Join NHCC on Monday September 9th for 'Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things'

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Join NHCC on Monday September 9th for 'Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things' 

Where: Unitarian Universalist church in Hamden; 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden, CT 06517
Come at 6:45, programs start at 7:00.
Programs are FREE and open to the public (You must be a member to compete, attend workshops and field trips).
We meet on the 2nd Monday of the month for our programs and the fourth Monday of the month for our competitions.

'Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things' 
Lisa will discuss the love for RUST and her approach to and experience with photographing historic and abandoned buildings, urban decay, etc. She will show techniques for wide angle and close-up photography including the use of HDR (high dynamic range), EDR (extended dynamic range), HDR-panoramas, and light painting in this program. Equipment and techniques used to bring out the beauty and drama of these subjects will also be discussed as we show our fascination with RUST. She aims to inspire you: inspire you to visit new "old" places and to get to know them well enough to tell their story, inspire you to capture high dynamic range images and to light paint, and inspire you to create art from decay. 
Lisa sees the Beauty in Decay and Abandonment. Old, Historic, Grand, Dramatic, Unique -- these characteristics draw us to explore and capture the essence of these rusty, dusty subjects and locations. Urban exploration (UrbEx) is the art of finding and exploring abandoned locations. Not all locations are technically "urban" or even "abandoned". The term abandoned is used VERY loosely. It is not "being abandoned" that attracts us to a place, it is the history, beauty, decay, charm, and architectural details (which contrast so drastically with today’s vanilla architecture). Another definition of UrbEx is the investigation of seldom seen man-made structures, a definition more consistent with our quest, since our subjects may be FAR from abandoned (like the architectural grandeur of bustling Grand Central Terminal or the surprising drama of the [empty] neo-Gothic Eastern State Penitentiary), but these sites count as "unseen" because few people actually stop to appreciate beautiful prison architecture or the jaw-dropping details of Grand Central, a place that they might even rush through twice a day. 



Bio -- please post, but spoken version can be ad-libbed and shortened.
Lisa Cuchara, PhD, Master Craftsman, HonNEC, and Tom Cuchara, MNEC, are passionate about photography, both behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. They have diverse creative interests ranging from Nature, Macro and Night photography to Urban exploration, people, and creative editing. From birds and flowers to babies and HDR, they appreciate the world around them and embrace the challenge of interpreting what their eyes see, and their hearts feel via their photography.  

Tom and Lisa are both very active in many local and national photography organizations. They have had many successful gallery exhibitions and their work has been accepted into various juried exhibitions. Their photographs have appeared in Adirondack Life, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, in calendars and on calendar covers, and on the cover of a paperback novel. Lisa has also had images accepted into the PPA (Professional Photographers of Association) loan collection and this year earned Double Bronze with 4/4 open and 4/4 Artistry Images Meriting. Their images have won awards at the local, state, national, and international levels.  They have been photographing weddings, babies, parties, portraits, etc. professionally for over 15 years and have their own Photography Studio in Hamden CT. Their portrait philosophy is based on “We do not remember days, we remember Moments”.
Tom and Lisa have published two books with Amherst Media. The first called “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” is about their HDR and light painted images; it can be ordered from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex and is also available at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Their second, one year later, is called “The Frog Whisperer: Portraits and Stories” http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs.
They teach photography a variety of image capture and post-processing workshops and seminars, in the classroom and in the field. They have presented a variety of instructional programs and workshops (Photoshop, Digital Workflow, HDR, RAW processing, Macro photography, Travel photography, plus fun and interesting travelogue slideshows) at NECCC, PPA, PSA, plus many other camera clubs and other organizations. Check out their photo and editing classes, their photo tours and workshops, and view their photographs at www.photographybylisaandtom.com. They are excited to have an opportunity to inspire you with their "Creativity is contagious, pass it on" philosophy and their “Don’t shoot what it looks like, shoot what it feels like” approach.


Short Bio (Verbal version):
Tom and Lisa Cuchara are known throughout the Greater New England Area for their expertise in Photography, and in Photoshop, and for their inspirational and informative photo tours, classes, and workshops. They both have created numerous award winning photographic images and enjoy sharing their vision, passion and knowledge with other people. They have published two books with Amherst Media. The first called “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” is about their HDR and light painted images; it can be ordered from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex and is also available at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Their second, one year later, is called “The Frog Whisperer” http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs.. You can learn more about Lisa and Tom at www.photographybylisaandtom.com and be sure to check out their workshops at http://tinyurl.com/lisatomworkshops.