After a very busy first 6 months of this year, I’ve finally got back to putting StreetBeat back on the agenda. There are some changes and I’m trialing something different. The aim of all of this is learning to ‘see’ so the arrangements and format will be different from what you might be used to.

StreetBeat will run on the last Friday of the month at 10am, at a location in Melbourne that will be accessible by public transport. (so mark your calendars). The location will be announced in Waverley Watson each month.

The format will be a little different, so instead of just wandering around a location, participants will be given a theme to look for. This might be an art element (a color, shape), shadows, words, people, reflections or light. Participants will be given an hour and a coffee spot for us all to reunite for some social time.

Afterwards people are welcome to continue on their street photography journey or head off home. New photographers are always welcome and we will try to link you up with someone that can help you.

I hope you will join me to get to know Melbourne better and to see Melbourne through fresh eyes. If you have any further questions please just ask.

And yes, the first StreetBeat will be this month, on Friday 28th July 2023 at 10am on the steps of the State Library for our first challenge.

It’s time to get our portfolio projects for 2023 underway.

You will have received an email earlier this year outlining some of the changes to the portfolio rules, to allow more images, more creativity and more fun.

Our first meeting will be on Thursday 27th April 2023, from 7:30pm in the craft room at Mount Waverley Community Centre (the usual place we meet). This will be face-to-face, and there will be a reminder in the weekly Waverley Watson.

At this meeting I will cover:
1. a quick review of the 2022 portfolios with some feedback and general comments
2. an overview of how the portfolio projects will be run this year with an overview of the new rules
3. a quick overview of how you might approach your portfolio

I hope you have all started to think about your theme, and we will give some time to share what you are planning. Remember, the aim is to get support, ideas and directions from others. This is not a competition so as much as we can share, the stronger your portfolio will be.

ALL members are welcome, of all levels of photographic ability. Even if you are just curious, come along and get excited.

I thought I would give you all an update for the plans for this year’s Portfolio projects. There is no doubt that last year was a great success with 17 members finalising their portfolios (and several more that I know wished they had joined in). If you want to have a look at last year’s results, the final portfolio master images and artist statements can be viewed in our Portfolios 2022 gallery.

So what is planned for 2023…

Firstly, ‘What’s good about a portfolio’?

• Portfolios are a private collection of work based around something you are passionate about. The theme, or topic, has to be something you are interested in. This might be a topic, a technique, a new skill, a documentary or following an event in your community.
• This is non-competitive so there are no winners, just the best work you can do at the skill level you are at.
• By sharing your portfolio journey you can get support, advice, education, tips and praise from other members of the club
• and… if all goes well, you get a nice certificate of achievement at our end of year dinner.

This year we will relax a few rules and expand some opportunities.

Some things stay the same… you will need to come up with a theme that you will base your portfolio on, and start collecting images that tell the story you want to share. You will need to take a number of images (between 10-25) that sit within your theme and you will still need to write some form of artist statement.

And some things will be different… How you present your portfolio is only limited by the capacity of your imagination and creativity – think photobook, poster, printed on wood, as an AV, written as a story, put to music, as a jigsaw… the creative possibilities are endless. If you just want to make a master image – that’s fine too!

Our first get together will be in April (I will be away for most of March) and will be an in-person session at our usual venue. The date is to be confirmed. We will look at last year’s portfolios, discuss what was good/difficult, what worked and what did not, and I will share the process and rules for this year’s activity.

For now, get your thinking caps on, and start to think about what you might use as your theme and envision what the end result might be. Try not to leave everything to the last minute but start with a plan, and work on this throughout the year.

I’ll see you all in our group meeting in April. If you have any questions or concerns just ask.

Congratulations to everyone who joined in the Portfolio project for 2022. As mentioned at the awards night, the outcomes of this project far exceeded any of my expectations, and the result is 17 outstanding portfolios. I have enjoyed watching the development of ideas, the sharing of images and statements, and final results are something to be proud of.

Thank you to the committee for embracing something ‘different’.

Here is the list of members who were successful in achieving a 2022 Portfolio Distinction:

• Kerry McFarlane – 8 seconds to Supremacy
• John Noble – Brown Boobys
• Rebecca Kashyap – The Heya
• Geoff Shaw – Life, close-up
• Colleen Singleton – The Charming Seagull
• Vicki Moritz – Coastal Impressions
• Jill Anderson – Emma
• Jenny Adams – Present and Past
• Jenny Hartman – Kimonos
• Jill Shaw – Faces of birds
• Tim Keane – Bunjil Place
• Helen Warnod – Men of Northern Ethiopia
• Lyndel Holt – Magnolias in Spring
• Daryl Lynch – Jess’ Night Moods
• John Crawford – Cultural Window of Passers-by
• Alan Bennett – Flight, Contour and Down
• Jen Fawkes – Empty Melbourne

We have received some excellent results from Round 2 of the PSA Interclub with the following images receiving awards:

Jennifer Sui – Foggy Morning

Vicki Moritz – Urban canyon 7

Felix Shparberg – Full Moon Myths

Geoff Shaw – Splendid leaf frog

Tim Keane – Architecture

Vicki Moritz – Snow Capped

Helen Warnod – Duelling zebras

Stephen Hilton – Water Fun

Helen Warnod – Alley kitchen

Xiaobo Yu – Beijing Front Gate

We don’t have Photojournalism results yet, but the good news is that we are coming first in both Creative and Travel for our section!

Our next round of images can be viewed in the Round 3 galleries, this is the last round for the current season, with the new round 1 starting back in November.

Any member who has received a award for their image during the year, will have their image put into a final round of judging to determine the best of the year.

Hello Everyone, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may Santa bring you something to help you pursue your photographic journey.

All of the results for the first round of the PSA Interclub 2021-22 are in, congratulations to everyone that participated and especially to the following people who received awards:

Round 1 – Open

John Morter – Cavendish House

Felix Shparberg – Pears and Walnuts

Round 1 – Creative

Vicki Moritz – Honfleur Harbour

Stephen Hilton – Laughter is the best medicine

Round 1 – Travel

Daren Fawkes – Alpine Climbers

Ian Coombs – flippin Fish

Round 1 – Photojournalism

Geoff Shaw – Sam Bell at Moomba

All of the scores and awards are now in our PSA Interclub 2021-22 galleries.

If you are interested in seeing all the award winners (from across the world) they can be viewed on PSA website under 2021-22 Season Competitions.

Our uploaded galleries are open for the second round and we will review them during the honours group meeting on 19 January 2022.

Coming in 2022 will be a new special interest group based around putting together Portfolios. An introductory session will be held in February 2022.