Minutes, Jan 10 2018

[Colleen Barnes Horel]

Salt Spring Photography Club

Minutes - January 10 2018 meeting

• The meeting  opened  with  our  new  president  Pierre  Mineau.

• Pierre encouraged members to contact him directly with feedback or any new  ideas  about  the  club. He can be reached through the club website or directly via email at: [e-mail].

• Pierre pointed out that a big item on the 2018 agenda for the Club is the proposed ‘PhotoFest’ – the combined effort of the SSI  Photo Club  and  Photosynthesis  coming together for their annual show. A committee has been struck to arrange the first event in 2019. If anyone wants to become involved in the preparation, they should let the executive know.

• New members were welcomed:  Alberto Lara  and  Sebastian  Lassak.

• Members were reminded to renew their membership.  Pat Page, our treasurer will be  collecting $30.00  for  2018. There is an envelope for dropping off cheques at the Apple Photo community dropbox.

• Shows: 

o Judy McPhee  has  a  presentation  at TJ Beans

o Doug  McMillan  will  be  presenting  photos  at  Country Grocer

o Our club’s Lobby  Show  is  now  on  at  ArtSpring  until  Jan  31  at  5 PM

• Anna McColm has taken on the challenge of organising a photography exhibit to be held during the combined Tour des Îles – Electric Vehicle Jamboree June  22-24 2018. This was as a result of an invitation/request to the club.

• A reminder that Club Photo  walks will be held  on the  third  Sunday  of  each month   at  10 AM. The next one will be Jan  21  --  at  Duck Creek,  Sunset  side.  Doug  to  put  this  on  the  website calendar.

• Jana Zachariou mentioned the Ladysmith Biannual  show with a 19  Jan  submission. The show starts Feb  3. (2 pieces@ cost  of  $30.00  a  piece  for interested photographers).

• Jana  will have more information forthcoming on the next Eclectic  Visions show  18  to  30  May.

Margaret  Benmore  introduced  our  guest  speaker  and presenter:  Greg  Constantine,  a  documentary  photographer, who  is currently  visiting  Salt Spring  Island  as  artist in  residence  with the Arts Council.

His  work  " Nowhere  People " has been featured in a Tedx talk  (available on Youtube).  This is a great way to hear him describe the context of his work .    This  has  been  an  11  year  project,  telling  the story of  people  who  have no  country  to  call  their  own. For  many  reasons  the  country  they live in refuses  to  recognize  them  as  citizens, leaving  them  with  no  paperwork  no national  identity,  which of  course makes  their  traveling,  working  and  living  in other  places  very  difficult.

Greg’s presentation was very well tailored to the club – speaking primarily about his journey and development as a photographer.

Greg's  challenge  was  how  to  put  that  huge  diffuse global  issue  into  images  for  the  world  to  see.   Greg presented  us  with  his  documentary  photos: taken in color and  black and  white,  whether film  or digital  images.   He  and  his wife Jen are based  in Bangkok Thailand.  His cameras  are  Nikon F 100 with 24 mm  wide lens and 28 m fixed lens,  Leica  M6  with 35  mm  lens.  He  uses  natural light -- no  flash.     He  uses an  Epson  printer.    With  his shift  to  digital  he  uses  a Nikon   D 750  and  a  small  Sony  DSC  RX 100    with  Zoom audio recorder.

In 1987 he quit his job to travel.  In  2000 the  purpose of  his travel  was  to  document  stroke survivors  and  he donated  the photos and stories  to  a  Stroke  organization.

From 2002 - 2003  he  worked  on  a  project  documenting  the struggles  of  North  Korean  refugees  seeking  asylum  in southeast  Asia.   In  2003  the  BBC  published  a  small  text story  and  one  of  his  photos.   He  had  a  small  exhibit shown  at  the  Museum  of  Tolerance  in  Los  Angeles,  then in  Washington  DC  and  then  in  Seoul.     It  was  during that  project  that  he  became  aware  of  the  issue  of statelessness.   In  late  2005,   he  embarked  on  the  project Nowhere People.

2006 saw him documenting  Nepal’s  stateless  communities.  He showed photos  of  the state  of  people  there  with a  photo  essay  and  used  only natural  light.   Greg's  preference  is  with  black  and white. His images are stark and contrasty – filled with bright

 In  his  Nowhere book  he  showed  how  the  children  are invisible  and  lacked  identity.

In   2010,  he  self published  his  first  book  about  the Nubian  community  in  Kenya.  The  book  included  archival photos  he  collected  with  a  team  of  Nubian  youth. These helped the Nubian community regain a piece of their (officially ignored) history.

His  second  book was  published  in  2012  about  the stateless  Rohingya  community  in  Burma.

His  third book was  published  in  late  2015.  It is a  book of  the  whole  project  Nowhere  People  and  focuses  on stateless  people  in  12  countries.   All  three books  were self  published  and  funded  with  grants.   He  distributes the  books  by  himself  as  well  at exhibitions, on  his website  and  through Amazon.com.

In 2016, Greg  Constantine  received a  PhD  from  Middlesex  University in  London in the area of Social Work and Social Policy.   This  is  a  research  PhD based  on  his  published  work, books  and  exhibitions  from the  project  Nowhere  People.

The meeting adjourned without looking at the member’s submissions. The photo challenge of 

‘borders   or  boundaries’ will be shown at the next meeting instead.

Colleen Barnes Horel

______________________________________________________________________

Pierre Mineau, PhD

[Curt Firestone]

Thank You

. Being off island makes the minutes very important.

[Avril Kirby]

Well summarized, Colleen. Thanks! One correction--McMillin is a-less.

[Margaret C. Benmore]

 is there someway to forward this to Greg and Jen... thanks...