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the Lens Paper
June, 2004
Page 3
KIDS’ BEST AT THE FAIR by Nancy Jennings
Did you know that North County Photographic Society's
Board of Directors voted to award two cash prizes to the
winners in the Kids' Best photography exhibit at the San
Diego Fair? For the second year, club members Suzanne
Schmidt-Traner and Jack Jennings are judging the entries
in this competition. Last year, their Best of Show winner
went on to win Best of Show at the State competition in
Sacramento with a black and white entry very reminiscent
of Henri Cartier-Bressant's images. This year, NCPS will
offer a $50 award to the Best of Show winner and a $25
award to the winner of the Coordinator's Award. Although
the winners were not selected at the time our newsletter
went to press, everyone is invited to view the Kids' Best
exhibit, which is located in the large tent in the infield.
MEMBER SHARE - DECONSTRUCTED
by Emile Kfouri
Introduction - It is probably difficult to be part of NCPS
without having an opinion about Member Share. For some
it is a drag, but for most, it is the highlight of the meeting.
For me, it is one of the parts of my month that I look
forward to the most. In fact, I joined the club and
volunteered to be Vice President because of it. For me, it is
an opportunity to learn and teach and see images by talent
that may never be recognized.
The Mission – The goal of the Member Share is simply to
share our images, knowledge and experience with the rest
of the membership. It gives us an opportunity to learn from
each other and to also let us expand our minds and push the
boundaries of our creativity. For me, and for the club’s
board, Member Share provides a chance to see other
member’s work and to learn from each other. Our
interpretation is that the sharing is not simply of the
images, but also of our knowledge.
The Problems – In the past few months, we have received
a significant number of comments from our members about
Member Share (This is your club and you have every right
to decide its direction, so the comments have always been
welcomed). The comments fall into a small number of
categories:
1.
Why can we only show two images? Some times we
want to show a full body of work. We just want to
run though a number of images without any
comments from the artist or the members.
2.
Why do we need to rush through the images?
Members spend a great deal of time to prepare
images for Member Share and then they only get 30
seconds to talk about them or get comments from
members. Why did person “A” get 2 minutes to talk
about their image when I only got 20 seconds?
3.
Why does there need to be a topic for the month? I
just want to bring what I am currently working on.
4.
Why do members need to comment on my image?
5.
Member Share sometimes drags on forever.
Members do not make any comments and it gets
boring after a while.
Reaching a Solution – The board has spent a significant
amount of time discussing these issues. We have also tried
to take into account all the comments that we have received
from the membership. The reality is that Member Share is
a victim of its own popularity. We continue to tweak the
format to try to satisfy as many members as possible.
Going through the list of items above has produced the
following general responses:
1.
We only want members to show up to two images
because we want to see their best work. The goal is
to be able to have as many members as possible show
their work in the limited time that we have.
Remember the goal is to share images and
knowledge.
2.
We only have 30 minutes for Member Share. This is
based on the time that we have the meeting hall for,
and on the rest of the agenda that needs to be
accomplished. The announcements are part of any
club meeting and we are trying to go through them as
fast as possible. We also give the speaker one hour
for their presentation. They have gone to no small
effort to come and talk to us, so it seems only fair to
give them an hour of our time. (As an aside, I have
been thinking about having another meeting possibly
the last Wednesday of every other month where
members can bring a portfolio of images that can be
discussed in greater length. What do you think?
Any one interested in that idea?)
3.
The topic is simply a way to encourage members to
go out and make images or at least go through their
archive of images. It is also interesting to see
different interpretations of the same topic. You do
not need to bring images that are on topic and we are
always looking for suggestion on new topics. We
have also decided to give topics a few months ahead
of time so that members are better able to prepare.
4.
The comments are supposed to help us share our
experiences and knowledge. I have tried to make
them educational and entertaining. Every image can be
both perfect and have room for improvement. It is
ultimately the artist’s choice. We are just trying to find