Membership Benefits for Regular, Student, Lifetime, Sponsor Members and Epson Gold Medal Winners

IAPP Conference:    Our Conference is held every 18 months in scenic locations throughout the USA and Canada.  As a regular member, you receive a discounted registration fee.  We have panel discussions, presentations by experts, member photo competition, equipment exhibitors, time for networking with other members, photo safaris, business meeting and a banquet.

Weekend Conferences:   Members occasionally host weekend conferences and photography safaris in the U.S. and internationally.

Find a Panoramic Photographer:   As a paid member, you can have a listing with your name, business name, location, web site and any other interesting facts in the  “Find a Panoramic Photographer” directory available on the IAPP web site.

Panorama, The Journal of the International Association of Panoramic Photographers:   The official yearly publication of the IAPP and is available to all paid members during the calendar year. The content of this journal is generally, but not exclusively, written by IAPP members. It contains articles ranging from new products and equipment updates to on-location shooting experiences to member portfolios. It contains a wealth of technical information and examples of high-quality panoramic work.

If you would like to have an article considered for publication, contact the Managing Editor, David Kutz by e-mail at Journal@panoramicassociation.org.   He will tell you the preferred file sizes and document formats and the address to which to email or snail mail your articles and photos.

Panorama relies on advertising to help defray printing and postage costs, and to help keep membership dues down. If you or your business wish to support IAPP by becoming an advertiser in Panorama, or for this IAPP website, then please contact our President at President@panroamicassociation.org.

President:  Kay Larkin, Ph.D.

Terrebonne, OR

Enthusiasm with art and photography led me to take many photography classes in middle school, high school, and college. After college I pursued a career in Biology and my extensive use of photo-microscopy required that I continue to develop photography skills, including digital and three-dimensional imaging. During this time I had many images published in scientific journals and thousands utilized for clinical diagnoses.

I am an experimentalist by nature and incorporate the use of shallow-depth of field and slow shutter speeds at times to convey my impression of the moment.  In terms of artistic inspiration and expression I am most influenced by late 18th and early 19th Century Luminist painters.  I particularly enjoy making panoramic images because of the way they draw the viewer into the scene and convey a sense of space.  I also like to explore relationships of subjects and their shadows and other optical phenomena.  My purpose is to share the joy I find in the beauty that surrounds us all.

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Vice President/President Elect:  David Berg

Minneapolis, MN

David Berg is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and holds a degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Minnesota.  He and his wife Linda reside in south Minneapolis.

For 25 years Mr. Berg was employed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a Ranger/Naturalist with Minnesota State Parks.  A major portion of his time was spent presenting interpretive programs for school groups and the general public.

Mr. Berg then took a position with the Minnesota Historical Society at their newest historic site – Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis- where, for 13 years, he portrayed William de la Barre, the hydro engineer who, in 1885, “re-engineered St. Anthony falls” to maximize the power of falling water to run the largest flour mills in the world, making Minneapolis the city that it is today!

Mr. Berg and his wife both retired in 2016 and keep busy using their time and talents volunteering for church and civic organizations.

David Berg does a range of color and black-and-white photography, primarily fine art, and specializing in panoramic images of environmental and city landscapes, architecture and historical landmarks.

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Treasurer: Tom Bleich 

Santa Fe, NM 

Tom started as a newspaper photographer at 12-years old working in the darkroom and composing room of his family-owned weekly newspaper The Romeo Observer in Michigan.

Mr. Bleich is a charter member of IAPP, having attended the first official conference in Orlando Florida from February 7-10, 1985.

There he purchased his first No. 10 Cirkut Camera from Jack Davis and began making panoramic pictures in B&W and color using Kodak 10″X 72″ Cirkut film which he processed and printed in photo labs in Austin, Texas.

He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in Radio, Television and Film.  He worked for over 30 years in network television news and public affairs broadcasting.

He is an IAPP Past-President having been President-Elect and President from 2004 to 2007 as well as editor of the Panorama Journal for two years.

In May 1992 Mr. Bleich created a panoramic picture for the Guinness Book of World Records. It was “The Longest Photograph Negative” 23 feet 4.5 inches by 10 inches tall using Kodak Verichrome Pan Cirkut film. That record stood for five years from 1993 to 1998.

Tom is now in the process of donating his Cirkut picture collection and other photographs to the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin located next to the LBJ Library and School of Public Affairs.

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Secretary:  Fran Gardino

Brighton, MA

Fran Gardino has a BFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, which included Photography courses with such notables as Garry Winogrand and Gus Kayafas.  He also pursued graduate studies at Harvard University Extension with Frank Gohlke and Jack Lueders Booth.

