The past year has been one of very mixed fortunes for the society following the untimely passing of no less than four members or friends of the society since this time last year, the year cannot possibly be described as a good one. I can however report that the business affairs of the society are in a very healthy state. Finances are well under control and imaging standards remain high. The membership grew by about 8% with high levels of participation in most core activities.
The competition nights have been well supported by members all year. The new competition points format established in 2000 has been applauded by judges who find the new system easier to award. Participation rates were so high that on one occasion, judging was not completed until after midnight. The Hedda Morrison and Fletchers Competitions have been very well supported. The ACT did not fare as well as previous years in the Allied Camera clubs competition achieving an overall fifth out of six. The competition director and sub-committee are to be congratulated on yet another successful year.
The club and guest nights programs were renamed activity nights and their scopes broadened slightly to allow more flexibility for convenors. Each of the two evenings were convened by separate sub-committees that worked closely together. Demarcation between the content of the two nights has been eliminated and programs were swapped whenever it was advantageous to do so. This has allowed the sub-committees much greater flexibility and freedom in filling the program. While this has resulted in a few sudden changes in programming when a speaker's availability changed, the end result was that a speaker was still able to make a presentation to the society on another date.
The second Tuesday was generally used as a forum for club members to present work in a series of thematic or non-thematic workshops. Some social evenings at restaurants have been included and were well supported. The non-thematic open image discussion forum is gaining popularity as members become used to the format. The third Tuesday retains the brief of attempting to organise individual speakers be they outside guests or members. During 2001, society member volunteers for individual talks were not forthcoming. This balanced the dominance of such individual presentations during 2000. I hope that the balance will redress to a more even distribution during 2002. I'd like to thank members of the activity night sub-committees and I'd particularly like to thank those people who convened activity nights during my many absences this year and all those who supported those nights by attending or presenting material.
The changed format seems to have gained the support of the membership. I have no attendance statistics to substantiate this claim but having attended these nights over many years, I feel that there has been an increase in average attendance compared to previous years. Both sub-committees have been working very closely together for the past years. As of October, the committee merged the functions of the two sub-committees into one committee that will organise both evenings in the future.
The club ran two exhibitions during 2001. In March, the Society mounted another ACT Alive exhibition in conjunction with PhotoAccess. We had decided not to mount solo ACT Alive exhibitions in the future due to the rapidly escalating fees combined with poor event management. The venue for ACT Alive was changed to Glebe Park. Publicity and organisation of the festival and ACT Alive were well below standard. In contrast to previous years where visitors to the tent numbers in the hundreds or low thousands, only handfuls of people viewed what was otherwise a very high quality exhibition. PhotoAccess and our Committee share their disappointment at this turn of events. It is unlikely that we will participate in ACT Alive in the near future.
The Tuggeranong Art Centre was again chosen as the venue for our annual exhibition entitled "Canberra- the fine print". The exhibition was opened by Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, on Wednesday 3rd October. Attendance at the opening was disappointing. Hail-storms were predicted for that evening and absences due to APSCON were contributing factors. Participation was down 25% from last years peak with 54 prints exhibited. This number of prints definitely suits the exhibition space better than the large exhibition of 2000 and presented very well. The exhibition was presented in conjunction with Floriade and was an official Floriade event. Of interest was the dominance of colour in the exhibition. I'd particularly like to thank the exhibition sub-committee for their professional approach to organising this exhibition. It was a pleasure working with you both.
Excursions through the year have been well organised. Several mitigating circumstances conspired to prevent the running of a number of planned excursions. In early April, a photo rally was staged. Photography was only allowed with small Kodak disposable cameras. All participants enjoyed the freedom of the disposable format. Without the burden of having to choose lens focal length and settings, members could concentrate on composition. Many of us discovered that human subjects are far more relaxed in front of a disposable camera than our normal apparel. In mid-April, a mountain lodge weekend was held at Charlottes Pass. It was very well attended and organised. Two excursions over winter were abandoned for various reasons. The final excursion for 2001 will take place this coming weekend. I congratulate the Excursions sub-committee for an excellent program. The newsletter continued to be produced regularly and at a very high standard. The editorial team have experimenting with digital technologies to determine if there is any advantage. To date the analogue method still produces better photographic reproductions than any digital combinations tested to date.
The first edition of the CPS Achievers Book is nearing completion after a year of hard work by the three very dedicated members of the project team. The publication will be launched by Myra McIntyre at the presentation night in December and I hope all members will support this worthwhile project and purchase a copy.
