Welcome to the NVPS's 45th year! I hope you all had a wonderful summer with lots of great photo opportunities. 

I am very excited about the coming year. We have a terrific board of both experienced and new members who have been working hard this summer lining up field trips, exhibitions, speakers, educational trainings/workshops, judges and our own members for nine months of learning and camaraderie. NVPS is the most active photo club in all of Northern Virginia with meetings every week. My goals for this year are to continue the wonderful traditions of NVPS, keep it educational and FUN, and provide a welcoming and supportive environment for new members and novice photographers, as well as to make changes to better serve our current membership needs. 

We had our transition (old board and new board) meeting on June 22,nd where four new committees/teams were rolled out:

1. 1. Competition Rules - to review and make recommendations for change as necessary to NVPS competition rules to better serve the current membership
2. Tech Team - to support the equipment manager and NVPS weekly functions and to maintain and enhance our technical equipment
3. Member Support - to develop guidance as to how the club will respond and acknowledge member and/or family illnesses, deaths, and other life-changing events
4. End of Year Awards - to develop criteria for adding awards named after NVPS members and other potential awards for the EOY Competition.

I want to personally thank the old and new boards, and the chair people and members of these new committees for agreeing to serve. You should expect to hear more about all this in the coming months as we strive to meet the growing needs of our members.

Over the summer, we made some big changes to our website www.nvps.org. The NVPS website is chock full of new info and links, and we now accept PayPal for new and renewing membership. Membership fees are due at the beginning of each club year, so please renew or join by the end of September. Only paid members can submit images for competitions. Please contribute and share articles, news, tidbits, images, etc to the website - it is YOUR website.

Tuesday, September 1 is our first meeting of NVPS, as well as the opening of the NVPS exhibit at USGS (see other article on this). I look forward to seeing you all and welcome your feedback and ideas throughout the year.


And now for some fun and nostalgia!!!

On April 7, 1965, NVPS was born with 22 members. We now have about ten times that number, and how things have changed in all aspects of life and photography! Check out the Cost of Living info below... looks to me like that has increased by about ten times as well.

Cost of Living 1965

Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.59% 
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 969 
Average Cost of new house $13,600.00 
Average Income per year $6,450.00 
Gas per Gallon 31 cents 
Average Cost of a new car $2,650.00 
Loaf of bread 21 cents 
Average Rent per month $118.00

If I close my eyes and look back to 1965, I see my room, walls covered with posters of Paul McCartney and Dr. Kildare. I see my Brownie camera and my scrapbooks filled with family pictures. Little did I know then that one day I wouldn't have to wait a week to see how my pictures came out, and my scrapbook would be online! Here are some other highlights from 1965:

• The war in Vietnam continued to worsen, at the same time the Anti-War movement grew and in November, 35,000 marched on Washington as a protest against the war. 
• Mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packs for the first time, and smoking became a no no. 
• The latest craze in kids' toys was the Super Ball and the Skate Board.
• Women's skirts got shorter as the miniskirt made its appearance, and men's hair got longer. 
• The St Louis Arch was completed, and The Beatles released 4 new albums, including "Help". 

Sandi Croan
President NVPS
pashli@nospam!#*&^#)type address - don't copy spam protection(*@.@nospamaol.com