Linda Fickinger can always be counted on to step up and fill any call from the camera club in the most able manner. She served as the club’s very well organized “utility infielder,” a member who has readily agreed to take on many assignments serving as the club’s vice president, then as a dynamic president, the club’s Facebook coordinator (for 1 year) and recently ran the club’s memorable 70th anniversary banquet. Currently she is a board member and the club’s banquet coordinator.
Linda is a descendant of two distinguished old-line Connecticut families. On the Welles side, they arrived in Hartford from Cambridge, Ma in 1635. Among them was Thomas Welles the only person in Connecticut’s history to hold all four top office positions, governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. Her Pardee family became a resident of New Haven in 1644. Linda was born in Sharon CT, grew up in New Milford, CT and moved to Florida in 1978. She obtained an associate’s degree in Bradenton FL. She worked for American Airlines for 23 years, as an international flight attendant based in Florida.
Always interested in the visual arts, she was a student of the online Academy of Art University from 2009 through 2012, where she studied photography. One way in which she expressed herself was through photography using her “trusty” 1984 model Canon AE-1. Linda moved to Simsbury in 2019 where she learned of the Simsbury Camera Club and recognized that this group might be helpful in expressing her artistic interests and developing her creative talents.
Linda now skillfully uses an Olympus OM1 Mark II mirrorless camera with a 40-150 lens and a 1:4 tele converter. She has attended several workshops. Her favorite is David Long who focuses on the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont as well as the seacoasts of Maine and Massachusetts to capture images during the best seasons when there are incredible changes of light and color.
Becoming a member of the SCC has greatly influenced her photographic skill sets and appreciation of quality work, particularly learning from watching the monthly roughly 2 1/2 hours of club’s online judging commentaries. She likes to express herself in a “painterly style” particularly in child photography.The painterly techniquesuperimposes visible brushstrokes linear or pointillistic in the final image to produce a “painterly work”. Linda is continuously taking classes online to learn new styles of photography. She is currently learning how to change photographs into “fine art”.
Since joining the club, she has been particularly influenced by Frank Zaremba and John Straub. Over the past few years, Linda has enjoyed forming many new friendships, including one with Alene Galin. She is pleased with the way the club has grown in artistic and post processing refinement but is a little worried that some members may take criticism of their work too seriously. Linda adamantly believes that critiques are designed as helpful tools to express your artistic sense and hone your abilities at a more sophisticated level.