Executive Team
The CPOPC Executive Team is made up of talented volunteers. They ensure the club’s mandate is on target and that it is serving its membership.
Jean-François Riel – President
Responsibilities: The general supervision of the Club and its programs
- Chairing Executive meetings, and providing meeting agendas
Presiding at all Club meetings - Preparing the presentation slide deck for the monthly meetings
- Calling extraordinary meetings to deal with urgent issues
- Overseeing the elaboration of yearly programs with the Officers involved
- Assisting Officers in creating yearly programs
- Giving approval to all amendments to programs, competitions, and events
- Booking facilities for all Club meetings
Jean-François started his photographic journey as a toddler, wanting to capture the fleeting moments of life and perhaps, one day, become president of the world’s greatest photo club. A few years later, he remains an avid photographer interested in a broad range of subjects, from natural to human-made things, and from perfect to broken or decaying. Ultimately, for some of his images, he strives to make the viewer think, or convey an emotion. Jean-François also enjoys processing his images after their capture to make the most of them.
Chris Taylor – Vice President
Responsibilities:
- Assisting the President in the overall duties of running the club
- Chairing meetings when the president is absent
- Recruiting members
- Marketing the CPOPC including publicity, press releases
- Liaising with community organizations, local media and camera stores
- Assisting other members of the executive at the direction of the presideny
Chris began with photography using an Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera in the 1970s and learned shooting & darkroom techniques at the Carleton University Photo Club. His subject interests lie mostly with landscape, urban/street, and architecture. Chris has taught on many aspects of photography through photo clubs, the Ottawa Public Library, and the Ottawa PC Users’ Group. His volunteer education efforts have led to being awarded 15 times as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, receiving the Ottawa Mayor’s City Builder Award, and the 2018 Ontario Volunteer Service Award.
John Ingold – Communications Director
Responsibilities:
- Generating the Monthly communication newsletter for members
- Ensuring the website information is informative and current
- Managing the club’s media presence including uploading of images from
monthly challenges - Preparing the Reminder emails as necessary for Club Members.
John started photography by photographing birds in his backyard. He has since expanded his horizon into landscape and macro photography. John enjoys learning about new photography techniques and the technological advances in cameras. John uses the Sony family of cameras.
Marianne Pethke – Program Director
Responsibilities:
- Preparing, in consultation with the President, a yearly program of activities
and guest speakers for the club’s regular meetings, and presenting it to
the executive for approval - Organizing workshops and outings to complement the regular club
meetings - Maintaining a list of guest speakers, with recommendations
Marianne is interested in many types of photography including, but not limited to, still life, landscape, macro, and floral, but she is most passionate about bird/wildlife photography. Her subjects are found mostly within the Ottawa area and she is out in nature taking photos at every opportunity.
She has always been interested in photography, but did not pursue it to any degree until retirement. Now she belongs to several photo clubs and groups. She enjoys the competitions, learning, and making new friends who share similar interests. She takes courses and is always trying to improve her photography and editing skills.
She sees the beauty of nature all around her and likes to share what she sees with others by way of her photographs.
Marianne is also a volunteer photographer for the Navan Fair.
Johan Carignan – Assistant Program Director
Responsibilities:
- Sharing assigned duties with the Program Director
Johan is a self-taught photographer with a passion for capturing the beauty of nature through her lens. From documenting family events in her youth to delving into digital manipulation as technology advanced, Johan’s journey in photography has been a lifelong exploration of artistry. After a 36-year career in the Canadian Forces, Johan decided to pursue her artistic aspirations further by enrolling in the Algonquin College Digital Photography program in 2015. Here, she honed her technical skills and delved deeper into the art of digital photography. Nature serves as Johan’s primary muse, whether she’s capturing landscapes, wildlife, or flowers. For Johan, photography isn’t just about creating beautiful images—it’s a way to pay homage to the wonders of the natural world. Through her art, she seeks to inspire others to slow down, appreciate the beauty around them, and forge a deeper connection with nature.
Lynda Buske – Competition Director
Responsibilities:
- Preparing, in consultation with the President, a yearly a list of competitions
to be held through its regular season, and presenting it to the executive for
approval - Preparing guidelines, organizing competitions identifying judges
- Reporting the competition results to the membership and highlighting the
winners - Preparing and organizing pictures for the website
- Maintaining a list of judges, with recommendations
Lynda was an Ottawa Public Library volunteer lecturer for many years with a special interest in travel photography, photo editing and sharing images in various ways. She now gives ad hoc lectures to various seniors clubs on these topics as well as armchair travel lectures from her domestic and international trips. Lynda writes a monthly column on digital photography for the Ottawa PC Users Group. She got her first camera (Brownie) at the age of 10 and has never been without one since. Her favourite time to shoot is before dawn where, year-round, you will find her at various locations around the city.
Scott Udle – Assistant Competitions Director
Responsibilities:
- Assisting Competitions Director in assigned duties
Scott was born and raised in Newfoundland and has lived in Ottawa since 1998. His first DSLR was a Canon Rebel purchased soon after starting a family. His growth in photography has explored many genres and is currently focused on landscapes, especially the rugged beauty of outport Newfoundland. Scott is recently retired from a career in IT with the federal government and has been a member of CPOPC since 2018.
Roger Régimbal – Secretary/Treasurer
Responsibilities – Secretary:
- Maintaining the archives of the Club
- Receiving and sending all correspondence
- Maintaining the membership database
- Taking registration, issuing identification and membership cards
- Revising the constitution and submitting changes to the Executive
Responsibilities – Treasurer:
- Dealing with all financial transactions of the CPOPC
- Preparing in consultation with the President, a yearly budget and presenting
it to the executive for approval - Receiving all money due to the Club
- Depositing all money in a chartered bank account
- Issuing checks for bills owed by the Club
- Approving all non-budgeted expenses under $200
- Paying such sums as authorized by the Executive
Roger has always been interested in photography. He took his first pictures with a Brownie camera. During his university years, he became the photographer for the newspaper and the yearbook, where he took and processed thousands of black and white pictures. As a teacher, he taught the basics of picture taking and darkroom processing to his grade seven and eight students. His union activities did not leave much time for his hobby. In recent years, he has renewed with it and has become a member of our club. This year he has once again accepted the task of secretary treasurer.
John Miner – Webmaster
Responsibilities:
- Developing and maintaining the CPOPC website
- Developing the membership database
- Posting and updating the information to the website and Facebook
- Scheduling and administering online meetings, e.g.: via Zoom
John is now retired and trying to pursue his photography passion further. His Dad was an ardent photographer and the genes seem to be inherited. John’s main interest is in travel photography which is his justification to travel. John is currently working in both digital and film with lots of future projects in mind.
Darren Bessette – Assistant Webmaster
Responsibilities:
- Assisting Webmaster in assigned duties
Darren started photography in high school shooting with his parents’ old Nikon camera and developing the photos in the school’s dark room.
From there, he worked at several companies that produced machine vision/industrial cameras. His roles included software engineer, technical support, sales engineer and product manager. He is currently managing and selling Sony image sensors at a company called FRAMOS. He is an imaging expert with detailed knowledge of the inner workings of image sensor and camera technologies and has given talks about them worldwide. He has been able to merge his career with his hobby. His personal photography is varied and spans all aspects including wildlife, landscape, urban, model/fashion and event/group photography.
He is very curious and always looking to learn more about the science, technologies and creative side of cameras and taking photographs. He is currently using Sony’s family of cameras (naturally :))!