Nov. 12 Photo Club meeting minutes…

[Margaret C. Benmore]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    SaltSpring Photography Club Minutes

Nov 12, 2013

 

 

Opening Remarks:  Curt Firestone (el Prez) welcomed all to the evening, about 20 of us had excitedly gathered to hear about the responsibility of the Photographer and the Rights of Subject (ethics and legal responsibilities) … a question for all of us… so the room was alive with discussion to start with…

 

New Members: Curt welcomed three new members Noelle Quin, Don Romanchuk and Frank Gerryts ---- welcome to you all --- come on out and play with us… the best way to get the most out of our club is to jump in and play/work with us… Participate in whatever you please: educational events, meetings, website, the club organization, coffee klatches, shows, group shows, challenges… there is lots and lots of opportunity to have fun with a great group of very intelligent people – island type folks and that means “individuals” !!!!!  Participate, contribute and get involved…

 

Club Business:

 

         Club Membership dues Due:  Please have your $15 to Pat as soon as possible for the 2014 membership… so she can finished with the club finances before her busy tax season starts…   She will be available to take your money at the December 11 meeting… those of you who have joined since October – your $15 membership covers next year completely... [e-mail]

 

         Club Elections:  the election of the 2014 executive will be at the Dec. meeting… Bob Davidson has turned the election task over to Chris Dixon…( get well Bob and come back to us, we miss you )…   Chris is looking for nominations and will be talking to new people as well as those already in the positions…. Let him know if you have any ideas about the election, possible candidates or anything else he needs to know… …  Thanks for taking this on Chris… [e-mail]

 

         Website:  there has been some discussion about changing the Club Website – a huge undertaking…  It has been decided to wait to see what the new updates to the existing platform will bring this inter, to see if any of the improvements address our concerns.  If not then there will be further discussions.  Bob Rogers and Ernie Westlund will be steering this project… If you are interested in commenting on or contributing skills/talent to the effort, please feel free to contact either of them… [e-mail]  or Ernie at [e-mail]

 

          Change to Monthly Meeting Night:  Bob Rogers (VP) reported via email that the following was the outcome of the survey he conducted about changing the meeting night….

 

31 members participated in our online pole about other possible meeting dates (given requests and availability of meeting space…)  posted on September 24th. Monthly Meeting Dates Poll Results It seems a clear 3-way divide makes it pointless to make a change of meeting times. It is unfortunate for the 3 members who cannot attend the 2nd Wednesday – but we hope to see you at other club functions and participating in the web discussions and activity. Thank you all for your participation in this Poll: Bob Rogers VP

 

 

         Formal Analysis/Critque/Art Discussion… “ Let’s Cut the Crap “ Peter Paul Harnisch held a session on this topic at Portlock on Nov.2 to a very eager group (12-15) of photographers who wanted to learn to see and speak about photography from the perspective of analysis and structure…. It was a wonderful evening of about 35 slides and lots of time for discussion…  There is certainly an appetite for more such sessions… just to talk, learn and share ideas and thoughts…   It will be nice to see this approach modeled on the website and in the meetings --- so we can all learn from those who will teach us and those of us learning… thanks Peter Paul for the effort and we are looking forward to seeing more of you and hearing more of your ideas…

 

Upcoming Events:

 

         January Lobby Show at ArtSpring:  Bob Rogers will be coordinating this show.  It is an opportunity for everyone in the Club to show their work to the community…  There is no fee involved and Bob will let us know how many pieces we can each submit.  He does suggest that you keep in mind that this is a very large space and larger images show best…   In the past people have usually submitted what they feel is their best work for the year… or the best of their life… it is the best of the best – or whatever you have framed and want to show off… come out and strut your stuff…  there is quite a large following of locals who look forward to this winter show… it is seen by lots of people…

 

         Eclectic Visions 2014: June 26 – July 9^th, 2014 – This will be a 14 day run in the ArtSpring gallery. We are delighted to announce that Avril Kirby has volunteered to take over the organization of Eclectic Visions for this year… and will be looking for people to help her out… so let her know if you are interested in getting involved… Thanks Avril  - it will be wonderful to work with you as always…

 

         Interface with the Island Agriculture Alliance group:   Curt has been talking with people involved IAA and has found some very common ground… The Alliance need images for calendar/cards they are wanting to produce… for fundraising and awareness raising… They are also interesting in working with young folks (GISS students) to achieve this goal …  Curt has suggested a mentoring photography situation by matching up students with experience/knowledgable photographers such as our members… so he was looking for 3 members to go on 3 or 4 shoots with the students… Just to assist them with some of their photography efforts and problems, composition, colour – design elements and probably some technical camera knowledge tool, but mostly your love for photography as a life skill/tool…  It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to interact with some young photographers and learn something about their view of the world … if you are interested in getting involved contact Curt  [e-mail]

