Dick Hunt

Dick Hunt was born and raised in Maspeth, Queens, attended Brooklyn Tech High School, attended Brooklyn Poly Tech College and was a member of the Rifle Team and ROTC. After college he was employed by Western Electric and while at Western Electric, he joined the Army as a Lieutenant and served with the Army Corp of Engineers.

Prior to his discharge he was approached by Western Electric to resume his position and he went back to Western Electric and their subsidies (AT&T, NYNEX, VERIZON) for 35 years until his retirement.

After college, his marriage and the Army, in 1959 Dick moved to Levittown, and after his retirement in 1990, he joined the Wantagh Camera Club (WCC). He always enjoyed photography and got serious when an aunt gave him a Bolsey-B2, 35mm camera at age 16. He started with slides and Black and White which was processed in a dark room in his bathroom and then he built a dark room in his Levittown home.

At the WCC Dick served twice as President: once for 7 years, then for 4 years. He served as the Trip Coordinator; Editor of their newsletter "The Flash," served as Competition Chairman, and as the Awards Chairman.

For the last 31 consecutive years, Dick has also held many positions and projects in the WCC and the PFLI. In addition to serving on the PFLI’s Board, Dick served as Competition Chair for 20 years, selects the judges for monthly competitions and for the annual Leonard Victor Competition. He became Editor of the PFLI newsletter "The Programmer."

He served as Web Master, Judges Training Program, Corresponding Secretary, was responsible for the awards/ribbons presented to members, was Honors Committee Chair for APFLI, FPFLI, Service Awards and Honorary Awards.

In 2009 after much persuasion Dick agreed to write his photo story and provided the information for “The Keys to Great Photographs.” Joanna Gazzola, Loretta Schorr, Ron Caldwell, George Favale of the Education Committee moved the book to fruition. We’re indebted to Adolfo Briceno – Wantagh Club - for Dick’s photo. The PFLI published The Keys to Great Photographs by Richard A. Hunt in 2009 and into 2010 we sold all copies to PFLI members ... and across the US.

The Education Committee presented Dick and his book at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library in November 2009 and there were 170 attendees! The readers were strengthened, and the proceeds grew our treasury. Dick’s book remains relevant today and is available on PFLI’s Website.

Dick is PFLI’s Master Photographer and during Dorothy Gist’s presidency, he conducted the research of the competition scores of 73 photographers who competed in any PFLI competition from 1998 to 2009. With the results, the PFLI Photographers Hall of Fame was created. Dick was in the initial class of 9 photographers who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

A total of 18 photographers have been inducted into the PFLI’s Hall of Fame.

In an attempt to engage with young adult photographers, in 2010 the PFLI joined the PSA to participate in their high school annual contest. Dick immediately started working with the Youth Showcase and has served as a judge at competitions, he photographed the prints for the awards presentation slideshow, handled the software for the digital competition and presented the digital winning entries at the annual Youth Showcase Awards Ceremony until 2020.

During Dorothy Gist’s presidency (2006-2011), Dick was presented with the President’s Award as a token of the appreciation for his support and endless efforts in so many aspects of the PFLI.

Over the years in the PFLI, Dick has won every possible award – many times over – in all categories. In the 2009 Leonard Victor Competition, he won first place awards in: Black/White Prints, Color Prints, and Digital ...a first for the PFLI!

He has won awards in numerous other juried competitions, presented numerous photography lectures, and has had several one-man photo shows.

Dick’s a 5 times winner of Wantagh Town website Photo Competition.

This is a brief overview of Dick Hunt’s contributions to the PFLI. There are many other programs/projects that Dick has been involved in and hopefully they’ll be merged into this document. In the meantime, this will give you a glimpse into the photography endeavors of this Master Photographer: Dick Hunt.

The PFLI is stronger today because of Dick’s many, many contributions to our hobby:photography. Thank You Dick Hunt for bringing us to this place in the PFLI with your 31 years of consecutive service.

On April 25, 2021, Dick Hunt was recognized by the PFLI and Wantagh Camera Club for his 31 years of consecutive volunteer service.

April 25, 2021 - Contributions by: Dick Hunt, Harry Loud, Dorothy Gist