OUR NONPROFIT
MISSION STATEMENT
We sincerely feel that photography can change lives. The Photographer’s Eye was created with this ideal in mind. We wish to enhance the understanding of photography as an art as well as a tool for personal growth, and as a universal language. Our exhibitions are diverse and representative of the myriad ways photography impacts society.
From our inception we have encouraged teaching and learning about photography. Our non-profit mission is to further grow photography education through providing scholarships for college and high school photography students and free classes for children, seniors and those at risk.
Our commitment is to the community of photographers and non-photographers alike. Led by our passion for the photographic arts, we hope to inspire, share knowledge, and become a cultural leader through partnering with those who appreciate this same enthusiasm for our mission.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In a life dedicated to photography since 1971, Donna Cosentino has been a news photographer, museum docent, curator, educator, and leader in the photographic community. After thirty years of teaching photography, Donna retired and opened The Photographer’s Eye in Escondido, a gallery whose mission is to enlighten and educate the community on the history and art of photography through exhibitions and classes.
Board Member - June Rady
June Rady was born and raised in Escondido. She was assistant/administrator at Palomar College for 40 years and served as a two term member of the Escondido City Council.
Her community service includes many volunteer positions including President and Member of Board of Directors of Palomar College Retirees’, and President of the Board of Directors of the Escondido History Center.
Board Member - Philipp Scholz Rittermann
Born in 1955, Philipp Scholz Rittermann was raised in Lima, Perú, moving to Germany in 1969. There he co-founded a photography gallery and taught photography. In 1982 he emigrated to the United States. His photographs are included in more than 100 public, private, and corporate collections, from The Museum of Modern Art, New York to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. A mid-career survey of Rittermann’s work was held at the Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego, and a solo exhibition of Emperor’s River was presented at the museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. He has been teaching photography in the United States and abroad for more than four decades. He lives and works in Southern California and is a great supporter of the photographic arts.
OUR OFFICERS
Vice President - Judith Preston
Judith Preston is a photographer and educator who grew up in rural New England and now lives in Southern California. She first became interested in photography while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in English from Keene State College in New Hampshire. Exposed to the work of Minor White and Ansel Adams as a student worker in the college’s audio-visual department, she began to pursue still photography as a visual avenue of communication.
Her first serious work was a documentary project of photographs of the residents of a low-income housing project in a small town in Southern Vermont. Turning her attention to the Vermont landscape, she began experimenting with black & white infrared film as a way to express the spiritual quality of nature. Wanting to delve into the medium even further, she entered the graduate program in photography at Ohio University, Athens, receiving her MFA in 1986. Currently, she is interested in low-tech approaches to image-making such as the Holga plastic camera and non-traditional alternative processes. Since 1988, she has taught traditional b&w darkroom, color negative printing, digital photography, and the history of photography.
Deb Hellman is a photographer and member of the Photographer’s Eye Collective from its inception. She is a volunteer to many community events and a strong supporter of the gallery’s mission.
Priscilla Monger is the Treasurer holding degrees in Accounting, Business Management and Data Processing. She received her bachelor’s degrees in Hawaii and South Dakota, respectively. She has worked with private, public, and nonprofit entities as a Staff Accountant and Accounting Manager working with various accounting software applications. She has experience working in manufacturing, real estate, IT services, hotels and hospital environments preparing financial and budget reporting, year-end external and internal audits, and various tax reports.
She obtained an Associates Degree in Photography while working full time as an Accountant attending night classes at Grossmont College, Palomar College, and City College. She was featured in the Best of College Photography Annual by the Photographer’s Forum, placed Best of Show and Best Black and White/Creative category in the North County Photographic Society Member Show and placed 1st in the Creative/Alternative Process Category in the San Diego County Fair Photography Exhibition. Her love and passion for photography continues today as an endless journey of discovering and experimenting in capturing images.
OUR WEB MASTER
Brandy J Sebastian
Brandy Sebastian is a practicing photographer professionally, and as a fine art creative. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the west. She is a member of several fine photography associations in San Diego that promote group exhibitions and dialog about photography: True North Photo Society; Snow Creek Collaborative; and she was a founding member of the Photographer’s Eye Collective. She has been the manager and web designer for The Photographer’s Eye Collective from its beginning. Brandy has recently opened her own photography gallery, Oak Gallery, in Carlsbad where she shows the work of several photographic artists including her own.
The Photographer's Eye Collective is a 501(c)(3) Non Profit 87-0884979