Throughout the month of March, the Fountain Hills Photography Club will have its annual Photography Exhibition where Club members’ photographs can be viewed throughout the halls of the Community Center.

A tradition that has been ongoing for more than a decade, this month, 66 pieces of photographic art from 18 club members are hanging at the Center, which, according to a few longtime club leaders, is an encouraging sign.

“We didn't have any exhibition in ‘20 or ‘21 and then last year, it was a poor get-together because we just didn't have very many people coming back to the club at the time,” John Barra said, an 18-year Club member and Canon user since 1975. In 2005, he had read an excerpt about the Fountain Hills Photography Club in the Arizona Republic. Curious, Barra decided to stop in to see what it was all about.

“I had extensive background in darkroom photography and in slide photography,” he said. “I made the decision in 2005 to switch over to digital. So, I bought my first digital DSLR in 2005 and that's one reason why I joined the club because I wanted to know more about [digital photography].”

Barra served as vice president of the club for three years and president for two years.

In his early life, Barra, an Army veteran, was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif., where the American landscape photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams once lived. It was there that Barra was exposed to Adams’ work and photography as an art form.

The genius of Adams was also the reason why longtime Club member Michael Isenberg discovered his “latent interest” in photography when, in 1972, Isenberg found himself perusing the exhibits of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

“I lived in San Francisco, saw an exhibit put on by Ansel Adams, and was just turned on,” Isenberg said, who at the time was completing his anesthesia residency in the Bay Area. “After I saw that exhibit, I went for it. It stimulated me greatly and impressed me greatly. And so, I've been doing photography ever since.”

For 50 years and counting, Isenberg (a Canon user) has been exploring the world of photography, beginning with landscape, black-and-white and experimenting with stereo photography. Within the last several years, Isenberg has immersed himself in the study and practice of abstract photography.

“I saw some examples of people doing multiple exposure-type photography which is like taking several images and merging them into one,” Isenberg said, who served as president of the Club for one year. “That fascinated me and I started doing it.”

New ideas

The Fountain Hills Photography Club gathers for its regular meetings every second Wednesday of the month at the Community Center, where each session presents a new photography-based lecture.

For their meeting today, Wednesday, March 8, at 6 p.m., attendees can learn tips on getting more out of their smartphone cameras, join in on a discussion on the capabilities of Lightroom and Photoshop and catch a glimpse of the Fountain Hills Photography Club talent.

“My father was an engineer and very naturally, as I grew up, ended up with the same gene,” Bruce Boyce said, a longstanding leader of the Photography Club. “I was in the business for 49 years and fairly quickly ended up in an area that I really enjoyed, and that was optical systems.”

Boyce’s journey into photography dates back to his years as an aerospace engineer, working on ground-breaking projects including the creation of the Hubble Space Telescope, which revolutionized astronomy and the Hexagon satellites, a series of Cold War spy satellites that photographed Soviet military capabilities and informed U.S. national and foreign policy decisions.

Now retired, Boyce – a die-hard Nikon user – enjoys exhibiting his landscape and wildlife photography in town and at the Scottsdale-based art gallery, On the Edge, where he volunteers three days a month.

Newcomers

“Come join us,” Isenberg said to those curious about photography. “We have social time, we have photography time, we like to educate people who want to learn more about photography and evaluate their skills. Come join us and have some fun.”

The photography of Boyce, Barra and Isenberg, along with work from other talented Fountain Hills Photography Club members can be viewed at the Community Center through the end of March.

“Looking through the viewfinder of a fine camera is an addiction that is like listening to Bach or sipping a fine wine,” Boyce said, reciting one of his favorite quotes. “It's very simple. What’s the most important thing in photography? A portfolio. And what do you want to do with it? Show it off.”