Greetings everyone,
With our AGM just held via zoom last weekend, we now enter a new full year with the same dedicated committee at the helm.
Thanks to everyone who attended via the zoom link and showing your keen interest in VAPS and what we have planned in the near future.
To anyone out there who would like to join our team, I repeat what I said in my annual Presidents Report at the AGM. We would sincerely love to see some new faces join the team and take an active role, large or small.
In the VAPS ongoing committee, tasks are assigned and new members can start with helping and progress if they want to further responsibilities. Every person who contributes really heaps the organisation function properly and steer the photographic community in the right way.
As mentioned at the AGM, we have plans to hold a wonderful convention in 2021, and all being well we are planning to hold it in Wangaratta which was planned for this year.
Following discussions with Marc and his dedicated team, we are able to confirm the rescheduling of the Victorian Association of Photographic Societies Annual State Convention and Interclub Photographic Competition to June 2021 as follows:
Thursday 3rd
Friday 4th
- Photographic Competition in Memorial Hall
- Cocktail Party in Foyer
Saturday 5th
- Convention – Auditorium, Foyer, Conference Room & Memorial Hall
Sunday 6th
- Convention – Auditorium, Foyer, Conference Room, Memorial Hall & Council Chambers
The VAPS committee will keep a close watch on developments with regard to Covid and what that means going forward, but keeping a positive attitude, hopefully we can have our convention.
Our team up there in Wangaratta have everything in place and we also have speakers and workshops booked and ready to roll.
We will keep you posted!
Please enjoy a wonderful time with family and friends in the upcoming festive season
Stay safe and keep healthy. Go out as often as you can with camera in hand!
My best to all
Warm regards
Ian Rolfe
(President VAPS)
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Don't forget that you can zoom in to read the detail on any image in the Newsbrief.
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Message from the Newsbrief Editor
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Hi all,
What a year its been and we have made it just about to the end.
Its the 1st of December so we can all start putting up our Christmas decorations and bring some cheer to everyone.
I bet we are all looking forward to spending some time with our families where ever they might be around the country.
Hope next year we can all get together.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.
Regards
Danielle Le Gassick
(Pakenham Camera Club)
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Message from the Treasurer
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For the Annual General Meeting on 15 November there was the following proposal: -
“The Affiliation fee be reduced by $2.00 per each member of a club to $6.00” [note: the affiliation fee includes $4.00 to cover insurance provided]
There are two main reasons for this proposal, the first being that due to the COVID-19 restrictions some clubs have not been able to conduct their regular activities, such as fund raising, which may have had an adverse impact on their financial position. Also, as the VAPS Interclub Print Competition and the Convention did not occur this year, VAPS is in a better financial position than expected with a cash surplus for the year.
The financial position of VAPS is very strong and will remain so the proposal has passed.
Joseph Maher
VAPS Treasurer
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VAPS CLUB INSURANCE OVERVIEW 2020
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VAPS Convention
Venue: Wangaratta Performing Arts & Convention Centre
As per the Presidents report the VAPS Convention and Interclub Photographic Competition has been rescheduled to June 2021.
Stay tuned over the coming months as we look forward to ensure the convention in 2021 is a great success.
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As we havent all been able to get together for this year's Convention. The Citations will be added over the month's for all to see and be recognised.
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Meritorious Service Award
Kate Both
During her ten years at Ballarat Camera Club Kate has been an active and valued member. Her club participation has been outstanding. As a member of the committee she held the positions of General Committee Member, Secretary and Annual Competition Coordinator for seven years. She has also been involved on many sub committees including the Annual Competition Sub Committee, the Syllabus Committee and the Inter-club Committee.
She has also been involved in judging at a local level on a number of occasions.
Kate was the Ballarat National Competition Co-ordinator for two years. She proved to be very competent in this role, due to her excellent organisational skills and her ability to attend to details. Prior to taking on the co-ordinating role she assisted others with the many tasks involving in running this competition.
