Georgette Grossman called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm at the Dunn Loring Firehouse.
Members in attendance were:
| Alan GoldsteinAmy Dixon
Beth Morris Bob Friedman Colena Turner Fran Bastress Georgette Grossman |
Ginger Werz-PetrickaJamie Kiechlin
John Quigley Kevin Egan Mike Whalen Sam Schaen Sandi Croan |
Scott MussonTami Stieger
Tom Brett Tom Pratuch Willa Friedman Willa Siegel |
A sign-in list was circulated to which board members later added the cameras they used—a step which may encourage newcomers and others to ask questions related thereto.
Georgette explained some replacements of board members positions, caused by outside work commitments and more: To replace Chuck Campbell, the board voted in Jamie Kiechlin as VP Competition.
BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
Competition: Beth Morris
Beth reported on the difficulty of locating judges.
- Using the 2014 NVACC Directory of Speakers & Judges, she only received three acceptances of the eight to nine invitations she emailed.
- Many of those contacted either didn’t respond or said they wanted to take a break from judging. No one is lined up yet for September.
- Sandi Croan suggested that phoning rather than emailing may bring better results.
- Bob Friedman suggested Jim Steele, who had not been contacted so far.
- Scott Musson suggested viewing websites of other photography clubs to get the names of judges they had used.
Programs: Willa Siegel
Willa reported on the speakers she and Tami have lined up for each month:
- September 2: Kevin Ambrose – member of the Washington Post Weather Gang….
- October 7: Cindy Hobgood
- November 4: TBA
- December 2: Mollie Isaacs
- January 6: Alex Mody
- February 3: Steve Gottlieb
- March 3: David Blechman
- April 7: NVPS Birthday Celebration… no outside speaker
- May 5: Brian Zwit
Operations: Kevin Egan
Kevin had no report. Mike Whalen asked about the issues with the firehouse router. The response was that it now seems to be working fine. The EOY Banquet equipment issue was a systems problem, according to members who knew about the situation. The equipment should be fine going forward.
Treasurer: Tom Brett
Tom discussed the Treasurer’s Report for Club Year 2013–2014.
| Northern Virginia Photographic Society (as of August 8, 2014) | ||||||
| Treasurer’s Report for Club Year 2013–2014 | ||||||
| Club Year | 11/12 | 12/13 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 13/14 | 14/15 |
| Category | Actual | Budget | Actual | Budget | Actual | Budget |
| Expenses | ||||||
| Facility (DLFD) | 5,265 | 5,265 | 5,265 | 5,265 | 4,590 | 5,265 |
| Equip Replacement | 3,695 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 169 | 0 |
| Insurance | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 400 | 400 |
| Competitions | ||||||
| Honorarium | 550 | 550 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 500 |
| Meals | 431 | 350 | 359 | 350 | 281 | 350 |
| Monthly Ribbons* | 0 | 400 | 455 | 0 | 0 | |
| EOY Ribbons, Awards | 601 | 600 | 572 | 700 | 597 | 700 |
| Programs | ||||||
| Honorarium | 400 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 400 | 450 |
| Meals | 294 | 350 | 417 | 350 | 318 | 350 |
| PSA Membership | 0 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 85 | 45 |
| Gifts (Spudz)* | 0 | 0 | 1,191 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| EOY Banquet Subsidy** | 844 | 600 | 836 | 850 | 890 | 850 |
| Exhibits | 0 | 250 | 0 | 250 | 0 | 250 |
| Treas. Checks | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Educ.& Tng | 31 | 250 | 100 | 250 | 150 | 250 |
| Field Trips | 163 | 150 | 0 | 150 | 0 | 150 |
| WEB & host server*** | 215 | 200 | 0 | 225 | 0 | 200 |
| Fotofax | 0 | 40 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 40 |
| Membership & Misc | 181 | 250 | 284 | 250 | 221 | 250 |
| TOTAL Expenses | 12,981 | 10,000 | 10,766 | 9,925 | 8,501 | 10,050 |
| Income | ||||||
| Dues | 8,906 | 8,537 | 9,905 | |||
| Spudz | 440 | 170 | ||||
| Total Income | 8,906 | 8,977 | 10,075 | |||
| *3Yrs Monthly Ribbons/Gifts | ||||||
| **EOY Banquet’14 – Income: $3,437; Hotel Meals/Fees: $4,327 = $890 Subsidy | ||||||
| ***2 years WEB deal | ||||||
| Current Bank Balance (Aug. 8, 2014): $8,329 | ||||||
| Individual dues: $45.00; Family dues: $65.00 | ||||||
- The largest expense was rent, followed by the EOY Banquet.
