‘Celebrations’ highlighted at club meeting

By Rex Dolby

The Wassenberg Camera Club held its first meeting of the new year on Thursday, January 12, at the Wassenberg Art Center. Possibly due to the forecast for blowing and drifting snow, no out-of-town members attended. The competition for the evening was Celebrations. Jodi Hattery won the print division with a picture of a bouquet of flowers lying on a white folding chair at an outdoor wedding in Ada. Rex Dolby won the slide competition with a picture of his wife holding their baby daughter on her first time at church. President Heckler announced that newly retired treasurer, Karl Gribler, has agreed to serve as acting treasurer until the new one is elected.   Secretary Rex Dolby distributed an Activity Calendar and Membership Directory 2012. Heckler then opened discussion by asking about improving membership retention. The consensus seemed to be that new members may have attended to learn more about taking better pictures and getting more from their equipment, but found most of the meeting being devoted to

competition, which may have been intimidating to them.

He then asked for input on what we need to do to attract and retain new members. One suggestion was to have more teaching opportunity where more experienced members will need to openly share their knowledge and experience.

Possibly some of the 2nd monthly meetings might deal with how to set up to shoot the subject of the next month’s competition. That meeting could also be used for field trips, speakers, photo shoots, and slide programs by members who have a special series to share such as a vacation, or other major event.

The question whether a Facebook account would be a good idea was answered with the opinion that the Wassenberg Art Center may be developing a Camera Club page.

Our next meeting on January 26 at 7 p.m. will be open to the public and organized to answer visitor’s questions about their photography equipment, how to set it, and other related questions.

This meeting is free, with no obligation to join, and will be organized into small groups based on camera makes. Here’s your chance to ask the questions you’ve always wondered about in a small group setting with others who would like to know the answer also.