About Ultimate PhotoGuide

Our goal is simple - provide the highest-quality photography instructional videos, tips and techniques and a place where photographers can come together-- whether new hobbyists or seasoned professionals, to exchange ideas and experiences.

The Beginning

We found there was a need for high-quality photography instructional videos, so we searched around to find the top instructors and editors to help us produce The Ultimate PhotoGuide DVD Collection! We partnered with Layne Kennedy, to guide us as our lead instructors on our videos, as well as F-Stop Fitzgerald as managing editor for the UltimatePhotoGuide.com website. With their expertise and experience, Ultimate PhotoGuide was born.

Who We Are

Ultimate PhotoGuide (UPG) is made up of photographers like you! Any enthusiast can join just by signing up on our website and each member helps mold who we are by contributing their own responses to articles, tips and techniques. Members can also participate in the online Forum. Our professional editors are made up of industry leaders in all facets of photography and are responsible for hand-picking and guiding all the content on the website to be sure it is of the highest-quality and pertinence

Our Editor and Contributors

f-stop fitzgerald, Managing Editor

Managing editor F-Stop Fitzgerald is a best-selling author and international photographer with experience in the publishing, printing and photographic industries. He is the author of twelve books of photography.

He has exhibited photography in Europe, Australia, Japan, Mexico and throughout the United States. Fitzgerald is a nationally known documentary photographer; his photographic work has appeared in over 100 periodicals, including Rolling Stone, Spin, GQ, Publishers Weekly, US, the Village Voice, the Washington Post, Triathlete, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, Penthouse, Travel Holiday and Musician.

His collaboration with horror writer Stephen King, Nightmares in the Sky, was a national bestseller. Fitzgerald’s work can be found at www.f-stopfitzgerald.com.

Layne Kennedy

Trained in fine art photography, Layne Kennedy is best known for his editorial photography that conveys a sense of place. His feature work appears in Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Outdoor Explorer, Backpacker, GEO, LIFE, Forbes, and Business Week. He is Founder and Director of the Superior/Gunflint Photography workshops conducting wilderness adventure workshops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is a Mentor with Popular Photography’s Worldwide Mentor Photo Treks.

He has contributed to dozens of books for several publishers, including the National Geographic Society, NorthWord Press, Lerner, Sterling, Knopf Greystone, McMillan, Discovery, and Voyageur Press, and has published the following books:

Jewels on the Water – Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands
Minnesota-Yesterday & Today
A Hard Water World
Paddle North – Canoeing the Boundary Waters

You can view Layne’s work online at: www.LayneKennedy.com

Molly Ahern

Molly Ahern is a Minneapolis lifestyle + event photographer. Her work has been published in Money magazine, local papers and she is an on-staff photographer for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Minnesota. Molly’s passion is to capture life in her images and bring clarity from chaos. Her work shows true emotions and the true self. You can check out her work at www.amlifestylephotography.com.

Ted Dixon

Ted Dixon studied graphic design at the School of Visual Art in New York. He spent over three years freelancing at New York area ad agencies, PR firms, publishers and design studios, including Hewson Berlin Associates, Chiat Day, Forbes and Jensen Associates. He was a founding partner of WorkingDialogue, a corporate communication and graphic design firm in 1987 and started ted360 in 2007.

Dixon’s clients at ted360 have included Dickerson Knight Group, Carriage Hill Partners, Wilson Institutional Services, Activ Balance Center, Wingate Russotti & Shapiro, AMZO Corporation, Council for Renal Nutrition of Greater New York, Craft & Hobby Association, NAACP Martha’s Vineyard, The PeterSan Group and Western Mass Environmental. His projects have included the design and production of marketing literature, print advertising, corporate identity material and web site development.

Snapper Earl

Snapper Earl grew up as the son of a professional photographer. With darkrooms, cameras and equipment of all kinds throughout the house his father created images seemingly from nothing. Earl played the sorcerer’s apprentice and the magic stays with him to this day. Earl got his first camera when he was 8 years old, a little Starmite. Over the years he’s made a progression through various formats but he’s still in love with that magic, seeing the captured image for the first time and having total control over the finished product with Photoshop.

Earl is a member of National Association of Photoshop Professionals, webmaster for The Hudson User Group (THUG), site developer for Phoned-In.com and DogHike.info, as well as the site developer and contributing artist for GarbanzoAphids.com.

Richard Edelman

Richard Edelman is the principal of Woodstock Graphics Studio, specializing in creative production work for artists. He received his M.F.A. at Pratt Institute and his B.F.A. in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Edelman has taught photography at William Paterson University (NJ), New School, School of Visual Arts and the International Center for Photography. He currently teaches at the Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY.

His photographs are included in the collections of: Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Canadian Centre for Architecture, Brooklyn Museum and Bibliothèque Nationale. He is currently represented by the Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY.

His website can be viewed at http://www.woodstockgraphicsstudio.com.

Alberto Guglielmi

Born in Rome during the years of disco, Alberto Guglielmi survived driving a Vespa in Rome only to become a professional windsurfer and snowboarder.

Alberto has been an Italian-man in New York since the last millennium where he decided that photography was his life and passion. Alberto is currently shooting advertising, commercial and editorial assignments. He specializes in human beings and similar species, combined with a passion for movement and a love for light.

Alberto was chosen as one of the world's top 50 photographers for RedBull Illume, a sculptural photography exhibit and his photos were also the category winners for both GoIndie and Spider BW Award.

Alberto Guglielmi Photography can be seen at www.AlbertoG.com and in other nice places around the real and virtual world.

