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.
Scott Udle – 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 president
- Scott will continue to assist the Competitions Director in tabulating scores and statistics for the Challenges and Competitions
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.
Jean Paul Lauzon – 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
JP started using his grandfather’s 35mm Kodak camera in his preteen years. When everyone was buying their first clunker, JP used money from his first job to invest in camera gear. While working in Japan, he upgraded to an Olympus film camera. As his family grew, JP put shooting images on the back burner, but never lost the desire to get back into the field.
Recently retired, JP has re-launched himself into photography, particularly focusing on wildlife and landscapes, but with a desire to expand to many of the other genres. JP enjoys the challenges of capturing a good image and creating the right edit that helps to tell its story.
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.
Patricia Parsons – Program Director
Responsibilities:
- Preparing, in consultation with the President, a yearly program guest speakers for the club’s regular meetings, and presenting it to the executive for approval
- Maintaining a list of guest speakers, with recommendations
Patricia is a graduate of SPAO and an accredited member of PPOC. Her work has been published in PhotoEd magazine, exhibited at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and is part of permanent installations in government offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, and Quebec City.
A lifelong photographer, Patricia began exploring photography as an art form in 2022. She enjoys a wide range of genres and techniques, including film, infrared, filtered photography, wildlife, travel, and studio work. She develops her own film and particularly enjoys experimenting with colour.
Colour is a strong influence in Patricia’s work. She is naturally drawn to vibrant flowers, birds, and landscapes, always looking for opportunities to capture and enhance the beauty and energy of colour.
Patricia is an enthusiastic participant in photography competitions and is currently pursuing her certification in judging through CAPA. She also enjoys sharing her passion through volunteering, including four years with Les Grands Feux and charity events such as Dancing with the Stars in support of Easter Seals.
Johan Carignan – Events / Outings Director
Responsibilities:
- Organizing a schedule of activities including events, outings and workshops
- Managing execution of these activities
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.
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 :))!