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PERSONAL
PAGE
- see also RESUME
MELISSA
SCHELLING
born
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1958 Year of the Dog
Melissa
began photographing with a Kodak Instamatic at age 6.
In the same year, the Royal Ontario Museum included her
painting of family life in a Children's Exhibition.
During
childhood, Melissa straddled the international border between Toronto,
Montreal, Princeton New Jersey, North Hatley Quebec, and Washington
DC.
After
graduating from Beloit College, Wisconsin, with a BA in Music, Melissa
packed her dog and her camera and moved to beautiful Mount Desert
Island, Maine. In 1982, she co-created and produced the family board
game: Bar Harbor Vacation Game © - "A Summer Vacation
That Lasts the Whole Year Long."
It
was during a hike in Acadia National Park when photography changed
from a hobby to a necessity. One hour out from her cabin, Melissa
saw a photograph, but had forgotten her camera, so she hiked back
another hour to retrieve it. Her dog mistakenly took this action
as the end of a promising hike, when in fact she became the star
subject in Melissa's Acadia Park photos.
Reluctant
to leave coastal Maine, Melissa discovered the Maine Photographic
Workshops in midcoast Rockport and spent a year and a half of intensive
study in black and white, color, studio lighting and large format
photography. Also in the same program was her future husband, Dominic
Tidmarsh. They moved to Washington, DC, and married in 1984.
Melissa
joined the Cathedral Choral Society, directed by J. Reilly Lewis.
The 180 voice choir performed in the Washington National Cathedral,
the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the US Capitol steps,
and recorded a CD of Sacred Russian Choral Music to celebrate the
Millenium of Christianity in Russia. Melissa travelled to Warsaw,
Poland, with a small delegation of CCS members and sang with the
Polish National Choir in the first public gathering since Solidarity.
In addition, Melissa sang professionally with the 8 voice a cappella
group, Christmas Revelers. The singers entertained at fine restaurants,
intimate parties, and at the White House during each of three administrations.
Melissa
founded Schelling Tidmarsh Photography and specialized in weddings,
artists and their art work. Early on in her wedding career, the
Washingtonian Magazine chose Melissa's photograph of a swirling
bride to headline the bridal issue. Melissa exhibited her personal
photographs in several galleries and won first prize in a multi
media art show with her color photograph of a tropical beach.
In
1996, Melissa moved to Hawaii and transformed an abandoned papaya
field into a lush garden, planting over 650 trees including tropical
hardwoods, palm, a variety of fruit, and several Native Hawaiian
trees, one of which is under consideration for the Endangered Species
List. With the help of her husband and a very patient carpenter,
Melissa built a solar powered house using many recycled material
products.
In
1999, Melissa returned to exhibiting her photographs and won several
awards. Melissa continues to photograph her dogs and will publish
them in a future book.
Click
on a photograph to view an enlargement
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