Program Meeting

Lisa will discuss the love for RUST and their approach to and experience with photographing historic and abandoned buildings, urban decay, etc. This program will include 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. The program is aimed 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. Tom and Lisa see 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 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.
https://www.photographybylisaandtom.com/

Written Bio
Lisa Cuchara, PhD, Master Craftsman (PPA), Master of Photography (M. Photog.) HonNEC, is very passionate about photography and she enjoys both being behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. She loves to photograph nature but finds many subjects equally intriguing. From birds and flowers to babies and UrbEx/HDR, she appreciates the world around her and embraces the challenge of interpreting what her eyes see and her heart feel via her photographs. Lisa says that photography allows her to pay attention to the details, to be mindful, to slow down and appreciate all of the beauty, details and nuances of everyday life. Lisa met her husband Tom thru photography, and they are both very active in many local, national, and international photography organizations. They have had many successful gallery exhibitions, their work has been accepted into many juried exhibitions and their images have won awards at the local, state, national, and international levels. Their photographs have appeared in Adirondack Life, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, in calendars and on calendar covers, and on the cover of a fictional paperback novel. Lisa has also had images accepted into the PPA (Professional Photographers Association) loan collection and has earned three Bronze image competition cases.

They have published two books with Amherst Media: “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” is about their HDR and light painted images (Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex and also available at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes & Noble) and their second book “The Frog Whisperer” http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs is about macro photography, using frogs as subjects. Lisa & Tom have been photographing people professionally for over 16 years and have their own Photography Studio in Hamden CT. Their portrait philosophy is based on “We do not remember days, we remember Moments”. Lisa & Tom love to teach, inspire and share. They have presented a wide variety of motivational and instructional programs and workshops (Photoshop, Digital Workflow, HDR, RAW processing, Macro photography, Travel photography) at many photography groups, conventions, and organizations. Check out their photo and editing classes, their photo tours and workshops, and view their photographs at www.PhotographyByLisaAndTom.com. Get Tips & Tricks about photo ops, post-processing, creativity, gear, etc. and learn more about their photography classes and workshops by joining their email list http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-photolist.
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www.photographybylisaandtom.com

Follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/lisaandtomphotos

For more information about our photography education/classes: www.lisaandtomphotography.com

We would love an opportunity to inspire you with our "Creativity is contagious, pass it on" philosophy and our “Don’t shoot what it looks like, shoot what it feels like” approach.

For our portrait site: www.breaphotos.com

Our first printed book “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” is on sale at Barnes & Noble, Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex . Our second book with Amherst Media "The Frog Whisperer: Portraits and Stories" can also be found at Barnes and Noble and Amazon www.tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs . Also, check out our FrogScapes site: www.frogscapes.photos

Join our email list to find out about our photography classes, tours, and workshops, as well as photo ops, post-processing, creativity, gear, etc. http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-photolist

Check out our upcoming (and past) photography classes and photo workshops and tours at http://tinyurl.com/lisatomworkshops . We are Olympus Educators, but all cameras are welcome. We have people come with mobile photos, dSLRs, mirrorless, point&shoot, film cameras, etc.