About TOM & I

BIO: Lisa Cuchara, PhD, Master Craftsman* (PPA), Master Photographer* (PPA), Master Artist* (PPA), HonNEC*, and Tom Cuchara, Master Craftsman* (PPA), HonNEC*, are passionate about photography, both behind the lens and in the digital darkroom. They are also OM SYSTEM Ambassadors and Wildside Nature Tour leaders. They have diverse creative interests ranging from Nature, Macro and Night photography to Urban exploration, people, and creative editing. From birds and flowers to Marco and HDR, they appreciate the world around them and embrace the challenge of interpreting what their eyes see, and their hearts feel via their photography. They have their own Photography Studio in Hamden CT which they use for teaching lightpainting, still life, macro, flowers, etc., for teaching photography and post-processing, and for photographing portraits, and Cosplay characters. They have presented a wide variety of instructional programs and workshops for many conferences, camera clubs, photography organizations, garden clubs, and other organizations. They love to Teach, Mentor, Motivate, and Inspire, and hope that our passion and creativity will inspire you to capture beautiful photons and manipulate pixels with impact.

About us…

We specialize in decorating homes with nature and UrbEx art. We enjoy taking "straight out of camera" photographs and equally enjoy creating ART from our photographs, both allow us to capture the moment as our mind's eye sees it. We have both two-legged and four-legged children (dogs, cats, red-eyed green tree frogs, other frogs, chameleons, and other critters), and a wonderful daughter. We love sunsets and hot fudge sundaes and embrace the "'Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away" philosophy!

We love any chance to take photographs! Photography gives us superpowers, lol, we can freeze time. We love to Teach/Mentor/Motivate. We would love an opportunity to inspire you with our "Creativity is contagious, pass it on" philosophy and our “Don’t shoot what it looks like, shoot what it feels like” approach. We love to Teach/Mentor/Motivate. May our creativity inspire you to capture photons & manipulate pixels. We treasure our two-legged and four-legged children :-)

Tom and I are both OM SYSTEM (formerly Olympus) Ambassadors. Email us for camera/lens suggestions. We use OM-1 cameras https://tinyurl.com/lisatom-om-1. We appreciate you using our affiliate link for OM camera/lens/accessory purchases https://tinyurl.com/lisatom-OMD. You can also order the new 90mm macro lens using our affiliate link https://tinyurl.com/lisatom-OM90mm. While Tom & I love our OM-1 cameras and their amazing computational technologies, we welcome ANY kind and brand of camera (from smartphones to dSLRs to mirrorlesss to film cameras) on our workshops.

Tom and I are both very active in many local and national photography organizations. We have presented programs at NECCC, Nature Visions, CanAm, CAP, PPA, PPANE, PSA, Greater Lynn, NHCC, and for a lot of other camera and nature clubs across the New England region. We also judge photographic competitions, teach various photography and image editing workshops. We have had many successful gallery exhibitions and our work has been accepted into various juried exhibitions. Our photographs have appeared in Adirondack Life, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, in calendars and on calendar covers, and on the cover of a paperback novel. Lisa has also had images accepted into the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) loan and imaging excellence collections. Our images have won awards at the local, state, national, and international levels. Tom and I have published two books with Amherst Media. The first called “Create Fine Art Photographs from Historic Places and Rusty Things” is about our HDR and light painted images; it can be ordered from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-urbex and is also available at brick and mortar bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Our second, one year later, is called “The Frog Whisperer: Portraits and Stories” http://tinyurl.com/lisatom-frogs.

We teach photography a variety of image capture and post-processing workshops and seminars, in the classroom and in the field. We are also OM SYSTEM Ambassadors and lead tours in the USA and abroad for Wildside Nature Tours. We have presented a variety of instructional programs and workshops for many conferences, camera clubs, photography organizations, garden clubs, and other organizations. Check out our photo and editing classes, our photo events and workshops, and view our photographs at www.LisaTom.Photos.

We are excited to have an opportunity to inspire you with our "Creativity is contagious, pass it on" philosophy and our “Don’t shoot what it looks like, shoot what it feels like” approach. We love to Teach, Mentor, Motivate, and Inspire, and hope that our passion and creativity will inspire you to capture beautiful photons and manipulate pixels with impact.

*Photographic Craftsman (Cr.Photog.) is awarded by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) for service as an orator, author, or mentor. This degree shows that you have gone beyond the creation of images and dedicated your time to move the industry forward and encourage education. Cr.Photog. is one of the highest recognitions for speaking, writing, or mentoring on photography; it positions the photographer as an authority in the industry.