She has regularly entered the club's monthly photography competitions, inter-club competitions and national competitions. Kate always makes herself available to assist members in their endeavours of improving their photography. She has organised models and props for studio workshops, arranged guests speakers and experts to teach specific skills (such as Lightroom workshops) and she actively participates in club outings to encourage everyone to learn from each other and to have an enjoyable time.
Because of Kate's outstanding participation in the Ballarat Camera Club and in recognition of for her dedication and hard work for the betterment of that club VAPS honours her with a Meritorious Services Award.
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Meritorious Service Award
Mathew LaSala
Mathew has been active in Moreland camera club since joining in 2008. A love of surfing inspired him to get into surf photography, and from the beginning, he has enjoyed participating in the monthly competitions. He loves the creativity that they present. In his first year he was awarded the 2008 Photographer of the Year. He has consistently produced photographs of excellence which are highly regarded by club members and judges alike.
Additionally, Mathew has participated in interclub competitions and has won awards. He is a very approachable and well-liked member of the camera club and always willing to provide advice when asked.
Administratively, Mathew has been highly involved, contributing in a variety of roles on the committee. These included Assistant Work Steward, Work Steward, Advertising and Marketing, Bookings Officer, Judging Coordinator, Vice President and Acting President.
Mathew has also been involved in the promotion of the Moreland Camera Club in the local area, assisting in the organisation of exhibitions such as displays in various local spaces and shopping centres. He has provided the Club with portable display panels for showing prints at Club nights and at displays and community events.
He volunteered his time to help run a stall at the Sydney Road Street Party and did so over a number of years, talking with community members about photography and club activities. He also organised panels for the stall so the photographs could be displayed professionally. Additionally, Mathew organised and helped to look after a stall at the Local Business Expo through Bunnings.
Mathew is keen and supportive of the club in a variety of ways. His friendliness makes him very approachable for both long-time and new members alike. In addition to the contributions already discussed, Mathew constantly interacts with members on the Moreland Club Facebook page, regularly updating it with images. Even when he is away on holidays he posts photographs throughout his travels, as well as commenting on and responding to the
images posted by other members.
Mathew is highly respected by his peers in Moreland Camera Club and it is with great pleasure that the club recommends him for the Meritorious Service Award and it is with great pleasure that VAPS honours him in this way.
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Meritorious Service Award
Noel Ritchie
Noel Ritchie has been an active member of Geelong Camera Club for over ten years, quietly working behind the scenes as well as routinely greeting, encouraging and supporting new members. He is a great mentor and frequently assists members with their cameras or processing. He helps members in so many ways e.g. he sources well-priced matt board and even assists members to cut it properly for their images. He is generous in sharing his
knowledge. He also initiated and led the Lightroom Special Interest Group.
He is very involved in the Lightseekers’ Special Interest Group every week – conducting demonstrations and improving the organisation and preparation of incoming images for display. He has also instigated, and sponsors, an award for the End-of-Year Presentation for ‘Participation of a 2nd Year Member’ – to encourage and recognise members’ involvement in club Life.
Noel is an avid participant in club competitions and challenges. He has happily instructed on Lightroom, when he was one of only a few using it. As his knowledge grew, he continued to share it, running workshops on it. In addition he has given demonstrations of photographic techniques such as Macro and water droplet photography. He has been involved with the presentation and running of Photography courses for many years.
Noel was an active and committed committee member for five years and undertook a variety of tasks and continues to do so. He was on the sub-committee which investigated and evaluated digital projectors before the club made a purchase. He was the recipient of our Appreciation Award on many occasions for his many activities.
He has been involved in the co-ordination and judging process of the End-of-Year Awards Presentation. He has organised club camps and photographic challenges, and also professional workshop presenters. He has promoted members’ involvement in external competitions and has encouraged participation in new opportunities, e.g. photographing local sports teams.
Noel Ritchie is a very worthy candidate for the Meritorious Service Award for his quiet, diligent and continuous support & involvement in all aspects of the Geelong Camera Club.
With great pleasure VAPS awards it to him.
