There have been many fine successes by many NVPS members this year. These successes bring credit to NVPS and keep the reputation of NVPS at a very high level.

The Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition, run by the Merrimack Valley Camera Club of Andover, MA., is an annual competition of digital images, which is a wonderful opportunity for NVPS. Ninety-five clubs participated for 2009; each entering the allowed ten nature images, that had to be juried-in by each club. NVPS, as a first-time participant, was very well accepted and finished in about the middle of the 95 clubs in overall points. The ten NVPS images are very strong images; the photographers are: Sam Schaen and Nikhil Bahl [two images each], Sandi Croan, Marilyn Gaizband, Angelique Rapatakis, Kris Ikejiri, Minh Thai and Will Haubert. Sandi and Sam each had an image selected as a "Merit Award Winner". Glennie is a Spring event, so NVPS members should peruse the Glennie website [which will be posted by John Quigley, when available] to see the winning images and shoot for 2010. Congratulations and thank you to all who submitted images. Congratulations to the eight folks above and to John Quigley, the NVPS Exhibits Chair, who organized the NVPS part.

The Meadowlark weekend was very well organized and orchestrated. It required much hard work and many NVPS people volunteered their time to perform many support missions; Willa and Bob Friedman led the way. The overall NVPS efforts were led by Trinka Reddie and Yulan Gao, the NVPS Co-Chairs, who did great work and deserve many thanks. Approximately forty NVPS members had images that were juried in and about twelve received Sponsor's Choice Awards. Nikhil Bahl's image, "Simple Swans", was named the Meadowlark 2d Place overall ribbon winner. Timber Gooding's image was the NVPS "People's Choice" entry. Congratulations to all the photographers who submitted images and to all people who worked the event.

Emi Wallace, the Membership Chair, has been completely untiring as the upbeat, welcoming ambassador of NVPS who stands at the entrance each week to answer questions and warmly greet new folks and everyone who attends. Thank you, Emi.

Nominating Committee members, Scott Musson, Emi Wallace, Sam Schaen and Fred Chitty, each a Board member, have worked hard to complete the slate of volunteers for appointed Board positions for next year. Please step forward and ask them how you can help NVPS--we need your volunteerism. We thank each of the committee members for their great work.

During the illness of Joseph Miller, Amie Tannenbaum has tirelessly supported and encouraged him through his recovery process and reported his progress. Our sending of cards has slowed-- Please send cards to Mr. Miller's home address of: 4811 Catharpin Rd., Gainsville, Va. 20155; they will be taken to him at the hospital. Prayers are also encouraged; bypass USPS and send prayers directly to "Prof." Miller.

The annual NVPS End of Year Banquet will be on Friday, 5 June; it will be an evening full of great images, fine food and conversation, awards presented for photography achievements and a place for good fellowship. Admission checks should be given to Fred Chitty, our Treasurer. Bob Friedman is the EOY Chair.

All Board members have worked very hard to coordinate for the best speakers, judges, educational opportunities, field trips, visual / audio projection, exhibit chances, facility, etc. All Board members deserve our thanks.

Attendance has been high at each meeting---we thank all members for your attendance---you are the reason that NVPS has continued to be very strong.

Tom Brett
NVPS President
TomBrettPhoto@cox.net

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Election of NVPS Officers for the 2009 - 2010 Club Year
May 5, 2009

In accordance with the By-Laws of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society, the annual election of officers will occur on Tuesday May 5th, 2009.  The following are the candidates for the elected offices:

No additional nominations have been received by the Chairman of the Nominating Committee.

In accordance with the By-Laws, Scott Musson will present the roster of candidates at the first regular club meeting in May, Tuesday May 5th, 2009. The election will be by voice vote since there are no additional nominations. The Secretary/Historian shall determine if a quorum is present prior to the voice vote which is defined as 15% of entire membership.

Scott Musson
Chairman of the Nominating Committee

Proposed Changes to the Rules of Competition

The NVPS Executive Board has proposed a number of changes to the Rules of Competition for the 2009 – 2010 Club Year. There are two (2) types of changes proposed: changes to the language of the rules that simply standardize the words used throughout the document and clarifications to the interpretation of the rules. In keeping with the By-Laws of the organization, these changes must be announced in FotoFax, discussed at a general membership meeting and then voted on by the membership (a quorum is required to pass changes) at a subsequent meeting. The discussion will take place at the Program Meeting on May 5th and the changes will be voted upon at the Competition Meeting on May 19th. The By Laws can be located at: http://nvps.org/main//about/about-nvps-new/. The entire rules with proposed changes can be found at http://nvps.org/main/misc/20090424_rules_of_competition_language.pdf.

Language Changes

The language changes will be voted on as group, we will either make all of the changes, or none of them. None of these changes alters the rules, they are simply intended to make the language throughout the document more consistent.

Language changes are as follows:

• Change “VP” to “Vice President” in two (2) locations.

• Change “Vice President” to “Vice President for Competitions” in three (3) locations.