Master Artist degree is awarded by the Professional Photographers of America This degree is not merely a piece of paper. It means that Lisa Cuchara has met the standards of excellence set by PPA. She has been awarded the Master Artist degree in recognition of her superior photographic competence and enhancement of images with artistic techniques as demonstrated through photographic competition, advanced education, and service to the profession. In 2022, she was one of only 29 recipients. Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the world's largest nonprofit photography association organized for professional photographers, by professional photographers, with 30,000 creative members in more than 50 countries. Cuchara’s Master Artist degree—and all the expertise it requires—illustrates her accomplishments and talent as one of a select few.

The Master of Photography degree is not merely a piece of paper. It means that Cuchara has met the standards of excellence set by PPA. She has been awarded this degree in recognition of her superior photographic competence demonstrated through photographic competition, advanced education and service to the profession. In 2020, she was one of only 92 recipients. Cuchara's degrees—and all the expertise they require—illustrate her accomplishments and talent as one of a select few.

HonNEC is awarded for superior leadership in the operation of our Council and superior photographic leadership in the New England area. For achieving substantial and outstanding recognition in the field of photography through activities for a minimum of ten years through lecturing, judging, writing, and administrative activities in the New England area. Lisa received the designation of HonNEC “in 2015 For her outstanding dedication to New England Camera Club Council using her extensive organizational skills and knowledge to serve as its blog master, social media liaison, webmaster and executive board member; for her longstanding continued service in many diverse roles for local camera organizations; for her tireless efforts to promote the photographic arts; she routinely lectures for New England Camera Club Council and camera clubs and conferences in the New England area; she constantly provides formal and informal teaching leading classes in photography concepts in the classroom as well as in field workshops; for her role as a sought-after judge providing dynamic and constructive critiques; for her photographic achievements and exemplary exhibition records. With her commitment and vast knowledge of photography, Lisa epitomizes the concept of the dedicated professional.”

Tom received the designation of HonNEC in 2020 “in part for his expertise in photography and his willingness to teach and encourage others. For his numerous photography awards, recognitions, and outstanding contributions to many local, national, and international photography organizations. For his key leadership roles in his local camera club and as NECCC vice president and conference co-chair, speaker and presenter. For his ability to inspire through his contagious passion for photography in group and individual settings and through his published books.”

View our Photo Galleries: www.PhotographyByLisaAndTom.com

Join our email list to find out about photography and about our photo classes, photo tours and workshops, photo ops, etc. http://tinyurl.com/cuchara-photolist

Check out some of our workshops: https://www.lisatom.photos/photo-events

Email us at LisaTom.photos@comcast.net; Call us (203) 288-8151

Please note that all of our workshops require the participants to sign a liability waiver. Download it; then print, read, and sign it and bring it with you -- Thank you! http://tinyurl.com/LisaTomWaiver24. Please note that some locations will have you sign their liability waiver at the site as well.

Please note that this and all classes/workshops have no refunds. By signing up for our classes/tours/workshops, you agree to our terms and conditions, see http://www.photographybylisaandtom.com/p/workshops.html

Lisa and Tom of BREA Photos LLC provides this material for your informational and entertainment purpose only. Our sites do allow for reader feedback, but we can not be held responsible for all of their content. Lisa and Tom of BREA Photos LLC do moderate and we will remove anything that is deemed inappropriate. Readers agree not to post intentionally mean or harmful comments, upload virus, spam, or anything illegal. Lisa and Tom of BREA Photos LLC can not be held responsible if something like that does happens to occur. We do sometimes provide links to external websites for informational purposes as a convenience to our readers, but we have no control over them. We try to ensure that the websites linked and any other links from this website contain "safe" content for everyone, but be aware that some sites may contain explicit and other potentially offensive material due to the subject matter of the photographs exhibited. Users should contact the external website with questions or concerns regarding its content. The content of a linked website may change at any time; if you find a link that is broken (or inappropriate) please contact us.

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Information Collection, Use, and Sharing 
We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone. We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to ship an order. Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy. The only personal information we collect is your name, street and email address, and telephone number. Your credit card information will also be collected if that form of payment is used to make your purchase but, that data is only used to process your transaction is not stored in our database. We use the personal information collected from you to facilitate taking your photographs, teaching you photography, communicating with you regarding your photography. and processing any transaction you may do with Photography By Lisa And Tom. Such personal information as we collect is not used for any other purpose and is not shared.

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