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The lifeblood that pulses through a healthy club’s veins involves both the “gives” and the “takes” which arise among its members. As you read this message, I will rapidly be approaching the culmination of my time as your president and my thoughts will be focused on my hopes for the health of the VCC in the years immediately ahead.
Each of us brings to the club our personal needs and desires along with our particular talents and skills. The first two are addressed by the full spectrum of VCC programs and activities, both formal and informal. These comprise the “takes”. Experience has shown that the second two cover a very broad range and that they are revealed over the days and months through the contributions that have been made and are being made to our collective endeavours. The “gives” are the result.
So how do you give back to the club? One way, which might seem a bit indirect at first, is through the sharing of your images. A very up front way to do that was stressed by Gregg Eligh, who judged our Advanced Print Competitions in January. Gregg was emphatic in his call for members to enter our competitions, to the point that not doing so was, in effect, viewed as letting the club down. My personal take is less pointed. Entering competitions is clearly one good way of giving back, but by no means the only way. You might share via our website’s galleries or on our external Flickr groups. You could present a show on Members Night or submit an image to a print show.
In his Member’s Profile (Close-Up, February, 2018), Gordon Griffiths noted that when he joined the VCC in 1999 each new member “had to show a portfolio of at least 10 photos to the Club and members then critiqued the slides.” An interesting approach! I’ll leave it to our incoming Board to consider the re-establishment of such a rigorous initiation rite.
In the broader context, there are many ways to give back to the Club. As I have emphasized over my time on the Board, the most compelling way is to volunteer to either lead or to support one of our core programs. Opportunities to do so are always at hand. An appropriate balance between the “give” and the “take” will ensure that you and all our our members will get the most out of our times in the Victoria Camera Club.
My best wishes to each of you for some happy shooting and some good times with fellow members in the months and years ahead!
Garry Schaefer, President