- Focusing on the coming year, he pointed out that not all board positions spend money.
- NVPS paid a $890 subsidy this year for the EOY Banquet, which was more than in recent years.
- To save money, Tom recommended that on program and competition nights, only on co-VP should attend the dinner, while the other co-VP goes to the meeting hall to set up and prepare for the meeting.
- Tom noted that 98 people attended the banquet, compared to 104 in previous years.
- He reported that the cost of the NVPS insurance increased last year after having been held down for a long time. Tom said we wouldn’t be able to get it for less money elsewhere.
- A discussion ensued about the PSA expense and whether or not it was worth continuing the club’s membership. It was decided we will continue with it, given that NVPS has always belonged and we receive their monthly magazine, as well as certain support if we request it.
Georgette heard NVPS wasn’t listed as a PSA member-club. Tom will research this through PSA.
- Re the Exhibits line item: Tom said that in previous years, when exhibits other than Nature Visions/Meadowlark had been held—such as at University of Phoenix, Hendry House, etc.—NVPS money was spent on opening-night receptions.
- Re the Membership/Miscellaneous line item, Tom said all the expenditures were for Membership and none were in the miscellaneous category.
- Tom reported that NVPS took in more money during club year 2013 – 2014, compared to the other years on his Treasurer’s Report. Refer to column 13/14 Actual.
- The final membership count for the club was 247, according to Tom.
Secretary/Historian: Fran Bastress
Fran requested that board members read, approve, and/or add comments to the minutes as they receive them, especially this time, given her upcoming vacation. She said Amy Dixon will handle the attendance counts during her three upcoming absences in September and October.
Newsletter/NVAAC Rep: Alan Goldstein
Alan asked if there was a move to discontinue FotoFax, as he understood this was a discussion point at the transitional board meeting..
Mike Whalen spoke of how Fotofax has provided a good history of what the club has been doing over the years. Others agreed on the value of keeping it.
We’ll continue to distribute FotoFax in a blast email.
Input should be sent to Alan by Friday, August 15, to editor@NVPS.org in Word or a format he can easily work with; email is acceptable.
To make it easier for Alan, board members suggested writing in terms of the five W’s: Who, What, Where, Why, and When.
Exhibits: Coordinator: John Quigley (Nature Visions)
John gave an update on Nature Visions:
The Expo will be Friday, November 14–Sunday, November 16. Rick Sammon will present the Friday all-day seminar and will be the keynote speaker.
The Nature Visions website opened for Expo registration on August 1. Members who registered their e-mail with Nature Visions are eligible for a $30 discount off their registration fee. A link for the discount was sent to each member on August 1. Members should register for workshops as soon as possible because the more popular ones will fill up fast.
There will be a substantially smaller requirement for volunteers this year than in past years, because an Event Planner has been hired to fill most of the positions. The primary need will be for setup on Friday night and take-down on Sunday evening. Only individuals with juried images will be required to volunteer.
To be eligible to enter images, one must be a club member in good standing, i.e., be current in dues. Each member may enter up to 6 images in the Nature exhibit at no cost and up to an additional 4 for a fee of $20. Each member may enter up to 2 images in the Fine Art exhibit.
Images will be submitted digitally for judging and only juried images will have to be printed. Digital submissions will begin in mid-September. Guidance for submitting digital images and preparing prints will be forthcoming in the near future.
Discussion on having a grace period for paying dues before participating in Competitions
- Beth Morris said Competitions has been working under the assumption that one does not have to be a paid member to participate in the first NVPS competition of the year, but he/she must be a paid member before submitting in the October competition.
