The first meeting of the Parkland Photography Club was held on January 22 in the art room of the Tisdale Middle and Secondary School, with ten members present. President Cindy Neilsen had received an e-mail from secretary Daylene Wallington asking that, because of difficulty to attend meetings, she be excused from the position. Bj. Madsen volunteered to take over as secretary.

The minutes from the November meeting were accepted as published and treasurer Albert Orban reported that we are still solvent. Cindy asked if we wish to keep the point system which awards points for attendance and for participation in the theme shoot, with medals and awards at various levels of achievement. It was decided to continue.

The Shutter Bug Show, scheduled for March or April, was discussed: Caleb Village has declined to host the show due to a lack of suitable available space. Stephanie Pipke-Painchaud took us on a tour of the library and discussed, with the librarian, the possibility of doing the show in the library. It seems that this would be possible and a decision was tabled to allow Stephanie to follow up in more detail, with the librarians, how we might make this work.

The Tisdale Hospital has offered us wall space to hang photographs in addition to the Theme Shoot photos which are already on display in that area.

The upcoming photography presentation at the Melfort Library was discussed. It will offered on Tuesday, January 29th at 7:00 pm and will be made to a maximum of 20 pre-registered individuals. It has been advertised in the newspaper and the library is distributing handouts about it. The presentation will be made by Gerald McLellan, Anne McIntosh, Cindy Nielsen and Bj. Madsen and will make use of PowerPoint presentations. The Melfort Girl Guides may also wish to have a presentation made for them, at a subsequent time.

The Tisdale Museum’s Theme Calendar was discussed. They do not know exactly what they want and it was recommended that we make two or three suggestions to them to choose from. Perhaps we could choose pictures from our existing collections from the museum, or schedule a shoot to generate more photos for their use.

Framing was discussed: last year, we purchased 10 - 8x10 frames and 10 - 11x14 frames. We must locate all of these frames and change the photos in them. Members should e-mail to Cindy if they find that they have any of these frames in their possession. Next meeting, we might meet a bit earlier, in the art room, to do some re-framing, to update our displays.

Don Barbour brought a new camera and lens system which he demonstrated and explained. It is a very tiny Pentax Q point and shoot camera which, with a suitable adapter, will mate to other lenses, giving a 5.5X magnification factor, providing extreme telephoto effects. As he pointed out, it is necessary to use a tripod and a remote shutter release as the system is very susceptible to movement at that degree of magnification.

Bj. showed a Russian “Lubitel” twin lens reflex camera that he had recently been given. It is a “new” camera but is similar to cameras used here 60 years ago. A simple but effective camera.

The Theme Shoot was about “rocks” this time and yielded seven entries. First place went to Anne McIntosh for a picture of rocks in an Alaska river. Second place went to Bj. Madsen for an extreme closeup shot of a geode and third place went to Don Barbour for a rock pile at the lake. Several members had brought 11x14 prints for the “Show and Tell”. Don, once again, offered to print enlargements for the members for his cost.

The meeting ended with lunch and conversation. The next meeting will be held on February 26, again at the TMSS art room, which is an excellent facility for our purposes.