The board met on October 24. Eleven board members and one guest attended.
Committee Chair Reports:
Secretary: Catherine Honigsberg reviewed September board meeting minutes.
Treasurer: In the absence of the Treasurer, Catherine Honigsberg discussed some financial questions that had recently been raised. This concerned the rent of our regular meeting room at the Silver Spring United Methodist Church, the checking account, and the audit report. We need to pay rent to the church (if this has not been done already), order new checks, and the audit committee needs to issue its report for last fiscal year. Catherine will discuss these issues with Treasurer Bruce Schaefer when he is back.
Vice President: We are still looking for a person to become Vice President of the Club.
Other Reports:
Programming: Karen Finkelman has secured speakers for the club year including also a confirmed speaker for January 2, 2020. Renee Schaefer has secured all judges, but it appears that April 9 is conflicting with the school calendar according to which our meeting location at the church will be closed. Karen will discuss this with Renee and see if the judge can be shifted to April 16.
Cable Release: Dennis Freeman and Sherm Edwards expect to complete and publish the CR in a week’s time.
Some club meeting dates conflict with holidays and the school calendar, and it will be announced in the CR that there will be no meetings on November 28 (Thanksgiving Day), December 26 (day after Christmas) and April 9 (Passover). Since there are five Thursdays in April, Dennis proposed to shift the dates for competition, A Closer Focus, and board meeting by one week so they will take place on April 16, 23, and 30 respectively.
Field Trips: No reports.
Website, Meetup, Facebook, Twitter: Up and running
Nominations and Elections Committee: Larry Gold and Bruce Schaefer are searching for a new Vice President.
Competition: Pete Morton raised the issue of how judges sometimes seem to base their rating and judgements on how a photo fit the predetermined competition topic instead of judging the quality of the image. A discussion followed and it was agreed that Larry Gold and David Terao would be even more careful to approve and admit only images that clearly are in line with the competition topic and category. Hence, all images that are put forward to the judge are pre-approved to comply with the topic so the judge can focus on quality issues.
Membership: Lisa Auerbach reported that there are a few members who have not renewed their memberships and she will follow up with them. The Winter Social will take place on December 5 before the presentation on Speaker Night.
PSA: Pete Morton reported from the recent PSA conference in Spokane, WA. It was a week-long conference with participants from all over the world. A wide range of speakers, tours, exhibitions, workshops, etc. makes the conference a great learning experience and an opportunity to meet other photographers. Pete recommended members to participate in next year’s annual conference in Colorado Springs.
Communication Committee: No report.
Other Topics:
Maryland Photography Alliance: No report.
Wider Circle: Grant was approved for the Wider Circle – need info to obtain the funds.
Standard Operating Procedures: Catherine has received SOP’s from Dennis and Renee. Norm provided his spreadsheet.
Jim Auerbach: On October 7 James (Jim) Auerbach, SSCC member and a passionate photographer, sadly passed away. There was a broad discussion at the board meeting on how to honor his memory. By vote, we decided that the board would give a donation to the Montgomery Hospice and we collected $155 from the board members present at the meeting. Catherine will contact board members absent from the meeting to inquire if they would also like to participate in the common donation from the board. When we have heard from them, we will send the donation to Montgomery Hospice in Jim Auerbach’s memory. SSCC members outside of the board may participate by private donations. Margery Auerbach, Jim’s wife, advised that memorial contributions may be made either to the Bet Aviv Congregation, 5885 Robert Oliver Place, Columbia, MD or to Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD 20850.