Good Evening All
I have been slightly amiss at getting a regular newsy mail out to the Region but we all know pressures all around these days and also some email problems with my computer has caused me headaches plus the loss of a complete external hard drive despite a few tries from the experts to recover it, anyway we cannot cry over split milk we must just learn from it and as we know we learn something every day. I am still missing some email addresses from the Chairpersons of this Region but will pick them up elsewhere just now and make sure the whole Region gets this mail.
Well yes the e-Mag, and Inter-club Competitions are due to close end of July and I am sure you are all in the process of getting these in on time. Our Region always seem to feature somewhere in this competition so let us keep it up.
We seem to have been tops recently in one of the recent Salons with our entries let us keep that up.
The Wildlife Convention which is in the Kruger this year, I really would like all of you to look at this very seriously again (all info on PSSA Web), initially you may think it is too expensive but when you work it all out with regard what it costs you for one night in the Kruger, whether it be camping or staying in a Chalet, I think you will agree it is on par with that, OK you have your Convention fee on top of that but no matter which Convention you go to you have to pay a fee. There are some real interesting speakers on board from overseas and the added factor of the camaraderie that exists at a Convention is inspirational and educational to all. I am at this moment in time in the role of the Marketing person for this Convention so I am pushing it even further.
Honours is about to close again on the 25 June, please encourage your members to start this process and if they have already started the process to continue with this challenge, it is good for your photography.
Hopefully the JAP workshops will be starting again soon with a whole new light on it and once again I would ask you to encourage your members to attend these as judging is an aspect of club photography that we all have moans and groans about.
The club winning images of the month for each club is also a great incentive to all clubs and if your club has not been entering this on a regular basis PLEASE PLEASE do so, once again it is motivational for not only the club but for the members to see their image on the front page of PSSA web site.
The nominations have obviously now closed for the National Directors of PSSA, you will be getting your voting papers soon, if you are a member of PSSA that is. I would encourage you to use this vote, it is important for the Society, remembering that the Society belongs to you the members, not to the Directors of the Board. Unfortunately as Regional Directors, we get all the moans and groans but it is through your vote and involvement that changes can take place for the benefit of the Society.
If you have not received the 2nd Issue of the new format of the Magazine, I can tell you it is in the post and it continues to be very informative, full of inspirational information and certainly gives you enough reading until the next issue comes out in July. You do not need to read it in a day, expand your reading over the months as I say until the next one comes out.
I see some of the Club names in the proposed Salon Diary for next year, please consider this as there are still a few blank spots in the Calendar. With regard Salons, PSSA would like to encourage on site judging instead of remote judging, if you are holding a Salon, this has great merits as all three judges sit and judge together and it does help to get the Salon quickly finalised, albeit it creates the problem of having to get all the judges more or less from the area. I need to tell you I judged at Alberton’s Salon this way and it really did work well in my opinion.
Well I think I have extended my info to its fullest tonight but please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries or helpful information that you would like to pass on. It is great to have your e-newsletter to those clubs that produce one and as you will see Melanie, our Webmaster is very efficient in getting it on the web ASAP.
Keep up the great work in this Region, I certainly am very proud of you and it is an absolute pleasure to serve you, albeit it does comes with its pressures and stress at times but is that not what happens in all Societies, clubs etc., nowadays.
EVELYN GIBSON, FPSSA,APSSA(Vers),EPSSA(Mille),EFIAP,ARPS.
REGIONAL DIRECTOR GAUTENG NORTH – PSSA
