Re: LHSA Annual Meeting

["Vahan D. Shahinian" <vshahinian@sprynet.com>]

PAUL COLLURA wrote:

Would Roger Beamon or other attendee care to inform the LUG membership
of any interesting highlights at the Annual LHSA Meeting. Certainly this
is on-topic as it is Leica related. Any equipment reports or anecdotes
would be appreciated.

......................

I had the pleasure of attending the LHSA meeting in Tucson, AZ this past
weekend. As always, it proved to be an interesting meeting and a time to
renew old acquaintances and to meet new Leica friends.

I went out a few days early to exlore the Tucson area, which has many
locations for photography. The LHSA set up tours for its members to the
Sonora Desert Museum, San Xavier Mission, the Presidio and Tubac, the
Pima Air Museum, and so forth. I did not personally travel with the LHSA
tour groups, but did visit most of these sites. An R6, R7, tripod, and
an assortment of lenses can get really heavy by the end of the day,
especially in the desert heat (there were record high temperatures in
Tucson during the meeting week).

Personally, I think that it was one of the best meetings we have had in
the past six years. Partly due to the location and in great part due to
the efforts of Mr. Lloyd Weldy, who was the local host for the meeting.
Mr. Weldy did an outstanding job; many thanks again Lloyd!

While not part of the LHSA "official" meeting Tamarkin & Company hosted
an auction at a nearby hotel on Friday. Thursday evening, Tamarkin &
Company hosted a wine and cheese reception, which was well attended,
where you could view the auction lots. There were almost 400 items in
the auction, most of them Leica cameras, lenses, and accessories. It was
a real treat to see some of those items that you'll probably never see
again (fortunately I managed to restrain my drooling to a bare minimum).
The actual auction was a very enjoyable event which took most of the day
Friday. Stan Tamarkin, Eric Bohman, Sam Shoshan, Jim Lager, and all
others involved are to be congratulated on a job very well done. I hope
it worked out well for Tamarkin & Company so that we can have another
auction next year.

The "official" meeting started on-time at 8:00am Saturday. Departing
President Dan Black conducted the business meeting with Stan Hodges
presenting the financial data. The good news is that it seems that the
Society is sound with approximately 2200 members.

When it came time for the election of officers, it was NOT business as
usual. This year there were nominations from the floor for the offices
of President and Vice President, in addition to the names submitted by
the nominating committee. After a somewhat drawn-out process, ably
handled by the Society's legal counsel Mr. Julius Cohn, the floor
nominations and seconds were counted and the two new names added to the
ballot.

After the votes were counted, Roy Moss was elected President, and Bill
Roseaur (I think I spelled your name wrong, sorry Bill) Vice President
of the Society. The remaining officers and directors, as recommended by
the nominating committee, were voted in. Congratulations to all, and
especially to Roy Moss (my only regret is that Roy can't also continue
as editor of the Viewfinder, where he did a truely remarkable job).

With business out of the way, Eric Bohman ran the show for the rest of
the day as this year's program director. Eric kept the attendees and
speakers on time resulting in an enjoyable meeting with virtually no
glitches; most impressive Eric.

The first speaker was Dr. John Schaefer, formerly President of the
University of Arizona and one of the pricipal founders of the Center for
Creative Photography. This center is home for the archives of Adams,
Weston, Smith, and other great American photographers. Dr. Schaefer
related the history of the Center and some of the difficulties
encountered while establishing it.

Next, Jim Lager gave us a review of 80 years of Leica Accessories in 45
minutes. As usual, Jim showed us some very unusual pieces. We will all
be able to see these items in his new book, hopefully early next year.
The third volume in Jim's latest series promises to show many unusual
accessories, that most of us have never seen. Reports are that the third
book will be even thicker than the first two.

The next presentation was by Lars Netopil who is the Vice President of
our sister society in Germany. Mr. Netopil gave us some insights into
Leica collecting in Europe and presented some slides of their last
meeting and some of the equipment they had displayed there. We were all
invited to join their society and attend the meetings.

Niels Thorsen and Sal DiMarco presented a report of Photokina, showing
some sides and discussing the new toys (i.e., equipment) from Leica.
There was also a real, live R8 for the meeting attendees to fondle. As
you might expect, some really liked the R8, while others balked at
change. Unfortunately, Brian Bower was unable to attend the meeting, and
report on Photokina, as originally planned. And after I carried his
three books thousands of miles for some autographs. I hope he can make
it next year.

Then, Bill Grimwood presented the Leica Images submitted by several of
the Society's members. As usual we were all treated to some entertaining
photographs.

Next we were given a presentation by Terence Pitts of the Center for
Creative Photography on the "Impact of the Leica on Creative
Photography". I found it to be a very interesting and informative talk
on the history of photography (as art) in America, starting with Weston
and Adams through the contemporary work in the 1970's.

The last segment of the meeting was devoted to a panel discussion on
photographic techniques and problems. The expert panel included Sal
DiMarco, Dick Gilcreast, and Niels Thorsen. Several questions were
fielded from the audience.

The day ended with the banquet and raffle drawings. There was the main
prize and two bonus cameras. The grand-prize winner and the winner of
one of the bonus prizes were present. As I recall both chose the new R8
as their prize.

Finally Joe Marvullo gave the keynote presentation and slide show. Most
of the presentation came from his book "Color Vision". Mr. Marvullo was
a good speaker and, obviously, an excellent photographer.

The LHSA trade fair was held Sunday morning starting at 9:00am. Several
members had tables with various goodies for the Leicaphile. I bought an
R-Winder, an E-55 Circular Polarizer, an ELPRO 3 closeup lens, and Joe
Marvullo's book "Color Vision". Then I left for the Phoenix airport and
the flight home.

All in all, it was an excellent meeting. Thanks again to all those
responsible for its success. My apologies to anyone I forgot to mention
and for any names I probably misspelled.

Vahan