March Meeting

March came in with a blast with 36 in attendance which included 3 new guests (Wanda, Sharon and Kenny) and 7 new members (Jerry, Melissa, Colleen, Nancy, Lottie, Deana, and Nelson). Our membership rolls hit 60 and we are proud and appreciative of all those who attend. And to think we just completed 2 years!!. Reynolds’s staff circulated a form for members to be placed on Reynolds e-mail list in order to receive notices of their events and notices,

From our February meeting, the club displayed their photos at an exhibit at the Patrick County Library for the 2nd month. These photos were available for members to pick up. We are again confirmed for our photos to again be displayed for November and December 2007 at the Collinsville Library and January and February 2008 at the library in Stuart.

Ms Frisco at the Tourism Division in Patrick County gave a short term notice to have a winter scene e-mailed to her by our members in order to be considered for an upcoming event’s brochure. This is another advantage to being on our active mailing list to take advantage of short-notice assignments.

The Martinsville Bulletin had a contest for local photographers where they submitted photos of Martinsville and Henry County area. Sammy won 2nd place in this contest and his photo will be on the cover of an upcoming insert sponsored by the Chamber. Fergie won honorable mention. We are proud of you!!!

Pending items include (1) our members having exclusive entries for an upcoming calendar sponsored by the Patrick Count Tourism Division with disk of photos submitted at this meeting, (2) Photos to Fergie for PSA judging, was postponed due to another exhibit, discussed next.

New Business includes the announcement that we can submit a maximum of 2 photos for Reynolds Homestead’s exhibit exclusive for our members for either displaying or selling. Each photo must have a note showing the photographer’s name, the title of the work, and a price or NFS (Not for Sale). A separate notice will be sent with more details. (P.S. – this was done).

Fergie gave a PSA update which included a conference in Tucson, AZ in September. Pat is getting an airline “best price” for those interested. Reference the following link for PSA conferences for the next 3 years – Mark your calendar. We are a member of PSA and are a great recourse for our professional growth and in-service training.
www.psa-photo.org/conferencesPageDisplay.asp?DivID=8&menuID=8&pageID=351

Pat, our new events coordinator, gave a report of an upcoming Clearwater Beach, Florida trip in May, the Tucson trip in September, and said she is working on information for the Williamsburg trip this spring. Input was sought on member’s ideas on great field trips to make this year. The web-site now includes a calendar with reported events such as festivals, but these will not necessarily be considered field trips. E-mail her at patriciaj21@earthlink.net for those ideas of complete the form she distributed.

Information sharing included reports that stores like Michaels, AC Moore, and Hobby Lobby normally have a coupon on their web-site for 40 to 50 percent discounts which may be different from the newspaper coupons. Reminder that 11x14 mats are for sale at Reynolds. Members need to also start buying their white mats for the upcoming Patrick County Fair and State Fair entries (do not wait till the last minute)

Results of the member survey include keeping the current officers, time and place of meeting, competition and programs, field trips, friendly hands on and g-rated atmosphere, format and being an asset to the community.

Members suggested looking at the best location in the building and this was decided by a vote with the majority wanting to keep the upstairs location. Input was submitted regarding the method of judging the photographs, especially having the judge not know the member’s name when choosing the top 8 that are retained at Reynolds. After the winners are chosen, naturally we want the photographer’s name to be known and complemented. Other ideas for change included having an annual calendar on the web-site (done), having members send more of their competion winners to be posted on the site, having the best photos of the month sent to the Enterprise (Nellie to check on this), more ideas on best books (like text book) for training purposes (members asked to bring their choice to share at next meeting), special introduction handout for new members (I will draft one), a more spiffy brochure and web-site, name tags (Lamont will do some checking), new members give self-introduction (started this meeting); program on photo editing, backing up and organization of photos (Sammy will take this); more public information on our club; having refreshments (will relay info to Reynolds of need to have a vending machine) and working on projects in smaller groups. With 60 members and growing, I will be meeting with Ellen to see if Reynolds have plans to have an off campus location in Henry County that we could use as a second club location (long range planning), as we know many people there want to join but just will not travel to Critz.

An annual survey is our way of self-improvement and quality control. Thanks to those who completed the survey as many good ideas were heard and changes were made with other suggestions are in the making.

Our annual election was held with no opposition for current officers. Thanks for the confidence our members displayed. I gave notice that this is my last year as an officer, but plans to remain a member. Since Nellie is the one that stayed persistent in getting the club started, has served as our back-up for 2 years with perfect attendance plus we need a Patrick County Officer, she would be the one I am going to nominate for my replacement. This does not prevent others from wanting to serve in this capacity.

Sammy presented the program on using the flash. Our competition next month is having up to 2 photos with our using a flash. The program is a slide show of the photos sent to the county for the calendar.

Spring will be here on the 21st and already the time change has allowed us more daylight. Our meetings should bring us to the meetings in daylight – so plan on attending our nest meeting on Monday the 2nd of April.