- The history is that people were given a grace period.
- Sandi Croan found nothing in the rules about a grace period.
- The board members agreed to let things stand as they are for now.
- People will be encouraged to pay early and reminded that they can use checks, cash, and PayPal to pay their dues.
Exhibits Coordinator: Willa Friedman (other exhibits)
Willa assumed this role just today, but reported she already has some promising leads on several venues and hoped to have news of upcoming exhibits soon. She mentioned that Whole Foods in Vienna has some space in their store for exhibitors.
Field Trips: Bob Friedman and Mike Whalen
Tentative Field trip list
- Sept 6th National Zoo
- Oct 25 Local Fall Leaves
- Nov 8 Woolen Mill, Waterside, PA
- Dec 13 DC night photography
- Jan Luray Caverns, Luray, VA
- Feb Udvar/Hazy Center, Air and Space Museum, Dulles Airport
- Mar Truck Farm, Columbia, VA
- Apr 15-19 Overnight to NY (tentative)
- May Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA
Discussion:
Beth Morris named the three upcoming competition themes–street photography, water, and still life—and, along with others, discussed coordinating these themes with the focus of the field trips. For example, time the street photography competition to fall after the December 13th DC Night Photography field trip.
Membership: Amy Dixon
Amy referenced and reviewed the recommendations in Joy Brathwaite’s document, Three Proposed Ideas from the Membership Committee, which outlines ideas for helping newcomers to better integrate into NVPS. As Amy explained it, novice as well as experienced photographers may benefit from these three initiatives.
Ask Me a Question: Designed to help club members get answers by providing easy access to experienced members, who would be available for questions at tables from 7 to 7:30 pm
Connect with Me: After a survey is conducted to ascertain members’ interests/skills and is then publicized, interactions among the membership would be enhanced as individuals take steps to connect with each other.
Learn through Partnership: As a mentorship program that pairs a novice with an experienced photographer, novices would improve their photography skills. This proposal suggests providing novices with two months of guidance by reviewing their assignments of themed photos.
Sandi Croan commented that the second initiative sounded very similar to the existing mentoring program, which Melanie Marts had been overseeing.
Willa Friedman and others said that people have never really taken advantage of the existing program. It was also stated that many new members were not made aware of this opportunity.
Some board members suggested that the proposed programs might attract more people.
Regarding the first initiative, Georgette Grossman expressed concern re getting members to sit at a table to answer people’s questions.
Georgette requested that at the first meeting in September, Amy and Joy give a five minute talk about their proposal and ask members to volunteer for Ask Me a Question. At the second meeting in September this could be instituted.
Sandi talked about the value of a welcoming committee and how it was successful in the past. She recommended we consider reinstituting it.
Jamie Kiechlin suggested adding the brand of camera we use to our name tag as an ice breaker. He said this may help with prompting questions. Board members agreed.
Regarding Connect with Me, Georgette will contact Melanie to determine its status and the age of the data.
Tom Pratuch and others discussed the problems with mentoring new folks on field trips. Most photographers prefer to focus on shooting during field trips, so these experiences don’t provide good opportunities for mentoring. It was suggested that, rather than using field trips for mentoring, we do something similar to a project we did a couple years ago based on Freeman Patterson’s Photographing the World Around You.
Members Gallery: Colena Turner
| Gallery Date | Digital | |
| September 23, 2014 | Kim Enevoldsen | Joy Brathwaite |
| October 28, 2014 | Bill Von Holle | TBD |
| November 25, 2014 | John Eppler | TBD |
| January 27, 2014 | Jim McDermott TENTATIVE | Melanie Marcs |
| February 24, 2015 | Alan Goldstein | Tami Stieger |
| March 24, 2015 | Kip Holdridge | Benita Mayo |
| April 28, 2015 | Kieu-Hanh Vu | TBD |
| May 26, 2015 | Amie Tannanbaum Need to confirm | Roger Lancaster |
Members Gallery is the fourth Tuesday of every month.
The digital spots are just about filled, but there are three openings in the print category.