The public liability insurance policy became due for renewal in September. The premium for 2001- 2002 was quoted at $700. My understanding is that the policy only covers the entity of the incorporated society and agents acting on its behalf during the conducting of photographic exhibitions. The cover did not extend to it's individual members for public liability during public exhibitions unless they were acting as agents of the society nor did it cover members of the society against injury. By carefully selecting alternate exhibition venues that carry their own liability insurance, the insurance policy can be discontinued without changing our exposure to legal actions. It is important for members to realise that as individuals participating in an activity, they previously had and still have exposure to public liability claims where action is taken against them as individuals. All members are protected against claims made against the society as a whole by the provisions of the incorporations act. The insurance policy never did cover members for legal action taken against them as individuals. We were only using the policy for two events - ACT Alive and the Canberra Centre. Given that we will not be using these venues, we will not be needing the policy.
The Theatre Group retains a core of very active members
photographing local productions in various performing arts. Its
activities however have not been reported to the committee for
much of the past year. While the Society's National Trust group
still existed in name, it has not been active this year. Given
that this group has been inactive almost since its inception,
it was dissolved as an activity group at the October committee
meeting. The nature group similarly withered on the vine
from its inception and has similarly been dissolved. The Society
once again collaborated with ACT Tourism to run the Floriade
photography competition. The society's responsibilities were
restricted to setting competition rules and judging the competition.
This arrangement again proved very easy to manage from our limited
resources. With the exception of a few misunderstandings relating
to judging timetables and competition rules, the competition ran
reasonably smoothly with some hundreds of entries. The competition
was judged on October 12th by Hendy, Cali and a judge from Kodak.
The society's equipment has been well maintained over the
past year. Of note are the replacement of the projector screen
and the remote control for the projector. The society's frames
have been marked and a loans system developed for exhibitions.
The collection has continued to be well maintained and
we acquired two works by the late Len Leslie reprinted by Malcolm
Smith with the permission of Len's widow, Enid. We would like
to see this collection grow and will be approaching the membership
next year urging you to contribute work. The supper catering continued
to be provided through the good graces of Loralie Mason. The library
continues to be well maintained if under-utilised by members.
Raffles and fund raising activities have been successfully
conducted on a regular basis throughout the year and judges'
and speaker's prizes have always been provided when required.
The Society's financial and procedural records have been well
maintained. The 2002 program has been drafted and should be finalised
at the next committee meeting and ready by the December competition
night.
Various types of free publicity are being used with very
little paid publicity being taken out by the society. This has
eased the financial pressure on resources. The ease of manipulating
images and text in computers has advanced quickly over the past
few years. The committee decided to drop the date from posters
and as such the poster prepared in the middle of 2000 has had
an extended life. The web site sponsorship mentioned in
the last annual report was withdrawn soon after that report was
delivered. Michael Ashcroft and CENART (The Canberra Central
Artists Network) stepped in and offered us a fully sponsored
and maintained web site. Michael is a graphic artist by training
and has designed a site that has been lauded by reviewers from
other Australian Photographic Societies. A web site is no good
unless it is constantly updated. I urge members to supply fresh
images and material for the site. Michael Ashcroft designed a
new society logo free of charge to the society. We gratefully
acknowledge his assistance.
Members continue to participate in many photographic activities outside the Society. Some members continue to enjoy great success in the APPA's. Several members held private exhibitions or participated in group exhibitions or public competitions during the year. The Society's library and equipment have been well maintained. Some projection equipment was replaced during the year. A new remote control and screen were purchased to replace faulty or damaged equipment.
In the last Annual report, I reported that the Griffin centre's lease of the present building was extended to 2003. The committee decided not to vacate the premises and to monitor the situation. In April, it was announced that the redevelopment would be going ahead much sooner than expected. Plans for the new centre seemed to lack sufficient floor space to maintain the current activities of tenants. Negotiations have been under way between centre management, ACT government and the tenderer , the Queensland Development Corporation.
It is refreshing to see a number of new and regular faces in the society this year. Overall participation and attendance rates among existing members remains high with 75-90% at competitions and around 40-60% at activity nights. Excursions maintained their usual levels of participation and members helped with exhibitions and other events as necessary. Membership numbers have increased by 8% since this time last year (54 members last year, 59 members at present) however departures and bereavements may see member numbers fall slightly next year. During the year a number of members left Canberra or announced that they would be leaving Canberra in the near future. We wish them all the best on their various endeavours.
The society mourns the loss of a number of members and friends during the past year. In November 2000, founding and life member Les Leslie passed away. We heard of the untimely passing of Jennifer Voysey and Barbara Basset in April and July respectively. On 31st August, Maurice Weidemann went missing without trace in the Moreton National Park. We mourn the loss of these members and friends and on behalf of the society and its members, I offer our deepest sympathies to all the family members of the departed and wish them all the best for the future.
Finally I would like to thank all members of the committee for their hard work and good -natured support and the membership as a whole or their support of the 2001 program. I look forward to a brighter 2002.
Joseph A. Cali
President, Canberra Photographic Society, 2000-2001.