 

Now Showing: 

 

         Country Grocer Café – Nov 1-30   Sylvia Beech Solo --- is a wonderfully hauntingly beautiful series of images for the north coast of B.C. and Alaska… it is wild, lonely, huge, beautiful with ghosts of the past… lovely show Sylvia… thanks for sharing…

 

         Harbour House:  Avril Kirby “Veils” Nov 2-30 --- a lovely display of Avril’s work… she has a wonderful telling a multi-layered story with mutli-layered images… My favourite is the Nordic/Venetian Noir (taken in Sydney… I think) – it is a beautiful image – very n b… well done Avril.. it is always fun to watch you changing before our eyes..

 

         Bakery Folks (Embe’s café) “ Quantum Abstract “ Nov 9 to Dec 2…  this is a must see – just the write up for it is enough to tickle your curiousity --- see the announcement under events… I can promise it will be well worth stopping by for a butter tart….  It is sooooo Doug and Avril… you guys are great…

 

         Pemberton Homes Real Estate… till mid Jan ---- Anna Mccolm – beautiful images of B.C. wilderness coast from the perspective of a kayak…  they are top quality photographs on every level… drop by to have a peak – it is sooooo worth it…  Margaret C. Benmore (MCB/me) is showing a bit of SSI in winter – sharing her love for this rock…

 

 

If you know of other shows in town… add them on to this blog or better yet post it on the event section of our website… Let us all know what you have found and enjoyed…. 

 

Evening Educational session…   the whole evening was given over to Gregg Eligh, a seasoned professional photographer and teacher:  the topic of the evening was The Responsibility and Rights of the Subject and of the Photographer…   It was a wonderful evening of information, discussion, sharing of ideas and views…   Gregg obviously has a passion not just for photography, but also photography as a profession and a tool for two-way communication…

Thanks Gregg for great presentation and clarify (somewhat) what is  allowed/not allowed and the need for common sense, manners and respect…

The evening was loaded with useful tidbits and I have six pages of totally illegible notes to sort out – so I will send those as an addendum to these minutes when they are done… soon I hope… stay tuned..

 

Evening Slide Show:  there was no slide show this evening because of the need for lots of discussion time to wrestle with the evenings topic of responsibility, legal issues, ethics and how it applies to you and to the subject/property of your image….

 

Slideshow Challenge:  December Challenge is  “ LIGHT “  - now that is a wind open topic to challenge your creativity and imagination…  Bill Gardam has produced a series of blogs on light – starting Oct. 15 and has now reached Blog VI --- indeed light is a deep and wide area of interest… check out what he has to say – and take it and play with it – stretch yourself creatively… have fun with Light…   Thanks Bill for your work – as always very helpful and informative…

 

Next Months Meeting: Wednesday, December 11 - 7 p.m.  Portlock Portable

We will be having the Club election that night --- so come out and voice your opinions and your vote --- it is important to the running of the club… 

 

After the election we will have some discussion of where we want take the club in 2014…  Do we want to look and/or feel more like other clubs (Doug McMillin has a blog Oct 24^th – Other Photo Clubs)  He gives links other Photography Clubs in the area and what they are doing…  he has also shared some of his impressions… Have a look and come tell us what you like/didn’t like…  Thanks Doug for the help…

 

We might talk about the need for a more formal structure with policies and such…  we might talk about the website… and we will talk about anything else you want to see happen in 2014…

 

So do come to the meeting on the 11^th – Participate, speak up and Vote… it is our club and we have a responsibility to make it the best we can for our members… we need your help to determine that is …

 

If you don’t usually come to the meetings… try to make it… we need to hear from those who don’t come – to understand why and how we could address their concern/reluctance.... hope to see you there – please try to come out… it will be fun guaranteed..

 

 

Editorial aside: If you have any comments, corrections or additions please feel free --- all help is welcome…

I would like to encourage all club members to take part in the conversations on the website --- they are interesting and endlessly informative…  Share your pictures with the club on the site – you know we all love to look at images and it would give us a chance to get to know a little bit about you …  let’s participate…

 

Cheers… MCB

 

 

 

[Avril Kirby]

Your usual enigmatic and reserved self, I see, Marg...  well done, and if that don't get the punters out, I don't know what will!

[Curt Firestone]

That was a jammed packed meeting.  Well done.