"My photography mentor recognized my budding interest in making pictures and advised me on the purchase and use my first 35mm camera. I was 16 years old. In later years, he advised me on my second, third, … and hundredth plus camera. To foster my early interest in nature and close-up work, he sold me my first true macro lens."

~Owner & Executive Director Nicholas S. Argyros
 

My First Equipment 

It was the first of many equipment transactions to transpire back and forth between us over the years. This equipment included virtually every significant brand and model in existence, especially Minoltas, Nikons, Leicas, and Graflexes of every age and description. In addition, almost every accessory needed to make good images, as well as rooms full of darkroom equipment, have been part of the picture. More recently, my photo mentor has advised me on digital equipment and its merits.
 

My Mentor

My photography mentor was also my career mentor. After efforts to teach me mathematics through four years of high school, after guiding me through my initial teaching career as a math teacher, after encouraging me through a dual Ph.D. program in Educational Psychology and Statistics, after introducing me to Chenango Valley Camera Club, and to some of its members, and after a continuing relationship over the past 50 plus years, I owe my photo mentor a lot. Thank you, Al Starkweather, thank you for all this and more.

My Photography

My image-making interests include family and travel photos, pictorial and architecture work, and an occasional wedding job. Lately, CVCC has seen some of my work with the human figure. My lofty, unlikely, and chimerical photo aspiration is to find new ways to apply old photo technologies, equipment, processes, and styles to create novel images. However, the digital age has tempted me to alter this quest drastically, to be more forward-looking rather than impossibly retrospective.

Where I am Now

At the beginning of 2006, upon my retirement from salaried work, I undertook to establish the Photography Center of the Capital District. This membership-supported facility offers three stories of almost everything photographic: a gallery for contemporary images; exhibits of cameras and images spanning more than 100 years; a consignment store selling used equipment; a shooting studio; computer workstations with a variety of scanners, burners, and printers; a media center with projectors and HDTV for viewing photo and video productions; a reading/research floor with thousands of books and collections of periodicals past and current; equipment for do-it-yourself mounting, matting, Polaroid transfers and copying; and space for meetings, workshops and salon nights. My retirement has been short-lived, needless to say.