He has self-published 4 photo books on blurb.com: “Manhole Covers Etc.”, a collection of over 400 photos of utility covers from around the world, “Paint the Sky Fiery”, a series of night photos from Boston’s annual Fourth of July fireworks displays from 2005 to 2012,

“The Sky Mourns”, a photo book of the 2013 fireworks in honor of the Boston Marathon victims, and “Touch the Sky”, showing numerous photos of clouds (many of which are panoramas) taken from the windows of commercial flights.

Fran is represented in the Vermont Artisans Gallery in Brattleboro VT, has two grandformat images installed at Boston’s Logan Airport, and has had several solo photo shows in the Boston area, including his “Italian Journey” show at the Italian Consulate in the Federal Reserve Building in Boston and “Villaggio Italiano”, a show of three 30-foot, 360-degree images in mini-cycloramas on display at the Harvard Education Portal in Allston, MA.

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Past President:   Dave Kutz

Lancaster, PA 

Cinematographer, Lighting Director, Specialty Camera Operator

Dave has been a board member since 2012 and served as a Director, Secretary, Past President and two terms as President of IAPP.

His working background is in the field of motion picture and television.  Earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Professional Photography from The Rochester Institute of Technology where his major was motion picture production and film animation.  During his 42+ year career, Dave has been involved in a wide variety of corporate, documentary films and live events.  In his specialty camera duties, you will find him operating Steadicams, a 32 foot camera crane and various car mounted rigs.

His interest in panoramic photography started in the mid 80’s while looking for a cost effective way to train his eye to compose for wide screen format films.  “I found an Art Panorama 617 camera and carried that with me on jobs for quite a few years, shooting in the off hours on locations.  Later I discovered the xpan and continue to carry it on jobs.”

In the early 90’s he started working with Roundshot and Hulcherama cameras. Working alongside another photographer, Dave designed the lighting and directed the lighting crews for the Pennsylvania State House and Senate group photographs and has continued with the House photos through this current session.  Today, Dave is working with digital panoramas and multiscreen shows as well as continuing with the film based techniques.

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Director:  Tom Sheckels

Moorestown, NJ

Tom was born in Bozeman, Montana, moved to Amherst, Massachusetts as a child and is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island. A professional engineer, Tom has lived in New Jersey since 1976 when he began his career as an Environmental Engineer for the Navy. He has over twenty-five years of environmental experience which has included the cleanup of past hazardous waste dump sites and working with the clean water programs. Tom has traveled extensively for work and pleasure, and has found inspiration for his photography in many diverse and unique places, urban and remote, near and far.

Tom has always loved photography, recalling that as a child, his first was a Kodak Baby Brownie camera. He learned the trade of photo developing in his father’s basement darkroom where all the family photos came to life. As digital photography emerged in the early 2000’s and with Tom’s computer skills, his passion for photography took off again.

The eyes can only see so much when looking straight ahead, similarly, such is the case with most camera shots; the field of view is relatively narrow. But people tend to look around to take in an entire wonderful scene and that is what he is recreating with his panoramic images. It’s a wider field of view but without losing the clarity in the image. Stitching multiple photos together, Tom makes images that provide a huge amount of detail, resolution, color and show great composition. Tom has amazing panoramic images in his inventory, from local cityscapes to landscapes in extremely remote parts of the world.

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Director: Chris Gjevre

Minnetonka, MN

Christopher Gjevre was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Chris acquired a degree in audio video technology, including still photography, and worked in the photo industry for 8 years at a lab.  After a short stint with the FAA as an air traffic controller, he joined forces with James Blakeway in 1991 and has worked for Blakeway Worldwide Panoramas, Inc. ever since.  Chris has traveled the far reaches of the globe hunting photographs of the world’s most popular cities, sites and some of the best known sporting events in the world.  In addition to photography, Chris is an avid scuba diver and has put much of his passion into building a North woods lake cabin getaway for his family in Northern Wisconsin.

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Director: Bob Graham Jr:

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Director: Bob Rose

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Bylaws of the International Association of Panoramic Photographers

(Herein referred to as IAPP)
(As Amended on April 7, 2017)

Article 1: Name

Section 1.1:  As stated in the Articles of Incorporation, the name of this membership association is the International Association of Panoramic Photographers (IAPP).  The object of this Association shall be to create a membership network to educate, promote, exchange artistic and technical ideas, the free sharing of information and to expand public awareness regarding Panoramic Photography.

