philosophy: "Above all, have fun."

This is my favorite photograph of my youngest grandson.

John Ricca

Martinez
925-229-1639
jricca@comcast.net

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Nikon D200, Nikon D40X

Lens: Nikon 12-24, Nikon 70-200, Nikon 105 micro, Nikon 18-200, Nikon 80-400

Filters: Polarizer, Neutral Density, Graduated Neutral Density

Flash: Nikon SB800

Tripod: Gitzo 1327 Mountaineer

I have been a photographer for 35 years.

My areas of photographic interest:

Portrait
Landscape
Family
Animals
Travel
Macro
Flowers

My favorite places to photograph : Africa, Yosemite, any place with clouds

My favorite destinations: Africa, Europe, Yosemite

Program I use to edit my pictures: Lightroom, Photoshop CS2, PTgui Pro (Proficiency: Skilled}

I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Occupation: Semi-retired attorney

My web site:

www.riccalaw.com
www.riccapics.smugmug.com

My favorite techniques: HDR Panos, spot metering

My photographic philosophy: "I try to capture what I see and feel, not, necessarily, what is there."

Jerry Samelson

Dublin
510-483-2848
jerome_samelson@yahoo.com

Format: Digital-RAW

Camera: Nikon D300

Lens: 18-70mm-basic; 70-300mm tele zoom; 80-400mm zoom

Filters: For the appropriate conditions: split gradient neutral density 0.9 factor; circular polarizing filter

Flash: Nikon SB800 Speed-Light

Tripod: Pro-Master

I have been a photographer for 30+ years; strictly amateur

My areas of photographic interest:

Portrait
Landscape
Events
Family
People
Animals
Sports
Night
Underwater
Travel
Flowers

My favorite places to photograph : anyplace there is abundant wild-life; sporting events; cultural events involving people and customs of different cultures; botannical gardens; ocean, mountains, desert, wildlife refuges.

My favorite destinations: all over western North America; Hawaii and Micronesia; Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Indonesia, S.E. Asia; India, Tibet, Nepal, Southern Africa; Antartica; Caribbean islands and Central America on Atlantic coast because I am a scuba diver. That covers it!

Program I use to edit my pictures: Photoshop CS-3 (Proficiency: Improvement)

I am a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Occupation: Optometrist

My favorite techniques: I try to adhere to the basic core guidelines of good exposure & composition; use rule of thirds; always shoot in raw; use tripod & mono-pod when my shutter speeds are less than 1/30sec or when I want the clearest image possible; use expo disc primarily indoors & when lighting complex for the truest colors; using polarizing filter for any water/snow shots; using neutral density filters to add more contrast to scenes/sky etc; using fill flash for people, small wildlife; trying to experiment with shooting low, shoot different angles; making sure my camera is level & that I am not getting any unwanted "things/people" in my photo; always check my equipment & settings on camera making sure everything works before I go on the shoot; bring spare everything, especially fully charged batteries!

Finally, have fun with every shoot with no expectations!

In processing the image: effective cropping; use of Gaussian Blur to remove "background clutter" & create special effects; use things like stone clamp tool, perspective correction, etc. to correct deficiencies in the original image.

My photographic philosophy: I enjoy my photography the most when I can capture & create an image that evokes any strong emotion from me (hence from anyone viewing my image); hopefully that emotion will make myself feel in awe or make me think a little more about the complex world we live