“It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.”  – Alfred Eisenstaedt

I want to thank Kirk Johnson, the NVPS Board, and all of the behind–the–scenes volunteers for their exemplary work during the 2022–2023 season. In spite of the challenges presented by the ongoing isolation of COVID–19, they did a wonderful job of keeping our club a vibrant center of photographic learning and fun. Indeed, the entire membership needs to be congratulated for hanging in there during these stressful times.

I am honored to be your Club President for the upcoming 2023-24 season of photographic activities and learning at NVPS. Joining me is a terrific roster of photographers, some new and some veterans on the new board. Some of them will be reaching out to you for presentations in the upcoming season so please give them all the support you can. The Education and Training Coordinator is Jim McDermott, Member’s Gallery Coordinators are Kieu Lan Nguyen and Thu Huynh, the Member’s Forum Coordinator is Janice Kane. Please join me in welcoming their dedication to the club.

As we enter a new club season we are at another crossroads. Like Influenza, COVID-19 has become a part of our landscape and the world has cautiously returned to life with this new normal. And after nearly three years of meeting remotely, it is time for NVPS to follow suit. With that in mind we will continue to meet virtually on Zoom for Program night, the first Tuesday of the month. Being able to engage speakers from all around the country is just too good to pass up.

Before COVID–19, Education and Training on the second Tuesday was an in–house activity and we will be returning to that with in-person meetings at the Dunn Loring Firehouse.

And, at this time, we are looking at a combination of in-person and virtual for Competition on the third Tuesdays—we feel it is time to bring the print category back to competitions. Currently, we are thinking about six competitions on Zoom and three in-person competitions.

For Member’s Gallery and Forum on the fourth Tuesdays, we will be meeting in person at the Dunn Loring Firehouse. This will give members a chance to display their printed images once again for the club.

Finally, the fifth Tuesday meetings will also be in person at Dunn Loring Firehouse.

We will be fine–tuning the details over the summer. There may be instances where it works better to meet on Zoom. We want to be flexible in meeting the needs of the club while still trying to return to face-to-face meetings.

I look forward to seeing you in September.

Ginger Werz-Petricka
NVPS Club President
2023-2024