The 2012 VAPS Convention held in Ballarat over the weekend 19th – 21st May where, in a shock (to him) announcement, Pete Davies received the highest individual commendation which VAPS awards. The State Service Victorian Association of Photographic Societies (SSVAPS) which was awarded to a very uncertain Pete however, I’m sure that you all will join us and VAPS in congratulating and re-assuring Pete that his award is very well deserved.

For those who are unaware, after Pete notified WCC of his intention to step down from his 5 year role as President of WCC, we secretly attempted to get Pete an award from VAPS for all the work he had done in resurrecting the club and making it into pretty much what it is today, we hoped to announce that award at our 2011 AGM. We also had the recommendation of the Berwick Viewfinders President where Pete had also been a member, to support our case. Unfortunately it was turned down by VAPS due to the 10 year rule where a member has to have completed 10 years as a member of VAPS affiliated clubs to be eligible for an award. At the time Pete hadn’t amassed this only managing 7 years. However, around a year later I received a telephone call from the VAPS notifying me that VAPS had discussed this after our application had been rejected and that they felt that the rules were against such awards where certain circumstances dictated that someone like Pete deserved recognition for the huge efforts that they provided to their clubs and in Pete’s case the wider reaching VAPS. They told me that after the discussion that they had agreed to rethink the rule and had lowered it to 8 years and that they were very happy that they could now award Pete the highest accolade that they had.

We had probably the best attendance for a long time with 6 of members being there for the entire weekend and hopefully this will continue to grow so we can get the VAPS gold star for having the highest attendance at the convention which was won this year by Rosanna. We were treated to some great talks the first from Gerard Saide who told us how to ‘Listen With Our Eyes’ offering a way to interpret images. Terry Lane who is coming to Waverley in June gave his talk on ‘How I became a digital reviewer’ and showed some of his work which was very inspiring. There was some photography work being done outside with Stephen and I opting to participate in Pete’s very well attended ‘Hands on Image Evaluation and Judges Workshop’. The evening brought the annual dinner which again was superb, the food and company were excellent. Sunday brought sunrise photo shoots and a great talk by local photographer, Andrew Thomas who showed us some stunning work including from that morning’s photo shoot. There were other talks and workshops arranged for the remainder of the Sunday plus the Monday but with Pete busy with VAPS business, Stephen and I opted to go out into the countryside to take some shots.

The interclub exhibition was to its normal high standards including the usual contraversial comments from the masses regarding the judges choices with the 1st place image however, that aside, congratulations go to Ray Anderson and Vicki Moritz for their fantastic results in the interclub competition. Ray with huge second place for Red-Eyed Frog, and Vicki with a very well deserved third place for Yarra Bank in Winter. Well done to both of you and to the other entrants from Waverley it’s great to have such talented photographers as members of our club.

In stark contrast to previous years, this year we came first for the Novice EDPI Aggregate (60 points) and equal second for the Open Large Prints Aggregate (62 points). This is a huge achievement for the club which in previous years has been very restrained in its commitments to both VAPS and the muster. With these results and the results in 4 – Club this year we now need to have a big push and get some first places in next years event. We have plenty of time to practice with Knox B&W on the horizon in the middle of the year. Here are the results of all of the images, the results being based on a score of 15 from three individual judges. The aggregate scores are taken from the top 5 best images from each section for each club.

Open large prints:

* Vicki Moritz – Yarra Bank in Winter – 14 points and 3rd Place
* Stephen Edmonds – Lucky Bay – 12 points
* Andy Armitage – Red Umbrella – 12 points
* Stephen Edmonds – Remnant – 12 point
* Ray Anderson – Violet Sabre Wing – 12 points
* Albert Hutchinson – Sunlit Rocks – 10 points
* Anne DiCarlo – Still Waters in Obscurity – 10 points
* Ron Weatherhead – Casting the Net – 10 points
* Dave Sumner – Five Miles Out – 10 points
* John Mallett – Decisions Decisions – 8 points

Open EPDI:

* Alan Scott – Grass Fire – 10 points
* Dave Sumner – Web Bridge – 10 points
* Tuck Leong – Green Lacewing #3 – 10 points
* Tuck Leong – It’s Cool – 10 points
* Vicki Moritz – Royal Arcade – 9 points
* Ron Weatherhead – Tea Set – 9 points
* Pete Davies – Eureka Reflections – 9 points
* John Hadfield – In a Spiral – 9 points
* Pete Davies – Blue and Green – 9 points
* Stephen Edmonds – Sit Down – 8 points

Novice EDPI:

* Ray Anderson – Red-Eyed Frog – 14 points and 2nd Place
* Removed Due to a Copyright Infringement
* Diana Ferdinands – Natures Light Show – 12 points
* Ray Anderson – Solo Penguin – 11 points
* Mary McLean – Billy Tea – 11 points
* John Ho – Shine of Dance – 10 points
* Paul Spence – Big Ben – 10 points
* Brian Bethune – Life After Dark – 9 points
* Rosie Armitage – Nuts and Bolts – 9 points
* Rosie Hughes – Romantic Evening – 9 points

Novice Prints:

Not entered due to VAPS rules restrictions on print sizes