Article 2: Membership

Section 2.1:  Membership in IAPP shall be open to all individuals who agree with the purposes of the association.  Any person, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, creed, disability or experience in the field of panoramic photography and imaging, shall be eligible for membership.

Section 2.1.1:  Members shall be considered in good standing if they have fulfilled all the requirements for membership and have neither voluntarily withdrawn from membership nor been expelled or suspended from membership.

Section 2.1.2: Membership dues are collected annually.  The amount for payment of annual membership dues shall be set by the Board.  The date that dues are to be collected will be based upon the member’s original date of joining and on the annual anniversary date thereafter.

Section 2.1.3:  The Treasurer shall notify members who are one month in arrears in dues, and those whose dues are not paid within one month thereafter shall be automatically dropped from membership in the Association.

Section 2.2:  The Board of Directors may by majority vote impose any form of discipline except expulsion on a member for violation of the Bylaws or other just cause pursuant to the disciplinary procedure adopted by the Board, which shall provide the member with notice and an opportunity to respond.  A majority of the Board of Directors shall begin an expulsion by referring the issue to a Grievance Committee of 2 members in good standing, one of whom shall be a Director.  Pursuant to the disciplinary procedure adopted by the Board, which shall provide the member with notice and an opportunity to respond, the Grievance Committee shall investigate and make a recommendation to the Board.  If the Grievance committee recommends expulsion, the Board may expel the member by a two-thirds vote.

Section 2.3:  A Life Member shall mean any member who has been so designated by a majority vote of the Board of Directors who has been determined to have made a significant contribution to panoramic photography and to the IAPP.  Life members shall pay no dues but shall have all the rights and other obligations of members.

Article 3:  Dues and Fees

Section 3.1:  Convention fee, sponsorship rates, advertising rates and other service charges shall be established by the Board of Directors.

Article 4:  Board of Directors

Section 4.1:  Members in good standing, including Life Members, shall be eligible to be elected members of the Board of Directors, provided that they have maintained continuous membership for a minimum of one year and attended a minimum of one International Convention.

Section 4.2:  The Board shall consist of the officers, plus four elected directors.

Section 4.2.1:  The officers shall perform the duties and have the authority as prescribed by these Bylaws, the Policy Manual and parliamentary authority adopted by the Association, and as the Board may designate from time to time.  The elected officers are as follows:

Section 4.3.1:  The President, who shall serve as Chairman of the Board of IAPP and who shall submit to the Board a proposed site and budget for the next International Convention.

Section 4.3.2:  The President-Elect who shall preside should the President be absent and shall automatically succeed to the office of President in case of vacancy or at the end of the President’s term and serve as President until the end of the second regular membership meeting after his or her election by the membership or the Board [to fill a vacancy] as President-Elect.

Section 4.3.3:  The Secretary, who shall maintain accurate minutes of board, committee, and member meetings.

Section 4.3.4:  The Treasurer, who shall serve as the financial officer of IAPP and shall make a full financial report annually and such interim reports as the Board may direct.

Section 4.3.5:  The immediate Past President.  An immediate past president is one who, having been elected as President-Elect by the membership or the Board has succeeded to the office of President and served to the end of the previous regular membership meeting.

Section 4.3.6:  Four Directors.

Section 4.4:  Each Officer’s term shall be for approximately eighteen months, from the end of the regular membership meeting following the officer’s election or accession to office to the end of the following regular membership meeting.

The President, President-Elect, and Immediate Past President may serve only one successive term in such office.  The Secretary, Treasurer and directors may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

Any part of more than 9 months shall be considered a full term.  No Officer or Director may hold more than one position at a time.  The Secretary, Treasurer, and directors shall be elected to serve for one term or until their successors are elected and qualified.  Failure of the membership to elect a President-Elect pursuant to the election procedure shall create a vacancy to be filled by the Board.

Section 4.5:  A vacancy in the position of an officer or director other than the Immediate Past President, or President shall be filled for the remainder of such officer’s or director’s term by a member elected by the Board.  No advanced notice shall be necessary for an election to fill a vacancy at a regular meeting of the Board.

Section 4.6:  Any Board member may be removed from office, with cause as determined by a two-thirds vote of the Board pursuant to the disciplinary procedure adopted by the Board, which shall provide the Board member with notice and an opportunity to respond.

Section 4.8:  The Board of Directors shall be empowered to compile the Policy Manual.  The Policy Manual shall contain policies of ongoing application as voted by the membership.  The Board shall have authority over the affairs of IAPP between membership meetings, except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws.

