Hello everyone. 

What we have experienced in the last couple of years has been beyond anything we would have imagined in our lifetime. This pandemic has thrown a wrench in the gearbox that drives our day-to-day activities. We suddenly had to reinvent our self and think of different ways to navigate in this new reality. This also influenced how we would operate and move forward.  

The Executive Committee has been totally committed to keep loyal members engaged during lockdown. Shutting down was never an option. Zoom has been our platform of choice for our general meetings, Special Interest Group meetings and meeting of the Executive Committee since 2019. During lockdown it allowed club members to stay somewhat connected and participate in a variety of photographic activities such as photo theme challenges. It also allowed club members to enjoy outstanding real-time lectures by award winning photographers. One of the great conveniences of the zoom technology is that it allows reaching far and beyond our geographical area for Speakers. Moving forward, Zoom will remain an integral component of our organization for years to come.  

High rental cost at East Plains United Church was starting to have an impact on the club finances and therefore a decision was made to seek a new more affordable venue. Luckily just a few blocks down the road, St. Matthew on-the-Plains was available at a fraction of the cost and is now Trillium’s new meeting place. St. Matthew has all the amenities to accommodate all of our activities. Due to Covid-19 lockdown we were unable to have in-person meetings at our new venue for the 2020-2021 calendar year. Good news though, in-person meetings is set to resume October 5, 2021.  To alleviate some the health and safety concerns some of our members might have we are preparing a health and safety protocol with guidelines to follow when entering the premises. This document will be made available to all club members ahead of our first gathering. St. Matthew’s administration will also be provided with a copy of the document as well.  

Our application to join the Niagara Frontier Regional Camera Club (NFRCC) was approved. The NFRCC is made up of 20 individual camera and photography clubs with some of these clubs belonging to CAPA and/or the Photography Society of America (PSA). As members we are allowed to participate as a club in their activities and for our members to attend invited talk in all constituent club meetings gratis.

Thanks to Andy Langs and Dan Copeland for giving our website a fresh new look. The website is Trillium’s platform to showcase itself and attract the attention of the Internet audience and hopefully turn visitors into prospects. This is a work in progress and as new ideas emerges they will be incorporated into the website. As an example, starting this calendar year we are able to upload the Member’s Challenge images on our website following the same process as for clinic photo submission. We will expand this uploading feature to other photography challenges by the end of this calendar year. We strongly encourage our membership to visit our website regularly for club news and information as well as providing feedback for improvements.  

Trillium has a brand new Promotional Card with a QR code to allow users to access club information instantly. The new promo card replaces the yearly club program pamphlet and will remain in circulation for a few years or until updates are necessary. The cards have been distributed to many camera stores and other establishments in the Burlington and Hamilton area. Thanks to David Surette for designing and putting together a very beautiful eye catching card.  

Our program committee now led by Loretta Monteleone has been working hard to keep club members engaged with Photography Theme Challenges during the summer of 2021. This was something that was started in the summer of 2019 under the leadership of Orchid Fung then chair of the program committee. These summer activities were well received and therefore we decided that we will carry on with the Summer Theme Challenges in 2022 -2023. Furthermore the program committee put together a topnotch program for the 2021-2022 calendar year. Included is an excellent roster of high profile award winning photographers, clinics, photography theme challenges and workshop. For the 2021-2022 calendar year all Speaker’s lectures will be via Zoom. However, for the 2022-2023 calendar year a mix of live and Zoom presentation will be part of the program with the possibility of broadcasting live presentation via zoom to members who are unable to attend the live presentation. Bear in mind that the program is subject to change during the calendar year.   

As lockdown restriction are starting to ease off, we anticipate having organized outing with Special Interest groups.  We are hopeful that the Three Clubs Show will resume in March 2022.  

On April 26, 2022 Trillium Photographic Club will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. To commemorate this important milestone AV presentations will be showcased alongside other fun activities, which promises a memorable evening not to be missed. 

As always, we invite your thoughts and suggestions on the future of the Club. Please send them to [email protected]. After all it is your Club and we hope to be around for another 30 years. 

 

Bertin Francoeur 

President 2021-2023 

Trillium Photographic Club