SOUTHERN PHOTOGRAPHIC FEDERATION
Minutes of Meeting No. 166 held 11th May 2006 at Peter Symonds College, Winchester.

1. APOLOGIES
David Kessel, Leo Rich, Gavin Roberts, Basingstoke CC, Farnborough CC, I.O.W. DIG, Lordshill CC,Petersfield PS, S. Elect.S & SC PS, Storrington CC.

2. PRESENT
Alton CC,ASIPS, Bournemouth PS, Burghfield CC, Chichester CC, E. Berks PS, Fareham & Portchester CC, Fordingbridge CC, GEMS, Gibraltar PS, Gosport CC, Havant CC, Hayling CC, Highcliffe & Infinfity CC, Horndean CC, Jersey CC, Locksheath & Sarisbury CC, Newbury CC, Ordnance Survey PS, Overton PC, Prism PC, Salisbury CC, Southampton CC, S.Reading CC, Spectrum, Viewfinders of Romsey CC, Wimborne CC, Winchester PS, Wonston & Worthys CC, Woolston CC , Yateley CC and Mike Jones RPS, local area organiser for the RPS .

3. MINUTES OF MEETING
165 held 15 th Feb. 2006 approved and signed – proposed Anne Mahany, seconded Laurie Jenkins.

4. MATTERS ARISING
Laurie Jenkins advised his club had investigated supposed ban on use of tripods in the City of London with City authorities & with Tourist Board & had been unable to establish any substance to report. Mike Jones, RPS Rep. advised they had also enquired & it appeared although not banned, permission was necessary. Cameras could not be used on the underground.

5. AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION
Following the decision to bring forward the December meeting to November, proposed L. Jenkins, seconded Ian Bigg following amendments agreed unanimously:
Rule 4 amend to …..consisting of a President, a Vice President, Immediate Past President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, a Competition Secretary, an Exhibition Secretary, a Publicity Officer, a Newsletter Editor, a Handbook Secretary, an Assistant Exhibition Secretary and 3 other members.
Rule 6 amend to ……..The membership of clubs whose subscriptions are outstanding at 31st December shall be deemed to have lapsed.
Rule 7 amend to ….. in the months of February, May, September and November.
Rule 10. Change ‘Quarterly' to ‘Club Representative'.

6. PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Jack opened by mentioning the recent death of Gordon Bird, a long standing member of So'ton CC.
During his year as President, the Federation had gained two clubs & lost one. The events put on by the Fed. had all been successful, but with attendances down & rising costs losses arose on some.
Our first inter club Digital Comp. will take place next March, with the PAGB President as one of the judges.
Mention was made of the opportunity to see how clubs were run, when presenting Roll of Honour certificates.
The report from the PAGB Tech. Comm. now published on their website – details of site on page 145 PAGB Handbook. (more info. under item 16). Anne said Tony Riley had published his own small report for Surrey Fed. on preparing images for projection – it may be available to others.
Digital images would not be included in PAGB Slide Champ. in foreseeable future, although investigation carried out showed at least 50% of slides used last year originated digitally, with some clubs' entry as high as 90%.
The President thanked all those Council members who were retiring at this AGM – some having given sterling service in various capacities. He felt that the Treasurer, Jon Mitchell would not have tendered his resignation had he not be unjustifiably criticised by some club delegates at a previous meeting. We still have had no one offer to take over that position & he appealed to every delegate to attempt to find someone from their club who could fill it.
He wished every success to his successor, Ian Bigg.

7. SECRETARY'S REPORT
Further leaflet from VAN ( Briefing No. 91 – how to write a successful funding application) details on their website. It was mentioned from the floor that funding had now been raised to £10,000 for small grants.
Application forms for tickets for PAGB Slide Championship at Warwick available.

