En Plein Air - Central Coast of California

Participant Profiles

My name is Walt Bizzare, the son of Alfred - an Italian born in Los Angeles - and my mother Velma from Pacific Grove, Ca.  I grew up mostly in LA then joined the Army and was stationed in France for 2 1/2 years.  Upon returning I worked my way through college and have a degree in Math from Cal State Fullerton. My last job was at Lawrence Livermore Lab as a computer scientist.  I am now retired and living in Orinda, CA with my partner Susan Lucier.

Bob Nastasi: I started photography in the 60’s with a Kodak Brownie. I also had an Agfa rangefinder but in 1970 graduated to a Nikon FTN with a 50 mm F2 lens. I also got a 200 mm lens and a wider angle. I lived in New York where we had a basement and build a darkroom. I developed black and white film and prints. I also bought 100 foot lengths of film and loaded them in to 36 shot cassettes.

I was the photo editor of the High School year book and later was a photographer for the University of Florida newspaper. I moved to California in 1978 and took a lot of pictures in San Francisco. Then stopped taking pictures in the mid 80’s.

My daughter started taking a photo class in high school and wanted to use my 1970 Nikon camera. Later she wanted to buy a digital camera and she then got me interested in digital photography. I purchased and sold many Nikon digital cameras and now have a Nikon Z7ii mirrorless camera.

 I work as a real estate broker and I consider photography my hobby.

My name is Mike Stone, I am from the Chicago metropolitan area. I currently work in law enforcement. Photography is a wonderful outlet to de-stress and create!

I enjoy all genres of photography ranging from landscapes, wildlife, portrait and architecture to decay/abandoned buildings. I have traveled on a regular basis in pursuit of improving my photography. I really enjoy taking workshops since the collaboration with other photographers is educational and inspiring.

Hello, I am Paul Reese, Aerospace Engineering student, remote control glider pilot, and lover of almost anything that flies. I hail from the Seattle, WA area, and am currently going to school at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. I got into photography through a class I took at Cal Poly in the fall of 2021 and I have since gotten sucked down the proverbial rabbit hole, which my dad and grandpa have only enabled. 

When not building, fixing, flying or taking pictures of something that flies, I can be found designing in Solidworks, riding my bicycle, or drawing on my iPad. 

Note: Paul asked that I choose which photo to use in his profile. I think both deserve to be included.

James Jordan, a descendant of Eastern European shamans, writes fiction to explore justice, multiculturalism, spiritualism, and nature, all of which inspires & informs his photography. He is the author of the novel, THE SPEED OF LIFE. His short stories have been widely published. He is an attorney, holding a JD from UCLA & a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his best friends, Andrea his wife & Georgy, their standard poodle.

My name is Ritchie Roesch. I’ve been a hobby (and occasional semi-pro) photographer for 25 years. I began on film, then shot a mix of film and digital for awhile, and now almost exclusively shoot digital. I currently live in the Phoenix, Arizona, metro area with my lovely wife, Amanda, and our four kids: Joy, Jon, Josh, and Jo.

I’m most known for creating Film Simulation Recipes (custom JPEG settings) for Fujifilm cameras. My website is fujixweekly.com, and I can be found on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. I also have a few apps, including an iPhone camera app called RitchieCam. I typically use Fujifilm X cameras, but I also sometimes shoot with a Ricoh GR III and my iPhone. 

My day job used to be Air Traffic Controller—I was in that industry for 20 years. Now I’m self-employed as a photographer/blogger/app developer—a big change, but also a very wonderful shift, as I’m able to have many great adventures as part of my “new” career. I look forward to experiencing California’s central coast en plein air.

I'm Dan Wyman, Dave's brother. Dave took this photo of me in Zion National Park last year.

My wife and I live in Oceanside, California, which is located in Northern San Diego County. We've lived here for 31 years.

I'm retired so I have plenty of time to pursue my hobbies of cycling and photography. I love nature photography, in particular, wildlife photography.

l’m Clark Anderson and I’ve been taking pictures for awhile. Really looking forward to getting away from my computers where I do cybersecurity and getting out with this great group. I’ve done studio and off camera flash, but my passion is getting into the wilderness and taking bird, wildlife, and scenic photos. Moved to Las Vegas 2 years ago from Florida and I’m loving visiting the surrounding open areas.

I started off working in a camera store as a kid, and have loved photography since, but life got in the way and I’m really getting back into it in the last few years. One of my first cameras was the original film version Olympus OM1, and now I’m using my digital OM1 for its ruggedness.  I just converted my older EM1 II Olympus to full spectrum and I’m playing with filtered UV and IR landscapes and plants.

Dave Wyman: My mom gave me my first camera when I was seven. That was 67 years ago. I still have my first photos I made of my second grade classmates.

Although I conduct far fewer photo trips now, I still love making pictures of nature and connecting with other photographers. And I am reputed to have taken the first documented selfie. 

Ken Rockwell: I've been avidly photographing since I was 5 years old.

My work has been published across the United States and held in library collections since the 1970s when I was still a little kid. I've been winning major awards, been held in private collections, displayed in museums and published worldwide since the 1990s.

Additional participant: Dennis Stover