President: Kay Larkin, Ph.D.
Terrebonne, OR
Enthusiasm with art and photography led me to take many photography classes in middle school, high school, and college. After college I pursued a career in Biology and my extensive use of photo-microscopy required that I continue to develop photography skills, including digital and three-dimensional imaging. During this time I had many images published in scientific journals and thousands utilized for clinical diagnoses.
I am an experimentalist by nature and incorporate the use of shallow-depth of field and slow shutter speeds at times to convey my impression of the moment. In terms of artistic inspiration and expression I am most influenced by late 18th and early 19th Century Luminist painters. I particularly enjoy making panoramic images because of the way they draw the viewer into the scene and convey a sense of space. I also like to explore relationships of subjects and their shadows and other optical phenomena. My purpose is to share the joy I find in the beauty that surrounds us all.
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President Elect/Treasurer: David Berg
Minneapolis, MN
David Berg is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and holds a degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Linda reside in south Minneapolis.
For 25 years Mr. Berg was employed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a Ranger/Naturalist with Minnesota State Parks. A major portion of his time was spent presenting interpretive programs for school groups and the general public.
Mr. Berg then took a position with the Minnesota Historical Society at their newest historic site – Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis- where, for 13 years, he portrayed William de la Barre, the hydro engineer who, in 1885, “re-engineered St. Anthony falls” to maximize the power of falling water to run the largest flour mills in the world, making Minneapolis the city that it is today!
Mr. Berg and his wife both retired in 2016 and keep busy using their time and talents volunteering for church and civic organizations.
David Berg does a range of color and black-and-white photography, primarily fine art, and specializing in panoramic images of environmental and city landscapes, architecture and historical landmarks.
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Secretary: Fran Gardino
Brighton, MA
Fran Gardino has a BFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, which included Photography courses with such notables as Garry Winogrand and Gus Kayafas. He also pursued graduate studies at Harvard University Extension with Frank Gohlke and Jack Lueders Booth.
He has self-published 4 photo books on blurb.com: “Manhole Covers Etc.”, a collection of over 400 photos of utility covers from around the world, “Paint the Sky Fiery”, a series of night photos from Boston’s annual Fourth of July fireworks displays from 2005 to 2012,
“The Sky Mourns”, a photo book of the 2013 fireworks in honor of the Boston Marathon victims, and “Touch the Sky”, showing numerous photos of clouds (many of which are panoramas) taken from the windows of commercial flights.
Fran is represented in the Vermont Artisans Gallery in Brattleboro VT, has two grandformat images installed at Boston’s Logan Airport, and has had several solo photo shows in the Boston area, including his “Italian Journey” show at the Italian Consulate in the Federal Reserve Building in Boston and “Villaggio Italiano”, a show of three 30-foot, 360-degree images in mini-cycloramas on display at the Harvard Education Portal in Allston, MA.
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Past President: Dave Kutz
Lancaster, PA
Cinematographer, Lighting Director, Specialty Camera Operator
Dave has been a board member since 2012 and served as a Director, Secretary, Past President and two terms as President of IAPP.
His working background is in the field of motion picture and television. Earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Professional Photography from The Rochester Institute of Technology where his major was motion picture production and film animation. During his 42+ year career, Dave has been involved in a wide variety of corporate, documentary films and live events. In his specialty camera duties, you will find him operating Steadicams, a 32 foot camera crane and various car mounted rigs.
His interest in panoramic photography started in the mid 80’s while looking for a cost effective way to train his eye to compose for wide screen format films. “I found an Art Panorama 617 camera and carried that with me on jobs for quite a few years, shooting in the off hours on locations. Later I discovered the xpan and continue to carry it on jobs.”
In the early 90’s he started working with Roundshot and Hulcherama cameras. Working alongside another photographer, Dave designed the lighting and directed the lighting crews for the Pennsylvania State House and Senate group photographs and has continued with the House photos through this current session. Today, Dave is working with digital panoramas and multiscreen shows as well as continuing with the film based techniques.
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Director: Tom Sheckels
Moorestown, NJ
Tom was born in Bozeman, Montana, moved to Amherst, Massachusetts as a child and is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island. A professional engineer, Tom has lived in New Jersey since 1976 when he began his career as an Environmental Engineer for the Navy. He has over twenty-five years of environmental experience which has included the cleanup of past hazardous waste dump sites and working with the clean water programs. Tom has traveled extensively for work and pleasure, and has found inspiration for his photography in many diverse and unique places, urban and remote, near and far.
Tom has always loved photography, recalling that as a child, his first was a Kodak Baby Brownie camera. He learned the trade of photo developing in his father’s basement darkroom where all the family photos came to life. As digital photography emerged in the early 2000’s and with Tom’s computer skills, his passion for photography took off again.
The eyes can only see so much when looking straight ahead, similarly, such is the case with most camera shots; the field of view is relatively narrow. But people tend to look around to take in an entire wonderful scene and that is what he is recreating with his panoramic images. It’s a wider field of view but without losing the clarity in the image. Stitching multiple photos together, Tom makes images that provide a huge amount of detail, resolution, color and show great composition. Tom has amazing panoramic images in his inventory, from local cityscapes to landscapes in extremely remote parts of the world.
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Director: Chris Gjevre
Minnetonka, MN
Christopher Gjevre was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chris acquired a degree in audio video technology, including still photography, and worked in the photo industry for 8 years at a lab. After a short stint with the FAA as an air traffic controller, he joined forces with James Blakeway in 1991 and has worked for Blakeway Worldwide Panoramas, Inc. ever since. Chris has traveled the far reaches of the globe hunting photographs of the world’s most popular cities, sites and some of the best known sporting events in the world. In addition to photography, Chris is an avid scuba diver and has put much of his passion into building a North woods lake cabin getaway for his family in Northern Wisconsin.
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Director: Bob Graham Jr:
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Director: Bob Rose
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