8. TREASURER'S REPORT
Jon thanked all fellow Council members for their support. Most successful year ever for sponsorship thanks to David Kessel's efforts. He thanked Liz for support in preparing accounts and to all the clubs who paid up on time thus making job easier.
Insurance having much greater impact, so most clubs taken out PAGB P/L insce. As some have made no declaration, everyone should check if judging/lecturing on that club's insce. arrangements.
Most events over past year had not been profitable, but recent Finals Day had just broken even.
The accounts for past year were presented to the meeting. Costs would continue to rise. One important area was travelling expenses claimed by Council members – in the past some had not claimed but now with rapidly rising costs, now found it necessary. The PAGB subs. for all clubs would rise next year from £22 to £24.50, to be deducted from that paid by each club, large or small, to SPF.
The accounts were approved unanimously, proposed Bill Flood seconded Anne Mahany.
The subs. for 2006/7 would again show a rise of 5% as previously agreed & would be as follows:-
Up to 25 members £45.00
26 – 50 - £61.00
51 – 75 - £77.00
76 or more £93.00
It was proposed Jon Mitchell, seconded Dave Rigg and passed unanimously that they be agreed.
As he was not standing again as Treasurer, although he had prepared forms to enable clubs to pay their subs. the new Secretary had agreed for cheques to be sent to her.
Liz warned all Club Treasurers to be aware that it was unlikely any bankings would be made until a new treasurer was elected.
Ernie Fullbrook asked for clarification on date on which club membership taken, to enable subs. to be calculated. Forms to be issued advised ‘at last count'. Subs. were due from 31 st July & became outstanding at 31 st October, when penalties applied.
Jack thanked Jon for excellent work done as Federation's Treasurer & again appealed for a volunteer to come forward to fill vacancy.

9. EXHIBITION SECRETARY
Bill thanked everyone who had helped him over the years, in the various jobs he had held. The running of the Exh. has been been fine tuned & now ran very smoothly.
Although Geoff Kelland would continue to handle most things concerning the Exh. George Walsh temporarily would receive entry fees etc. From George - 25 clubs so far applied to enter prints (max. 39) and 29 in slides . 13 clubs due to show slides. Suggestion made to have three judges had been considered by Council. SPF accounts for 2005/6 showed cost of one judge – increase that threefold & Exh. would make an even greater loss & together with greater time needed for actual judging, idea rejected by Council.
The President drew the meeting's attention to Rule 1 – The aim of the Exhibition is to enable clubs to exhibit prints & slides representative of their members.
Jack thanked Bill for hard work over the years.

10. LEAGUE COMPETITON SECRETARY'S REPORT
Forms for next winter's league will be sent to all clubs. Dave had enjoyed job, but unfortunately owing to pressure of work needed to give up. Jack thanked Dave for effort put in & said that Chris Whiting, who had held that position previously would be taking over from Dave.

11. PRINT CHAMPIONSHIP SECRETARY'S REPORT
Ian thanked all those who had helped to make day successful, especially members from his own club Highcliffe & Infinity CC.

12. PAGB EXHIBITION SECRETARY'S REPORT
Anne referred to 2005 PAGB Print & Slide Exhs. - details given previously- now collecting work for 2006 Print Exh. Selection will be on 25th May. This will be on display at Salisbury Library from 9 th – 30 th Sept. Posters available now for all clubs. 2006 Slide Exh. will be in our area from 23 rd April until May 6 th 2007. Some dates still available. In future, this will be time of year when we receive Exh. to enable work to be sent to Channel Islands. Jack thanked Anne for hard work over past twelve years.

13. HANDBOOK SECRETARY'S REPORT
Quiet since last meeting, with the few changes reported, listed in Exposure. Because of his sudden incapacity & deteriorating health of his wife, Ernie retiring from this position, although will stay on Council. All data base records, which had needed to be put together from scratch following the sudden death of Pat Christiansen were now in place for his successor. Ernie thanked Leo, George and Liz who had done the proof reading for him.
Jack thanked Ernie for excellent job and hard work involved in putting everything together from scratch. His successor will be Dave Isaacs - again a former member of the Council.

