Board of Directors, Officers
Every successful organization hinges on the active involvement of those few members willing to be more than members. We want to thank heartedly those listed below that have volunteered to be a dynamic, positive influence in the growth and scope of the Photographic Society of East Tennessee.
Don Wilson, President
Email: donaldwilson2007@gmail.com , don@pset.org
Don’s interest in photography started in 1975 while living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, with the purchase of a Konica T-3 35mm camera.. Over the years he collected a variety of Konica lenses and used them primarily for landscapes and family get-togethers. But more recently in 2004, he converted to digital and it has opened up major opportunities for experimenting with a variety of areas, including landscapes, architecture, family portraits and nature images. Don is a charter member of PSET and he has held the office of Event Coordinator, editor for the “NEWS & VIEWS” newsletter, Vice President and now President.. He hopes to help the Photographic Society of East Tennessee grow in membership and providing a variety of methods and challenges by which all members will have an opportunity to increase their individual photography skills with field trips and photography workshops.
Don graduated from New York Institute of Technology with a BS degree in Business Management. He is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Morristown, Tennessee where he serves as Chairperson of Trustees, member of the Finance Committee and is the webmaster for the church website.
Randall Elkins, Vice President
email: randall@
AAS Commercial Photography. Randall is the creativity leader of our team. He loves to dream up artistic media to express the unique beauty of each individual. He often times transfers that expression for a business to logos and ads.
Randall graduated from the Ohio Institute of Photography & Technology in Dayton, Ohio in 1994. He was one of two candidates selected for the internship program at General Electric Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, Ohio. Randall’s work has been featured on the cover of BMW ON, July:16-17, 1998 and he authored the accompanying article, Ten Years After, We Go Back To The Future.
Randall attends The Connection Fellowship and is a the leader of Life Hurts God Heals at Celebrate Recovery, a christian recovery program for hurts, hangups and habits.
Chad Carpenter, Program Director
email:
Cathy Holloway, Event Coordinator
email:
Jim Ross, Treasurer
Jim is a photography hobbyist, and past PSET vice president, who enjoys the challenge of improving his skills and sharing photos with others. In 1953 at age 12 after participation in our nation’s oldest continuing Memorial Day parade, which was started in 1868, his mother placed a Brownie camera in his hands and told him it was his turn to take pictures during the rest of the parade. He had also enjoyed drawing and painting wildlife and outdoor scenes and was surprised at the instant gratification when he saw his developed black and white pictures. This picture taking and sharing passion has been going on for nearly 57 years. As photo equipment and teaching techniques improved over the years, so did his passion for photography.
He had the privilege of serving the public as a professional firefighter for the City of Cincinnati, Ohio and retired with the rank of Assistant Fire Chief after 30 years of service. He earned an associate degree in fire safety technology from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1974.
email: jmr1959@charter.net
Rosemary Clark , Secretary
Rosemary is a nature photographer, with most of her work concentrated in Appalachia. She feels very fortunate to live in east Tennessee, having relocated here from central Florida in 1989. Although she always enjoyed spending time outside, the Appalachian Mountains have become very special to her since moving here. She is continually amazed at how much more aware of the beauty & wonder of God’s creation she becomes with a camera in hand.
She started taking photography “seriously” in 2005 when she realized she had a desire to share her love of nature with others. She has a special interest in wildflowers & those wonderful “point of view” nature perspectives that she finds in surprising places.
She is also the owner of
Touch of Nature Photography
Ron Plasencia,Publicist
email: ron@pset.org
My interest in photography sprung from my Dad, who was an airplane mechanic at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. His world was one of wrenches and grease; guns and ammo; and, surprisingly, photography. This grease-under-the-fingernails man could create marvelously beautiful photographs. His style would be called “minimalist” today I suppose. He just called it “keeping it simple.”
Over the past 40 years or so, I have taught scores of photography classes. Of course, “back in the day” we went beyond depth of field and shutter speed combinations. We delved into the realm of “circles of confusion,” “hyperfocal distance,” and the Zone System.
Today, with digital cameras making everyone a “photographer,” these concepts have nearly disappeared. But not totally! Now we talk about histograms, white balance, shooting “raw,” (no, that’s not being naked while taking pictures!), and “noise.”
It all makes photography as it was meant to be: dynamic, intriguing, and fraught with possibilities.
My mission in my photography and in the courses I teach is to move the photographer into the artistic end of the photographic spectrum: making the ordinary extraordinary; seeing what others only look at; and creating perspectives that others miss.
Dale Knight
email: dale@pset.org
Dale has loved photography ever since he found his mother and fathers Kodak Brownie Hawkeye at a very young age of about 9 years. He received his first camera as a Christmas gift in 1971 called the Big Shot by Polaroid and started taking pictures of everything and anything. Since then, he’s developed his skills in composition and the technicalities of photography, and his equipment has progressively gotten more and more sophisticated—and much heavier. What has not changed, however, is his desire to capture the beauty of the world around him and record the experiences of people enjoying the very significant moments of their lives.
Since 2000, Dale has traveled through out the state and country photographing Nature and the spectacular fall colors, wildlife, famous places and has trekked to some of the most breath-taking locations shooting images of spectacular sunrises and sunsets spilling into canyons and mountain ranges of the Great Smokey Mountains, but his passion remains to be focused on capturing the very intimate moments, emotional expressions, and unique details of people’s most special days, weddings and portraits, and lifestyle images.
Dale’s passion for photography has escalated into a deep desire to share his knowledge and skills by teaching others how to improve their photography from just taking snapshots to capturing photographic works of art!
He has taught digital photography and computer training classes at several levels through out the state of Tennessee in the Educational field for ten years, such as State sponsored events in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Greenville, Kingsport, Murfreesbourgh, Alcoa and many regional technology training programs. He has presented workshop sessions for the Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge Tennessee, now in their 20th year of this event.
He has also been the Program Director and president of PSET, he is a web designer, technologist, past Pastor, and webmaster for PSET sites.
Photo by Dale Knight, © 2008
Dale has loved photography ever since he found his mother and fathers Kodak Brownie Hawkeye at a very young age of about 9 years. He received his first camera as a Christmas gift in 1971 called the Big Shot by Polaroid and started taking pictures of everything and anything. Since then, he’s developed his skills in composition and the technicalities of photography, and his equipment has progressively gotten more and more sophisticated—and much heavier. What has not changed, however, is his desire to capture the beauty of the world around him and record the experiences of people enjoying the very significant moments of their lives.
Since 2000, Dale has traveled through out the state and country photographing Nature and the spectacular fall colors, wildlife, famous places and has trekked to some of the most breath-taking locations shooting images of spectacular sunrises and sunsets spilling into canyons and mountain ranges of the Great Smokey Mountains, but his passion remains to be focused on capturing the very intimate moments, emotional expressions, and unique details of people’s most special days, weddings and portraits, and lifestyle images.
Dale’s passion for photography has escalated into a deep desire to share his knowledge and skills by teaching others how to improve their photography from just taking snapshots to capturing photographic works of art!
He has taught digital photography and computer training classes at several levels through out the state of Tennessee in the Educational field for ten years, such as State sponsored events in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Greenville, Kingsport, Murfreesbourgh, Alcoa and many regional technology training programs. He is a past president of The Photographic Society of East Tennessee, presented workshop sessions for the Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge Tennessee, now in their 20th year of this event.
He is also a web designer, technologist, and past Pastor.