July 11 Meeting Minutes

[Margaret C. Benmore]

SSI Photo Club

July 11, 2012  - Minutes

 

1.  Opening remarks: Curt opened by telling us all how wonderful we are…. Eclectic Visions and Velo Village were a smashing success and our work was truly appreciated both for its artistry and its participation in the community…. Well done all those who took part in so many ways, not just by submitting pictures, but working to make the Club a presence; bringing food, wrangling participants, hanging the show, PR and more --- it all leads to success for us all…. Thanks everyone.   Next year we are aiming to have even more members involved…

 

2.  New Members were introduced and welcomed:  Marguerite Lee, Chris Dixon, Janson Rounsavall, Gwen MacDonald, Louis Renaud, Judy McPhee.  Welcome all --- come on out and strut you stuff and play with us…

 

3.  To matters for voting:

a. Honourary Membership for Simon Henson was voted on and passed with cheers…   with thanks and love Simon….

b.  V.P. position – Bob Rogers has put his name forward to fill this position and was voted in by all present…  Welcome back to the executive (don’t you love it) Bob it will be fun to working with you…  

 

4.  Announcements/Opportunities: 

         David Bowerman: is presently looking to sell his photography studio in Merchant Mews, he is also interested in the options of renting or leasing space to anyone interested in having studio time… if interested call David at (250 537-5984. 

        

          Resource Guide for the Club Website:  anyone interested in pulling together a guide of resources and services commonly used by club members.  Mat & framing materials, camera repairs, lessons, art supplies, printing, etc.  --- Just a sharing of information between members, not in anyway promotional or commercial advertising… or even quality ranked – just leads on where to find stuff.   

Avril suggested a self-posting section on the site – this is another option to be explored by someone who is willing to take on the project.  It is project that would be very useful to many of the members, especially those new to the island.  If you are interested in helping out contact Curt at [e-mail]

 

          Photography Roadside Honour Box:  Curt’s latest idea for promoting the photography on SSI...   that man is always thinking of wonderful ideas to promote the work of the members and the Club… he just never stops, our El Presidento…  but sometimes it is a little far out there … this one needs work was the general consensus of the meeting.  Keep thinking Curt it is fun to see what you come up with and thanks…

         Embe’s Bakery Café:  the manager’s of Embe’s are looking for some framed images for their Sub Shop next door to the bakery…  See Dave Bartels blog on the website – go for it all – it is another opportunity.

 

          Fernwood Cafe:    Avril Kriby is presently showing at Fernwood “At the Eater’s Edge”  – July 15 – August 15 there will be a small reception 2-4 0n the 15^th.  – Come on out to see Avril’s work – always beautiful, touching and worth the trip… and there are snackies too…  Bonus. 

 Jennifer is always looking for people to fill her Photo wall with beautiful images for month long shows.  Each show will be of about 10 images, will have a month of display time with an opening coffee klatch opening… great opportunity in a lovely location…

Contact Jennifer Shaw [e-mail]  or drop by the Fernwood Café –

 

           Roasters Café:  (Country Grocers)  The next show is August… The August and October shows are now covered so be sure to drop by and see the work of your playmates from the Club… If you are interested in showing in this venue contact Cliff Kelly  [e-mail] – he is probably interested in lining up participants for next years calendar  – it takes about 6 images and can be a solo or combined show….

 

          Penny’s Pantry:   Penny’s is the newest venue to offer space to our Club members.  This month Jen Holmes is presently showing there and her work is always wonderful to see…   And Penny now has soft ice-cream as well as wonderful baked goodies… But Jen’s work is classy and imaginative…  on it’s own…  the other suggestions are just a bonus…

 

            Gallery of Fine Arts:   Bob Roger’s is showing his photography – which are always challenging and beautiful… This gallery on McPhillips is well worth a visit – take your company. This Co-op gallery shows a variety of artists from the island in a wide variety of media.  Good show Bob…

 

          Lady Minto, and Harbour House Slideshows:  Wendy Rosier reports our next project, collecting Fall or whatever shots for a new slideshow/video to add to the Harbour House and Lady Minto monitors, we need horizontal (landscape) images.  They should be 1920 px x 1080 px at least and saved in high quality (100%) Jpeg file format.  When you have something to send in, email Wendy at  [e-mail]

 

         Harbour House Wall Space Opportunity:   There is an opportunity for anyone interested in exhibiting their work at Harbour House (Lobby and Restaurant) they should contact Nathan at Harbour House for details and information

 

         Roasting Company:  will be exhibiting the July meeting show:  “ Scans, Snaps and Serious Photography “… if interested in developing your own show talk to Doug McMillin at [e-mail]

 

         Lavender Festival:  July 15 from 10-5.  They are looking for photographers to capture images of this year’s 10^th anniversary festival.  There will be a Medieval Theme encompassing demonstrations, costumes, music, dance and of course yummy food.  The festival takes place at 401 Musgrave Rd…. still on the paved part.  It is always a lovely day to feel the magical charms of SaltSpring …  Free admission for Photography Club members taking pictures… see the events notice on the website.

