Good Evening all,
Just a quick(ish) email to let you all know what the score is with Photosoc during the exam period. As you know Photosoc is a student run society and so when this time of year comes around there can be some complications, and unfortunately some compromises have to be made to the services we provide. Below is a list of the services we offer at Photosoc, which our hard working committee organise and run, giving up their own time to do so, detailing their availability during the exam period, until the beginning of the next academic year.
Printer:
Due to the printers wastful self-cleaning mechanism and the high cost of ink cartridges, coupled with the lower demand over the exam period, it is not cost effective for us to keep the printer open during the exam period. As it stands, 3 of the ink cartridges have completely run out, with 3 more running very low. I’ve reviewed the finances, and at £50 an ink cartridge it won’t be financially viable for us to keep the printer running for a small number of members. While this is disappointing, it is in the best interests of the society that I’ve had to make this decision so that we can keep our books in check and offer you the best service next year, when the printer will be in higher demand, and it will be more financially feasible to run.
With this in mind, all print credits left on the system will be carried over to next year. If you are leaving Edinburgh, and not returning to photosoc next year, could you please email us and organise a a suitable time to collect your refund. Once again, I apologise for this unexpected announcement, but I hope everyone will agree that it is in the best interest of the society that we have made this decision.
Darkroom:
Now for some good news. Both the darkrooms at pleasance and Kings Buildings will remain open for the remainder of the semester, with the one at KB remaining open all summer too.
Equipment:
Those familiar with the renting system in Photosoc will know that it all goes through one person, who deals with all of the paperwork, dishing out and collecting of equipment and chasing up people who have run off with our cameras for too long. This is a time consuming job at the best of times, and when you’re meant to be revising for exams, it’s not something you want to have looming over you. With this in mind, and with the tricky handover of power from Thom to Alex, I’m sorry to announce that there will be no more equipment rentals this semester. However, we are pleased to announce that next year there will be a new whole host of new toys to rent, and play with, so you can look forward to that.
Tutorials:
Both the darkroom and printing tutorials are finished for the academic year. These tutorials are run by our wonderful committee members who give their free time up to help. Being students too, they need to revise like the rest of us at photosoc and we want them to do well, and giving up their time to give tutorials is unfair on them. So if you want to learn how to develop film, or how to use our lovely, new printer, then I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until next year, when there will be even more tutors, glad to show you how.
Other News:
If any of you film fanatics have been wishing for a negative scanner, well then your wishing days are over. We have taken the old photosoc scanner from the library, where it was mistreated and neglected, have sent it off to Nikon for repair, and will have it ready, waiting for you, along with the printer for next year. This means you can go out on one of our Saturday trips, shoot a roll of B&W film, take it to the darkroom, develop it, dry it, and pop next door, where you can scan the negatives, and while you’re at it, make some prints of your digital photographs (or scanned negatives if you wish). All with in a matter of hours. Exciting times!
The committee and I have been planning a lot of exciting activities for next year, including guest speakers, more Saturday trips to bigger and better places, and some more unusual styles of photography that haven’t been explored in recent photosoc history. If you have any suggestions for talks, events, speakers, trips or anything else, please email us before the start of next year, and we’ll do our best to make it happen.
For those who weren’t on the trip to Oban and Mull last month, you missed a great few days when the weather seemed to be on our side for the most part. If you were on the trip and have yet to upload your photographs to flickr, then please do so, mainly because I’m excited to see them.
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So, that’s everything for the near future. Once again, I apologise for the closure of some of our facilities until next semester, and I’ll leave you with some photographs from the last month, as found on the Photosoc Flickr pool (If you’ve not joined, then please do):
First up, this amazing piece of work entitled ‘Behold the Beast’ from Mark Scherz, who I believe is new to the group, if I’m not mistaken. Nice work Mark, I like the intensity, and the textures as well as the focus.
It was hard to chose from the large number of excellent photos uploaded by the one and only Matt Crisp this Easter but I think this one is my favourite for the differences in textures. Matt has been using a great set of filters, and we’ll be getting something similar for the society next year so get excited.
Finally, this from Jonathan Riise. It’s not often I see a photo of Edinburgh Castle and love it, but the high angle, and the moody sky make this a great photo which has made me reconsider my opinion on photos of the castle. We should all get out there after the exams and take full advantage of the city while the weather is good.
Thank you for your time, I wish you all the best in the exams,
Jonathan Hamilton
(President 2010/11)