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Judges Honorarium
Judges - Travel Expenses/Honorarium
It is expected that Victorian Judges and Presenters will be compensated for expenses when visiting clubs. Judges and presenters give their time and energies for free, some very generously, many times each month. The least we can do is to ensure that they are not out of pocket.
Remote judging honorarium
Although judges are not out of pocket for undertaking remote judging they often undertake a considerable amount of work over and above that when attending a club. Judges either prepare detailed audio recordings or written notes to allow the club to adequately present the judging comments. Therefore an amount of $50 would not be unreasonable. The judge should discuss this with the club prior to accepting the work.
More details at
https://www.vaps.org.au/index.php/judging-honorarium
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Judging Club Competitions/image evaluations
To all Club Committees.
Please pass the following information on to any committee members involved in the selection of judges for your club competitions/image evaluations as well as other members who are judges and may be interested in becoming judges.
Victorian Judges pages on the website have lots of information, not only for Judges but also club committees and anyone interested in being a judge. https://www.vaps.org.au/index.php/camera-clubs/victorian-judges-new
- Victorian Judges – An introductory page about judging.
- Becoming a Judge – Criteria to be added to the judges directory.
- Victorian Judges Application – Application form for anyone interested in being a judge.
- Guidelines for Hosting Judges – Guidelines on what Clubs should consider when hosting a judge.
- Stewards and Judges Manual – Detailed manual for club competition stewards and Judges.
- Judging Honorarium – Outline of compensation for expenses incurred by the judge as well as honorarium for the extra work involved in preparing image critiques when unable to attend in person.
- Judges Directory – Currently only able to be viewed by club committees after login but may be accessible by judges and other members in the near future.
- Club Panel Judges – List of clubs that offer a panel of judges.
Regards,
Alfred
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APJA - Judges Association
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2020 is a bit of a year to forget, but we did learn many things, and actually got through the year pretty well. APJA only managed one committee meetings in person, and no inperson meetings for members at all. We did however, as soon as we got our act together with Zoom, and learnt how to do breakout rooms, were able to run two sessions of Image Evaluation workshops, three sessions of Level 5 training, three sessions of level 1 training and three sessions of Level 3 training. Each zoom session ran for approximately 1.5 hours, so this amounted to around 192 hours of training to members of VAPS clubs.
The total participants were about 130 and represented approximately 38 clubs. We are very pleased with the response from VAPS members and really hope that they will take this knowledge back to their clubs and share with others, also, maybe some of these folk may take on a judging role and share their knowledge with other clubs.
We would like to thank the presenters that have shared their knowledge and experience during the year, Gary Smith, Emma Gillette, Paul Robinson, Rob Sloane, Brett Ferguson, Mark Teague, Mario Maribile, Jen Fawkes, Michael Silver and Len Metcalfe. We also thank the course participants for their often lively discussions, great questions and feedback. It was sometimes hard to close the zoom room at the end of the session. Unfortunately Len Metcalf’s presentation at our last meeting was cut off due to extream weather conditions near his home in NSW. Hopefully rescheduled to Febuary 2021.
All our courses need to run on a breakeven basis, our main cost is payments to presenters, however this year we didn’t have rent and catering so that worked out quite well. Our thanks to VAPS for their subsidy of $1000 per year, on average this reduces the cost to each individual participant by about $10 /p/course.
The use of online training worked quite well, this looks like it may become the norm, it certainly makes accessing the courses much easier, especially for the country members.
The new APJA website is under construction, thanks to Lyn Haywood, the new site will have a lot more information for APJA members, Clubs, and VAPS Club members with improved look and finctionality.
Thanks to all the judges that have volunteered their time to evaluate inages, travel to clubs, (maybe), type up evaluation notes and /or zoom into club meetings to present. Also thanks to Danielle for reminding me to write this report each month.
So what about 2021. We are assuming face to face meeting will not be possible, at least in the short term. Being inside, the square meter rule, and most members being in high risk catagories makes online the way to go.