 

         Fire and Rescue Training Day:  This July will be another great opportunity to shoot the action and profiles of firefighters from all over BC.  There is a huge array of courses being held at the GISS and out and about the island, if you would like an opportunity to have this behind the scenes photo shoot please let me know.

Please confirm with me if you are interested and I will forward you more info closer to the date.  (July 12-13-14-15)  EMAIL me at [e-mail]   

 

         Exchange visits with the Cowichan Photo Club:  the talks are ongoing – waiting until the summer madness on SSI subsides and we can all catch our breath after the shows and visitors.  Bill Gardam has volunteered to do a guided photography walk for the visitors and it would be nice to have some of our own members join the parade… we will keep you posted as it develops… stay tuned it will be a fun opportunity for all.

 

5.  Educational Events: 

         The Future calendar of educational events is very promising… with lots of interesting and talented people from near and far interested in talking to our Club. 

Cliff Kelly is trying to get some idea of the numbers of people who would be interested in doing a Playdate to the Duncan Raptor’s Centre… and/or Philip Bensen’s model train outfit up on Twinflower Road.   Number of people, availability, weekends/weekdays?  If you are interested let Cliff know when you are available… There is a blog on the Website….

Does anyone have any suggestions for future Educational events – so far we have had wonderful presentations and they are all very instructive and inspiring...  If you have any ideas contact any of the Exec. We will point it in the right direction….  [e-mail] ,   [e-mail] , [e-mail]  , [e-mail]

        

6.   Farewell Potluck for Trudy Sloan: Trudy has now been sent off to the big island in great SSI style.  A potluck dinner at Wendy Rosier's saw much merriment and food…  We presented Trudy with her Honourary Membership and she promised to stay in touch.  Good luck Trudy and have fun with your new adventures… send us pictures..

 

7.  Eclectic Visions Debriefing Notes:  the following are comments, suggestions and notes from the debriefing meeting held before the July meeting. 

	2011	2012	2013	2014
Participants showing	26 members 1 sponsored student	29 members committed 3 withdrew at last moment leaving 26 showing 1 sponsored student
# Visitors	910 Ave. 65/day 14 show days Canada Day Weekend	1005 Ave. 56/day 18 show days June showing	August 1 or July 1 weekend involved	July 1 weekend
		Sat. busiest Tues & Friday the slowest days

 

Comments and Suggestions from the floor:

• Sitting the show – should we have two sitters on all the time – some felt the two at the busiest time was sufficient as often when sitting alone people had other Club members dropping in to chat… great stuff. 
• Associated Activities to be organized for the run of the show such as: portrait workshops, kids activities and yet to be dreamed up things… just getting in some more activity and sharing with the community our love of photography  --
• Lots of positive comments about this years show – the management of it, the hanging of it, the reception as well as the caliber of work shown…. Well done all…. Great effort…
• Name tags to identify participants showing and Club members – will help at the reception with people wanting talk to specific photographers and during the sitting of the show – it will show identification as a club member to visitors….
• Ask viewers how/where they found out about the show… it would help us target our PR efforts --- which are getting better and better with each show..
• There was discussion of a “Themed” show with some overall continuity as an alternative to the continuation of the chaotic  “Eclectic” show which is open to the full range of interests, imagination and techniques of the members of the Club…  this is still being debated – there are pros and cons on both sides… well worth consideration…
• Bringing the images in the night before the hanging made things much easier for the hangers and it is recommended to continue this practice.  It was noted that it was okay as long as it did not interfere with other shows in the gallery at the time.
• It was recommended to not have the reception on the same day as the hanging…. Too much chaos and rushing for people… this is SSI after all… Chill…
• There is a need for a booster shot or two of PR during the run of the show… as attendance lagged in the latter days… especially if it is a long show as it was this year.   Just to keep it front of mind with visitors and locals alike. 
• Bob and Wendy and team did a great job hanging the show. – It all went relatively smoothly
• There was talk of getting more members participating, which would be fun…. How do we get them out to play with us.???
• More people means less images/person ?  Is that problem, plus or minus – need to discuss
• Article on Pricing will be forward to the website by Wendy Rosier…  there is some discussion of pricing in the show
• Shrink wraps – limited in number? Limited to what is shown on the walls? Fee for submitting only shrink wraps and not participating in the show?
• Include in the sitting binder/sheet a section for notes from the sitters to exec, show organizers or each other. Questions, suggestions or observations..
• Pat Page is going to clean up the sales system – more streamlined.
• Clarification is needed about selling without frames; is it Prints, Shrinks or ?, should they be matted or just back board only, do we set show standards or leave to individuals….
• Club not responsible for damaged or stolen work – it is all at the participant own risk…   this is after all a community group
• Getting contact information from buyers so that the responsible participant may contact them about pick up after the show –.
• Need more people on the desk at the reception – it was sort of overwhelming

 

Good meeting all and thanks for all of the input --- it will help to make next year’s “Eclectic Visions” even better….  And all you others out there --- come on out and participate in the show - it is fun and everyone enjoys the variety of work... 

