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The
photographer, Thomas McElvy, made his first world appearance in Jacksonville Florida in April,
1954.
His family
moved to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia
(Norfolk-Virginia Beach) in 1957, and he has been
here since. Tom
attended private school during his elementary years, and began public
schooling
in Norfolk
in the seventh grade. During high school, Tom
discovered an interest in photography, thanks in part to two
high school friends, Jackie Beamon and Glen Forbes.
He
soon purchased a Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL 35mm
manual
camera, with a 50mm lens,
and added a Tamron 70-205 lens. Tom quickly became the "staff
photographer"
for the chorus department, where many of his photos still hang.
In 1972, Tom was selected to attend a summer program at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in
Richmond Virginia entitled
"Summer '72" which, as we understand, became the
prototype for the Governor's School For The Gifted.
Tom studied
photography and the theater.
After high school, another friend, Jerome Rubin, helped Tom become involved in concert
photography, attending many local
concerts at the
Norfolk Scope,
Hampton Roads Coliseum and other venues. They did much work for AGL
Productions, as well as
some sports
shooting for the Virginia Red Wings
hockey club, and various other events. Additionally, he served as a
staff photographer for several years with the then trendy
Ghent Press, an area alternative
(sometimes referred to as "underground") monthly newspaper. Other work
has appeared in the Virginian-Pilot and
Richmond Times-Dispatch newspapers,
as well as on local news media websites.
Marriage (and the skyrocketing cost of photographic film, paper and
chemicals), caused Tom to leave photography for a number
of years. In 1998, with the emergence of high quality (for the period)
digital cameras, Tom renewed his interest in photography;
however, it was more of a snapshot interest, as opposed to a fine art
medium. It
was after his marriage in April 2002 to his third
wife, Virginia Becker McElvy
of Fort Wayne Indiana, that he re-discovered
his love of fine-art photography.
Virginia was a dancer,
and after much discussion, she decided to become a model
on
Southern Charms,
an amateur modeling site. Tom did the majority of her photography, and
she quickly became one
of the most popular models on the site, where she stayed until she and
Tom
separated in January 2004. Tom continues to do photographic work
for several other local models, and hopes to participate in some national
contests in the
near future.
Tom is, by profession, a magazine publisher, having created a local contact
magazine in early 1996, which is beginning it's 12th year of publication.
He recently stepped down from his position of "wireless expert" for the large electronics retailer,
Best Buy.
Educationally, Tom has graduated from the
New York Institute of
Photography, with a
certificate in Professional Photography, and is
currently enrolled in their digital photography program.
He is also taking courses from
PhotoShop Academy
in Knoxville, TN, and recently graduated from the London Art
College, in London, England,
with a diploma in Art History.
His photographic equipment currently consists of a
Canon 30D
with several Canon lenses, and other
related goodies. His digital darkroom consists
of PhotoShop CS2, ACDSee Pro Software, and other digital processing software.
He considers
himself an "advanced amateur."
Tom is currently a member of the
Virginia Beach Photography Club,
and is serving as the club's President for 2007;
The American
Museum of Photography,
The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia,
The Chrysler Museum, and the
Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts
in Richmond. He is also a lifetime member of the
International Freelance
Photographers Organization.
His
work has
been exhibited in Richmond, Virginia and he has plans for additional
exhibitions, with a December 2006 opening at the Virginia Beach Central
Library Gallery.
Tom's other lifetime activities and achievements include being a pioneer in the online
entertainment industry, creating the world
renowned Pleasure Dome BBS in
1985. He took the BBS (BBS stands for Bulletin Board System - one of the
predecessors to the
Internet) on
to a multi-line system, and won many
coveted awards in the industry, including the Best BBS in the USA in 1992,
Best
Adult BBS in
the USA in 1990-1991-1992 and 1993, and Best BBS in
Virginia in 1990-1991-1992 and 1993. Tom was also a nominee
for the Electronic
Frontier Foundation's Online Pioneer Award in 1992. The BBS was included in
many periodicals and books, most notably The Joy of
Cybersex (Robinson/Tomosaitis,
Brady Press, 1993) and Billy Wildhack's Adult BBS Guidebook (Independent
Press, 1993), Boardwatch
Magazine,
SysOp News, BBS World, Online Diversions
as well as others. Tom was also the subject of many local radio talk show
appearances.
