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Health & Fitness

Introducing Tom Mangan of the McLean Photography Club

President of the McLean Photo Club; past president of the McLean Rotary Club; proprietor of Mangan Jewelers; pillar of the community; Tom Mangan is the person I'd like to introduce this week.

President of the McLean Photo Club; past president of the McLean Rotary Club; proprietor of Mangan Jewelers; pillar of the community; Tom Mangan is the person I'd like to introduce this week.

Like a lot of the photographers I've gotten to know through the club, Tom was bitten by the bug sometime back before he can remember.  Growing up, his parents ceded to Tom the Brownie and the job of family photographer.  In his store, Tom keeps a soft-box set-up and a camera stand behind his desk, where he makes images for advertisements and appraisals.  Tom is generous with his skills in photographing community and charitable events.  But his main avocation in photography is making nature images.

Lately, Tom and his friend, Bill Folsom, have been spending mornings among the flora, fauna and scenery of our area's best garden parks: Meadowlark, Brookside and Green Spring Meadows.  Farther afield, he shoots at Dolly Sods in West Virginia, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and beyond these shores in Belize, Mexico and Africa.  Some of his best images are on the walls of his jewelry store, where they compete for attention with the goods. 

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Tom tries to capture how things in nature relate to one another.  "Our universe is a pattern of interwoven threads.  To see and record how all that fits together is fascinating to me.”

I asked Tom what he has learned from looking at the images of club members.

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Bill Prosser:  "Bill knows composition and color, and is very skilled and experienced.  I take all my Photoshop questions to Bill."

Manuel Hernandez:  "Manuel understands light and he knows how to print, especially black & white."

Ursy Potter:  "Ursy has some unique post-processing tricks.  She evokes texture and has a terrific eye."

Gloria Freund:  "Gloria is a fantastic underwater photographer.  She has the set-up and she uses it so well."

Minnie Gallman:  "Minnie's a nature photographer, too.  I love her photos."

Margaret Huddy:  "She is an outstanding architectural photographer. She has great pictures of the monuments."

David Stossel:  "David is new to the club, but he keeps winning competitions."

Gary Oddi: "Gary is a talented producer of mixed media still/video story-telling."

Sue Teunis:  "She makes innovative and beautiful prints of colorful leaves -- with a scanner.  Incredible."

Tom recently led a workshop for new members on how to matte prints properly for competition and display.  He hopes to have one or more club members lead an introduction to Lightroom and other post-processing programs later in the year.

* * *

The McLean Photo Club is in its fourth decade -- and we welcome new members.  MPC's October meeting will be a friendly critique session, for any type of photograph, with no limitations on subject matter or photographic technique or equipment.  No prizes, no names (if you want), just a chance to learn by being part of a group discussion about the merits and demerits of each image.  Join us and see what it's about.

We meet this Wednesday October 10 at 7:30 pm in the McLean Community Center.  If you would like an image critiqued at the meeting, email it to me at williamgcorbett@verizon.net.  We will be kind, rest assured.  You may just find out that your work is as good as you hoped.

This month the club is gathering photos from members for entry in an annual nature photography competition that is organized by McLean and five other clubs.  The Nature Visions Photo Expo takes place November 9, 10 & 11 at the Hylton Center for the Performing Arts in Manassas.  The pictures in our recent McLean Patch gallery are by McLean photographers who earned a place in the exhibit at the Nature Visions Expo last year.  About three hundred of the one thousand photos entered from the six partnering clubs were selected for the Expo's exhibit.

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