A Note from the President

Welcome to 2023, a year that I hope will see your organisation back on track after three years of disruption due to Covid. While the number of infections continues to be high, it has almost dropped off the radar as we have learnt to live with the virus. I know that our ability to deliver a full programme over the last three years has been constantly challenged, and I thank all of you who have stuck with the organisation.

The end of 2022 was frustrating, to say the least. As everyone is aware, our delivery of New Zealand Camera was hit with the supply chain issues that we hear about a lot but maybe don’t fully understand.

The book was assembled in a similar time frame to the previous year, with its printing in China, and then shipped to Caxton in Christchurch for distribution. However, unlike previous years, the container that the books were in was not sent direct to Lyttelton but was instead offloaded in Auckland. The books occupied about three pallets, which would have taken up less than a quarter of a container. That meant that once the container was opened in Auckland, we had to wait for it to be filled up again before it was then shipped south. And, once this was in process, there was no way that anyone could speed up or intercept the process.

It took four weeks for the books to travel the 9,135 km from Hong Kong to Auckland, but it then took another five weeks for them to travel the 1,070 km to Christchurch.

The decision to send them all out to individuals, rather than clubs, did not come cheaply, as you will see when the accounts are presented at our AGM. However, given everything else that had happened in the year, the Council felt that it was a necessary expense. I trust that everyone is enjoying their copies. To those that have not received them we apologise, and I am working to get them out.

To mitigate the issues of longer delivery times, we will be moving up the timing of the 2023 edition, so watch out for emails on that matter.

This year we see the return of two regional conventions, to be held in Whangārei and at Lincoln University. The PSNZ events team has worked very hard in putting these programmes together and trying to create events that are extremely good value for money.

The programmes are on the PSNZ website, and registrations will be opening on 10 February for the South Island event, with the North Island one opening a month later. Remember, these conventions are open to all members and anyone interested in photography. You don’t need to live in the same island as the event to attend.

I would especially encourage anyone living in Northland, Auckland, Waikato or the Bay of Plenty to look seriously at supporting the Whangārei event.

A convention has not been run in that part of the country since the National Convention in 2017, and the last Northern Regional was held in 2014. The 2023 workshop programme is in the final stages of development, and it will be released shortly. It includes a number of new events as well as some that have been run successfully in previous years. I know they have been a long time coming, but I hope to also announce details of digital circles and online seminars very shortly.

I hope that everyone took the opportunity over the holiday period to get out with their cameras. It has been really good to see all the images posted in the Facebook group on the challenges that have been set by Moira Blincoe LPSNZ, and I thank Moira for the effort she puts into that work.

Over the last six years, I have always incorporated some form of water shoot while we are in warmer months. This year I planned to do the same. However, rather than use an inflatable paddling pool, this time I built one in my garden that better fitted the size and shape I was after. A casting call brought out a lot of interested models, and over the last month I have undertaken four separate shoots with a different model each time.

The advantage of shooting something very similar, several times in short succession, is that you can put into practice what you have learned from the previous sessions. It also forced me to deal with natural light, as I predominately shoot under the controlled environment of a studio. I would strongly recommend, to anyone trying to develop a technique, that repetition and then tweaking is the way to go.

Given that we will be into the second month of 2023 by the time you read this, time is clearly not slowing down. I look forward to catching up with many of you in April and May at the regional conventions.

Paul Whitham APSNZ