2003 has been another good year for the society. The strengths of the society remain our focus on images, technique, art, craft and history of photography rather than obsession with equipment. The high participation rate in all activities is a valuable aspect that many community groups struggle to achieve. In the area of communication, we are well served by monthly newsletters produced to a very high standard and email lists that give us the means to disseminate transient information quickly between editions of the newsletter. Today all but a couple of members are connected to email and able to receive rapid circulars and reminders as they are sent. Highlights for the year include the ever-popular competitions, well organised excursions, two successful exhibitions and attaining space at Canberra Museum and Gallery for our 60th anniversary.
Canberra Museum and Gallery is the most prestigious local government gallery in Canberra. An exhibit in this museum would be a landmark in the society's continuing pursuit of professionalism in its exhibitions. Our application for a 60th anniversary exhibition was quickly approved by CMAG last July. The society's 60th anniversary exhibition will take place, albeit a little late, in the prestigious and generous surroundings of gallery 2-3 in mid-2006. Some 12, 000 people will see this exhibition during its showing. Mark Vanveen (Curator of Visual Arts, CMAG) and Peter Haines (Director, CMAG) will jointly curate the show.
The competition nights have been well supported by members
all year. The Competition director will deliver a report later.
The competition sub-committee is to be congratulated on another
successful year.
The library, collections and society equipment have been
well maintained. We replaced our 15 year old Kodak Carousel projector
with a new autofocus Kodak Ektalite projector. Bill Hall put a
lot of work into this acquisition. Bill even acquired a mint Schneider
150mm f2.8 lens on Ebay in the USA for a fraction of the usual
retail cost. Society accounts and financial and other records
continue to be well kept. The treasurer's report will be presented
shortly.
Activity Nights during the year have been characterised by the growing participation and popularity of our open image clinics nicknamed BYO night by some members. We have been fortunate to have a number of talented outside lecturers. In particular I'd like to thank, Chris Holly who spoke about mountain photography, Chris Bridgland on internet art marketing, and Dean Golya on the Art of the Travel Photographer. Several society members gave individual talks. I also thank all those members who have supported these nights by presenting material or attending the nights.
The society ran two exhibitions during 2003. During February, the society began working on an exhibition of photographs taken at previous Floriade events to hang at Floriade 2003 on the Commonwealth Park site. Potential exhibitors were asked to submit images as slides or postcard prints in May. Convenor Ron Travers and I selected 55 images from hundreds of slides and prints submitted. All images were scanned on a film scanner. Some exhibitors asked for straight prints, other chose to book a Photoshop session with Ron and Joe to tidy up, tweak and crop their images. The exhibition was installed on September 11th and showed for one month. The Floriade exhibition was the first exhibition in my memeory when the exhibition convenors worked with each exhibitor to select and refine the works. It was a small-scale project but one that I hope everyone gained something from being involved.
Once again, the Tuggeranong Art Centre Gallery was chosen for
our annual exhibition. I opened the exhibition last Wednesday
night. The evening was very well attended. Two months ago when
trying to choose a name for the show, we considered the title
fifty-eight because it was the age of the society, the approximate
number of members and my prediction for the total number of prints.
It turned out to be the exact number of prints. We eventually
chose "The amazing picture machine" as the title. The
exhibition is under way as we meet. I'd like to thank the exhibition
sub-committee, committee members exhibitors and members who supported
them in the running of these highly successful exhibitions this
year.
The Excursion Committee organised three excellent excursions during
the year. Lois Wishart Lindsay arranged a long weekend in the
Blue Mountains. Peter Dawson ran a night photography excursion
in civic. Bronwyn Hendy arranged a successful excursion to Bendigo.
The society web page has continued to provide a steady stream
of new members. Approximately eight new members have come to the
society through the web page. I'd like to thank Michael Ashcroft
of CENART for his continued sponsorship and provision of web services.
Ray Osmotherly continues to make good use of arts media free advertising
and other distribution points to promote society activities.
There have been many interactions with other organisations. Photoaccess like CPS has continued to encourage membership and participation in both groups. With management encouragement, I continue to inform participants in my photography workshops of the activities of the society and new members continue to trickle to the society via that pathway. Likewise, society members continue to avail themselves of the excellent courses offered by Photoaccess. Digital photography workshops seem to be most popular with members at present. The Society again made good use of the multimedia lab at Photoaccess for a digital photography workshop. Photoaccess has just appointed David Chalker as its new managing director. David is keen to foster stronger & more formal links with the society. Numerous members maintain associations with various other groups notably the AIPP, APS, Southside Camera Club and collectors groups.
Last May, I travelled to the coast to visit the Eurobodalla Photographic Society. I judged their monthly competition and gave a brief talk about my project in Zambia. In October, Bronwyn Hendy organised an excursion and joint meeting with clubs from Bendigo and Murray Bridge in Bendigo. Each Society contributed a short talk. Joe Cali from CPS, Colin Barrett (Murray Bridge) and Mark Fairbairn (Bendigo). We held a 3 way interclub slide competition, won by Murray Bridge. The judge was Bendigo Advertiser photographer Bill Hawking who finished the evening with a presentation of photographs taken on the surprisingly broad range of assignments he is given by the Advertiser. This is just a small sample of the many interactions our members have had during the year with other organizations in the region and around the country. I'm sure there are many I've been unaware of or missed.
I would particularly like to thank everyone who has served on the committee and all the members who have supported society events and activities over the past year.
Our Treasurer is hanging up his adding machine after serving in the position for fourteen years. In closing, I'd like you to all join me in giving special thanks to David for the outstanding manner in which he has carried out the job.
Joe Cali
President