Joe Holler

© Joe Holler. All Rights Reserved Joe Holler was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, where he spent 33 years as a secondary mathematics and computer science teacher. He took up photography as a hobby upon retirement in 2003. He and his wife, Mary Lou, travel extensively, which affords him many opportunities for good shots. That is where the fun begins. With the use of many computer programs, he changes the snapshots into art. He has produced multiple books and videos of their travels and shows his work at many venues around the Venice, Florida area.

John Kleinhans

John Kleinhans has been a photographer for over forty years. His work has been exhibited in the Woodstock, NY area as well as in galleries throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. His commercial work includes portraiture, fine art, architecture, photojournalism and advertising.

In parallel careers Kleinhans was a professor of psychology and, later, a product designer at Woodstock Percussion Inc.

He has published two books, An Image of Monhegan and Woodstock Landscapes. He made the switch from darkroom to digital photography in 2002 and is currently beginning work in video. Kleinhans is represented by the Lupine Gallery in Monhegan, Maine, and is on the Board of the Woodstock School of Art.

James Luciana

James Luciana has exhibited work in over 80 major national and international installations and his personal work is represented in a number of photo collections, including the European Museum of Photography and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. He has presented workshops in non-silver photographic processes and taught both non silver photography and digital imaging at the International Center of Photography in New York. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University in 1976, and is currently a Professor of Art at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has published three books:

The Art of Enhanced Photography: Extending the Photographic Image (1999)
Black and White Photography, An International Collection (2000)
Digital Media: An Introduction, with Richard Lewis (2003)

You can view his work online at: http://foxweb.marist.edu/users/jzm3/Luciana/

Phil Mansfield

Phil Mansfield is a professional photographer who shoots regularly for such publications as the New York Times, Vogue Living and Psychology Today as well as serving clients in the travel, architecture and food industries. His latest cookbook, Eat Fresh Food, was published by Bloomsbury in 2009. Phil runs the digital lab at The Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY, where he teaches photography, Photoshop and digital workflow as well as overseeing the fine art printing. He is also a teacher in the Visual Arts Department at SUNY Ulster. Phil's work can be viewed at www.philmansfield.com.

Richard McCaffrey

Richard McCaffrey’s photos have appeared on numerous album covers and in publications including Rolling Stone, NY Daily News, Look Magazine and Playboy. He has co-authored two books, Not Fade Away (1995), a tribute to Jerry Garcia, and X-capees (1980), a photo history chronicling the early San Francisco punk rock scene. He was chief photographer for BAM: The California Music Magazine and he has collected over 100,000 images documenting the music industry. In 1980 McCaffrey co-founded Eye Gallery, a San Francisco photography center and exhibition space. He is represented by Getty Images and currently lives in Providence, RI where he is a news and entertainment photographer for The Providence/Boston Phoenix.

Steve Niedorf

Steve Niedorf For me there is nothing better than creating simple and engaging images whether stills or in motion. I love trying to hit the balance between art and information, elegance and emotion. It’s not always easy and that challenge is where the fun is.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a job that combines two major loves: photography and travel. My assignments have taken me across America and the world and along the way I’ve been able to pick up 11 Communications Arts Awards for photography.

That said, while it is great to travel on location to Asuncion or to produce a major studio shoot with all the dogs and some ponies thrown in it is east to get side tracked in this business. In its essence, what I do is make images that create meaning and tell a story for my clients and for myself, that’s my job, and my passion. Steve's work can be viewed at www.niedorf.com.

Dennis O'Clair

For over 25 years, Dennis O’Clair has been creating images for advertising, corporate and editorial clients around the world. His use of natural light, unique POV’s and elements of motion and spontaneity create images that are graphic, clean and simple. These qualities have also made him a successful stock photo and footage contributor for Corbis, Cultura and Getty Images.

Since the introduction of the Canon 5DMkII, Dennis has transitioned into film and video production. He has a simple approach and a DIY attitude that is perfect for creating high quality video in a budget conscious environment. Dennis also participates in education and activism within the photographic community. Some of his affiliations have included: The Stock Artists Alliance, The Getty Images’ Photographers’ Advisory Group, ASMP and APA.

His work can be viewed at: http://www.dennisoclair.com

Jonathan Postal

Originating in New York City and presently in Memphis, Jonathan Postal has been photographing for over thirty years. Postal has worked nationally and internationally, shooting for numerous publications including Rolling Stone, New West and CBS Records.

He won the Memphis Arts Festival’s Best of Photography Award three times as well as a national ADDIE award for his freelance work for the Humane Society. He also developed and taught at the Digital Photography Program at the Art Institute of Miami.

Postal was featured in the Artist Series broadcast through Live From Memphis where he also regularly publishes the blog, Going Postal. He is married to the artist Mary Long-Postal.

Ezra Waltermaurer

Farm-raised in New York State's Hudson Valley, Ezra Waltermaurer fell in love with the mechanical precision engineered heft of his father's Nikon F camera at the age of 9. Many frames of 35mm film later, he received his MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

A lover of tools and techniques, he stays abreast, informed and practiced in the latest developments and technologies in the world of photography. His professional photo experience ranges from photojournalism, event and product photography, environmental portraiture and fine art photography. He resides once again in the Hudson Valley with his wife, two children and a closet full of gear.

Michael Weisbrot

Michael Weisbrot was born and raised in New York City but the Hudson Valley has been his home for the last 30 years. He is married to Marilyn and has two grown children, Josh and Lila.

Weisbrot has done a variety of freelance, gotten some grants, sold work through stock agencies, published many pictures, exhibited in galleries and museums and taught college classes. He is also a middle school teaching artist specializing in photography, writing and producing art books with the students.

See online exhibit: ‘Alan and the Strange Light,’ a family diary.

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