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.

Ron Plasencia

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

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