The Board met on February 28, 2019.  Eleven board members and one non-member attended.

For a complete list of the officers and committee members that comprise the Board, see the following: 2018-2019 Officers and Committee Chairs

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Committee Chair Reports:

Treasurer – An updated budget as of February 21, 2019 was distributed. The balance is now projected to $31 in surplus. The main reason for the improvement is an increase in member dues (+$130 compared with last month’s budget), but the budget also benefited from a slightly lower speaker’s compensation in February (-$25). The budget includes 88 members, out of which 21 new members. That is 10 more members than in January.
The Honor Fund has a balance of $583. This includes a recent payment of $77 for the Wider Circle project (Shepherd’s Table). See page 2 and the attachment for an update and proposal for the future of the Honor Fund.

Maude Svensson asked if the SSCC Member Handbook should be updated to encompass more practical rules regarding budget allocations. The Board has earlier agreed to accept expenses under $50 to exceed its budget allocation, but this has not yet been incorporated in the Handbook’s section on SSCC Constitution and By-Laws.

Maude agreed to research what the by laws and handbook said about budget items.

Programming: No Report

Cable Release: Dennis Freeman published the Cable Release for March and will run an ad for an assistant.

Field Trips: A few changes have taken place in the schedule for the Field Trips. The planned trip on March 3 will instead take place on March 17 to Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in scenic Solomon Island, Maryland. The planned trip to Emmitsburg Antique Mall on March 23 is cancelled. We will join the Meetup led by Michael Koren on March 10 to the Emmitsburg Antique Mall. See the Cable Release for information.

Website: Mark Paster presented an updated draft of “Silver Spring Camera Club Information for Presenters”. The Board embraced it as the Club’s policy and it will be posted on the SSCC website. 

 Meetup: No report.

Nominations: Larry Gold reported the announcement was made for candidates that took place at the Competition Night’s meeting in February. He and Bruce Schaefer, who are members of the Nomination and Elections Committee, will continue announcing and present a slate in April. Following presentation of the candidates, the committee shall solicit and accept nominations from the floor. Elections will take place during the Speaker’s Night meeting in May.

Competition: Larry Gold informed us that all is up and running ahead of the Competition Nights. He is searching for suggestions for competition topics for the next club year. Catherine Honigsberg will send out a blast to remind members to make suggestions.

Membership: Lisa Auerbach presented a draft for a new member form with the aim of improving the information about the various SSCC committees, chairs, and open positions. A discussion followed and Lisa will collect short descriptions of the committees and positions that are missing from the Member Handbook.

Year-End Celebration date: Tanya Riseman discussed her plan for how to organize this Year-End Celebration on June 13 and asked for volunteers. Catherine Honigsberg will welcome everybody, hold an opening speech, and is responsible for the printing of certificates; Lisa Auerbach will take care of food as it arrives; Larry Gold will arrange the rewards/milestones and find someone who will collect the prints; Andrew Rein will organize the door prices, share funny stories, and together with Marc Auerbach run the two raffles. Tanya Riseman is about to contact a person to be the Master of Ceremonies. A few outstanding issues remain, such as decorations, slide shows, and clean up.

Honor Fund: David Blass presented updated guidelines and instructions and led a thorough discussion of a renaming of the Honor Fund. The name is proposed to be changed to “The George DeBuchanne Community Service Project Fund” to better reflect the aim and purpose of the fund. David Blass also proposed a change in timeline that would allow applications to be submitted any time throughout the year. The new and detailed guidelines and instructions will be transparent and simplify the process for applicants and coordinators alike. 

There was a vote to accept the new guidelines and it was accepted unanimously.

Larry Gold proposed that he could collect and frame photographs from members that in the past have printed their images for competitions. Those would later be donated to low-income community housing.

 PSA: Pete Morton informed us about his recent experience with Maryland Photography Alliance (MPA) training of photography judges and PSA online training on “Image Analysis”. Pete Morton is one of seven students in the MPA course led by Roy Sewall (our March Speaker). The MPA has developed a Judge Certification Program and provides training in analytic foundations, judging principles, and practices. The “Image Analysis” is 12 weeks long and aims at developing one’s own photography as well as an improved understanding of judging. Pete Morton told us that although these courses go hand-in-hand, they are both valuable to study independently.

Communication Standards for the Club: No update.

Other Topics:

Maryland Photography Alliance: No report