14. PUBLICITY SECRETARY'S REPORT
In his absence, report showed over past year, revenue to the value of £220, from seven firms for the Handbook and £255 from eight advertisers for the Exhibition, together with £101 from the sale of mugs etc. Grand total £576. All but a small amount had now been paid. Sponsors had received publicity through the Handbook, Exh. catalogue, Exposure & the website. Start now to be made on raising money for current year.
It was pointed out that had this large sum not been available to Federation, last year's finances would have shown an overall loss.
Jack thanked David for excellent job in raising such a superb amount and successfully extracting payment from most.

15. NEWSLETTER EDITOR'S REPORT
Newsletter ready on website in pdf and html format.
Please encourage club members to at least visit site and read it, even if not downloaded. Possible for one person to receive and then bounce the email onto other members.
Sending one email to one nominated member in a club and for them to forward it on to their own club members, is much easier for Trevor and ensures newsletter is read by as many as possible.
In future a note will be shown on the website in the latest news that the new newsletter is online.
Newsletter smaller this month as less news sent in - Clubs can send info. at any time – if early, can be held on file. Trevor thanked all who had submitted items - much appreciated, especially now that he manages both newsletter and website.
Printing newsletter had been free in past, but Fed. now has to pay. Likely to be cheaper with source found by David Kessel.
Jack thanked Trevor for work done on newsletter.

16. PAGB EXECUTIVE MEMBER'S REPORT
Report covers PAGB AGM and recent Executive meeting. – Attached separately to minutes.
The Tech. Comm. moving on to next project which is research into acceptable screen brightness for projection. They are requesting clubs who are able, to take measurements of what they find is the best for them. Although it has not been mentioned, it might pay to outline the conditions in which the projection was made (ie size of hall, degree of blackout) and the euqipment that was used, so that as full a picture as possible can be obtained. I know this has been one of the problems GEMS have been wrestling with in the past.
If clubs throughout the UK carry out such exercises it will enable the Committee to draw up a full picture and issue some guidelines for clubs who have yet to venture down the digital path.
Contributions should be sent to http://mywebtiscali.co.uk/markbuckleysharp

17. ROLL OF HONOUR/RECORD OFFICER'S REPORT
Roll of Honour awards had been presented recently by Fed. President to Richard White of Fareham & Portchester CC, Ron Holmes of Wimborne CC and Jim Irving of Newbury CC. One further presentation outstanding.
George appealed for nominations from clubs.

18. JUDGES' SECRETARY'S REPORT
Workshop extremely successful, although numbers lower than expected. The event involved many people, including judges giving their time freely to help others. Council aware event would not be profitable, but justifiable if producing new judges. Leo thanked all who had contributed, including participants, to the day's success. All who undertook assessment have confirmed willingness to be included on SPF Judges' Lists. Full details are in May issue of Exposure.
In future all matters relating to judges need to be referred to the SPF Sec. not Leo.

19. WEBSITE REPORT
Favourable comments received on new website. Still some old material to replace. Request made for suggestions on other items to be included. In member club section, Trevor would like to include an email address and website address (if applicable) and location map to the details displayed. If postal code of meeting place included, location map can be obtained from web.
All clubs requested to send details of events, including photos & information about pictures for inclusion on the site. Links can be provided to club's own sites.
Trevor hoped site would grow in time, providing all with information relevant to member clubs as well as Federation.
Jack thanked Peter Read, previous Webmaster, for all his efforts and to Trevor for his hard work in redesigning the site.

20. ELECTION OF COUNCIL OFFICERS
The following were elected.
Proposed Seconded
President Ian Bigg, Jon Mitchell Bill Flood
Secretary Lynn Lambeth Jill Koernich Jack Whitemore
Competition Sec. Chris Whiting Liz Whitemore Jack Whitemore
Exh. Sec. Gavin Roberts Terry Redman Cliff Derriccutt
Handbook Sec. Dave Isaacs Liz Whitemore Jack Whitemore
Council Member Anne Mahany Mike Grigsby Rex Waygood
do. Ernie Fullbrook Keith Polwin Tristram Reed
Publicity Sec. David Kessel )
Newsletter Editor Trevor Muston )
Council Member/ ) All re-elected by Council
PAGB Delegate Leo Rich ) en bloc.
Council Member/ )
Records Officer George Walsh )
All were approved unanimously by the meeting.
Liz Whitemore was re-elected auditor.
Again an appeal was made for someone to take over from Jon Mitchell as Treasurer .

