Meet Richard Rogers, a native of Hanover, Pennyslvania, also home of shoe factories and pretzels. Rogers became interested in photography “as a kid” recording events with an 8 and super 8 movie camera. In the ‘80’s he turned to a Nikon FE, but abandoned it one year ago, leaving undeveloped film in the camera, moving on to an Olympis E10 digital.

He belonged to a camera club in Redondo Beach for more than eight years and joined our club a year ago, learning about it through S4C. He said he prefers to live by the ocean, but likes the desert except for June through September, which he described as “a killer.”

Rogers taught high school math for 33 years, beginning his career in Pennsylvania for the first four years. Next he moved to California and taught at a brand new school in Torrance. When he retired 29 years later, the original Venetian blinds were still on the windows. (Perhaps, one of many school districts with budget problems.)

He enters the monthly competitions and has earned many ribbons.

“Competition is interesting,” Rogers said. “It is an outlet to get your pictures shown and a good place to steal ideas from others,” he added with a laugh.

A La Quinta resident, Rogers is ready to go out and shoot pictures at the drop of a hat so give him a call when you find some interesting subjects to shoot. He said he needs more practice with people shots, but likes landscapes and special effects. One of his favorite tricks is to place a piece of lens paper right on the film plane, which results in a picture with a spider web effect. He calls this an “outhouse filter.”