Minutes, meeting of June 8th 2016

[Gwen McDonald]

SSI Photography Club

Minutes

June 8^th 2016

 

Introduction of new members: Jude Oliver; Brenda  Bowes

 

Current member shows:

Jana Zachariou, Kim Stewart, Bob Rogers at Salt Spring Gallery

Curt Firestone, with former club member Tom Gilligan at Fernwood cafe

 

Eclectic Visions update by Jana Zachariou:

- Kudos to Maggie Argiro for outstanding publicity

- Show was hung today

- Reception starts 5 PM on June 10^th. Bring food by 3PM. Country Grocer has

  contributed 7 party trays!

- Any changes in sitting schedule must be communicated to Jana asap

- Sales: be sure to document artist’s name with all sales; no GST/PST need be

  charged; though preferable to leave all photos on the wall till the end of the

  show, if a buyer wants/needs to take the photograph at time pf purchase, this can

  be facilitated; call the photographer to see if he/she has another photo that could

  be hung to fill the gap. Galley 8 can wrap for shipping at the buyer’s expense .

  Sales by credit card are processed by Gallery 8 and a 5% fee is added, payable

  by the photographer.

 

Speaker Seth Berkowitz: Seth is current Chair of Photosynthesis, a former SSI Gallery owner (Galleons Lap), and a life long professional photographer; his work is well known on SSI. In 1990 he earned a certificate in Professional Photography, learning dark room work along with photographic techniques.  He shared personal anecdotes of his history as a photographer, emphasizing that his work has evolved through many stages. He has done commercial photography which pays well but “can become boring”.  In 2000 he took a life-changing voyage on a ship in the high arctic, where he photographed both the wildlife and the Inuit peoples living in the region. These photographs led to a show in Vancouver sponsored by a photo lab wanting to show-case their new state of the art equipment. He enjoyed his tenure as owner of Galleons Lap Gallery which featured both his own work and that of other  photographers on the island.  He began playing with complex layering techniques for awhile, integrating many photographs into a larger whole. He then changed to a focus on geometric arrangements. His most recent photographic experience was a trip to Spain where he dealt with personal issues by walking parts of the El Camino Trail, shooting an entire show, titled “Two Yellow Lines”,   in a single day.

 

Camera equipment is evolving so quickly that a serious photographer may need to upgrade equipment on average every two years. Seth’s advice re equipment is “to always buy the best camera you can afford that is also owned by someone close to you”... so that you have help available when learning how to use it. A self described “camera junkie”, Seth hangs on to most of his old cameras, collects all kinds of equipment and lenses, and recently discovered  that his old Minolta SLR film camera lenses are interchangeable on the new Sony digital camera he recently bought. .. testimony to the wisdom of hanging onto old but high quality equipment.       

 

Slide Show theme for the evening was Nature (Wildlife) Photography, in follow-up to last month’s talk by Isabel Groc. The photographs submitted were outstanding.

 

Next month’s theme:  in keeping with this evening’s talk on the evolution of a photographers work, members are to revisit an old photograph (perhaps scan it), then  re-photograph generally the same type of image only using today’s equipment and techniques. Or simply search out your oldest photo and submit it with whatever you are doing Now – thus comparing the differences in how you saw through the lens then and what you see through the lens now regardless of the subjects.  Both the old and the new photo should be submitted for side to side comparison.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Gwen McDonald

 

[Avril Kirby]

Thanks, Gwen, well done. One thing--the 5% charged by Gallery 8 for credit card purchases is, I think, now payable by the purchaser rather than the photographer.