Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/27

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Subject: Re: [Leica] calling on the LUG to do a good deed: leica scholarship
From: Stephen Gandy <leicanikon@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 15:27:48 -0700
References: <ECC6F7B330A26C40B652962C47DEA258183DE9@ASC02.asc.upenn.edu>

Sorry Kyle,  I for one see no need.
.
Banding together helping the homeless (anywhere), is a helping hand to those who
really need it.

Taking up a collection  to help an adult who is smart enough to get into one of
America's premier schools (no small achievement), and have the wherewithal to
live in one of America's most expensive areas (San Francisco),  sounds downright
silly to me.  What's next ?  Taking up a collection for the downtrodden of
Beverly Hills who are forced to drive last years Mercedes?

Scott has done very well to get where he is.   My suggestion to  Scott's
horrendous  "100 days of summer lying before
him like a raft of empty time which makes me weep for my youth" is a crash
course in Reality 101:  getting a job and learning to pay his own way,  and
learning not to ask for handouts when he is (presumably) capable of paying his
own travel and photography bills.    I am not trying to be mean to Scott or you
about this,  it is just that the idea of LUGGERS  paying for summer vacations
so a college kid does not have to join the masses and get a job does not make a
lot of sense.

Scholarships are usually awarded on need, and in a competitive application
environment.  IF  a LUG scholarship were established,  and Scott won the
scholarship in competition with other applicants, that would be entirely
different matter.

However, some charity causes certainly are worthy of a helping hand.  Last week
I got an email from an Elementary school in Covington Kentucky.  The school
district is so poor that the teachers  buy the student's paper, pencils, and
often books, or the students do without.  The teachers want  to get a
photography program going.  To me at least, helping a group of elementary kids
who are unable to help themselves is a lot more worthy charity for the LUG.

Stephen Gandy


Kyle Cassidy wrote:

> Okay, I promise, just this once and I'll leave everybody along for a long
> time. But I think right now we have an opportunity to do something Good here
> and I think that this body, with the collective power has a unique ability
> to do something other than just talk.
>
> In any event, you may recall that at the conclusion of the LUG's last
> charity fundraiser ("Christmas in Bucharest" which raised $2,500 for
> homeless kids living in Romania) I proposed that our next charity event
> should be photography related -- a LUG scholarship for sending a young
> photojournalist student somewhere to take photos.
>
> Well, a week ago I got an email from just such a person.
>
> Scott Squire is a LUGger and a photojournalism student at Berkeley who, at
> classes end finds himself looking out over 100 days of summer lying before
> him like a raft of empty time which makes me weep for my youth. Mr. Squire
> is gung ho to do a long term doccumentary project overseas and, after
> looking at his portfolio, I think he has quite a considerable talent and it
> would be a Very Good Thing if we could sponser him.
>
> What I'm proposing:
>
> 1) Scott can contribute money of his own, but I'd like to come up with AT
> LEAST $1000 to defray the cost of his travel.
> 2) He's interested in going to Romania to cover the homeless situation,
> which I think would be excellent as we would be able to see the results of
> the money we sent over in December.
> 3) If the LUG agrees to this, I'll call B&H, Freetyle, and several other
> places to see if I can get them to donate film and equipment.
> 4) I'd like to get either a) 10 luggers to contribute $100 or, that that
> doesn't happen, 20 luggers to contribute $50 -- the price of a photo book --
> towards getting him over there and maybe some food and film.
>
> BUT WHAT DO WE GET IN RETURN?
> Ah, nothing, of course, is free. The LUG will have specific requirements for
> the use of our funds.
>
> 1) Scott will be asked to keep a photo-journal on line, updated weekly, that
> we can log into and follow his progress -- get to know his subjects and
> their lives. The web page will also have a contributors section, if you care
> to make a gift in someone's name, what better place to memorialize them? or
> yourself for that matter.
>
> 2) Upon returning also, he will make a traveling exhibit (i'm thinking
> unmatted, unframed) which can then be sent from city to city, a LUGGER in
> each city taking the responsibility of finding a place to hang it so nearby
> luggers can see it. Even if this is nothing more than a show at someone's
> house, if it gets the LUG meeting one another, what could be better?
>
> 3) A tax write off? who knows. I'll defer to one of the Lugyers who may have
> specific expertise in the itchy field of charitable donations and taxes and
> how this might be achieved if people want to make larger contributions.
>
> I know I've personally longed to spend months living in a $20 a week hotel
> filled with rats and bugs, sleeping in sewers and really getting to do
> serious doccumentary work. I think a lot of the LUG has too, but when those
> two paths diverged in the wood, other careers have come in the way and
> somewhere in the years that have passed, we find that we own SUV's and white
> picket fences and suddenly our lives are too complicated to take three
> months to go anywhere. Imagine the impact this could have made on any of us
> when we were 24. I'm not unhappy with my life as an armchair photographer,
> and I really would enjoy living vicariously a little through this project.
>
> Please look at Scott's portfolios and get back to me if you're interested:
>
>
> http://journalism.berkeley.edu/students/squire/ecuastories/FrameSet.html
>
>
> http://journalism.berkeley.edu/students/squire/ecuasingles/FrameSet.html
>
> I don't want to turn this forum into a telethon and I PROMISE that if we do
> this, I'll leave everybody alone. At least until next summer. We can make
> this happen; I'll be the first to throw $50 into the ring. Anybody else?
>
> Thanks for your time and attention, I now return you to your regularly
> scheduled Summilux-R discussion,
>
> Kyle
> --
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Replies: Reply from "Karina Klaas" <shutterbug@iinet.net.au> (Re: [Leica] calling on the LUG to do a good deed: leica scholarship)
In reply to: Message from Kyle Cassidy <KCassidy@asc.upenn.edu> ([Leica] calling on the LUG to do a good deed: leica scholarship)