The outgoing President then presented the incoming President, Ian Bigg with the new chain of office, which now has bars on it showing previous incumbents.

21. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
a)Jenny Pearson of Alton CC was thanked for her sterling work in again handling the orders for print boxes. Last year's efforts raised over £70 towards Federation funds.
b)Mike Jones, RPS area organiser thanked Jack and Liz for keeping in contact with him. He hoped contact at local level could be maintained. There was a need to get the Channel Islands involved the RPS were planning a visit to Jersey in April 2007, although actual dates not yet known.
c) Ernie advised SPF Inter Slide Comp. could be held at Vialls Hall (GEMS new meeting place) in Basingstoke (provisional date - 4 th Feb. 2007).

There being no other business, meeting closed at 9.50pm.

Liz Whitemore. 13th May 2006.

PAGB EXECUTIVE MEMBERS REPORT SPF AGM MAY 2006

2009 PAGB Print Exhibition is being organised by Western Counties who will have the work to display in their Fed in July 2009. PAGB are looking for Federations to find venues from August onwards. Normally the Federation arranges this but if any club would like to find a venue in their area (150 framed prints) the SPF would be willing to enter into a joint arrangement.

J. S. Lancaster medals, for exceptional meritorious service to club photography have been awarded to Graham Laughton PAGB Secretary who is the second most long serving Secretary since PAGB was formed. Judith Parry who is “Mrs Smethwick” has, along with Roger she runs the club house, the club, catering, and also finds time to devote to Midland Counties Federation.

Digital Projection

The Executive considered and agreed the report prepared by the Technical Committee - access to all clubs now available via a link on the PAGB website. I consider it to be essential reading for anyone (or club) considering acquiring digital equipment. As a non-digital photographer I have read it (all 37 pages!), understood it and feel that the advice this Federation has given in the past to “hold your horses” was valid – there are points addressed which I would have not considered.

The next plan is to provide a couple of short extracts highlighting the main points:
1. regarding equipment and calibration
2. how to prepare images for submission to competitions involving digital projection.
Condensing 37 pages will take some doing and do not expect this “short extract” to be produced tomorrow.
I would stress you need to read the full report even if it goes over familiar ground.

Matters regarding projection are continuing to evolve and the Committee will monitor developments and update information as and when.

The Southern PF, were the instigators of the formation of the Technical Committee following our presentation to the 2005 AGM. Our submission, backed by a couple of other Federations, galvanised the PAGB into action and we made a major contribution to getting this issue given the importance it deserved.

FIAP The office of FIAP has been opened in Paris. I understand it is a modest affair but does give status to this organisation in being the “International voice of club photography”

Stuart Stott Junior. Scottish Photographic Federation. Has been temporarily suspended from taking part in any PAGB events. He was a member of Edinburgh PS (and is not to be confused with his father of a very similar name – ie without the Junior!- who is a very well known Scottish photographer). It is alleged he misappropriated other photographer's images and submitted them for competitions and distinctions maintaining he owned the copyright. He has been challenged but has yet to reply. All Exhibitions belonging to organised groupings (eg BPE, PAGB Patronage) have been advised. Organisers of independent exhibitions, eg Winchester, Havant, Basingstoke ) should take note.

A number of other photographers are being monitored. What these people do not seem to realise is that, although you can enter exhibitions worldwide, FIAP and PSA Exhibitions are very close affairs and it soon becomes evident when one piece of work appears from two different authors.

This has highlighted how vulnerable many photographers are who put their work on the website, even at low resolution. There are software packages around which can “enhance” low grade images, sufficiently for them to be used in DI competitions. I know personally of one photographer who, besides his working website, runs a personal one to share his images with friends and fellow photographers. Despite all sorts of security this was hit a little while ago and in three days all his images, mainly landscapes of the South West of USA were downloaded. It was eventually discovered that these had been stolen by a Chinese organisation who are converting them into postcards and selling them to the USA. You have been warned!