At this stage we are planning, though not set in concrete at this point.
Feb Sun 14th Committee and General. Online
Mar [Fri 5,12,19 Level 2 Training] Online
May Sun 2nd Committee and General. Online
July Sun 11th APJA AGM Online
Aug [Fri 6,13,20, Level 4 Training] Online
Sept Sun 12th Committee and General Online
Nov [Fri 5,12,19 Level 6 Training] Sun 14th EoY Online
Rob Sloane
APJA Marketing and Treasurer.
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Considered being a Judge?
Clubs are asked to encourage members to consider being a photography judge. There are many benefits of being a judge. These include:
- Exposure to a wide array of photographic work which contributes to one’s self development in photographic artistry
- Greater confidence and experience in communication of the principles of photography
- Receiving structured training in photographic judging including aesthetics, technical competency, photography and the law and many other aspects of photography
- Helping others develop their skills and capabilities in the art of photography
- Opportunities to participate in interclub and other photographic judging arenas
There are currently only 34 metropolitan members on the Victorian judges list and 18 in the country. We currently have 70 clubs and if every club has 10 competitions a year we would need all 52 judges to judge about 14 competitions a year.
That is too much of a load for any judge. Many are only prepared to about 10 per year which means that we have a large shortage of judges.
VAPS therefore welcomes suggestions on how to approach the current and impending shortage of judges as increasingly judges will retire given the demographics.
We ask that your club contacts Tony Harding, Secretary VAPS (secretary@vaps.org.au) with any suggestions or ideas you may have in regard to increasing the number of active photography judges in Victorian clubs.
We also ask that club secretaries pass this information on to club committee and all members.
Alfred Zommers Tony Harding
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Lightroom vs Photoshop vs Luminar
By Dr Alfred Zommers GMAPS EFIAP/b
A bit over ten years ago I did a course in Lightroom. Since then I have also done courses in Photoshop. I was sold on both programs, more so with Lightroom as it could do everything that I wanted to edit my images. I could see that there was a place for Photoshop but I had been taught by my mentor, Ian Rolfe, to “get it right in camera”. As I had recently come from a film camera that was not too hard. Film was too expensive to make lots of mistakes.
I subsequently taught Lightroom at KPS and several other clubs in Victoria as well as helping several members privately.
Then Adobe, in their wisdom, decided to change their products to a subscription licence. This was not a popular decision, with many photographers, but the other image editing options at that time did not measure up to what Adobe was able to provide especially Lightroom.
I was not willing to pay for a subscription licence so I had to continue using what I had and that was Lightroom v6 & Photoshop v6. As time progressed and a few minor enhancements of Lightroom came out I was glad that I hadn’t succumbed to the Adobe pressure.
Then along came Luminar 2018. It had been finally released as Windows compatible software.
It was pretty good as it stood but Skylum was promising big things with Luminar 3 and if I paid for 2018 I would get a free upgrade. I purchased Luminar and have been very glad that I did.
Now we have Luminar 4 and it is even better and they are promising more improvements in the near future.
Yes it doesn’t have Map, Book, Slideshow, Print & Web modules but I never really needed them anyway. I just wanted good image editing software.
And it is good. Far better than Lightroom and able to do much of what I was able to do with Photoshop. Apart from the normal image editing it has Layers, masks, Sky Replacement and Artificial Intelligence.
What is this Artificial Intelligence? Three are explained below,
- AI Accent. Under the hood, more than a dozen controls are in use. This effect tends to yield naturally beautiful results with one simple slider. The AI Accent tool can substitute for many traditional controls like shadows, highlights, contrast, tone, saturation, exposure, details, and others.
- AI Sky Enhancer. Luminar analyzes and detects the sky in an image to improve the texture, tone, and colors of the sky itself. The tool can recognize the sky in most photos as well as distinguish between water and other elements in a photograph. It also detects the objects in the foreground and their edges for perfect masking. AI Sky Enhancer performs the necessary improvements, selectively adjusting brightness and contrast, saturation and vividness, alongside recovering the details and improving the textures of the sky and clouds. The AI Sky Enhancer is designed to work with most photographs of skies and works from blue hour in the morning to the blue hour in the evening. The tool is not designed to work with night skies.
