[QueensPhoto] Photos! Hello! Exhibitions! Presidency! Equipment!

[T.F. Clarke]

Hello all,

My first email of the academic year, and at the beginning of the second 
term! Terrible. I'm so sorry.

HOWEVER, this has only been part-negligence on my part. The remainding 
failure was part an absolute inability to work out how to edit the 
queensphoto mailing list, and part a careful ruse. A careful ruse to rouse 
strong emotions in, and so encourage participation by, YOU, the 
photographic society, in relation to the following points:

Queens' Arts Festival: This is happening from Wednesday 15th February until 
the Monday of the following week. There will be an exhibition in Old 
Kitchens on Friday 17th February at 7.30/8pm. The organisors want 
submissions, and say they hope to display at least one submission from each 
candidate. Ask yourselves which photographs represent your best work, and 
send low-res files of them to me. I will forward them on. They want loads 
of entries so enter!

The photographic society will put on a workshop during the festival. We 
already have £50 in the budget specifically for those few days to spend on 
a class, and the Arts Festival may also have a contribution towards it. 
What kind of a class would you like? Landscape? Portrait? Fashion?

The Queens' buttery exhibition: For the last few years there has been an 
exhibition in buttery of the work of Queens' students, both undergrad and 
postgrad. Photos are usually collected during Easter term, and then printed 
and framed for the period after exams. The same will happen this year (we 
have enough money to pay for 15 prints), so get thinking. It doesn't need 
to be a new photo, just one by you. You let us print and display it, and 
you get to keep the print when the photograph comes down.

The photographic society presidency: I leave next year and will need 
someone to whom I can pass my mantle. Whether you intend to wear it with 
the arrogance it deserves, or expect to treat it, much as I have, as an 
invisibility cloak, I would like to hear from you. You have to be a 
currently non-final-year student, and all you have to do at this point is 
register interest. If I have more than one person interested, I may ask you 
some questions about what you intend to do with the society. The college 
treats its allocation of money seriously (as it should), so it really is an 
opportunity to do something interesting relating to photography. You could 
put on an exhibition.

What is the photographic society? Its current purpose is to let you know of 
any requests for photographers/ photographic events that might be occurring 
around Cambridge. Have a photography problem? Need some help? Send me an 
email and I will send it on to the mailing list. What it can be is a forum 
for you to organise events and share knowledge. Outings to take photographs 
in Cambridge and around etc. can be free/cheap to organise and very 
rewarding. Just email me if you are in an organisational mood and I can 
pass messages on.

Equipment: A reminder of things we already have: a stocked darkroom, a 
Nikon d80 camera, a printer. I have the printer; the camera is in the 
darkroom; the darkroom is at the bottom of docket, pretty much exactly 
where the camera is. Email me if you are not on the list to use the 
darkroom and want to use it. You will then be able to sign out the key. 
This involves a little responsibility, because handing back the key to the 
darkroom signals that the society equipment is inside and functioning. This 
means that when you sign out the key, you need to be prepared to check that 
the camera is there before handing the keys back in. This seems the only 
way we can keep the equipment safe while making it readily available to 
anyone who wants to use it! We have a budget to buy a flashgun, batteries, 
a softbox, and a long lens this year. I'll let you know when we get them.

One last thing: The remainder of the budget consists of £50 for some kind 
of a workshop. Know anyone who gives classes? Have any topic preferences? 
Let me know.

Many thanks for your time,
Tom