• Spell out “two” in place of the number “2” in one (1) location.

• Consistently capitalize the words “Class,” “Category,” “Categories,” “Monochrome Print,” “Color Print,” “Enhanced Print,” “Digitally Projected Image,” “Advanced” when referring to the Class, and “Novice” when referring to the Class throughout the document.

Rule Clarifications

Several rules had conflicting language in multiple paragraphs or were questioned on more than one occasion. These clarifications will be voted on individually because they are generally unrelated. If words were removed or changed in the current rules, they are marked in Blue. Words that were added in the proposed change are marked in Red.

Section I.B and I.C. Number of Entries Required for a Competiton

The current two paragraphs:

For a monthly competition in a Class/Category to occur there must be at least two entrants. Where there is only one entrant, even if there are two entries, the judge shall comment on the image(s) and the image(s) will be given one point each for participation, but no award points.

– and –

For a monthly competition in a Class/Category to occur there must be at least two entrants in Novice Classes and at least three entrants in Advanced and Enhanced classes. When there are insufficient entrants, the judge shall comment on the image(s) and the image(s) will be given one point each for participation, but not 10 points for First Place.

Becomes a single paragraph in place of the first paragraph above:

For a monthly competition in a Class/Category to occur there must be at least two entrants in Novice Categories and three entrants in Advanced Categories and the single Enhanced Category. When there are not enough entrants for a competition, even if there are enough entries, the judge shall comment on the image(s) and the image(s) will be given one point each for participation, but no award points.

Section I.G. Presentation of Digitally Projected Images

The current sentence:

In addition, images for the Digitally Projected categories/classes must be provided in advance.

Becomes:

In addition, images for the Digitally Projected Categories/Classes must be provided in advance of the competition date.

Section III. Classes/Categories of Competition

The current paragraph:

1. In the Slide, digitally projected image, monochrome print, and color print categories, there are two Classes of competition: Novice class for entrants who are inexperienced in photography in the medium being exhibited; and Advanced class for the more experienced exhibitors. Any member may elect to exhibit in the Advanced Class of a category. Upon doing so, however, the member shall be permanently ineligible to compete in that category’s Novice Class.

Becomes:

1. In the Slide, Digitally Projected Image, Monochrome Print, and Color Print Categories, there are two Classes of competition: The Novice Class is intended for entrants who are inexperienced in photography in the medium being exhibited; and the Advanced Class is for the more experienced exhibitors. Any member may elect to exhibit in the Advanced Class of a category. Upon receiving any competition points in an Advanced Class, the member shall be permanently ineligible to compete in that category’s Novice Class.

Section IV.C. Questions of Eligibility and Disqualification

The current sentences:

If a Novice inadvertently enters a slide or print in an advanced competition, the novice can request that the image be eliminated or any awards refused and still preserve his/her Novice status. Otherwise, the entrant will be placed in the Advanced class for that category.

Becomes:

If a Novice inadvertently enters a slide or print in an Advanced Class, the novice can request that the image be eliminated or any awards refused and still preserve his/her Novice status. Otherwise, the entrant will be placed in the Advanced Class for that Category from that time forward.

Section V.A. Eligibility

The current paragraph:

All entries from the monthly competitions receiving at least an honorable mention are eligible for the end-of-year competition. Rules for monthly competitions apply, except that submissions will take place as prescribed by the VP for Competitions, judging will take place in a separate location, and results will be available at the end-of-year banquet.

Becomes:

All entries from the monthly competitions receiving at least an honorable mention are eligible for the end-of-year competition. Rules for monthly competitions apply, except that submissions will take place as prescribed by the Vice President for Competitions, judging will take place in a separate location, each competitor may enter all of their award winners for the year, and results will be available at the end-of-year banquet.

Section V.B. Versatile Photographer of the Year

The current paragraph:

The Versatile Photographer of the Year award shall be given to the club member who has accumulated the highest number of total points from all competition classes and must have received an award in at least three classes.

Becomes:

The Versatile Photographer of the Year award shall be given to the club member who has accumulated the highest number of total points from all competition Categories and must have received an award in at least three Categories. Should two (2) or more photographers have the same total points in at least three (3) Categories, the photographer with points in the most Categories shall be declared the winner. Should two (2) or more photographers have the same number of points in the same number of Categories, then each of those photographers shall all be awarded Versatile Photographer of the Year.

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Unlike the US Treasury and many banks, the NVPS treasury is quite solvent. Last July 28th, the NVPS Board approved the 2008 - 2009 club budget. Projected budget expenditures totaled $9,020 for the club year. These expenditures include

The Board also voted that any club income above expenses would be put into our NVPS capital reserve fund to pay for future equipment replacement (digital projector, laptop computer, software, microphones, etc). Dues were approved for $45 single and $65 for family memberships to produce a projected income of $9,020.

As of April 15th, I am happy to report that club dues to date have produced $9,465.50 of income. Expenses to date have been $7,238.92, with the EOY awards and banquet being the last major expense still left to be paid. I am projecting about $1,500 will be added to the club capital reserve funds at the end of the year and that club dues will NOT increase next year.

