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About three years ago I went to a VCC print show at the Victoria Arts Council building on Store Street. What struck me immediately was the amount of talented work on display. That show was the reason I joined the VCC. After more than a year of being a member, I decided to become more active within the Club. I helped with the Nature SIG last season and then served the first half of this season as one of our two Vice-Presidents.
Over this time, I’ve realized just how lucky we are to have so many opportunities to learn, improve upon and share our photography, including this publication. All of this is made possible by a dedicated group of volunteers who give their time to make the experience of being a member of VCC that much better.
We obviously continue to deal with COVID as a Club. I think I speak for most of us when I say that I want to get back to in-person meetings as soon as possible. Although we have adapted very well using Zoom, the social and collegial benefits of meeting in-person have certainly been reduced. For now, we will continue to take our guidance from the Ministry of Health, balanced with the comfort level of the membership, to determine how and when we return to in-person gatherings.
Zoom will likely be part of our future even when we return to in-person meetings. We can explore hybrid meetings with both in-person and Zoom access or, we could replace an in-person session with Zoom where it makes sense. For instance, Presenter’s night is booked for the rest of the season over Zoom allowing us to book presenters from all over North America. When Ursula Abresch joined us from the West Kootenays for the January Presenter’s Night we had about 60 attendees at a successful, interactive evening. We will be exploring these options further.
Our AGM is just over 90 days away. The President, Secretary and one Member-at-Large position will become vacant. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact any of the exec for information on their roles. We will provide more information on this as we get closer to the AGM.
I’m looking forward to being of service to the membership for the rest of this season. I would like to thank Teri VanWell for her leadership in VCC as President. I enjoyed working with her, and I wish her success in her new, expanded role at the Saanich School District.
Steve Sproston, Acting President