- AI Structure. This tool allows the adjusting of image detail and clarity. Using this tool you can get great detail or get a smoother picture with less detail. This is the main tool to increase the contrast of the image and visualize more details in the image. Thanks to AI the tool is content-aware, so it can adjust areas variably, based on the subject. The tool is also human-aware so it doesn’t over-process them. As a result – faces and skin look natural, while the objects around them look detailed.
In fact a lot of image editing software already has some form of AI. HDR, Merge, Haze removal etc. AI is the way of the future in image editing.
You may have gathered that I am sold on Luminar. You are correct. It has everything that I need and much more. So far Skylum has won many awards with Luminar and the way that they are going they will continue getting those awards.
There are many freely available tutorials on Youtube, for Luminar, and as soon as a new version comes out new tutorials are being created.
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From Clubs/Societies and Others
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While we are have been in lockdown our club has continued the monthly competition as a digital competition. Through our local paper the Pakenham Gazette we have been able to show case our monthly winners.
This article is about the Pakenham National that was hosted virtually this year.
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MCC is organising an Introduction to Photography course for the general public and the greater Victorian Photographic community commencing 23 February 2021.
This course will be held at its club rooms in South Melbourne and run over a 6 week period which includes 3 weekend hands on session.
There is an early bird special price of $300 for interested participants until 31 Dec 2020 which includes a complimentary 12 month MCC membership.
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VAPS Newsletter History
I have recently done some research into the history of the VAPS newsletter.
The earliest evidence of a VAPS newsletter, in the VAPS archives, that I can find is the ”V.A.P.S. REVIEW”, VOL. 1 No. 1 AUGUST 1970. This small publication (of dimension 21.5 x 13.7 cms.) was 16 pages long.
By 1983 (or earlier), the newsletter had morphed into the CAMERA CLUBS’ NEWSLETTER. This was published quarterly. It had the same physical dimensions as the V.A.P.S. REVIEW.
By 1987, at least, we had the VAPS NEWSLETTER.
By 1989, the VAPS Newsbrief had come into existence, as an A4 “magazine”. This continues until today, although as a digital production.
We believe that the Newsbrief was digitised about five years ago. (It has had two editors, Barry Povey and Danielle LeGassick, as a digital production)
So we have, in summary:
a) The V.A.P.S. REVIEW (1970s)
b) The CAMERA CLUBS’ NEWSLETTER
c) The VAPS NEWSLETTER (1980s)
d) The VAPS Newsbrief (from 1989? onwards)
Alan Wilson
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Exhibitions and What's On
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Focal Point Darkroom & Gallery is Geelong’s centre for photography and we would like to welcome groups from visiting camera clubs.
We have a new and exciting exhibition in our expansive gallery every month. Our reference library consists of almost 700 books on photography, and we have the largest and best-equipped public-access darkroom in Australia.
We are currently installing a small studio, which will be suitable for portraiture and product photography. The studio will be fully equipped and, best of all, will be available for hire from professionals and amateurs alike.
Groups are most welcome and we can tailor your visit to suit the needs of your members. We can include a workshop on darkroom techniques or film photography in general, or simply a demonstration of producing prints in the darkroom. If your members have no interest in the darkroom I’m sure you will enjoy the exhibitions in the gallery and we will put on morning or afternoon tea.
We can also host club exhibitions, events and meetings.
There are often other great photography exhibitions in Geelong, and the region is teaming with great photographic locations, so why not make a day or a weekend of coming to Geelong and include Focal Point Darkroom & Gallery in your itinerary.
Give us a call or send an email for more information on how we can welcome your group.
Cheers,
Watto.