He has
also appeared on two WAVY-TV news segments and one WTKR
TV news segment about BBS's, and in the Virginian-Pilot
newspaper about
the BBS as well as one of his other hobbies, short-wave radio listening, and
numerous radio and television appearances
regarding his magazine
and lifestyle interests.
Over the years, Tom has contributed not only to the entertainment
industry, but to many other industry and hobbyist publications as well;
including Radio Communications Report, and monthly journals by
North American Shortwave Association, Great
Circle SW Society, The Old
Dominion DX Association, as a
staff editor and
writer, as well as others. He served on the Virginia Beach HamFest
Committee from
1986-1991; as the publicity director of
the Association of North American Radio Clubs and hosted the
Annual East
Coast Shortwave Listener's
Conventions from 1988-1991, as well
as the
International Convention of The Association of North American Radio Clubs in
1990, bringing
international shortwave celebrities from
around the globe to this area. He has served on the board of several sysop organizations, and was elected
president of the Virginia BBS Association in 1992
and 1993, and was
instrumental in a campaign to "reign in" the local telephone company when
they were attempting to re-categorize BBSs
used for hobbies as businesses (It was a successful campaign - we won!).
Tom was also was a member of a panel of experts on that same
subject at the 1992 OneBBScon convention,
in Denver Colorado, sponsored by Boardwatch Magazine.
Other projects and activities over the
years have included work with the
March of
Dimes charities; most recently he was involved with the
Planetary Society and the SETI@home Project,
in the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Tom also holds numerous academic and business certificates. He was
also a charter member of the Association of Online Professionals
(#95-00410). Tom also holds a Certificate in Retail Management from Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, VA, as well as a Retail
Selling certificate from The University of Wisconsin at Madison. He
has also earned his Associate's Degree
from Tidewater Community College. In 2003, Tom was appointed as the Honorary Chairman
of the Business Advisory Council of Virginia by the National
Republican Congressional Committee. He also received the
National Leadership Award from the
Committee in 2003 and 2004, as well as receiving the
Business
Advisory Council's 2003 and 2004 Businessman of the Year Awards.
Tom has also received the
2004 Ronald Reagan Gold Medal Award for his business contributions to the economic
growth of the United States.
His employment history has included primarily several Fortune
500 companies including lower and middle management positions with
American Paging,
Communications Industries, Pacific Telephone (PacTel), Bell
Atlantic (now Verizon) and has been a co-owner of a retail computer store,
as well as a
sales manager for several local firms. He has also worked as a
"Wireless Expert" at a
major electronics retailer, Best Buy, in
Virginia Beach. He now works for himself full time.
Tom is an avid bowler and swimmer, and enjoys some sporting events, most
notably ice hockey, swimming and tennis. He listens primarily to 70's
soft rock, and enjoys the work of Mozart, as well as many other classical
masters. While he enjoys a limited amount of television, he is
primarily a sci-fi buff, counting among his favorite shows, Star Trek,
Babylon 5 and The Prisoner, as well as several drama series including
24, Heroes, Law &
Order (original and SVU), La Femme Nikita, and Nip / Tuck.
Tom is divorced from his beloved wife, Virginia Becker McElvy who
returned
to her native
Fort Wayne, Indiana. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his four Pomeranians, Tasha,
Snowball, Candy and Anna. He has two sons, Charles and Jonathan, and five
grandchildren; three girls and two boys. He is also working on
a book entitled "Severed Dreams"
about his 20 month "May to
December" marriage to Virginia Becker, to be published in the near
future.
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