Sam Schaen asked Colena if she would consider having two people in the digital category if she couldn’t fill the print spots. She readily agreed.
Forum: Susan Phillips
- September 23: Wayne Wolfersberger, Video of Yellowstone and Video tips.
- October 28 : Sandi Croan, Trip to South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia
- November 25: Jim Norman, Aurora Borealis, Alaska and Iceland
- December: no Forum
- January 27: portfolio night reviews
- February 24: Davis Heagy, Tips On Travel Photography, Ireland, Patagonia and….
- March 24: Mike Whalen, A Retrospective Of His Work
- April 28: Beth Morris, Trip to Scotland
- May 26: TBD
Discussion
Susan wasn’t at the board meeting, but members questioned her assumption that the January and May slots were to be left unfilled due to portfolio reviews. January 13 is an Education/Training night and Tom Pratuch will find someone to fill that spot. Since Portfolio will not be on May 26, Susan will need to come up with another speaker for that slot.
Education/Training: Tom Pratuch
- September 9: Flash/Lighting, David Piazza
- September 30: Question Night for Novices, Education/Training
- October 14: Software Suites, Education/Training
- November 11: Anonymous Critique, Sandi Croan
- December 9: Drops & Drips Photography; Tami Stieger, Ginger Werz-Petricka, Kevin Egan, and Robert B
- January 13: TBD
- February: UV Photography, Scott Musson
- March 10: Printing, Bob and Willa Friedman
- April 14: Nature Visions, John Quigley and Roger Lancaster
- May 12: Portfolio Project final judging, Ginger Werz-Petricka
Tom distributed a handout on the September 9th speaker, David Piazza, who is primarily a portrait photographer. He is affiliated with F.J. Westcott, a manufacturer of photographic and lighting equipment and will talk about the use of portable flash units in photography.
Tom also distributed a survey entitled, NVPS Education and Training Survey, saying it would be useful in regard to the fifth Tuesday of each month. He requested our completion of the survey by the meeting’s end or to fill it out later online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/6WWHR96
Ginger Werz-Petricka suggested a photographer for a slot on the Education/Training agenda who is affiliated with Roanoke’s O. Winston Link Museum and gives presentations to photo groups. Georgette Grossman stressed that the presentation should have a photography emphasis.
Web Managers: Scott Musson and Sam Schaen
Scott described the agenda for the website as follows:
- Ensure mobile compatibility and improve where possible
- Look for orphan links to the old site that don’t redirect to the new site and ensure proper redirection. (This task is about 80% completed.)
- Plan to migrate the Gallery either to Gallery 3 or find a suitable replacement. There were some issues migrating previously, but they may have resolved the issues in Gallery 3 by now.
- Create a Slide show for the competition page of the year’s competition winners.
- Reconcile the email addresses on the club roster with those on the email announcement lists.
Scott reported that Sam volunteered to work on keeping email addresses current. He said we only retain names, email addresses and phone numbers in the database. Given that our server is in California and has strict privacy laws, Scott said we might be unable to maintain phone numbers. [Following the Board Meeting, Sam examined the law more closely and now doesn’t believe phone numbers are a privacy violation.]
Scott stressed that all announcements and information should be sent to editor@nvps.org, rather than to personal email accounts.
GENERAL
Georgette Grossman verified that we will have a meeting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but not on December 23rd and 30th.
Georgette Grossman said this is the club’s 50th year, and the 50th year officially begins on April 7, 2015. She asked if we should celebrate it in April or at the end of year banquet.
Discussion
- It was decided to celebrate the NVPS 50th anniversary on Tuesday, April 7, Program night.
- Ginger Werz-Petricka suggested that a program include things that were happening 50 years ago in the club, as well as in the world.
- There was a discussion about Sil Horwitz, the club’s founder.
- Beth Morris volunteered to be on a committee to organize the April 7 program, and said she is very interested in the history of NVPS.
- Board members encouraged Tom Brett to be on the committee, since he’s been a long-time member
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Fran Bastress
NVPS Secretary/Historian
Approved: August 20, 2014