Fred Chitty
Fred.Chitty@bp.com

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Approximately 24 participants in the club's nine month long portfolio development project will present their portfolios during the NVPS meeting on May 12th.

During the first portion of the meeting each of the participants will have a hard copy of their portfolio on display and will be available to discuss it with attendees. The hard copy at the discretion of the artist will be either prints or photo books,  together with an artist statement, and will be on display on the tables at the rear of the hall. Please come early and allow yourself time to view and discuss the results of lots of hard work.

The second portion of the meeting will be a 90 minute digital projection presentation of each portfolio accompanied by observations by the evening's "judge" Sherwin Kaplan. Note - this is not a competition; everyone will be a winner.

Be sure to attend and show support for your fellow members who worked hard during the year to develop their portfolios.

If there are any questions, please contact one of the Workshop Coordinators:

Competition Judge
Jim Carrell
May 19, 2009  

 Jim Carrell will be the NVPS judge for our final monthly competition on Tuesday, May 19th. The May competition is an "open" competition with no theme. All parts of submitted images must have been photographed after May 19, 2007. Below is a brief bio sketch on Jim.

Jim’s parents gave him a Kodak Pony 135 Model B camera as a Christmas present when he was about 13, and he has been photographing ever since. He still has the camera, and it still works.

After moving to Northern Virginia 10 years ago he joined the Manassas-Warrenton Camera Club where he has served as President and Vice-president for Programs. During that time his self-taught skills have been honed and added to by attending many workshops, particularly those conducted by Joe Miller, and by competing in club competitions and other venues. Many of his images have been juried in to area exhibits and shows.

The combination of a degree in art history and having seen much art in his life biases his judging towards 'artistic' versus 'photographic' merits of images.

Jim has been trained by Joe Miller to be a camera club judge and is listed on the NVACC site. To read more about Jim’s judging criteria please go to www.nvacc.org and click on Jim Carrell.  

Matthew Schmidt
mgs@loreleistudios.com

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April Competition Images

Below are some images that received a first place award in the March competition. Clicking on one of the pictures will display a larger version.

First place winners in future competitions may be submitted to editor@nvps.org. Submitted photos should have maximum width and height of 1024 pixels and 768 pixels respectively. Images should be sent to editor@nvps.org by the Friday following the competition.

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April Competition Results

Competition standings can be found on the NVPS website.

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Davis Balderston is a former government employee who has had time for photography since retiring late in 2004.  In September, 2005, he started classes at Photoworks, which is part of Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland.  Most of his work there has been with Mark Power, who was in the Corcoran’s photography department. for 27 years.  He has also studied with Eliot Cohen, who teaches at Photoworks and the Smithsonian.  In October, 2008, 24 of his photographs exhibited at the Arlington Central Library.  In May, 2009, five of his photographs will be part of the exhibition "Across The Pond", at  the Beyond The Image Gallery in Norwich, England.

Davis moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1972.  Since 1990, he has lived in Arlington, Virginia, a close-in suburb of Washington.  One of his photographic interests has been Arlington, an older suburb that has been changing rapidly over the past decade or so.  He has also been drawn to what he calls semi-abstract nature photography.

He finds that digital photography fits his personality and photographic interests well.  He likes working in color, and digital technology gives him control over the printing process that he would not have with film.  Also, digital photography lets him work almost immediately with what the camera has captured, which he thinks helps improve the quality of his work.  The fast feedback possible with digital photography certainly helps reduce the frustrations and delays that go with working with film.

Farzin began photographing with a Kodak 110 Film Camera when he was 10 years old and continued with film photography for a number of years. After giving up photography for a while, he resumed it  a few years ago with a digital SLR (D70) and attended Wayne Wolfersberger's classes. He now uses a Nikon D300.

Farzin has been a member of NVPS since 2006. A few of his images have been shown at the Meadowlark Exhibit in the last couple of years. He loves nature photography, especially landscapes.

Farzin is a system analyst/enterprise architect and works for SWIFT in Northern Virginia. He moved to Canada from Iran in 1995 and then moved to the US in 2000. This year he had the opportunity to return to Iran and visit Dasht-e Kavir and Kavir-e-loot in the middle and south of the country. He will show a few pictures of his trip during his presentation. Farzin would like to have his own website eventually but for the moment he would rather be out in the field taking pictures.

Images made by Sandi Croan and Sam Schaen have received Merit Awards in the Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition. Sandi's image "Pretty in Pink" received its award in the Amphibian Category and Sam's "Baboon with Newborn" in the Medium Size Mammal Category. These images were selected from among more than 1000 images submitted by 94 camera clubs in the United States, Canada and several foreign countries. Congratulations Sandi and Sam. You may view Sandi's and Sam's images in the NVPS Photo Gallery under NVPS Exhibits.

John Quigley
jhquigley@msn.com

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers, with Scott Kelby
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