Section 4.9:   The Board will hold monthly conference call meetings at a time agreed to by the Board members.  A meeting reminder (electronically or in writing) shall be sent to current Board members by the Secretary at least three days prior to the meeting.  Meetings will be preceded by a distribution of an agenda to the Board members and followed up by meeting minutes prepared by the Secretary and distributed to the Board for review.

Section 4.10:  5 members of the Board of Directors shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Section 4.11:   The Board shall appoint a three-member Nominating & Election Committee that shall have a responsibility to make nominations for each elected position enumerated in Section 4.2 and to oversee the election process.

Section 4.11.1:  Nominating and Election Procedure.

• Nominating Committee Procedure.  The Nominating Committee shall make one or more nominations for each elected office and submit its nominations to the Secretary and the membership at least 90 days before the date designated for the election.  Before submitting the nomination to the Secretary, the Nominating Committee shall obtain oral consent to the nomination from the nominee.
• Petition Procedure. A candidate may be nominated by petition supported by at least 6 members, as defined by the Policy Manual.  A petition must be submitted to the President at least 30 days before the date designated for the election.
• Only candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee Procedure or the Petition Procedure shall be eligible for election to office. All candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee or petition must submit to the President, at least 30 days before the date designated for the regular membership meeting, a signed statement consenting to candidacy and agreeing to serve if elected and a brief personal statement.
• The Board shall adopt a voting procedure for electronic or mail balloting. The Board shall hire an independent teller to distribute, collect and count the ballots.  At least 20 days before the regular membership meeting the Teller shall submit to the members electronically or by mail the personal statement of candidates for office nominated by the Nominating Committee or petition, a notation indicating whether the candidate’s nomination was by the Nominating Committee or petition, and a ballot form with instructions on the method of voting, with all votes to be cast not later than 14 days before the election.  The election shall be closed prior to the start of the regular membership meeting.  A plurality shall elect to office.
• In case of a tie, the election shall be determined by lot, the specific requirements of which shall be determined by the Board. The Secretary shall distribute the results of the vote to the members electronically or by mail upon completion of tabulation.
• If a vacancy in the position of an officer or director other than the Immediate Past President still exists prior to the regular membership meeting, it may be filled by floor nomination and vote at the regular membership meeting.

Article 5:  Meetings

Section 5.1:  There shall be a regular membership meeting not less than 15 months and not more than 21 months from the previous regular membership meeting, so that there are two regular membership meetings every three calendar years starting in 2005.

Section 5.2:  The President, in consultation with the Secretary, shall prepare a proposed agenda for each Board and membership meeting, which shall be circulated to the members electronically or in writing at least 15 days before a regular membership meeting and one day before a Board meeting.

Section 5.3:  For business meetings, two-thirds of those present and in good standing shall constitute a quorum.

Section 5.4:  A Special membership meeting may be called by the President, or by at least three Officers or by petition of at least 20 members in good standing, with at least 20 days’ notice.  The Board shall establish the date, time, and location of all membership meetings, provided that such meeting shall be held not later than forty days from the date that the Secretary receives the request for such meeting.

Section 5.5:  All Board meetings may be held remotely by using the most effective technology, including but not limited to electronic media, e-mail, telephone, web conference or other such electronic media which the Board approves.

Section 5.6:  There shall be no proxy voting.

Article 6:  Committees

Section 6.1:  In addition to standing committees named in this Article, the Board may create such additional committees, standing or special, as it deems necessary to carry out the work of IAPP.

Section 6.2:  The President shall appoint an Audit Committee of at least three members, of which the Treasurer shall not be a member.

Section 6.3:  All committees shall report to the Board of Directors.

Article 7:  Financial Matters

Section 7.1:  The Treasurer, in consultation with the President shall present an annual budget to the Board at the first Board meeting of the calendar year.

Section 7.2:  No member of the IAPP shall enter into any agreement or obligation for the IAPP, financial or otherwise, or expend any funds in excess of the adopted budget without prior approval of the Board or Directors.

Section 7.3:  The Board is empowered to adopt an indemnification policy and a conflict of interest policy.

Section 7.4:  The fiscal year of the IAPP shall be a calendar year.

Article 8:  Miscellaneous

Section 8.1: Amendments to these Bylaws may be proposed by the Board of Directors or by a petition of 15 members.

Section 8.2:  These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the voting members of the IAPP, provided that at least fifteen days’ previous notice is given.

Section 8.3:  In the event of disagreement on the meaning of any provision herein, the matter shall be settled by an appeal to the members.  In the event of further disagreement, the matter shall be referred to either legal counsel or a registered parliamentarian.

Section 8.4:  The Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure shall be the parliamentary authority for the IAPP except as otherwise provided by these Bylaws.