Craig Watson
Focal Point Darkroom & Gallery
46 Douro St
North Geelong, Vic. 3215
Ph: 03 4222 8359 or 0427 537 443
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If you missed out on this excellent APS Live webinar look out for the next one in early 2021, APS is committed to bringing up to date and exciting photography events to its members and potential new members.
Check out the APS website at a-p-s.org.au for all the information that the Society has to offer.
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VAPS, Organisational member of Australian Photographic Society
a-p-s.org.au
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Any members of an accredited Camera Club or Society interested in evaluating images or judging are invited to apply to join the Australian Photographic Judges Association.
You do not need to be an active judge to be a member.
The prime objective of the Association is to help develop the evaluation and judging skills of members.
Further information contact:
Rob Sloane: msec@optusnet.com.au or
Paul Robinson: pr.artpics@gmail.com
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RECEIVE YOUR FREE EMAIL COPY OF NEWSBRIEF DIRECT
SUBSCRIBE AT
http://vaps.org.au/index.php/news
or go to the VAPS Website at
www.vaps.org.au
Open the News tab and select Newsbrief newsletters.
There you can subscribe for a free email copy of Newsbrief.
Keep up with all of the announcements and news from the clubs.
Hard copy of Newsbrief are not available in 2020
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VAPS Committee Listing and Support
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Newsbrief Editor
Danielle LeGassick
editor@vaps.org.au
History & Archives
Alan Wilson
Committee Member
Lisa Law
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Victorian Association
of Photographic Societies Inc.
- To advance the art of photography.
- To further the interests of affiliated bodies.
- To draw up regulations governing exhibitions and inter-club competitions.
- To arrange the exchange of guest lecturers and demonstrations on any subject relating to photography.
- To arrange the exchange of prints between clubs.
- To arrange periodical conventions for members of affiliated bodies and guests.
- To arrange the publication of an official journal or news sheet .
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A Brief History:
Camera clubs have existed in Melbourne since the 1890’s and an umbrella organisation called the Victorian Photographic Affiliation was formed in 1908. This guided amateur photography in Victoria for forty years. The Victorian Association of Photographic Societies was formed on 27 September 1952 and comprised of 12 clubs. This has grown to more than 70 clubs in Jan 2020. VAPS is a non-profit association that is entirely self-funded. The Association is run by an elected Committee of Management which is responsible for the operations of the Association, and for ensuring the Association fulfils the objectives.
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Legal
Victorian Association of Photographic Societies welcomes contributions from interested parties, however, Victorian Association of Photographic Societies accepts no responsibility for the content of these contributions and the views contained therein are not necessarily those of Victorian Association of Photographic Societies. While every care is taken with solicited and unsolicited materials supplied, Victorian Association of Photographic Societies does not accept any liability for loss or damage however caused. Victorian Association of Photographic Societies takes no responsibility for the claims made by advertisers or transactions by. Does not endorse the products sold on the website/Newsbrief or enter into any of the exchanges. Nor is the Victorian Association of Photographic Societies responsible for any exchanging of information or monetary amounts. All transactions are solely the responsibility of the advertiser and purchaser.
Copyright
Material on the Victorian Association of Photographic Societies site or the Newsbrief may not be reproduced or published elsewhere without the written consent of the publisher, Victorian Association of Photographic Societies. All rights reserved.
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Advertising in Newsbrief
Would you like to contribute to Newsbrief? If you do, then it would be helpful if you use the following.
- Reformatting of text will occur (fonts and size) to suit the email format. (Paragraph 14, Heading 16-18, San serif fonts)
- Images can be submitted as jpegs or png up to 300 ppi.
Images will be reduced in size as appropriate for email. Text submissions preferred in Microsoft Word format. Images are preferred as JPEG.
PDF files can be accommodated for text only.
Costs: Ads of any size.
Commercial $100 per issue
Commercial (Member discount) $50 per issue
Affiliated Clubs and their members, free.
Contact the editor if you have questions.
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Next Issue - Februay 2021
Newsbrief publication deadline 26 January.
Newsbrief Editor:
Danielle LeGassick: editor@vaps.org.au
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