 

8.  Velo Village showings:  the Club’s participation in showing bike themed images around town was very very successful and certainly was noticed by visitors and locals alike.  The coffee shops were a buzz with bike images and bike talk…  The big show at ArtSpring was a great success from in the comments of the viewers, the Velo organizing team and the other artists in the show…   It showed a wide variety of subjects within the world of Bikes, it had an international flavour, a mechanical flavour, it showed adult and kids biking, local SaltSpring biking and everything in between.  It was very complementary to the Auction Art….

Thanks you to all of who contributed pieces and helped to hang the various shows… and a special thanks to Anna McColm for the effort and energy required to pull the whole thing off…. Well done  - it was beautiful photography, the shows were coordinated, displayed and managed very well and smoothly --- at least it looked that way from here...

 

 

9.  Next Meeting: Wed. August 8, 2012 - 7:00 pm Portock Portable

The theme of the August meeting will be  “ HEAT ” – that should open a whole bag of tricks for you… use your imagination and your eyes… Forward your 2 images to Doug as soon as possible so he can work at his leisure in the summer heat….

The educational event for this meeting will be “ Birthing Photography” presented by Kim (?) from Crofton – Now there is a Hot topic  - wow who would have thought.  This is of special interest to several of our members who are interested in that particular field of photography – a new and growing area we understand…   It promises to be a very fascinating evening with I suspect an new perspective on photography – come on out and see what it is all about…

 

10. Evening’s Educational Event: our guest speaker was Bill Gardam – a club member, he discussed working with a single theme/subject – and the challenges and growth that develops from such an experiment.  His subject of interest and demonstration was Mount Maxwell – inspired by Hokusai’s “36 Views for Mt. Fuji” a Japanese master printmaker ---    It was interesting to see the many moods, perspectives, discussions and views of such a familiar landmark – our own Mt. Maxwell…   Bill encourages us to take up the challenge of working with a theme over a period of time – something that attracts your attention – you will be surprised by where the adventure will take you as a photographer and as a person…

 

11.  Evening’s Member’s Show --- Scans, Snaps and Serious Photography…   Wow what a show… you can see it on the website – it was great.  Janet Dwyer would be proud of what she has unleashed on the island/world…. The Club members rose to the challenge of using a scanner… what fun… try it… There was a wide variety of backgrounds (glass, handmade papers, metal sheets), subjects (jewelry, crystals, flowers, bones), some toyed with colour saturation to amazing effects.  It was all very creative, especially Bob Roger’s wobbling wine glasses…. A bottle at least all in the interest of Art…. Way to go Bob!  Who would have believed a dead bird could communicate such a beautiful image and varied thoughts…

There were also some wonderful images from people who didn’t go the scanner route…  they were intimate images of children, Biker’s at the Gay Pride Parade (yup it is true) and a favourite Valdy portrait.  Again it shows the variety and skill within the club as well as a wonderful sense of fun…  Now I think these guys will go home to try the Scanner, now that they have seen the wondrous work of the fellow club members… it is really really fun everyone… try it…. …

All of the images submitted were lovely, imaginative and show us sometimes a different way of seeing the world… thanks all for sharing…

If you can’t attend the meetings but would like to submit images to the monthly show --- please do… we would love to see you work too…. Just forward them to Doug McMillin --- they will be shown at the meeting and at the show at the Roasting Company and they will be shown on the monthly posting on the SSIPhoto website --- please feel encouraged to submit your work…

 

If I have missed anything please feel free to add it on --- or make editorial comments...  and corrections… this is a participatory sort of Minutes thing  … thanks.   

Cheers… MCB 

[Curt Firestone]

Margaret, you make the meeting sound so exciting....Can I attend again?

[timothy gibbon]

thank you Margaret, especially since I missed the meeting.  let me know if you decide to let Curt attend.

[Avril Kirby]

"At the Eaters Edge" was very appropriate for the opening, since Jennifer provided some wonderful platters of food, but my show is actually called "At the Water's Edge".  Good idea for next year, though...

Thanks Marg, for your cheerful minutes, always a joy to read.

[Margaret C. Benmore]

OOps  .... sorry.... well it is an attention getter and that is the point - why get hung up on details and accuracy.... Glad the opening went well - sorry to have missed it....  cheers... MCB